The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-07-22 00:00:00

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SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1876.

THE DISASTER ON BOARD THE
THUNDERER."
The following account of the fearful explosion on board tho
Thunderer ix from Ths Times of Suturdaly:—

A terrible accident occurred yesterday morning on
board the Thundcrer, double turret ship, at Ports-
mouth. The ship, which is a sister ship to the Devasta-
tion, was launched at Pembreke in March, 1872, and
was subsequently brought round to Per tsnaonth to be
completed for sea. Although more than three years
have elapsed since her arrival at the southern port, her
machinery had never been tried for speed or horse-
power on the measured mile. The breaking out of
disturbances in the East has expedited her outfit,
Captain J. C. Wilson has just been appointed to the
command of her, and E he got under way from Spithead on
Wednesday last for the official trial of her machinery for
the first time previous to being commissioned. In
addition to the main engines for propelling the ship,
which were manufactured by Messrs. Humphrey and
Tennant, and are of the collective power of 800 h-rses,
the Thunderer has on board no fewer than 26 other
engines, s'neles and pairs, for performing various
work, so that she may be practically descrioed as an
Immense floating factory. She has eight boilers on
board of the common low-pressure type, which are
heated by 32 furnaces. 'When a ship is making her
runs on the measured mile, the engines are subjected
to severer tests than are likely to be Imposed-again
under any circumstances. With this abject the fires
are managed by experienced stokers from the Steam
Reserve, and the engines are, in addition to the
engineers and artificers actually appointed to The
ship, watched by the contractor and his men, and by
engineers from the Steam Reserve and the Factory
Department of the Dockyard. Every crank and re-
ciprocation comes under the observation of some one,
and every care is taken to avoid accident. The
machinery of our ironclads is now, however, very com-
plicated, and the responsibility is necewsarily divided.
In the Thunderer the lap,e of time which has inter-
vened between the reception of her engines from the
contractors and their special trial would appear to have
had a deteriorating tendency. The causes of the
present accident remain to be ascertained.
The trial of Wednesday having, for the reason
mentioned, proved a failure at the outset, yeEtErday
was appointed for a new official trial on the measured
mile in Stokes' Bay.

The ship had been anchored at Spithead all the
week, end at half-past twelve, when the anchor was
got up, there could not have been fewer than 500 men
on board, all told. Tne ship was in command of
Captain Waddilove, Captain of the Steam Reserve at
Portanoutli, and among those present superintending
the machinery were Mr. John Oliver, Chief Inspector of
Machinery Afloat; Mr. Edward Newman, of the
Steam Factory, and Mr. Robert Humphreys, one
Of the contractors. Captain Wilson, the newly.
appointed captain, and Mr. Bakewell, of the Ad-
miralty, were also present. There were about 130
stokers on board, cf whom 30 were actually in the
stokehole at work at the furnaces, and a large number
of dockyard joiners and other artificers engaged in all
Parts of the ship in completing its outfit and cabin
arrangements, The ship got under way a little before
one, and although she was only going "slow," the
" pandemonium " in the Btokehole was all aglow aed
crowded with half-naked forms actively engaged at the
furnaces in working up the steam to the required
Pressure, before making the first run, the safety valves
of the boilers being loaded to 301 b. At a quarter to one,
a loud, sharp explosion was heard below, exactly
resembling the reportof one of the 38-ton guns. Immense
volumes of steam forced their way up the uptakes and
the eratings of the coal-bankers, more or less scalding
every one in the immediate vicinity, both on the super-
structure and the hurricane deck. It was evident to
all that some terrible accident had occurred though no
one knew its real character, and the bellowing of the
steam through the waste and escape pipes caused
abamet a panic among the landsmen on board, who
were not satisfied that the worst had happened. Even
among the engineers the most c natradictory guesses
were hazarded—it was a boiler that had burst; it was
the main steam-pipe that had been carried away ; it
Was the superheater that had exploded. In fact, the
steam below and in the engine aud stoke-holes was so
intense that it was impos-ible to venture near the seat
of the explosion. Mr. Weeks, one of the engineers
belonging to the ship, who exhibited wonderful
nerve and prisence of mind throughout the
Whole trying circumstances, believing that one
of the cylinders had burst, stopped both engines,
groped his way to the stop-valves, which he closed, and
then rushed upon deck and called upon the Dackyard
hands, in the name of God, to volunteer to go below
for the purpose of bringing out the dead and dying
from the stokeholes. But the bravest held back from
rushing through the scalding steam to the dark and
tortuous regions below. Perhaps it was better that
they did not make the attempt, for, being strangers to
the ship, they would in all probability have lust them-
selves in t aa steam or have fallen heedloeg through
some open hatchway or aperture. Mr. John Oliver,
however, followed by Mr. Bencke and Mr. Stephens,
members of his staff, and a number of gallant engine.
room artificers and bluejackets promptly responded to
the appeal. They fought their way into the engine-
room, whither the devoted stokers had crawled in their
agony,
Thomas glade the chief engineer, was found under
the after slide dead, with his scalp torn away, and Mr.
Wingfield, an engineer officer, was discovered under
the smoke-box, with his head hightfully disfigured.
The injured stokers, who were found lying about the
engine-room, were promptly brought upon deck, aud
attended by the only medical officer who was on duty
at the time, aided by a number of volunteers, who
covered the unfortunate men with engine oil as they
were brought up.

