2-913-698 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Conflagration at Varna: French Line-of-Battle ship "Bayard" - H.M. Frigate "Leander", 1854. Crimean War: fire in a Bulgarian Black Sea port. 'In the bay were the Bellerophon, Sanspareil, and Leander, English; French ship Bayard...All these vessels sent parties on shore with their fire-engines...The fire was rapidly approaching towards the gunpowder magazines of both armies...[roofs were] kept wet by the engines playing upon them, preserving the magazines from the fury of the flames...The fire was not got under until...the following day; it had advanced to within a dozen yards of the magazine...To the left...is where the fire raged with the greatest fury. Here were the brandies of the French army. They burned for some hours with intense fury and splendour, sending forth an almost pure white light...A very large portion of the town is destroyed, including three mosques'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.