Disasters & Accidents in the 19th century

712 sourced entries, 1802 CE to 1899 CE, oldest first. Also see Disasters & Accidents across every century or everything else in the 19th century.

1802October 16 – The port of New Orleans and the lower Mississippi River are closed to American traffic by order of the city's Spanish administrator, Juan Ventura Morales, threatening the economy in the western United States, and prompting the need for the Louisiana Purchase.source
1802November 23 – East Indiaman Vryheid, in the service of the Batavian Republic, is shipwrecked in a gale off Hythe, Kent, in the south of England; only 18 of 472 on board survive.source
180223 November – East Indiaman Vryheid, in the service of the Batavian Republic, is shipwrecked in a gale off Hythe, Kent; only 18 of 472 on board survive.United Kingdom source
1804January – HMS York founders on patrol off Scotland, apparently striking the Inchcape rock, with the loss of all 491 on board.Scotland source
1804April 2 – Forty merchantmen are wrecked when a convoy led by British frigate HMS Apollo runs aground off Portugal with considerable loss of life.source
18042 April – Forty merchant vessels are wrecked when a convoy led by HMS Apollo runs aground off Portugal.United Kingdom source
1804October 8 – HMS Speedy sinks during a snowstorm.Canada source
18055 February – East Indiaman Earl of Abergavenny is wrecked in Weymouth Bay with the loss of 263 lives.United Kingdom source
1805June 11 - Detroit burns to the ground; most of the city is destroyed.source
180521 October – An underground explosion at Hebburn colliery on Tyneside kills 35.United Kingdom source
1805October 23 – British troopship Aeneas is wrecked off Newfoundland with the loss of 340 lives.source
180523 October – Troopship Aeneas is wrecked off Newfoundland with the loss of 340 lives.United Kingdom source
1805Tlingit destroy New Russia (trading post)Russia source
1806July 18 – 1806 Birgu polverista explosion: A gunpowder magazine explosion in Birgu, Malta kills around 200 people.source
18061 October - The brig Mary runs aground on the Arklow Bank, in the Irish Sea and is wrecked with the loss of seven of the ten people on board. Two of the survivors are rescued by Mary, a ship homeported in Liverpool, Lancashire, whilst the third is rescued by Mary, a ship homeported in Amlwch, Anglesey.Wales source
1806October 20 – British ship of the line HMS Athenienne is wrecked in the Strait of Sicily with the loss of 347 of the 488 on board.source
180620 October – HMS Athenienne is wrecked in the Strait of Sicily with the loss of 347 of the 488 onboard.United Kingdom source
180625 October - The sloop Margaret, on a voyage from Bristol, Gloucestershire to Greenock, Renfrewshire, is wrecked near Holyhead, Anglesey, with the loss of all on board.Wales source
180718 April – Harwich ferry disaster: 60 to 90 soldiers and their families drown when a boat capsizes off Landguard Fort.United Kingdom source
180720 November – sinking of the Rochdale and the Prince of Wales: The British troopships Rochdale (brig) and Prince of Wales (packet ship) sink in a storm in Dublin Bay with the loss of around 400 lives.Ireland source
180729 December – The Royal Navy ship of the line HMS Anson runs aground on Loe Bar, Cornwall, with around sixty people drowned, inspiring Henry Trengrouse to invent a rocket apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks and passage of the Burial of Drowned Persons Act 1808 to ensure respectful burial of drowned sailors.United Kingdom source
1807The British ship Leopard searches the U.S. Chesapeake for deserters, kills some of the crew and takes Radford, who is hanged. Pending satisfaction, the United States close their ports to British ships, though reparation is tendered.Canada source
1808February 11 – In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Jesse Fell becomes the first known person to burn anthracite coal as residential heating fuel.source
1808May(?) – The schooner Parramatta, Captain John Glenn, calls at the Bay of Islands in distress. When local Māori ask for payment for the food they have supplied to the ship they are thrown overboard and fired upon. On leaving the Bay the ship is wrecked on rocks near Cape Brett. All the crew are killed and the ship plundered.New Zealand source
180820 September – The original Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London is destroyed by fire along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts. Rebuilding begins in December.United Kingdom source
