EXPLOSION 101 



in the air, that seemed to shake the whole fabric, roused 

 me from my seat, and, with the operation half performed, 

 I rushed from the back of the house to the street, when I 

 saw men and women running in crowds to the supposed 

 scene of some great disaster. Some cried one thing, some 

 another ; but the loudest and most general cry was, that 

 the Custom-house had been blown up. Joining the 

 crowd, I j^resently ascertained this to be wrong, which 

 relieved my panting heart not a little ; for I had a near 

 and dear friend there, whose wife was in the crowd, and 

 who clung to me in her panic. 



Having reassured her, and walked back with her a 

 short distance, I hastened to the scene of destruction. 

 The powder on the beach had by some means ignited. 

 An Irishwoman, the wife of one of the soldiers who had 

 disembarked with the detachment, had been sitting on 

 one of the casks, smoking a pipe, which must have been 

 the cause of this terrible explosion. The poor creature 

 was never after seen alive. One other was blown over 

 the houses, and dashed against the front of the Isle of 

 Wight Sloop " Public," which was covered with blood and 

 brains.' 



In all five, as I have said, suffered ; but the most 

 remarkable part of this sad calamity was, that the soldier 

 who stood sentinel over the powder had his musket torn 

 from his hold, and every button from the front of his 

 jacket, by the force of the concussion, while he remained 

 unhurt, though stupefied for a time — such, I believe, is 

 the uncertain effect of gunpowder. 



It is not a little singular that a similar catastroiDhe, 

 though not from gunj^owder, of a very recent date, should 



