The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-26 00:00:00

FURTHER PAR FICULARS.-TIIIS DAY.

This terrible fire is still raging with undiminished fury,
and, according to the statement of one of the old experienced
officers of the London Brigade, there appears little chance
of getting it extinguished for at least a week. The accounts
published in the morning papers convey but a faint idea of
the extent of the loss. The premises of Messrs. Barry
Brothers occupied several acres of ground in ona of the
narrowest and most densely-populated districts in the
parish of Bermondsey, which is studded with wharves,
mills, and factories. Messrs Barry's premises are probably
the largest on that side the water. They had a frontage
in Mill-street, Dockhead, and extended backwards to the
dock at shad Thames. In olose proximity were tho exten-
sive biscuit works of Peaks, Frean, and Co., and also the
immense oil stores of Messrs Scott and Co., and at one time
it was feared that every building near would have been
levelled with the ground.
The fire, it seems, was discovered in the G warehouse, a
brick and timber building six stories high, and filled with
jute, seeds, and sugar. This building stretched in one direc
tion 100 feet, and in the other 70 feet. It formed only
about 1-16th part of what is termed Meriton's-wharf, a
portion of which was destroyed by a similar disaster some
months back.
The moment the existence of the fire became known an
attempt was made to confine it to the floor in which it com-
menced, but that was found to be impracticable, and in the
course of a few minutes the loud rumbling noise that could
be heard from the ou'side of the building gave unmistak-
able evidences that the flames were making fearful havoc.
Before sufficient time had elapsed to send to the
nearest engine station, immense sheets of fl tme rolled out
of the different windows and through the roof, lighting up
the whole of the metropolis and the suburbs: in fact, the
guard of the Dover mail train states that the refl(ction could
be seen as far distant as Folkestone ; but the inhabitants

there, as many even in the metropolis, imagined from its
brilliancy, that it was one grand display of the aurora
borealis. Adjoining this tremendous warehouse stood an-
other, 70 feet long and 60 wide, termed the " II" extension
warehouse. This building was filled with several thou-
sand bales of jute, and in less than a quarter of an hour
after the discovery was made, this warehouse was also
wrapped in flames.

By this period the fire engines began to arrive, the first
being Roberts's Princess of "Wales, from Tooley-,street.
This land steamer was set to work iron the north side of

the wharf from an abundance of the Southwark Company's
water, but it at once became apparent that the flames would
not succumb to the power of this engine, and the two steam
floating engines were, by order of Mr Henderson, the chief
officer of the D district of the brigade, sent for, and they at
once came steaming up and down the river, and they were
safely anchored near the back warehouses of the wharf, and
set to work from the river Thames. Even these powerful
auxiliaries seemed to have no effect upon the violence of the
confirogration, which continued to spread, and at length the
river had all the appearance of an immense stream of liquid
gold. Every ship in the pool appeared from a distance to
be wrapped in flames, and the Custom-house, the Tower of
London, and even the venerable Cathedral of S. Paul pre-
sented similar grand spectacles. This called out the more
distant engines, and eventually there were over a d( Z,313
present, including three land steamers by Shand, Mason,
and Co. ; the Torrent steamer by Merryweather, from
Hodges' distillery; several manual-power engines of the
Brigade; and the Peckham and Hitcham Volunteer en-
gines and the 'West Ham foremen. The whole of the force
went to work in a manner to excite the approbation of all
present, and they (at the risk of losing their lives) entered
the blazing buildings, and conveyed the hose of their re,
spective engines up the floors of the then only two blitzing
buildings, but the water, which fell in thousands of tons
weight per minute, appeared to have not the least effect
upon the fearful element, and every one then lo .ked upon
the progress of the fire with astonishment and dismay.
The adjoining building to the last named was termed the
"H" warehouse. It was 60 feet long and 72 feet deep, and
was filled with jute, wheat, and saltpetre. The flames from
the other two buildings lapped completely round this struc-
ture, and the dangerous and explosive character of the
saltpetre having been made known to the firemen, men
were set to watch the walls to see if they bulged, so that
they might give the necessary intelligence to those stand-
ing with the hose on and around the blazing pile, so that
they might be enabled to run away. Tne worst predictions
of all present were quickly verified; for, upon the floors
becoming ignited in which the saltpetre was stored, explo-
sions loud and fearful in rapid succession took place, which
blew down heavy brick walls, lifted the tiles and roof of the
warehouse, which were sent flying in sundry directions,
and in their descent striking the firemen upon their hel-
mets, and, as it was, Mr Henderson was struck on the foot
and 90 badly hurt that ho was obliged to go home, We
understand, upon inquiry this morning, that although he
is much shaken, nothing very serious is apprehended.
At this conjecture the rain fell in such torrents that it
was calculated to extinguish any ordinary fire. but such was
the vast amount of flame that,
as the rain fell so copiously,
the reflection upon the water made it resemble rainbows,
such as are witnessed upon many occasions of the great
displays of the fountains of the Crystal Palace.
Here the firemen began to think that their labours wore
about to be crowned with success, but to their dismay, whilst
engaged in deluging the burning saltpetre, they found that
the wind had driven the flames into the D warehouse, a
building 61 feet long and 32 broad, This immense ware-
house was also filled with jute, seeds, and peas. The seeds
consisted of some thousand quarters of canary, linseed,
moss-seed, and hempseed. The jute alone in this building
was worth some thousand pounds, but the exact quantity
of wheat in this part of the wharf cannot at present be cor-
rectly ascertained, lout is stated to have amounted to several
thousand quarters.

