The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-18 00:00:00

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The Awful Explosion at gerptoxfr:t---,x '-‘'Zi
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An appalling noisy, accompanied b 1111 c:
made the houses tremble, was heard a
Friday evening last, at 7.2 e, and
alariu. It was not the roar of artillery, it wat-Ift
convulsion more like the comtination of an earth-
quake and a distant thunder-clap. At least, so it
appeared to residents in the upper part the town.
Lower down and ne,tr the Exchange the detonation
and convulsion were most alarming. A few seconds
atter the shock frightened peop.e could be seen at
every door endeavouring to ascertain the cense of
it; the gas in the streets had seen extinguished,
and every corner had its knot cf dismayed people
impairing what had happened, A person resid-
ing in fluskisson-strect states that on going out
he met a boy, who calmly told him he sup-

poked a ship which had been on fire in the river
he d blown up. Next he was informed that the

hrjuse of the " British Merchant" in Bedford-

E,.treet had been destroyed by a gas explosion. Eu-
eourVering an oysterman, he asked him, and was

told that there had been an avful flash of lightning

and clap of thunder, and that the eleclric fluid bad
played round the rim of his basket and frightened

him very much. He then came to a policeman,

surrounded by a crowd eager for information, but
he was as ignorant as the inquirers. Proceeding
towards town, he found the streets crowded with

people. Passing St. Luke's Church, a gust of air
_ _

smelling of gunpowder persuaded him that his first
informant was correct. Bold-street was thronged.
Opposite Messrs. Urquhart's, whose plate glass
windows had been blown in, was an anxious crowd,
all under the belief that an explosion of gas had
occurred. Again, at Gillham's (the bottom of Lord-
street), the same scene was witnessed. Every
person was asking his or her neighbour
for information, but few if any seemed to have
a correct idea of what had oecured. Every-
where the ground was covered with fragments of
glans. The shops by this time were being again
lighted up, but the streets were in partial darkness,
and it was somewhat difficult to thread your way
through the concourse of people. Bat now persons
coining up from the landing-stage spread the news
that the barque Lottie Sleigh, Captain Webster, had
Vown up in the river. This vessel, which belongs
t e Messrs. Hatton and Cookson, and bound for
Africa, was taking in powder from the magazine
boats off Tranmeve, and had already stowed away
eleven tons, when, about 6 p.m., as the steward was
engaged in the cabin trimming the lamps with para-
fin oil, soma of it explodedand ignited the captain's
bed curtains. Prompt measures were taken to
suppress the flames, but they had a►ready attained
the mastery. The knowledge that so much gun-
powder was on board doubtless, to some extent,
paralysed the exertions of the crew. At length,
despairing of success, they gathered together what-
ever they could lay their hands on, and were
taken off by the passing Rock ferry-boat
Wasp, and landed at the small stage. The maga-
zine boat also cleared off. A dog was left on board
which howled dismally. By this time the flames
had spread all over the vessel, and the news was
circulated on the pier-heads that the vessel would
soon blow up. Hundreds of persons awaited the
event, not, however, without much trepidation.
When the explosion did come off the spectators
were panic-stricken, and rushed frantically off the
stage and pierheads. And yet the Lottie Sleigh
was at least a mile distant. The night being dark
the explosion was all the more brilliant, the flames
rising to a great height. Iu the glare could be seen

