SS John Harvey

The John Harvey was a U.S. World War II Liberty Ship carrying a secret cargo of mustard gas, whose sinking by German planes in December 1943 at the port of Bari in south Italy caused the single (and unintentional) release of chemical weapons in the course of that war. The ship was hull number 0878 and could hold 504 soldiers although it was also operated for cargo transport by the U.S. Army Transportation Service.[1] It was built at the North Carolina Shipbuilding Company in Wilmington, North Carolina [2]