DESTRUCTION OF HAMBURG BY FIRE.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume I, Issue 32, 15 October 1842, Page 127

DESTRUCTION OF HAMBURG BY FIRE.

On the morning of the 6th of May a fire broke out in the city of Hamburg, which has proved more destructive than any similar calamity since the great fire of London in the reign of Charles 11. It broke out in a small house, in a street not more than eight feet wide, with high houses on both sides, and spread with such rapidity that in four hours the firemen were completely overpowered. After burning foar days with undiminished fury, its ravages were checked by blowing up a large number of buildings with gunpowder, a step which all accounts show ought to have been taken much earlier. The conflagration has destroyed rather more than a fourth part of the city, as far as extent is concerned, but, viewing the relative importance of the different quarters of the town, the portion burnt must have far exceeded in value that which has been preserved. The public buildii gs destroyed are as follows — Three of the five principal churches, namely, St. Peter's, St. Nicholas', and St. Jacob's ; the Old Exchange, the Bank, the Borsenhalle, the Senate House, the Eirabeckbhe House, the City Post-office, the four principal prisons or houses of correction, the water-works of Mr. Smith, and nearly all the principal hotels and coffee-houses. Upwards of 100 lives were lost ; and the amount of property destroyed was immense, but, up to the latest date, no correct estimate could be formed. The London insurance companies are great sufferers, to the extent, it is supposed, of £1,000,000.