2-913-638 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Entrance to the Coal-Mine of Heraclea, on the Black Sea, 1854. Fuel for allied ships during the Crimean War. 'The new system of steam-warfare demands an immediate supply of coal...the coal-pits of Heraclea, situated about midway between the Bosphorus and Sinope...are stated to be capable of furnishing an inexhaustible supply...About 17 years ago the deposit was first discovered or publicly made known. Since then, with the exception of the coal lying in the neighbourhood of the Cosiou Valley, it has been worked by Croats, Montenegrins, Bosnians, and other workmen drawn from among the quarrymen in the neighbourhood of Constantinople...The coal is transported to the shipping spouts on a tram railway, and is thence boated off to ships lying in the roadstead. From 400 to 500 tons can be thus shipped daily'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.