180820 September - The White Book of Hergest is destroyed in a fire at Covent Garden.Wales source
1808December 20 – The original Covent Garden Theatre in London is destroyed by a fire, along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts.source
1808The Ruabon Brook Tramway is extended from Acrefair to the Plas Madoc Colliery in Plasbennion.Wales source
180920 January – HMS Claudia was wrecked off Kristiansand.Norway source
180924 February – The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London is destroyed by fire.United Kingdom source
180916 August – Meikle Ferry disaster: An overloaded ferry crossing the Dornoch Firth to Tain market sinks, drowning 99.Scotland source
180918 September – A new Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (pictured) opens in London to replace the first burnt down in 1808. An increase in ticket prices causes the Old Price Riots which last for 64 days.United Kingdom source
181010 November – Paisley canal disaster: A pleasure craft capsizes on the newly-completed first section of the Glasgow, Paisley and Johnstone Canal with the loss of 84 lives.Scotland source
181010 November – Paisley canal disaster in Scotland: A pleasure craft capsizes with the loss of 84 lives.United Kingdom source
181019 December – Frigates HMS Nymphe and HMS Pallas are wrecked near Dunbar.Scotland source
1810December 22 – British ship of the line HMS Minotaur is wrecked on Texel in the West Frisian Islands with the loss of 500 lives.source
181022 December – Eight crew of the Hoylake life-boat in the Mersey estuary are drowned on service; HMS Minotaur is wrecked on Texel in the West Frisian Islands with the loss of 500 lives.United Kingdom source
1810December 27 – Chartered British East Indiaman Elizabeth is wrecked off Dunkirk with the loss of more than 360 lives, many of them lascar seamen.source
181027 December – Chartered East Indiaman Elizabeth is wrecked off Dunkirk with the loss of more than 360 lives.United Kingdom source
181014-15 July - Large parts of the town of Mandal burns down.Norway source
1811July 9 – The Great Podil fire breaks out in Kiev, Ukraine.source
1811July 26 – Forest fires break out in the Tyrol region of Switzerland, reportedly destroying 64 villages and hamlets.source
18114 December – Royal Navy frigate HMS Saldanha is driven in a gale onto rocks in Lough Swilly with no survivors from the estimated 253 aboard.Ireland source
18114 December – Royal Navy frigate HMS Saldanha is driven in a gale onto rocks in Lough Swilly in Ireland with no survivors from the estimated 253 aboard.United Kingdom source
1811December 26 – The Richmond Theatre fire in Virginia kills 72 people, including the Governor of Virginia, George William Smith, and the president of the First National Bank of Virginia, Abraham B. Venable.United States source
1811The Bolshoi Theatre burns down.Russia source
1811The Great Podil fire burns large portions of Kiev, causing more than 2,000 homes to be lost.Russia source
1811Sinking of a new colliery on the Brora Coalfield is begun.Scotland source
1812May 25 – Felling mine disaster: A mine explosion at the Felling colliery near Jarrow, England, leaves 96 dead.source
181225 May – Felling mine disaster: mine explosion at Felling colliery near Jarrow, 96 dead.United Kingdom source
1812September 14 to 18 - Moscow is destroyed by a fire organized by Fyodor Rostopchin, the military governor at the time. This burns down most of the entire city, including Moscow University.Russia source
18121 October – English balloonist James Sadler starts a balloon flight from Belvedere House near Mullingar in an attempt to cross the Irish Sea. He fails and almost drowns as a result.Ireland source
1812October – a storm washes away temporary barracks erected on Tuskar Rock for lighthouse construction, killing 14 workmen.Ireland source
181230 December - A brig, the Fortune, is wrecked on The Smalls, Pembrokeshire, with the loss of 10 or 11 lives.Wales source
18131 April – whaler Oscar wrecked off Aberdeen with the loss of 44 lives.Scotland source
1813The early steam locomotive Puffing Billy introduced at Wylam colliery, County Durham.United Kingdom source
1814February 12 – A fire destroys the Custom House in the City of London.source
181412 February – A fire destroys the Custom House in the City of London.United Kingdom source
