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> One hundred pounds of gunpowder had detonated from inside its storage space above the writing room.

As a non-nautical fellow, I have to ask: why did a cruise ship have a hundred pounds of gunpowder stored?

At least some of it was probably for the Lyle Gun (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyle_gun) which was used to send a line (rope) from one ship to another to transfer people or cargo.

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