At this point the firemen, under the direction of their
superior officers, seeing the great danger that the C ware-
house was exposed to, brought the full power of several of
the engines to bear upon the building, which soon became
deluged with water, and that expedient was happily crowned
with partial success, but the contents, as a natural conse-
quence, were greatly damaged by water.
ops in a regular
Having succeeded in stopping he progress of the devastat-
ingee
acing
element
the
whole
blaze, and from that bu lding the fl ,mss rolled over into
the Tackle-house, another large establishment. Here the
in
that
o f the direction,
carpenters' they
were again astonished at
workshops
flames again burst forth with increased fury, and again the
t
neighbourhood became brilliantly illumined. The fire at
the same time had just commenced to attack with full
books
ow vigour
oekltstno
dwelling
h.
teh,.eGc counting-house. nme
;Great
i ne gx
n- hitoeun s
excitement
and Messrs Barry's private
n was then caused lest the
, appertaining
to this part of the wharf
should be consumed—but it is satisfactory to state that
the businessfes they
willw were
re
not be retarded to
the books having been. deposited in ono of the patent
all got out unin-
jured, Reliance"e
fireproof
extent it otherwise might have been had the books
ur, consequently
been destroyed. The counting-house and.the dwelling-house
are, however, both considerably damaged, and so is the C

warehouse.
By half-past 12 to-day the firemen, under the direction
of Captain Shaw, Superintendent Irving, of the Surrey
MV or l uataerelress,
ILviheiutete,noafnt
the
eßceocuknert,y
FHieerad Engineer Medcalf,
. fri
and Engineer
Laughault, had the satisfaction of seeing the flames
commencing to succumb and palpably diminish beneath the
great weight of water that was falling from the land
steamers and the river Mating enginod upon the blazing
piles. To say, however, that all danger was at an end
would be incorrect, for unless the firemen continue to use
the greatest vigilance there is every possibility of a fresh
outbreak taking place, for immense bodies of fire still
remain in the different warehouses.
The total loss, it;is computed by those connected with the
the insurance offices, will amount to over £250,000, and
nearly the whole of the metropolitan and provincial fire in-
surance companies will be sufferers to a more or less extent
by the catastrophe. As to the origin of the calamity not the
least information can at present be gleaned. When the
wharf was closed at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the usual
hour for indoor packing and delivery, everything appeared
perfectly safe and
free from anything smoulderiitg ; and.it
was only when one of the neighbours heard, according to
his own version, a noise inside the building like unto a
water mill at full operation, that any one had the slightest
idea of a fire having taken place.
In order to convey some taint idea of the extent of the