S.S. Malakand, a steamer belonging to the Brocklebank line, she was berthed at the Huskisson No-2 dock with over 1000 tons of shells and bombs destined for the Middle-east.
No one Knows how, but a deflated barrage balloon slipped free of its moorings and became tangled with the ships rigging, fell onto the deck and immediately burst into flames, the crew managed to extinguish the fire, however while they were occupied with this particular fire a shower of incendiaries and high-explosive bombs had ignited some neighbouring sheds, and the flames from these soon enveloped the stricken ship. Though the crew fought valiantly to save the ship it was to no avail and the captain ordered the crew to abandon the Malakand. Desperately and with disregard for their own safety Captain Kinley and his crew along with A.F.S. personnel led by Officer John Lappin, tried to scuttle the ship and prevent a terrible explosion. Despite all their efforts a few hours after the all clear Merseyside shook with one of the greatest explosions of the entire Blitz.
The whole dock was destroyed, the Overhead Railway line was badly damaged, with some of the ships plates being blown some two and a half miles away. Though the explosion was one of the biggest during the Blitz, only four people were killed, two of the party who had tried so valiantly to scuttle the Malakand, and a newly married couple who were on their way home along the Dock road, when a huge fragment of the ship landed directly on their car killing them outright.
