First published in "The Sydney Morning Herald" April 21, 1865.
A terrible accident occurred at the Dry Dock, Balmain, between ten and eleven o'clock on the morning of the 28th March (1865), when three persons — Joseph Porter, John Gordon and Robert Craig, were killed by the bursting of a boiler, and seven other men severely injured.
On the western side of the Dry Dock there is a large building, about one hundred and fifty feet long, the greater part of which is used as a workshop by Messrs. P. N. Russell and Co., but the northern end of it is an engine room. The framework of the place is substantially built of wood, and a timber partition separated the workshop from the engine-house. The engine was about fifty horse power, and worked a centrifugal pump, used for the purpose of emptying the water out of the dock. There were two cylindrical-shaped boilers, each about six feet in diameter and about twenty-five feet long; those were firmly-set in brickwork, parallel to each other, at the northern end of the shed.
The steamship Otago is now lying in the dry dock, and the pump was set to work on Tuesday morning to drain the dock, in order to allow of the painting of the vessel. The pump had scarcely (as it is understood) began to work before one of the boilers exploded. The boiler burst at both ends; the northern end was shivered and all of it blown out, some of the pieces of iron being projected over the roadway which bounds the northern side of the dockyard — the distance being estimated at over 150 feet. The boiler itself was lifted out of the brickwork in which it had been embedded, forced through the partition already referred to, and was lodged at a distance of about 80 feet.
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| The Dry Dock Balmain [Looking west across Mort’s Dock at Waterview Bay, Balmain. The building on right was severely damaged by a boiler explosion in 1865] |
Some idea may be gained of the force of the explosion, from the circumstance that the weight of the boiler is between 6 and 7 tons; that the partition through which it burst was mainly built of beams of great strength and thickness; and that the large iron lathes, in a direct line with the boiler, were smashed to pieces. The concussion was tremendous. The front of the engine-room was blown out, portions of the iron roofing were riven off, and a great deal of the machinery in the Messrs. Russell's workshop was destroyed. The iron of the boiler was about 7-16ths. of an inch in thickness; and the boiler appears to have been in use for sometime. The second boiler was only slightly displaced; and the one which burst shot forward in a straight line to the southern end of the building.
When the smoke, steam, and dust had partially cleared away, the bricks, baulks, and pieces of iron strewn about the place in the greatest disorder looked dismal enough, but appalling and hideous indeed must have been the sight of mangled corpses which met the eyes of the terror-stricken spectators. One poor fellow, named Robert Craig, a fireman, who, it is said, was sitting on the top of the boiler at the time of the explosion, was actually blown to pieces; — head, legs, arms, and trunk were torn asunder, and scattered about in the merest shreds, and his remains could only be identified by some peculiar mark on one of his knuckles. It was not till some time after the occurrence that portions of his body were found among the debris.
Another unfortunate man named John Gordon appears to have been jammed between the boiler and the lathe at which he was working. He was seen to breathe, but no sooner was attention called to him than it was found that his entrails had been thrust out, both his arms were broken, and his legs only hung to his body by the slenderest filaments. A third, Joseph Porter, a lad who was at work by the side of the last-named, had his skull smashed and his brains were scattered about. The unfortunate sufferer received other severe injuries, but the fracture of his skull must have occasioned instant death.
The part of the building where Gordon and Porter were employed was about forty feet distant from the engine. Robert Craig was a young man employed by Mr. J. Cuthbert, who is the lessee of the dock and also of the engine room. John Gordon, who was about twenty-five years of age, was an engine-fitter and turner in the service of the Messrs. Russell, and Porter, who was seventeen or eighteen years of age, was apprenticed to them as an engineer. Gordon has left a wife and two or three children, who live in Short-street, Balmain. With respect to Porter, it may be mentioned that his father was accidentally killed at the same spot, on the celebration day of the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales. Mace Nicol it is feared cannot long survive, for in addition to being badly scalded, both the outer and inner tables of his skull are fractured. The unfortunate man was a fitter in the employment of Russell and Co., and all the men who have been injured (with the exception of Wardrop and Craig) belonged to the same establishment.
