Sercombe, Ronald G. "Bessie Arbruster Goes a Scuttlin'"

Bessie rides --well, boats — to the rescue when a merchant ship, the fictitious CITY OF GLASGOW, overloaded with a cargo of TNT catches fire offshore and threatens to explode in a fire ball that would make the Halifax Disaster look like a picnic. With the Coast Guard too far away to help, Bessie rounds up an armada of small boats, gets the CITY OF GLASGOW towed far offshore into deep water and then watches as the ship explodes and sinks.