the spars and fragments of the vessel upheaved.
Suddenly darkness settled upoa the scene, and
nothing more could be observed from the shore.
The force of the explosion may be imagined when
we mention that bolts and fragments of the ship
were hurled into Tranmere; and it is even said
that one of her knees was driven through the
moulding-room of Mr. Clayton, shipbuilder. It is,
however, a remarkable fact that at Bromborough
and Eastham, on the Cheshire side, and nearer the
vessel, the explosion was unnoticed. At Rock Ferry
the shock was comparatively slight. The residents
in Fulwood-park, on the Lancashire side, nearly
opposite Tranmere, remained ignorant of what had
happened. At Birkenhead the damage to glass was
immense. Liverpool and its outskirts will afford
work for many hundreds of glaziers for weeks to
come. Perhaps Birkenhead suffered more severely
from the explosion than any other place. The
houses in Hamilton-rquare had a great part of their
windows blown in. At Gough's lintel a great
number of panes were broken. The windows of
Mr. Rigby, wine and spirit merchant, nearly
opposite, were blown out, along with the stock
which was displayed in them. An iron bolt
from the ship foil through the roof of a
house in Sydney-street, and three children
narrowly escaped injury. In North-street a
long bar of iron also fell through a rcof, occasion-
ing some damage. Other fragments fell on the land-
ing-stage and piers. The cabin windows of the
Woodside ferry steamer Cheshire were all broken.
The glass roof to the landing-stage bridges was
much injured. Tha windows of the Monks Ferry
Hotel suffered very much. Tranmore, opposite which
place the Lottie Sleigh was lying, did not suffer as
much as might have been anticipated, although the
destruction of glass was very considerable. A piece
of the anchor stock of the vessel is said to have fallen
on board the Tranmere ferry boat Birkenhead, doing
very slight damage. At Seacombe, Egremont, end
along the Cheshire shore to the mouth of the river
many windows were broken. On the Lancashire
side perhaps Messrs. Urquhart's premises, in Bold-
street, suffered most. Four large plate glass panes,
valued £6O, fell into the street, wounding, it is said,
a woman who was passing. By 11 a.m. on Saturday
the window frames were reglazed. Messrs. Shellard
and Hodgson's large windows also suffered, as did
those of Messrs. Anderson. In Lord-street Messrs.

t 4,

,f 4

Livingston had their windows shattered, as had
Messrs. Gillham, and Mr. Wood, hatter. Mr. Demp-

ster's shop, in Castle-street, had three large panes
smashed. Mr. G. Eastee, in the Crescent, had his
shop front entirely demolished. Soa.c of the large
plate windows in the Exchange news rooms were
blown in, one piece of glass falling into the room.
In Berry-street and Great George-street the shock
was severely felt, and much damage done. Tae
Custom-house had all the glass in the south front
broken. It would, however, require several columns
to particularise the premises which suffered from
the explosion. The alter window of St. George's
of portions
serious of
damage. Church was cracked. From the north, south,
east, thetvtownF
accounts have
been
and
receivedwest,
few, if any,
i cases of personal injury were sus-
sus-
tained. It s stated that the insurance offices
are not liable for the damage to property
under the terms of their policies. On Saturday,
however, the directors of the
Royal Insurance Com•
parry came to the determination of making good the
loss suffered by their insurers. It was reported on
Saturday, but very probably the report is incorrect,
that a solicitor in Liverpool
had been instructed by
some of the sufferers by the explosion to proceed
against the owners of the vessel.
The destruction of the Lottie Sleigh naturally
directs attention to the shipment of powder in the
Mersey. Several years ago powder was stored in
shore magazines at Liscard, Cheshire. The popu-
lation in that neighbourhood did not like the prox-
imity, and agitated for their removal, in which they
were successful. The powder for shipment is now
kept on board a couple of vessels specially con-
structed for the purpere, and anchored in the
broadest part of the river, near Eastham. These
vessels aro so arranged that iu case of danger
they can be immediately scuttled. Unless the
shipment of gunpowder from the Mersey is to be
prohibited entirely, we must run some ziak. 'The
Thames has the quiet waters of Gravesend, where
ships can load and ; but Liverpool merchants
have only to choose between risking the loss of
their property in Bootle Bay, or removing their
establishments elsewhere. The Mersey is a nbloe
eg of late
river, and the enormous increase of shipping
years already tasks its capabilities to .uslthe utmost.
i
y ir, to
It would, however, be acting nnjudic
avert a very slight risk, any on e°f the trades which
conduce to the welfare of Liverpool were inter-
fered with.

A grand ball was given on Friday at the Hotel
do Yale, upwards of 3,000 persons being present,