We must draw a veil over the agonizing sights which
presented themselves at this moment, as man after
man, blackened with coaldust and with the flesh
hanging from their limbs—many being absolutely
naked—were carried in sails, and other extemporized
stretchers and placed, writhing with pain, on
the superstructure floor. But etill further and
Worse horrors remained behind. Whilst this was
going on there were dying in unspeakable tortures in
the stokeholes poor fellows, whom it was for the
moment impossible to reach for the steam. The
forward stokehole, in which the explosion occurred,.
is divided from the after stokehole by a water-
tight bulkhead, which prevented the fragments
from flyirig from one into the other. but as
the communication was not cut off, it afforded, of
course, no protection against the scorching steam.
The stokers, in the after hole, in fact, though pre-
served from mutilation, were boiled alive. The
safety valves were opened as soon as possible, though
their position was not readily found by strangers to
the machinery and ship, and the first instinct on the
Part of the engineers in charge was to start the
engines in order to facilitate toe exhaustion of the
ste.iun. But formidable difficulties here presented
themselves. So many sufferers had fallen under the
links of the port engine that .it could not be started
without crushing them, and as the steam steering
gear had been dislocated and carried away by the
force of the explosion, the ship was at the moment
entirely unmanageable, and to have started the star-
board engine would have in her present crippled
condition, have certainly run the ship ashore. This
WD.s e a risk, however, which Captain Waddilove,
in the interests of humanily, very properly,
refused to recognize, and the starboard en-
gine was set to work to exhaust the steam
before the manual steering-gear had been con-
nected. After the connexion had been made the
steam was soon exhausted, and the dead bodies-15 in
number—were brought from the stokeholes in a frizlit-
hal etate of mutilation, tenderly deposited on the floor
of the superstructure, and covered with flegs. As soon
se the steam had sufficiently subsided, tho stokeholes
were examined, when a melancholy scene represented
it'lelf• The end of the forward boiler on the starboard
of the after stokeholes had been blown completely out.
The box of the safety-valve Was lying on the stoke-
hole floor. The floor itself was buret through in many
Places, leaving yawning chasms through which some
alight well have fallen in the confusion. The uptake
and the main steam-pipe were blown bodily away, and
the whole of the after stokehole appeared to be in
ruins- The force of the explosion below, however,
wag confined to the stokeholes, for, so far as can be
ascertained, the engine! are uninjured.
Immediately after the accident signals were made
to the flagship in the harbour for medical assistance;
but, in fact, the news of the disaster was known on
Shore before the flags and the semaphore could spell
fent their tele • the noise of the explosion had been
heard and the uprush of steam noticed. Steam
launches and the Fire Queen tender were presently on
