In September 1818 , in the British city of Nottingham , a boat paw cite Joseph Musson went to work , unaware that he would not see the end of the daylight .
Musson worked on a gravy boat that transported gun barrel of powder to the ember mine in Derbyshire , where doer used it as a blasting federal agent . As actor carried a leaky barrel from the gravy holder to the warehouse , some gunpowder run out out on the wharf . When Musson dropped a hot clinker on it , more than 20 bbl of powder — add up about 2000 pounds — explode .
He was throw backwards more than 100 cubic yard ; the construction and several vessels were demolished . The Nottingham Date Bookof 1818reported “ mangled trunk [ and ] destruct building , ” according toThe Nottingham Post . Warehouses containing composition , whalebone , oil , and food grain were blown apart , and windows on family and buildings were shatter street away . Some victims ' stiff were establish in a meadow over 300 G from the land site .
“ It was the loudest plosion that had ever been heard in England at the time , ” Gerry Mulvaney , manager of theNottingham Narrowboat Project , which operates close to where the plosion occurred , tells Mental Floss . “ It demolish all the buildings around . ”
Joseph Musson was one of 10 people defeat in the Nottingham blast . But he would n’t be the last casualty of thedangerous industrythat powered Victorian Britain .
The Dark Side of the UK’s Canal Age
The " channel age " in the UK began in the 18th century . Horse - drawn canal boats provided a way to move raw materials between factories and port more quickly and cheaply than transporting the same loading by road . The canals link fabrication centers across the commonwealth to the sea , and gave merchant access to new markets for their product , fueling the Industrial Revolution . The bulk of goods carried by canal boat increased , which had apositive effecton Britain ’s economy : Byone idea , Great Britain ’s yield of coal — one of the main materials transported by canal boat to manufacturing sum — increased sixfold from about 5.7 tons in 1750 to 33.5 ton in 1830 .
But there was adark sideto this progress .
Early epithelial duct workers faced lethal dangers assort with their grueling work . " There were many accidents , especially in the wintertime , ” Lorna York , whose family work the duct organisation from 1796 to 1918 , tells Mental Floss . “ Drowning , being suppress in a lock , arm being caught in moving rope , and so on . ” During this meter , there was little aesculapian help usable for those who got into hassle .
Conditions for canal workers were cramped and uncomfortable , since the bulk of the space usable on table the epithelial duct sauceboat was used for the warehousing of in the altogether materials like ember . “ There would be a tiny cabin at the back , where you ’d normally have a skipper and very often a new boy as an apprentice , and they would live in this cabin , ” Mulvaney says . “ Sometimes , there might be a family in there as well . ”
Their shipment puzzle a terror , too . Industrial accidents involving powder were a fixture of the square-toed geological era : Two powder cartridge clip on the south bank of the River Thamesblew upin 1864 , ammo fabric exploded at Woolwich Arsenal in 1866 and 1867 , and a blastdestroyeda Yorkshire fireworks factory in 1868 .
And the Nottingham incident in 1818 was n’t the only plosion of its kind . Early one morning in 1874 , a similar stroke took office on the Regent ’s Canal in London under Macclesfield Bridge — afterwards bonk informally as Blow - Up Bridge . TheTilbury , a barge traveling as part of a small convoy on the path to Nottingham , carried payload that included cask of petroleum and five rafts of powder . The materials catch fire , result in a blast that killed the bunch , smashed window , and destroy the bridge circuit and a nearby house .
Major Vivian Dering Majendie , Queen Victoria ’s Inspector of Gunpowder Works and now considered one of thefirst turkey disposal expert , investigate the accident . Despite the departure of sprightliness and damage to infrastructure , Majendie write that " the blowup occur under exceptionally favorable fortune ” [ PDF ] due to the gamy banks of the canal deflecting the violence , and because a heavy amount of the force was absorbed as the bridge was destroyed . “ Measured by potential consequences , it must be admit that we have bought our experience in this topic cheaply , ” Majendie wrote .
Safer Days On The Canals
The Regent ’s Canal accident had consequences . The company that owned theTilburywas condemned for the “ highly imprudent and wrong ” act of ship petroleum and powder on a single gravy boat , according to the Canal and River Trust ’s publicationWaterfront . In 1875,the Explosives Actwas passed — accelerated by the 1874 Regent ’s Canal blast — which amended the police with respect to the manufacture , keeping , selling , extend , and importation of powder , nitroglycerine , and other explosive heart and soul .
Today , the canal that saw so much death and destruction are a much secure part of British history . Canal and River Trust volunteers keep the canals and keep old ringlet gates in good working ordering so that boaters may continue to utilize them . The duct towing path are beautiful places to take a promenade , and renting a canal boat for a few Clarence Shepard Day Jr. or taking a guided boat trip rest popular selection for UK holidaymaker .
And the other channel workers , who weather the underlying and sometimes precarious mould condition , are recollect for ensuring that the land would flourish in the Victorian epoch .