181420 May – The convict transport ship Three Bees catches fire and blows up in Sydney Harbour.Australia source
181425 July – George Stephenson puts his first steam locomotive into service, the Blücher for Killingworth Colliery on Tyneside.United Kingdom source
1814July 30 – The Great fire of Tirschenreuth in Bavaria destroys the town and 907 buildings.source
181430 July – The Great fire of Tirschenreuth in Bavaria destroys the town and 907 buildings.Germany source
1814September 1 – War of 1812 – Sinking of HMS Avon by the USS Wasp.source
181418 October – British troop transport Sovereign is wrecked on St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia) with the loss of between 199 and 212 of the 237 people on board.United Kingdom source
1815May 30 – The Arniston, an East Indiaman ship repatriating wounded troops to England from Ceylon, is wrecked near Waenhuiskrans, South Africa, with the loss of 372 of the 378 people on board.source
181531 July – The 1815 Philadelphia train accident, a boiler explosion, kills at least 13 people in County Durham.United Kingdom source
1816January 9 – Sir Humphry Davy's Davy lamp is first tested underground as a coal mining safety lamp, at Hebburn Colliery in northeast England;source
18169 January – Sir Humphry Davy's Davy lamp is first tested underground as a coal mining safety lamp at Hebburn Colliery in the Durham Coalfield.United Kingdom source
1816January 17 – Fire nearly destroys the city of St. John's, Newfoundland.source
181630 January – wrecking of the Sea Horse, Boadicea and Lord Melville (military transport ships) off Tramore in a gale with the loss of over 500 persons.Ireland source
181630 January – Wrecking of the Sea Horse, Boadicea and Lord Melville (military transport ships) off the coast of Ireland in a gale with the loss of around 570.United Kingdom source
1816July 2 – The French frigate Medusa runs aground off the coast of Senegal, with 140 lives lost in the botched rescue that takes weeks, leading to a scandal in the French government.source
18162 July – French frigate Méduse (1810) runs aground off the coast of Senegal, with 140 lives lost in the botched rescue that takes weeks, leading to a scandal in the French government.France source
18171 March – suffocating fumes in the Leadhills lead mine kill seven.Scotland source
181818 September – the original Theatre Royal in Glasgow becomes the first theatre in Scotland to be lit by gas.Scotland source
1820March 3 – A fire in Guangzhou in China burns 15,000 houses and kills an undetermined number of people.source
182031 July – A fire breaks out in the wine depot at the Bercy section of Paris. It is reported later that "In the absence of water to supply the engines, an attempt was made to extinguish the flames with wine— of which a lake of 50 ft. square and more than a foot deep was formed; but the fire continued to rage, as well it might, being supplied by alcohol, and great destruction of property resulted.France source
1820November 20 – After the sinking of the American whaleship Essex of Nantucket, by a sperm whale in the southern Pacific Ocean, the survivors are left afloat in three small whaleboats. They eventually resort, by common consent, to cannibalism to allow some to survive.source
1820The first "colliery school" in the South Wales coalfield is established at Hirwaun.Wales source
182128 December – Sandycove lifeboat disaster – four lifeboatmen drown attempting to rescue Ellen of Liverpool.Ireland source
18223 January – Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland is gutted by fire.United Kingdom source
1822February 6 – The Chinese junk Tek Sing sinks in the South China Sea, drowning more than 1,800 people on board. The wreckage will not be located until 1999.source
1822March 11 – A powerful sudden storm struck the western Norwegian coast killing about 300 men at sea.Norway source
1822May 26 – Grue Church fire: The biggest fire disaster in Norway's history kills 116 people.source
1822May 26 – 116 people die in the Grue Church fire. It's the biggest fire disaster in Norway's history.Norway source
1822November 22 – A fire in Guangzhou (Canton) kills 500 people, and destroys 13,070 homes and several European-owned businesses.source
1822The old town of Cullen, Moray, is demolished.Scotland source
182326 March – The packet ship Alert sinks off The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey, with the loss of a hundred lives.Wales source
