The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-04-17 00:00:00

a
/JISASTROUS EXPLOSION AT SILVER-

TOWN.
On Maiday afternoon, by the explosion of a still for
the manufacture of creosote, &c., at Silvertown, near
North Woolwich, eleven persons were killed and
several injured.
The report of the explosion was described by local
residents and the seamen on board ships in the Victoria
Docks as resembling a clap of thunder. This was
heard shortly after three o'clock, a.nd soon afterwards
it was ascertained that it was produced by an explosion
of °lie of the large stills belonging to Messrs. Burt,
Poulton' and Haywood. On the arrival of the police
and the Fire Brigade from West Ham the vast pre-
Were on fire—the flames having extended to a
Pile of pickled railway sleepers. The fire was of such
a character that the officials had to telegraph to
Chptain-Shaw, at Southwark Bridge-road, London,
for assistance. Mr. Superintendent Hamden and a
strong body of the Fire Brigade were soon at the
Spot, but the flames were not subdued until late at
Light.
The force of the explosion was tremendous, and the
massive circular top of the still, which is said to
have
h
weighed nearly three)tons, was arced to a greateight,
resembling, as one of the spectators expressed
himself, "a balloon ascending." Pieces of it were
found a considerable distance from the scene.
In all eleven men were found killed, but the list of
the injured could not be then completed. There was
one instance of a very painful nature. A man and a
boy (as is supposed) were found tightly holding one
another. They had evidently made an effort to escape,
and had only succeeded ,in reaching an outhouse.
Every atom of clothing was burnt, and their bodies
were as black as a negro's,
At a late hour on Monday night the superinten-
dents of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade gave the fol-
lowing as the damage :—A large still containing 2,000 gal-
lons of oil, destroyed by fire and explosion. Six tanks in
Yard cbntaining 20,000 gallons of oil burnt out ; a number
of sheds damaged by fire and explosion; three buildings
seriously damaged by explosion; a building of one
floor used as a drying room and three buildings used
as washing sheds damaged by explosion, all adjoining
and communicating a building 80ft. by 80ft., used as
Workshop and still-room, severely damaged by fire and
breakage. Stock in the yard injured by fire and
Water.

Major V. D. Majendie, Royal Artillery, her
Majesty's Inspector of Explosions, visited the scene of
the disaster on Tuesday, and made an inspection with
a.,,lTview of making a report of the sad calamity to the
,lome Office. Later in the day an inquest upon the
bodies of the sufferers was held by Mr. Lewis,
coroner for Essex, at the "Graving pock" Tavern,
but the evidence taken did not go beyond the identifi-
cation of such as could be identified. That
any of
them should have been claimed was
p.stonishing, seeing how fearfully they were mutilated,
burnt, and disfigured. In no case were the features
recognizable, and some of the rude coffins which
contained the supposed remnants of 11 human beings
presented to the view apparently no more than a few
fragments of charred bones and embers. Scarcely
AnY clothing remained, but in several instances the
boots were upon the feet, and were identified. By
these and other identifications seven were sworn to. It
was generally expected that some other bodies would
be recovered from the ruins, but a diligent search has
failed in finding any others, and the managers of the
establishment are confident that unless some stranger
has by any chance become involved in the calamity
its full extent is now known.

The following account of the accident has been
given by the representatives of the firm :
"The cause of the accident remains in some obscurity, as
the two men who were in charge of the apparatus which
exploded are among the killed, and as no similar accident
has been known to occur before with the same kind of opera-
tions. It is, unfortunately, too true that eleven men have
lost their lives, but to this number we trust the fatality will
le limited, as in addition there are only to report a few cases
a contusion and slight bruises, only one man having been
removed to a hospital. Mr. Cochrane, one of the managers
of the works, in a meritorious attempt to render assistance
was burnt about the head and faoe, but we believe that his
injuries are not serious, and lie is doing well. The fire was
confined to a portion of the large premises in which it
°lts'inated, and the damage to property is comparatively
trifling. We mention this as a somewhat exaggerated ac-
count appears at first to have been forwarded to the papers.'

