3-011-386 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The explosion of gunpowder magazines at Erith: the site of the powder-magazines after the explosion, 1864. 'Shortly after the explosion showers of letters, invoices, and other papers, which had been borne on the wind a distance of four miles, fell within the precincts of the arsenal, and clearly indicated the scene of the catastrophe...As soon as it was supposed to be safe to do so, people...proceeded to the spot and ventured to explore the ruins in search of anyone that might be living...[The injured] were conveyed with as much care and speed as possible to Guy's Hospital...Elizabeth Wright, a child nine years of age, died shortly after her admission...It is supposed that the men on board the two barges were blown to pieces, as their bodies have not been found... Of the magazines themselves not a single stone remained upon another, the very foundations being torn up, and the site of that of Messrs. Hall was marked by huge fissures and chasms in the earth, immense lumps of which had been scooped out and hurled about the adjacent fields...It was resolved that the disasters clearly proved the impropriety of large quantities of gunpowder and other explosive materials being allowed to be manufactured or stored in the vicinity of populous places'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.