1823July 15 – The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome is almost completely destroyed by fire.source
18237 September – The Brampton runs aground on leaving the Bay of Islands. On board are Samuel Marsden, Thomas Kendall and Samuel Leigh.New Zealand source
1823November 3 – An explosion at the Rainton Colliery Company's Plain Pit mine at Chilton Moor in the north-east of England, kills at least 57 coal miners.source
18233 November – An explosion at the Rainton Colliery Company's Plain Pit mine at Chilton Moor in County Durham kills at least 57 coal miners, six years after an accident at the same pit killed 27.United Kingdom source
1824May 15 – A boiler explosion occurs on the steamship Aetna, under way in Upper New York Bay, killing more than ten passengers and injuring many more.United States source
182410 October – Edinburgh Town Council makes a decision to found a municipal fire brigade under James Braidwood, the first in Britain.Scotland source
182415–21 November – Great Fire of Edinburgh, starting in Old Assembly Close, kills 11 residents and 2 firemen, and destroys 24 tenements – leaving 400 families homeless – and other properties, including the spire of Tron Kirk.Scotland source
1825January 2 – The Parliament House, in Toronto, is burned.Canada source
18252 January – The square-rigged transatlantic ocean liner Diamond strikes Sarn Badrig in Cardigan Bay and sinks.Wales source
1825March 1 – The outbound British East Indiaman Kent 1820 EIC ship is destroyed by fire in the Bay of Biscay with the loss of more than 80 lives, but over 550 are saved by passing ships.source
18251 March – A fire destroys the outbound East Indiaman Kent 1820 EIC ship in the Bay of Biscay with the loss of more than 80 lives, but passing ships save over 550.United Kingdom source
1825September 7 – Soldiers of the 70th Regiment subdue a fire, which consumes over eighty buildings, in Montreal.Canada source
1825September to October: The Great Miramichi Fire destroys at least 10 000 km 2 to 20,000 km 2 and killing at least 280 people.Canada source
1825October 21 – PS Comet II sinks off Gourock (Scotland) with the loss of 62 lives.source
182521 October – PS Comet II sinks off Gourock in the Firth of Clyde with the loss of 62 lives.Scotland source
1825Minh Mạng outlaws the teaching of Christianity in Vietnam.source
1826January 17 – The Ballantyne printing business in Edinburgh (Scotland) crashes, ruining novelist Sir Walter Scott as a principal investor. He undertakes to repay his creditors from his writings. His publisher, Archibald Constable, also fails.source
1826First life-boat stationed in Ireland by the National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, at Arklow.Ireland source
1827September 4 – The Great Fire of Turku destroys three-quarters of the city (at this time Finland's largest), with 27 human casualties.source
1827December 27 – Arson is suspected in a building fire in Huntsville, Alabama that destroyed public land records at the surveyor general's office.United States source
18291–2 February – York Minster is extensively damaged in a fire started by Jonathan Martin (who is subsequently acquitted of arson on the grounds of insanity).United Kingdom source
1830February 5 – A fire destroys the Argyll Rooms in London, where the Philharmonic Society of London presents concerts, but firefighters are able to prevent its further spread by use of their new equipment, steam-powered fire engines.source
18305 February – A fire destroys the Argyll Rooms in London, where the Philharmonic Society of London presents concerts, but firemen are able to prevent its further spread by use of their new equipment, steam-powered fire engines.United Kingdom source
1830November – Ribbonmen attack an Orange band, puncturing some of their drums. The Orangemen retaliate by burning the Catholic village of Maghery, County Armagh, to the ground.Ireland source
1831May–June – Merthyr Rising: Coal miners and others riot in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, for improved working conditions.source
18311 June – One of Goldsworthy Gurney’s steam road coaches suffers a boiler explosion in Glasgow.Scotland source
1831June 21 – The North Carolina State House and Canova's George Washington are destroyed by fire in Raleigh, North Carolina.source