the scene, bringing with them the much-needed medical
The from the Asia and the other ships in harbour.
'the Miner, torpedo launch, which was near the spot,
also sent valaahle aid in transferring the sufferers to
Radar Hospital. :ern Cseeee
The following are the names of the 15 who were
killed instantaneously on board
Made, chief engineer; Mr. Wingfield, engineers;
Henry Jenkins, fitter: Joseph Adams, fitter ; Samuel King,
I°4tte Nimmin, stoker; James O'Brien, stoker ; W.
Gregory stoker; Rogers stoker; Green, leading
Stoker. Harvey, stoker; leading stoker; James
a
reen, stoker; Reedy. stoker; William Downs, the
contractor's fitter.
The following, 56 in number, are the names of the
wounded who were taken to Hasher Hospital, under
treatment for scalds for the most part :
_ Mr. P. Thomas Bing, Charles Edgecomb, Robert Bennet,
James Petty, John Bellinger, Oliver Greenfield, Charles
Walliford, William Pickett, David Rex, and George Hughes,
stokers ; Thomas Warren, cook; George J. Crockford,
leading stoker; Thomas Sales; George Reed, Robert Little-
field, John Moore, Robert Longman, William Gordon, and
Thomas Brace, stokers; Henry Brewer, wok's mate, Thomas
Hewett, Richard Bernard, James Dunning, William Meer,
Peter Barnington, Charles Richards, Thomas East John
Wheeler Bread, Alfred Freeland, and James 'Bevis,
atokers • H. T. Smith, contractor's fitter; James Penny,
skilled labourer; Andrew Beard, contractor's engineer William ;
Bessett, stoker ' • Richard Davis, niillwright ;
Edward Phillips, skilled labourer; Kingsworth,
contractor's engineer' Richard Whitten, fitter; Arthur
Crusher, fitter; Henry Tibben, contractor's engineer; Charles
cork cementer; William Slater, shipwright.
:111liana LoLg, contractor's fitter; David Peel, engineer;
tatnuel Strettial labourer; Wiliiam Waters, filter; Henry
'ar ,k_ 13, Moulder ; Henry Colborne, labourer: George Purkiss;
uo, ilermaker • Charles Ford, labourer ; Stephen S urgold,
'abonror : William Clsmow. shipwright Thomas Mills. mill-
night ; George Dawkins and Thomas Hutchings, assistant
boilermakers. Willisra Henry Eielms and George Wright,
labourers. John Kerr, engineer student; and Edward
Thomas, engineer officer.
There were many narrow escapes. Captain Wilson,
Who was about to enter the stoke-house, was severely
scalded in both hands; and Mr. Robert llumphreys,
the contractor, who was in the cugino.roorn, vas alto
scalded in the hands, and was only saved from being
leverely hurt by the intervention of tee bulkhead.
Several engineers on the hurricane deck received blows
and Scalds, and a ehipwright weo was working upen
the fittings of the Gatling gun on the outlook—a con-
aiderable height above the deck—was sealded.
The "Thunderer was towed alongside the dockyard
jetty in the afternoon, the doors of the engine-room
ebeing locked until the jury bad had an opportunity of
uolleeting the scene of the accident. On reaching the
dockyard, Admiral Elliott ordered that all the ship-
wrights au d men on board should, after receiving their
w'.lges, be sent home, so that the anxiety of their
friends-and relatives might be relieved. The excite-
i_tnent ia the town WAS very great and,on Saturday even-
"Lg crowds besieged the doors of Ilaslar Hospital.

