THE DELFT THUNDERCLAP.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 201, 30 January 1875, Page 3

THE DELFT THUNDERCLAP.

While the explosion on the Regent’s Canal is still fresh in the minds of our readers, the following brief account of a somewhat similar calamity which occurred in Holland over two centuries ago may be read with interest. The catastrophe is known as “The Delft Thunderclap,” from the town where it happened, and took place at 11 in the forenoon of 12th October, 1654, At that hour the powder magazine, which then stood within the town, and at that moment contained between 80,0001 b and 90,0001 b of powder (not much under 40 tons English), blew up ; and so terrific was the force of the explosion that it was felt throughout the whole of Holland, Utrecht, and even on the island of Texel. Immediately afterwards was seen on the spot where had stood the magazine a large pool of water some 15ft or 16ft deep, but not a trace of its foundation remained. The loss of life, as may be imagined, was very considerable. Equally so of property, for upwards of 200 houses were completely destroyed, while more than 300 were seriously damaged, especially in the roofs and windows ; in fact, there was scarcely a house in the town but sustained more or less injury. All the windows of both the Old and New Churches were smashed, their tall and stout vanes were torn out or twisted, and the walls in many places so seriously cracked that the use of these buildings was for a time discontinued. Yet, strange to relate, though the windows, the roof, and the steeple of the New Church were thus terribly shattered, the splendid monument it contained to the memory of William the Silent received no damage whatever. Elsewhere might be seen some of the thickest trees snapped asunder close to the ground as though they had been mere reeds; whole gardens turned upside down or destroyed, and huge masses of earth as big as casks, which had been hurled for a considerable distance. In short, whole streets with their inhabitants, whole schools with their pupils, lay buried beneath the ruins. Yet the calamity would have been even more serious still, only a great number of the inhabitants had gone that very day to the swine market at Schiedam and the fair (kermis) at Voorburg. For ten days a vigorous search for the killed and wounded was prosecuted, and, happily, many were found and extricated uninjured. Among them may be mentioned a little girl fifteen months old in her little chair, and twins lying in their cradle, who were dug up unharmed after a burial of twenty-four hours. One old woman who was rescued after the lapse of four days asked the people who came to her assistrnce, “Is, then, the world not yet come to an end ?” This terrible accident is presumed to have occurred through the carelessness of the overseer of the magazine, who had gone to his duty that morning about ten o’clock, and having to fetch out some powder had moved about incautiously with his lamp in a dark tower. It is almost needless to add that after this the magazine was built outside, and at a safe distance from the town.— W.C.