The Standard of Wednesday gives the following par-
ticulars
A subsequent visit to the place where the first outbreak of
fire and explosion occurred gave a fair idea of the extent and
Dower of both. The works, which cover some twenty-five to
twenty-seven acres of ground, run along the river bank west
Of Silvertown Station. This vastspace is covered with nests
of stills and workshops, some of which are technicaly termed
urYing-rooms, and in which there are great ramifications
(4 iron pipes. The total number of stills on the works
IS thirty-two, and it was in a row of four, working together
tAt the western end, that the calamity occurred. These
stills, each of which contains 2,500 gallons, are madet
cif iron plates, rivetted, boiler-fashion, and covered with
brick work nearly to the top, which is cupola shaped.
To give extra strength to the structure, the brick
casings are bound with iron bands. The explosion occurred
in the third of these stills, and all that now remains of it is
the base, with the fire bars of the furnace; the bricks and
iron that formed it being thrown hither and thither within a
sPace of 100 to 140 yards, while the top part, weighing some
two or three tons, is deposited amongst a lot of empty
barrels in an open space about 100 yards from where it as-
cended, and in reaching which it had to pass over a number
o[ra-buildings. The stills in question, Which were charged
Own Saturday, are attended by two men, to whose assistance,
the fire broke out, the other victims of the disaster went.
solnihe.flrst alarm given was shortly after three o'clock, when
holee" bi"e flames were .observed playing round the " man-
as._sistaonfeet!lestdill question. The man in charge called for
an
wnere he promptly ascended to the top of the still,
sand whevnas endeavouring to smother the flame with we
iowd a
,so_the explosioit took place. There instantly fol
mathi 4garat ion which, to use the words of a bystander,
the rif,}.7ls air full of flame and fire." The retort on
Moved"' of the exploded one was lifted bodily and
about eight feet while that on the right had its
brickwork broken nearly to pieces. The flue connecting
the retorts with a huge shaft some 100 feet high was
,ailso broken, but the shaft i:self, though completely
Li.a9cened, does not seem to have seffered further. A water
immediately facing the retorts, and holding many
"-ouagrids of gallons, was upset from its concrete foundation,
mid the adjacent buildings were wrecked. In all directions
lie huge pieces of ironwork torn and twisted as though they
Were
so much wire, while close alongside heaps of hoops,
arranged in circles, with a mass of charred wood, attest
Where a hundred or so of barrels of tar stood ready for use.
In the buildings, on which scarcely a tile remains, the walls
and iron work show signs of 041 intense heat that must have
prevailed. •
In a small shed in the extreme rear of the stills, and at a
distance Of aboet forty yards from them, four men were
working when the explosion took place. To this place there
are two doors, one leading almost to the scene of the acci-
dent and the other to the rear. From the latter two men
escaped, while the others attempted an exit by the front,
Where they perished in the flames that entered when the door
waaiopened. It was fortunately high water when the catas-
trophe occurred, and so there was a plentiful supply of water
foethe engines that -hurried to the spot, while the steam
floats on the river were also able to take up favourable posi-
tions, the resu4 of which was that the actual fire was
confined to the ?pace in which it first occurred and sonic
adjoining tanks of oil containing about 20,000 gallons. The
three stills adjoining that which exploded also fired, but
simply burned themselves out. It is considered fortunate
that the still had burst in the way it did, as if it had either
started first at the side, or had the wind been in a different
direction, the consequences must have been far more serious.
When the still burst the burning oil was scattered in every
direction, and created numberless small fires, which were
checked with creditable promptitude; in fact, it was in con-
nection with this service that Mr. Cochrane, one of the
Managers, received his hurts.
As soon as the news spread throughout the neighbourhood
that an accident had taken place women and children from
fdl parts flocked to the gates, outside which the scene re-
heirCbled a pit bank immediately after a colliery explosion.
In this case; however, the excitement was very brief, as the
Worst was soon known, the whole of the hands being as
quickly as possible "rung out" to enable them to allay the
anxiety of their relatives, A tally of the men was taken
with-as much accuracy as could be made under the circum-
etances, and the extent of the calamity was soon known with
tolerable accuracy.