41: tali

The following additional particulars are from The
Times of Monday :
The total number of deaths up to the present time re-
kulting from the terrible boiler explosion on board. Her
Alej:•stfe ship Thunderer is El. 01 these 16 were killed at
one stroke on board ship, and were conveyed corpses to the
it 'apical, three died between the ship and the shore, and 16
died after being received in the hospital. There are now
43 renrituLug under treatment, thus making the total roll
of the kiiled and derionsly wounded by the explosion 77.
Of cum, 0, the arrival of so large and unexpected a number
of patients made an exceptional demand upon the medical
tied other resources of the hospital The premises, how-
ever, are large and beautifully situated, and Tespector-
Geoeral Smart, C 8., Deputy Inspector Loney, and their
staff were equal to the emergency. An additional ward
was opened for W.° reception of the Least serious cases, stores
were reLsacked, and the ordinary nurses weie supplemented
lay a large number of convalescent patients, who lent willing
aid The patieots were divided into three classes. Some
were received in such a conaition of muiltation and excoria-
tion that it was clear on their reception that no hopes of
their recovery could be entertained, and they subs,quently
died from the shock. After all that good nursing and attend-
ance can do the list of deaths is certain to be much increased,
for extreme excoriation is not very susceptible to treatment,
arid is apt to produce delirium and collapse. The experienced
ttaff, without relaxing in their efforts to wards those intrueted
to their care, can indicate pretty accurately the sufferers who
must almost inevitably is Lccurub, and it is to be feared that
In a few itotances those who escape will lose the use of
their eye s. On Saturday the frightful outcries of intense
pain which thrilled the effrighted groups at the hospital
gates had died away. The worst cases had, in the natural
course of things, been removed from the ward to the mor-
tuary; in other inetances, the poor fellows, their distorted
features and booies swathed in lint and cotton wool, satu-
rated with oil and lime water, with open spaces left for
their mouths and eyes, had ceased to complain or moan,
and were lying in a state of perfect unconsciousness, only
little removal! from death itself, while in the cases which
are likely to recover the pain had yielded to the remedies
applied. During the first hours it was difficult to prevent
the poor fellows from tearing away their oressings in their
agony and delirium, and even now the four junior officers
have to keep strict ward, relieving each other throughout the
night. But the greatest quiet prevails in the wards.
- - -

No one, however, is permitted as yet to visit the wards In
which the survivors are laid, but the anxious inquiries of
friends are promptly and kindly attended to, and lists of the
dead and woended are posted up at the gates, and also at
the docay ard, for the information of the public. Not un-
frequent is it to hear the despairing cry of a wife as she finds
her husbsud's name just added to the swelling death-roll.
It must be remembered that the number of sufferers who
were received at the hospital by no means represents the
whole of these who sustained injury on the occasion aaly
the wont cases were retained. &Acne, after having their wounds
dressed by the medical staff, were discharged, and trauy others
never went to Hester at all. In this category must oe included
the recently appointed Oaptain of the Thunderer, Capiain 3. C.
Wilson, Mr. Robert Hutephrys, one of the contractors, and
Mr. Maxwell, the coetreeLora' manager, the tiret two of
whom were scalded in the face and hands. Captain Wilson
appears to have had a narrow escape. He was in the engine-
room at the time of the exploeiom and, being enveloped in
the scalding steam, he could not find his way to the upper
deck. In this position he was found by Mr. Weeks, one of
the engineers of the ship, who, having stopped the engines,
was rushing into the stoke-hole to close the stop-valves,
when he stumbled against Captain Wilson, who was almost
gone, and whom he conducted up the engine-room ladder.
You are, indeed, a brava man," was the significant
acithowlede.ment. Many, who in the excitement of the
nvimeht idlest, had no time to think of theinselves, now
find themselves suffering from abrasions, more or less severe,
and from scalds in various parts of the face. Few of the
engineer officers who rushed through the steam to bring out
the men from the stoke-hole have escaped untouched. Mr.
John Oliver, the Chief Inspector of Machinery, is suffering
from exteutive excoriation in the throat from having inhaled
the hot steam while so employed.
The excitement produced in Portsmouth by the accident
continues to increase, and the gates of the dockyard and the
Royal Navel Hospital at Hasler are daily beseiged by erowos
who at xiously sum up the number of deaths as each fresh
list is exhibited. On Saturday the minute bell was tolled from
the Parish church of St. Thomas, and at most of the places
of worship in the borough. Touching reference was made
.on Sunday to the event at both the morning and the even-
ing services. At the Dockyard Chapel, the Rev. J. Cawaton,
the chaplain, preached in the morning from the text,
"Dust thou art, and into dust shall thou return," the
sermon being listened to by the Admirol and most of the
dock) ard offi late. The warm sympathies of the Queen have
been aroused on behalf of the 'Offerers, and reports are being
conatantiy forwarded to Osborne by the Admiral Command-
ing-in-tehief with respect to the condition of the men in
hospital. Late on Friday night the fates, hug message was
despatentd to Admiral Elliot by Her Majesty, to whom the
sad intelligence of the casualty had beets communicated a
few hours previously on her passing through to Osborne :

