Title

The Great Explosion at Seaford - the Explosion - Cliff Falling, 1850. Creator: Unknown.

Caption

The Great Explosion at Seaford - the Explosion - Cliff Falling, 1850. Long shore drift at Seaford in Sussex was causing deposition of debris to such an extent that Seaford Bay, a long time safe haven for shipping, was in danger of becoming too shallow for navigation. A plan was conceived to blow up part of Seaford Head and create a bank to divert the current. 'The operations were conducted by the Board of Ordnance...fifty-five men of the Royal Sappers and Miners engaged upon the works...In the face of the cliff, at 150 feet below the edge, a nearly horizontal gallery was cut into the chalk [with] two chambers of 7 feet cubic form, containing 12,000 lb. of powder each....Two wires, respectively in connexion with two of Grove's batteries, of five pairs of plates each, completed the arrangements for exploding the enormous charges simultaneously'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.

Credit line

Photo12/Heritage Images/The Print Collector

Reference

HRM22A36_258

Model release

NA

Property release

NA

License type

Rights managed

Available size

38,7Mb (2,8Mb) / 16,5in x 9,1in / 4960 x 2727 (300dpi)

Keywords

transport transportation sea coast England people boat boats coastal spectators electricity spectator British geography dramatic electric cliff cliffs explosion Victorian century explosive Britain onlookers chalk newspapers press concept battery batteries explosives blast blasting B&W engraved engraving East Sussex 19th century water transport black & white black and white B W onlooker gunpowder nineteenth century Seaford dust The Print Collector geographical feature Illustrated London News TGN ILN newspaper landscape Unknown 19th-century