183118 August – The paddle steamer Rothsay Castle is wrecked at the eastern end of the Menai Strait with the loss of 93 lives.United Kingdom source
18319–11 October – Reform riots in Nottingham: Nottingham Castle and a silk mill at Beeston are gutted by fire.United Kingdom source
1833July 20 – A mob in Jackson County, Missouri, destroys the printing office of the early Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints containing what becomes known as The Doctrine and Covenants.source
183310 August – major fire in stores of The Custom House, Dublin, sets River Liffey aflame.Ireland source
1833August 31 – The chartered ship Amphitrite sinks off Boulogne-sur-Mer while transporting 108 British female convicts and 12 children from Woolwich in England to New South Wales in what is now Australia. All of the passengers die, along with 13 of the 16 crew, leaving 3 survivors.source
183331 August – Chartered ship Amphitrite sinks off Boulogne-sur-Mer while undertaking the penal transportation of 108 British female convicts and 12 children from Woolwich to New South Wales with the loss of 133 lives; only 3 crew survive.United Kingdom source
1834January 23 – The Chateau St. Louis (Quebec) is burned.Canada source
1834April 10 – The LaLaurie mansion in New Orleans burns, and Madame Marie Delphine LaLaurie flees to France.source
1834August 11–12 – Ursuline Convent riots: A convent of Ursuline nuns is burned near Boston.source
1834September 11 – The emigrant ship Sybelle out of Cromarty (Scotland) is wrecked off St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia) with the loss of all 316 passengers and all but six of her crew.source
183411 September – emigrant ship Sybelle out of Cromarty wrecked off St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia) with the loss of all 316 passengers and all but six of her crew.Scotland source
183411 September – Emigrant ship Sybelle out of Cromarty (Scotland) is wrecked off St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia) with the loss of all 316 passengers and all but six of her crew.United Kingdom source
1834October 16 – The Palace of Westminster in London is destroyed by fire, along with both the House of Commons and the House of Lords (which are not in session) of the British Parliament. An investigation later traces the disaster to an order from the Exchequer to the Board of Works to destroy the tally sticks that had been stored as part of record keeping, the use of the furnaces beneath the House of Lords to carry out the task, and the failure of authorities to stop the work or to fight the fire after smoke had first been detected, the conclusion being that the fire was "wholly attributable to carelessness and negligence."source
183416 October – Burning of Parliament: Much of the Palace of Westminster is destroyed by fire resulting from the burning of tally sticks formerly used by the Exchequer.United Kingdom source
183427 December - A ferry from Penally to Caldey sinks and 15 people drown.Wales source
183512 April – British ship George III, transporting male convicts from Woolwich to Hobart sinks in D'Entrecasteaux Channel with the loss of around 134 (128 convicts) of the 294 people on board.Australia source
1835May 13 – At least 224 people, most of them female convicts being transported from Cork, Ireland, to Australia, are drowned when the British barque Neva is wrecked in the Bass Strait. Only 15 people survive.source
183513 May – British barque Neva, transporting female convicts from Cork, Ireland, is wrecked in the Bass Strait with the loss of 224 people and only 15 survivors.Australia source
1835May 13 – British barque Neva, transporting female convicts from Cork to Australia, is wrecked in the Bass Strait with the loss of 224 people and only 15 survivors.Ireland source
183518 June – An underground explosion at Wallsend Colliery kills 102.United Kingdom source
18355 November - Christiania Offentlige Theater burns down.Norway source
1835December 16–17 – The Great Fire of New York destroys 530–700 buildings and kills two.United States source
183630 January – the Intrinsic sinks off Kilkee with the loss of all fourteen on board.Ireland source
183631 August – Last hanging for arson, Daniel Case at Ilchester.United Kingdom source
1836December 20 – Sudden freeze kills many travelers in Illinois.United States source
1836December 30 – In Saint Petersburg, the Lehman Theater catches fire, killing 800 people.source
