This Day in History: The Delft Explosion, also known in history as the Delft Thunderclap, occurred on this day 1654. Delft is a city in the province of South Holland, Netherlands, and in 1654 a gunpowder store in the city exploded, destroying much of the city, killing over 100 people and injuring thousands.
About 30 tonnes of gunpowder were stored in barrels in a magazine (a place where ammunition and explosives are stored) in a former Clarist convent in the Doelenkwartier district, where the Paardenmarkt is now located. Cornelis Soetens, the keeper of the magazine, opened the store to check a sample of the powder and a huge explosion followed. Luckily, many citizens were away, visiting a market in Schiedam or a fair in The Hague.
Today, the explosion is primarily remembered for killing Rembrandt's most promising pupil, Carel Fabritius, and destroying almost all of his works.
Delft artist Egbert van der Poel painted several pictures of Delft showing the devastation.
The gunpowder store was subsequently re-housed, a 'cannonball's distance away', outside the city.
On 16 February 1646, 80 barrels (5.72 tons) of gunpowder were accidentally ignited by a stray spark during the Battle of Torrington in the English Civil War, destroying the church in which the magazine was located and killing several Royalist guards and a large number of Parliamentarian prisoners who were being held there.
There was another major gunpowder explosion in Leiden, Netherlands on January 12, 1807 that killed 150 people.
On 27 April 1813, the magazine of Fort York in York, Ontario (now Toronto) was fired by retreating British troops during an American invasion. 13.6 tonnes of gunpowder and thirty thousand cartridges exploded sending debris, cannon and musket balls over the American troops. Thirty-eight soldiers, including General Zebulon Pike, the American commander, were killed and 222 were wounded.
On 30 December 1848, in Multan during the Second Anglo-Sikh War, a British mortar shell hit 180 tonnes of gunpowder stored in a mosque, causing an explosion and many casualties.
On 6 November 1856 lightning struck 3,000 to 6,000 hundredweight (roughly 150-300 tonnes) of gunpowder stored by the Ottoman Empire in the bell tower of the Agios Ioannis church near the Palace of the Grand Master of the Knights of Rhodes in Rhodes, triggering a blast that destroyed large parts of the city and killed 4,000 people.
In 1865 after the Union Army captured Fort Fisher, North Carolina, the accidental explosion of the fort magazine resulted in an estimated 200 persons killed.
On 25 May 1865, in Mobile, Alabama, an ordnance depot (magazine) exploded, killing 300 people. This event occurred just six weeks after the end of the American Civil War, during the occupation of the city by victorious Federal troops.
On 15 February 1898, more than 5 tons of gunpowder exploded on the USS Maine in the Havana Harbor, Spanish Cuba, killing 266 on board. Spanish investigations found that it was likely started by spontaneous combustion of the adjacent coal bunker or accidental ignition of volatile gases.
On 15 October 1907, approximately 40,000 kegs of powder exploded in Fontanet, Indiana, killing between 50 and 80 people, and destroying the town. The sound of the explosion was heard over 200 miles (320 km) away, with damage occurring to buildings 25 miles (40 km) away.
No comments:
Post a Comment