2-982-533 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Blowing Up of the Vanguard Rock at Plymouth on Friday, the 5th November - from a sketch by Major Bredin, R.A., 1858. Displacement of '...the rock at the entrance of the Devonport harbour...One of the huge cylinders sent out to the Crimea during the late war for the purpose of blowing up the sunken fleet at Sebastopol, but shipped home again without being applied to that end, was the means employed...the cylinder, which was fourteen feet in length and four feet five inches in diameter, and which contained about a ton of gunpowder, was sunk into position...Thirteen minutes after the fuse was ignited the cylinder exploded, carrying up a cone of water estimated at...forty feet high...A tremor as that produced by an earthquake was felt along the shore of the harbour for a considerable distance, and the whole body of water was put in a state of agitation...In the harbour thousands of fish were seen to jump out of their element at the time of the explosion... [which was] was witnessed by some thousands of spectators ...[and a] hearty cheer was given...Captain Jemingham, R.N., of her Majesty's ship Cambridge, conducted the operations...An examination made by the divers...proves that the explosion was even more successful than had been anticipated'. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.