1837January 2 – Wreck of the Mexico kills 115 immigrants off the coast of Long Island.United States source
1837April 24 – The great fire in Surat, a city of India, begins. Over a three-day period, the fire kills more than 500 people and destroys more than 9,000 houses.source
1837May 8 – The steamboat Ben Sherod catches fire and explodes on the Mississippi River, killing approximately 175 people.United States source
18371 July – Isle of May disaster: A rowing boat carrying an excursion party from Cellardyke capsizes with the loss of 13 lives.Scotland source
1837October 31 – The steamboat Monmouth disaster on the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge kills over 300 Muscogee and Black slaves who are being transported to the Indian Territory.United States source
1837December 17 – Fire breaks out in the Winter Palace, in Saint Petersburg, Russia killing 30 guards.source
1837December 29 – The Patriot steamer "Caroline" is burned in the Niagara River at Niagara Falls.Canada source
1837An effigy of the Governor is burnt.Canada source
1837Fire destroys the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg.Russia source
1838January 10 – A fire destroys Lloyd's Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London.source
183810 January – A fire destroys Lloyd's Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London.United Kingdom source
18384 July – Huskar Pit disaster in the South Yorkshire Coalfield results in the deaths by drowning of 26 children working underground in the mine aged 7 to 17.United Kingdom source
18387 September – Dundee paddle steamer Forfarshire (1834), homeward bound from Hull, is wrecked on the Farne Islands off the north east coast of England with the loss of more than 40 people; Grace Darling rescues nine survivors.Scotland source
18387 September – Grace Darling rescues nine survivors from the wreck of the paddle steamer SS Forfarshire (1834) off the Farne Islands.United Kingdom source
183928 June – Coal mine explosion at St Hilda pit, South Shields, kills 51.United Kingdom source
1839October 7 – Much of downtown Mobile, Alabama is destroyed by a wind-fueled fire.United States source
1840January 13 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks in icy waters, four miles off the coast of Long Island; 139 die, only four survive.source
1840January 13–14 – The steamship Lexington burns and sinks in icy waters, 4 miles off the coast of Long Island; 139 die, only 4 survive.United States source
18401 April – Theatre Royal, Cork burns down.Ireland source
184020 May – York Minster's nave roof is destroyed in an accidental fire.United Kingdom source
184030 June – survivors of the Maria shipwreck are massacred by Aboriginal Australians on the Coorong.Australia source
184030 September - The frigate Belle Poule arrives in Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, returning the remains of Napoleon from Saint Helena. He is buried in Les Invalides.France source
184010 November – The boiler of an experimental steam locomotive named Surprise explodes near Bromsgrove station in Worcestershire, killing the driver, Thomas Scaife and fireman, Joseph Rutherford.United Kingdom source
184018 November - The paddle steamer City of Bristol is wrecked at Llangennith, Gower, drowning about 22 people.Wales source
18414 January – City of Dublin Steam Packet Company SS Thames is wrecked on the Western Rocks, Isles of Scilly, with the loss of 61 of the 65 on board; at least 20 other ships run aground round the British Isles today.United Kingdom source
1841January 30 – A fire destroys two-thirds of the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.source
1841January 30 – A fire destroys 300 of the 500 housing units in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico, Spanish Empire.United States source
184119 February - The Governor Fenner, carrying emigrants to America, sinks off Holyhead after colliding with a steamer, with the loss of 123 lives.Wales source
184120 February – The Governor Fenner, carrying emigrants to America, sinks off Holyhead with the loss of 123 lives.United Kingdom source
1841October 30 – A fire at the Tower of London destroys its Grand Armoury and causes a quarter of a million pounds' worth of damage.source
184130 October – A fire at the Tower of London destroys its Grand Armoury and causes a quarter of a million pounds worth of damage.United Kingdom source
1842May 5–8 – The Great fire of Hamburg in Germany destroys around one-third of the city centre and kills 51.source
