3-011-655 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Scene of the fire at Dockhead, Bermondsey, [London], sketched on Saturday morning, 1864. 'a great fire broke out in the waterside premises of Messrs. Barry Brothers, wharfingers and saltpetre merchants...The warehouses...contained many thousand tons of saltpetre, and, as a strong wind was blowing...the piles and blocks of saltpetre caught fire one after another, sending forth immense volumes of brightly-coloured flame and scattering smoke, ashes, and sparks...Adjoining this capacious warehouse stood another...termed the H Extension Warehouse. This building was filled with several thousand bales of jute, and in less than a quarter of an hour it also was wrapped in flames...It was impossible...to prevent the fire from spreading...The steam fire-engine of Messrs. Roberts...was supported by two steam floating-engines...upon the floors becoming ignited in which the saltpetre was stored, loud and fearful explosions took place in rapid succession, which blew down heavy brick walls and lifted the tiles and roofs...The flames lighted up all the shipping in the Thames...the water itself shone like an immense stream of liquid gold...The damage, which was confined mainly to the warehouses just mentioned and their contents, is estimated at about £80,000'. From "Illustrated London News", 1864.