Volume Two - The Era of Optimism, Investment & Development - Coal gas explosions etc . . .

		c.1903 sail and steam together both of which were vulnerable to explosion from their cargo of coal when the hatches were closed. The lack of ventilation permitted pockets of methane to accumulate and a single source of ignition was all that was required for disaster in the dock or whilst at sea.
		This newspaper from 1889 report highlights another explosion, that of a boiler and the unusual circumstances of the death of a crew member and ar report of a fire in 1892 caused by a boy with a candle!
		A fire on-board a vessel at sea was a devastating experience as this postcard image illustrates vividly.

Fires on ship were commonplace as these reports from the Cardiff Times [019] in 1871 report:

"A Ship on Fire in Penarth Roads - On Thursday night a fire broke out in the Austrian barque "Giuliette". The vessel was on a voyage from Swansea to Trieste, with 260 tons of coal, and was lying in Penarth Roads, windbound. About nine o'clock, as the captain was sitting in his cabin and the crew in the forecastle, a fire was discovered aft, which had evidently obtained a strong hold upon the timbers, and was extending rapidly."