1842May 8 – Versailles rail accident: A train traveling between Versailles and Paris, France derails, due to a broken locomotive axle, and catches fire, killing at least 55 passengers in the locked carriages.source
18428 May – Versailles train crash at Meudon, results in the deaths of at least 55 passengers.France source
1842August 10 – The Mines and Collieries Act 1842 in the United Kingdom makes it illegal for women and girls of any age, and boys under ten years, to work underground.source
184210 August – Mines and Collieries Act 1842 makes it illegal for women and girls of any age, and boys under ten years, to work underground, following the Children's Employment Commission (Mines) report produced in response to the 1838 Huskar Pit disaster (which resulted in the deaths by drowning of 26 children aged 7 to 17).United Kingdom source
1842August – Workers at Cyfarthfa and Penydarren ironworks join the general strike.Wales source
1842The Great fire of Hamburg began early on May 5, 1842, in Deichstraße and burned until the morning of May 8, destroying about one third of the buildings in the Altstadt.Germany source
1842Russian ship of the line Ingermanland sinks outside the coast of Jæren.Norway source
1842The Waterloo is wrecked in Table Bay with great loss of life.South Africa source
1842Two explosions at the Blackvein Colliery in Crosskeys result in a total of five deaths.Wales source
184314 September – 2/3 of the town of Egersund burns down.Norway source
1844February 28 – A gun on the USS Princeton explodes while the boat is on a Potomac River cruise, killing U.S. Secretary of State Abel Upshur, U.S. Secretary of the Navy Thomas Walker Gilmer and four other people. President John Tyler is below decks and is uninjured.source
184411 May – Major fire at Lyme Regis.United Kingdom source
184428 September – A blackdamp explosion at Haswell Colliery in the Durham Coalfield kills 95, with just four survivors.United Kingdom source
1844In Tibet, the Temple of Guardians burns down.source
1845April 10 – The Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroys much of the American city of Pittsburgh.source
1845April 10 – The Great Fire of Pittsburgh destroys much of the city of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.United States source
1845May 25 – A theater fire in Canton, China, kills 1,670.source
1845July 19 – Great New York City Fire of 1845 breaks out in Lower Manhattan.United States source
1845August 4 – British emigrant barque Cataraqui is wrecked on King Island (Tasmania) with 400 people killed and only 9 survivors.source
18454 August – The ship Cataraqui is wrecked off the coast of Tasmania, the 406 people on board drown.Australia source
18459 September – Christen Christensen, shipyard owner, ship-owner and whaling manager (died 1923)Norway source
184525 November – the Dublin to Longford passenger boat hit the canal bank and capsized on the Royal Canal outside Clonsilla, Dublin at approximately 4:00pm, drowning 15 peopleIreland source
1846February – The Peruvian is shipwrecked after running into a submerged reef off the coast of north-eastern Australia, the few survivors making landfall at Cape Cleveland.Australia source
184611 March: The brig H.M.S. Osprey (Captain Patten) is driven ashore and wrecked at Herekino Harbour, having mistaken it for the entrance to the Hokianga Harbour, but no lives are lost.New Zealand source
1846June 9 – Burning of St. John's, Newfoundland.Canada source
1846June 12 – Theatre burned at Quebec.Canada source
18461 August – Fatal Accidents Act 1846 ("Lord Campbell's Act") provides for a wrongful death claim in civil law.United Kingdom source
1846Gothenburg becomes the first Swedish city to be lit up by voal gas.Sweden source
184714 January – All thirteen members of the Point of Ayr life-boat crew are drowned when it capsizes off Rhyl.United Kingdom source
184714 January - All thirteen members of the Point of Ayr lifeboat crew are drowned when it capsizes off Rhyl.Wales source
18475 March – An explosion at The Oaks in the Barnsley seam in Yorkshire kills 73 men and boys.United Kingdom source
1847April 25 – The Exmouth 1818 brig, carrying Irish emigrants from Derry bound for Quebec, is wrecked off Islay, with only three survivors from more than 250 on board.source
184728 April – the brig Exmouth carrying emigrants from Derry bound for Quebec is wrecked off Islay with only three survivors from more than 250 on board.Ireland source