"I have learnt with the deepest concern the dreadful
accideht which has occuried on board the Thunderer, and
wish the poor sufferers and the families of those who, al-,s I
are killed to know how grieved and distressed I am. Pray
send all details."

Admiral Elliot having forwarded a report of the accident,
Her Majesty telegraphed the following reply at twelve
ruidules past eight &Ai Saturday morning
"Your account deeply grieves me. How are the poor
sufferers? WhaG caused the dreadful accident."

At noon of the same day the Queen again telegraphed :
" Grieved to hear of more deaths."

The Queen has ordered £lO to be transmitted at once to
the Ausutral Commanding at Portsmouth for the immediate
relief of the widows and families of the sufferer..

Her Mid osty, besides showing her deep concern for the
sufferers by constant inquiries, has iu.tructed one of her
EquerrieA and a private pny sician to visit the Hotpital and
communicate her condolence to the injured.
The Prince of Wales forwarded the following telegram
from 31.•irlborough fit use to the Commander-in•Cnief at four
o'cleck on Saturday afternoon :
--- - •

"The Princess of Wes and myself are greatly shocked at
the Ban accident which has occurred on board the Thunderer.
Pray cumnunicate our condolence to the famides of the
killed and our sympathies to the uoundcd. We are anxious
to hear how the latter are getting on"

On Saturday morning Inspector. General Smart received
the following telegram at Hasler from the Admiralty;—

"The First Lord and the members of the Board deeply re-
gret the sad accident of yesterday, nod convey their sincere
sympathy to the sufferers, and are anxious to hear how they
progress, and if anything can be done for them."
The deep personal interest which has been aroused
throughout the district by the accident is very generaL As
has already been obterved, the lhunderer was not only
testing her machinery, but was as the same time being
rapidly prepared for the pendant. All kinds of work was
consequently going on simultaneously. While the engineers
and stokers were occupied with the machinery, Sir William
Armstrong's men were preparing for trial of the new
locking gear for the foremost turret, draughtsmen from the
dockyard were getting ready to measure the circles, and
joiners, smiths, painters, shipwrights, and fitters were
plying their several handicrafts in Tarions parts of the
monitor. There was accordingly a mixture of classes, and
we have only to read the list of killed aro! wounded to see
how fat the calamity was from being confined to the purely
naval element.

