2-970-130 - /Heritage Images

Scene of the Late Accident at the City Canal Dock-Gates, Blackwall Point, [London], 1856. '...the outer gates...have been under repair, and could not be used, so that the whole pressure of the water in the dock was against the inner gate...the tide in the river was at the lowest ebb; the lock was almost dry; while on the other side of the closed gates in the lock there was a depth of some nineteen or twenty feet of water. Suddenly...the lock-gates, which opened inwards, were forced outwards towards the river, by the pressure of water, with tremendous fury, and a scene of the most alarming and almost indescribable nature ensued. The ponderous heavy gates were literally carried away from their massive bearings by the force of the current, and swept into the river, and then came the numerous lighters and craft which had collected near the entrance...many of them sank with their cargoes'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.