John Phillips and his brother George (boiler makers) were both severely hurt; the former received a wound on the side of his head, and the latter had one of his legs fractured at the ankle joint. John was removed to the Sydney Infirmary, and George was taken home. David Miller, the son of the foreman, engineering apprentice, suffered severe wounds on his scalp and one on his legs. Mr. Orr, a boot-maker, who happened to be walking along the dock near the building, was struck by some missile which broke the neck of his shoulder blade. Mr. Wardrop (Mr. Cuthbert's engineer) was much hurt on his head. Only the worst injuries of the sufferers are mentioned, for all of them were scalded and more or less bruised. Dr. O. S. Evans, and a medical gentleman of the mail steamer Bombay, were promptly in attendance, and diligently exerted their skill to mitigate the pain and bind up the wounds of the unfortunate victims of this calamitous mishap. Most of the sufferers live in the neighbourhood, and were conveyed to their dwellings as soon as practicable. There is reason to hope that, with the exception already named, all will recover.
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| Sydney Infirmary; 1870; attributed to Charles Pickering. |
There are few casualties, however calamitous, which, occurring under slightly altered conditions, may not have been fraught with more disastrous consequences; so, too, this misfortune, direful though it be, had it have happened under ordinary circumstances, would have been still more fearfully fatal. Messrs. Russell and Co. usually have a much larger number of men employed in their Balmain workshop than at present, and most of these who were there on Tuesday were occupied outside the premises at the time. Our reporter was informed that generally there are fifteen men or more at work on the side of the building along which the boiler was hurled, all of whom must have been instantly killed. As it was, some men who were in a line with the boiler had the good fortune to move a minute or two before the accident, and thus unwittingly escaped an untimely and violent death.
Intelligence of the occurrence reached Sydney in the forenoon, and the matter everywhere excited the most painful interest. The deepest commiseration was expressed for the relatives of the dead and the afflicted, and by none is this sympathy shared more heartfelt and strong than by their work-fellows.
INQUEST ON THE BODIES.
The inquest begun, before the City Coroner and twelve jurymen, on the 29th March, on view of the bodies of Robert Craig, John Gordon, and Joseph Porter, was concluded on 18th instant. The deceased, it will be remembered, were killed by the explosion of a boiler at the Dry Dock, Waterview Bay, on the morning of the 28th of March. At the investigation on the 29th March, the witnesses examined were John Cuthbert, Dr. Evans, James Porter, Samuel Gordon, and James O'Keefe; on the 4th April the witnesses were James Hall, Edward O. Moriarty, and Henry Broderick; on the 6th, John Bogle and B. C. Dalgleish (who were called by Mr. Fitzhardinge); and on the 18th, the witnesses were John Wardrop, Daniel Healy, and Edward Evans. The last two adjournments were rendered necessary owing to the illness of Mr. Wardrop, who was severely injured by the explosion of the boiler.
Mr. Milford (instructed by Mr. Spain) watched the proceedings on behalf of Wardrop; and Mr. Fitzriardinge appeared on behalf of the friends of the deceased Joseph Porter.
Robert Craig, one of the two firemen employed to attend to the engine, was about twenty-seven years of age, and had held his situation for a length of time. His body was so dreadfully mutilated that recognition was impossible, but the witness O'Keefe was enabled to identify the remains by a watch which he knew to have belonged to deceased. Craig appears to have been on the boiler at the time of the occurrence. Joseph Porter, a lad seventeen years of age, was an engineering apprentice to Messrs. P. N. Russell and Co., an together with John Gordon worked in their shop adjoining the engine-room. Gordon was an engineer. Both he and Craig were married men, and have each left a wife and children to lament their untimely death. Dr. O. S. Evans deposed that the deceased had all died from injuries the result of the explosion — they having been struck by projectiles and scalded by steam.
The following is a copy of the jury's verdict:— "The deaths of Robert Craig, John Gordon, and Joseph Porter were occasioned by the bursting of a boiler on the premises of Mr. John Cuthbert, at Mort's Dry Dook, Waterview Bay, Balmain; but as to how the occurrence primarily arose — the evidence being on this point very conflicting we find ourselves unable to determine, and we are unanimous in expressing our opinion that we have evidence before us shewing no blame was attaching to any one, believing the explosion to be purely accidental. We urgently recommend to the Government the advisability of appointing competent persons to make periodical inspection of all land boilers."
Sources:
- Dreadful Boiler Explosion at the Waterview Dry Dock (1865, April 21). The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), p. 5.
- The Dry Dock Balmain [Looking west across Mort’s Dock at Waterview Bay, Balmain. The building on right was severely damaged by a boiler explosion in 1865]; William Hetzer and J. R. Clarke; ca. 1850-1865; State Library New South Wales
- Sydney Infirmary; 1870; attributed to Charles Pickering; State Library New South Wales
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