1885.] on Accidental Explosions hij Non-explosive Liquids. 227 



burned. The inqiuries which followed upon this deplorable accident 

 showed that, while due precautious were taken to store the supplies of 

 mineral oil used for burning purposes, of turpentine and of spirit, 

 which were sent to diiferent naval stations for supply to the fleet, in 

 special parts of the ships or on deck, this highly inflammable liquid, 

 which was far more dangerous than other stores of this class, had 

 been sent in freight-ships as common cargo, being stored in the hold 

 without any precautions. A stone jar which was advised as contain- 

 ing a supply had arrived at its destination in the Pacific quite empty, 

 the contents having leaked out and evaporated on the passage out, so 

 that the vessel carrying it had been unsuspectedly exposed to very 

 great danger. 



The disaster on board the Triumph, combined with the fact that 

 this xerotine siccative had been issued to H.M. ships generally, the 

 authorities and officers of the navy having been in ignorance as to 

 its dangerous nature, re-directed official attention to the loss of the 

 Voter el on April 26, 1881, while at anchor off Sandy Point, by an 

 explosion, or rather by two distinct exjjlosions following each other 

 in very rapid succession, which caused the death of eight officers and 

 135 men, there being only twelve survivors of the crew. The 

 inquiry by court-martial into the catastrophe had led to the conclusion 

 that the primary cause of the destruction of that vessel was an 

 explosion of gas in the coal bunkers, caused by disengagement of fire- 

 damp from the coal with which these were in jDart filled. Its distri- 

 bution through the air in the bunkers and in air-spaces adjoinino- the 

 ship's magazine, was believed to have taken place to such an extent 

 as to produce a violently explosive mixture, and that this had become 

 accidentally inflamed, causing a destructive explosion, which was 

 followed within half a minute by the much more violent explosion of 

 the shij)'s magazine containing four or five tons of powder, to which 

 the flame from the exploding gas-mixture had penetrated. 



The circumstances elicited by the inquiry, coupled with the 

 information, relating to explosions known to have occurred in coal- 

 laden ships, which had been collected by a Eoyal Commission in 

 1876 (of which the lecturer was a member), combined to lend a con- 

 siderable amount of probability to the view adopted by the court- 

 martial in exj)lanation of an accident for which there appeared to be 

 no other reasonable mode of accounting. 



The conclusion arrived at led to the appointment of a committee 

 under the presidency of Admiral Luard (of which Professor Warino-- 

 ton Smyth and the lecturer were members) to inquire into the 

 probabilities of coal-gas being evolved, and of an exj^losive gas- 

 mixture accumulating in consequence in the coal-bunkers of ships of 

 war, and into the possible extent and nature of damage which might 

 be inflicted upon ships of war by explosions due to the ignition of 

 such accumulations. The committee were also instructed, in the 

 event of their finding that H.M. ships were liable to exposure to 

 danger from such causes, to consider and devise the means best 



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