2-982-198 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Ruins of the Late Fire at the London Docks, 1858. The fire '...originated in the South Stack Warehouse on the South Quay building, several floors high, each filled with gutta percha, saltpetre, sugar, jute, cider, hemp, ropes, cochineal, saffron, and drugs of great value. To save warehouses containing such combustibles as these proved impossible, and the flames soon got complete possession. The engines arrived very quickly, but torrents of water made no impression on the flames...Just as the conflagration was at its height the gutta percha and indiarubber ran in a state of ignition amongst some tons weight of saltpetre...three tremendous explosions occurred. The effect was appalling. An immense sheet of fire shot almost halfway across the basin, and the heavy concussion that shook the earth led to a belief that the whole range of the South Stack was coming down. The central division was blown to atoms...A number of men were injured by falling bricks, but none, we are happy to say, seriously. Immense stores and property were destroyed, the value of which has been variously estimated at from £150,000 to £300,000'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.