Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - Working the Ely Tidal Harbour . . .

In addition to the present loss there is the very serious prospective one involved in the fact that it will take perhaps 12 or 18 months to reconstruct that which has been destroyed. The Wharf Company were insured, but it is feared, not to the extent of their loss, and a similar remark is reported to apply to the insurance of Messrs Spiller and Company, the owners of the oats, The representatives of the latter firm were on the spot on Tuesday, and hopes are entertained that some of the grain—if only a few hundred pounds' worth—may still be saved.

A large number of people visited the place on Tuesday, and the fierceness of the fire could be measured by the huge mass of smouldering debris that fills the site of the wharf. The company will probably carry on business at the neighbouring iron ore wharf, and their capacious warehouses at the lower end of the ground enable them to conduct operations with comparative ease. The total loss is estimated at £ 30,000. Cardiff Times [019 22nd September 1888.

The fire put the wharf out of action for a number of years. When it reopened circa. 1890 the usual accidents and incidents which, at that time were accepted as a normal part of working in the harbour environment, continued. One incident occurred a few years later when a report of October 1892 covered the horrendous death of a lad:

1892 - "Shocking Fatality at Ely Wharf - About three o'clock on Monday afternoon, while the s.s. Humber, of Philadelphia, was discharging grain at the Ely Wharf, belonging to the South Wales Transit Co., near Cardiff, an accident occurred which resulted in the death of a young man named Albert James Attwell, aged 17, living at Ludlow-street, Lower Grangetown. A number of men were engaged on the wharf to which grain was being conveyed, and as the operation was proceeded with the bulk head gave way, and about 50 tons of grain fell, burying the youth. Gangs of workmen were immediately set to work to lift the grain in order the recover the lad's body. At the time of the accident there was no certainty as to the fact of Attwell's body being found underneath the grain, but he had been seen working in the warehouse thereabouts a short time previous. The great fall of grain required considerable time to remove, and it was not until 8.30 in the evening that the body was reached. It was found that the lad was quite dead.

Mr. E. B. Reece, the district coroner, conducted an enquiry at the Town Hall, Cardiff, on Tuesday evening . . . in hearing the evidence, over 100 men were involved in the attempt to recover the lad and it was thought that the vessel had struck the building, loosening the floor . . . a verdict of 'Accidental Death' was returned. Cardiff Times [019 29th October 1892.