• It was at first intended that the inquest on the bodies
should aot be opened until Monday morning, and-the relit.
Lives of the deceased were informed to that effect at the
hospital. But, in consequence of the high temperature of
the weather and the shocking condition of the remains, it
was deemed advisable that, inasmuch as identification would
have been rendered increasingly difficult by delay, the inqui-
sition should be opened at once. Summonses were accurd•
'ugly issued, and the County Coroner, Mr. E. .T. Harvey, and
a jury consisting of 17 Gosport tradesmen, with Mr. Thomas
Goringe as foreman, assembled at the holpital at half-
post four on Saturday afternoon. At this time 29
deaths had been reported, and the first duty of the jury
was the melancholy one of viewing the bodies, They
first proceeded to the erysipilas ward, which had been ex-
tempo• fzed into a dead-house for the occasion, and in which
were 19 bodies, including those of the naval engineers, laid
out in plain coffins upon tressels. In these cases identifi-
cation was comparatively easy. The jury next proceeded to
the mortuary, to which were ten other bouies. These were
those of the stokers, who had been blown from the after
stokehole into the engine-room passage, and whose deaths
must consequently have been instantaneous. The bodies
had not as yet been canned, but were laid out on the floor.
They were covered over with blankets and it is only proper
If we also draw a covering over the ghastly sights which lay
collOealed below.
There is an earnest demand expressed, on the part of naval
officers no less than on the part of friends and the general
public, that,the most stringent investigation should he made
Into the cause of the disaster. Ills felt on all hands that
the stokers, who are a picked body of men, could not again
be expeled.to enter the stokeholes of the Thunderer—nor
Aught they to ,be ordered to do so—until the causes of the
accident have been ascertained and provided against for the
rupture. Everylcidy Is repeating the momentous question
of the Queen's melisage—" What caused the dreadful acci-
dent?" It Is positively' asserted by scientific engineers,
naval and otherwise; that the canoe of the calamity is not
far to seek, that it will be found to be of the most
Ordinary character, and that with common precaution the
accident could not have occurred. It will be the imperative
duty of the Coroner's jump trace the explosion to it source.
•
• c- P9RTSXOIITH, Monday Evening.
To-day two more of the injured men Succumbed, namely,
Henry 0. Filter, engineer in the employ of Messrs.
Humphreys, Velment, and Co., the manufacturers of the
machinery of the unfortunate Thunderer ; and George J,
Crockforti, naval stoker. Several of the remaining enfterers
included in the list of severely injured are lying in the direst
peril. The lists which Admiral Elliot has had placed out-
side the dockyard gates continue to be eagerly scrutinised
by thousands of persons. To-day one of the Queen's
equerries and Surgeon McEwen, of the Royal yacht Victoria
and Albert, in accordance with the wish of the Queen, have
visited llaslar lloepital and seen those patients who were in
a condition to receive the Royal condolences. It is rumoured
that the Queen is desirous of paying a visit in person to the'
sufferers. The benevolent fund which has been commenced
for the benefit of the distressed relatives now amounts to
more than £l,OOO. Several of the members of the Board of
Admiralty have subscribed, and Messrs. Humphreys, Ten-
nant, and Co. have given £.500. Subscriptions will be re-
ceived by the provisional committee, of which Admital
Elliot, the commander-in-Chief, and Rear-Admiral Sir
Leopold McClintock, are presidents.
PORTSMOUTH, Tuesday Morning.
Two further deaths have occurred—Robert Littlefield, 24,
and Robert Bennett, 27, both ra okers—and some of the other
pour rellows are in a very precarious condition.

The jury assembled in the town of Gosport on Tuesday
morning, and then proceeded by a Government steam launch,
which happened to be the same one as brought the dead
bodies ashore from the Thunderer to Hasler Hospital. Here
they procseded to view the eight other bodies of those poor
fellows who have expired since the opening of the inquest.
This was necessarily a work of some time. The 30 ct tlins
filled the ward in which they were placed. Since baturday
loving hands had scattered lilies and other flowers, with a
quantity of evergreens, on the lids of the coffins. In conse-
quence of the alteration in the arrangements by goiug to
Hasler ht-fore Inspecting the vessel, some of the witnesses as
to the identification were not in attendance, and a delay
therefore ensued. A few of them, however, were formally
recognised, and then the jary embarked on board the steam
launch and proceeded to the Thunderer, which lies up the
harbour, alongside the end of the yard. They then made an
inapt ctiou of the ship, which occupied a considerable time. In
order that all the facts might be ascertained before the jury
met again, the inquest was adjourned until Thursday, the
27th of July. As soon as the Coroner and jury had lett the
1 hunderer the doors cf the water-tight bulkheads were
closed, end the stoke-hole will be hermetically sealed until
the scientific examination is made.