184714 July – Faversham guncotton explosion kills 18.United Kingdom source
1847December 20 – British Royal Navy steam frigate HMS Avenger is wrecked on the Sorelle Rocks in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 246 lives and only eight survivors.source
184720 December – Royal Navy steam frigate HMS Avenger is wrecked on the Sorelle Rocks in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 246 lives and only eight survivors.United Kingdom source
184823 June: Government House, in Auckland is burned to the ground by a fire believed to have started in the butler's pantry. Most chattels and Government documents were saved.New Zealand source
1848August 24 – The U.S. barque Ocean Monarch is burnt out off the Great Orme, North Wales, with the loss of 178, chiefly emigrants.source
184824 August – The U.S. barque Ocean Monarch is burnt out off the Great Orme, North Wales, with the loss of 178, chiefly emigrants.United Kingdom source
184824 August – The American barque Ocean Monarch, loaded with would-be immigrants, catches fire off Colwyn Bay, with the loss of 178 lives.Wales source
1848Holm Hansen Munthe, architect (d.1898)Norway source
1848Henrik Nissen, architect (d.1915)Norway source
184917 February – 65 people, almost all under the age of 20, are crushed to death in a panic caused by a small fire in the Theatre Royal, Glasgow.United Kingdom source
184919 February – Theatre Royal disaster: 65 people, almost all under the age of 20, are crushed to death in a panic caused by a small fire in the Theatre Royal, Dunlop Street, Glasgow.Scotland source
1849April 29 – Brig Hannah carrying emigrants from Newry in Ireland fleeing the Great Famine to Canada hits ice and sinks in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and her senior officers abandon the passengers to their fate. Around one-third of those on board, 49, die.Canada source
184929 April – Brig Hannah carrying emigrants from Newry fleeing the Great Famine to Canada hit ice and sank in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and her senior officers abandoned the passengers to their fate. Around one-third of those on board, 49, died.Ireland source
1849May 17 – The St. Louis Fire starts when a steamboat catches fire and nearly burns down the entire city.source
184910 August – Underground explosion at Lletty Shenkin colliery, Cwmbach, kills 52.Wales source
1849The British propose to ship convicts to the Cape Colony, but the Cape population strongly object during the Convict Crisis of 1849. The proposal is eventually squashed with the help of British MP Charles Bowyer Adderley and Heerengracht in Cape Town is changed to Adderley Street in honour.South Africa source
185030 March – The paddle steamer RMS Royal Adelaide, bound from Cork to London, sinks off Margate with the loss of all 250 on board.United Kingdom source
1850March 31 – The paddle steamer RMS Royal Adelaide, bound from Cork to London, is wrecked in the English Channel with the loss of all 250 on board.source
185031 March – the paddle steamer RMS Royal Adelaide, bound from Cork to London, sinks in the English Channel with the loss of all 250 on board.Ireland source
1850April 15 – Angers Bridge collapses in France killing around 226 of the soldiers crossing it at the time.source
185018 June – paddle steamer Orion sinks off Portpatrick through the negligence of her master with the loss of 50 lives.Scotland source
1850July 19 – The ship Elizabeth, an American merchant freighter carrying cargo that included mostly marble from Carrara, slammed into a sandbar less than 100 yards from Fire Island, New York, drowning Margaret Fuller, her husband Ossoli, and their young son Angelino.source
185019 November – the barque Edmond sinks off Kilkee with the loss of 98 of the 216 aboard.Ireland source
185027 December – The Cressy is the last of the First Four Ships to arrive at Lyttelton.New Zealand source
1850The "Childe Herold", a British ship en route from Bombay to London is wrecked off Dassen Island, Cape ColonySouth Africa source
1851February 1 – Brandtaucher, the oldest surviving submersible craft, sinks during acceptance trials in the German port of Kiel, but the designer, Wilhelm Bauer, and the two crew escape successfully.source
1851February 6 – Black Thursday occurs in Australia as bushfires sweep across the state of Victoria, burning about a quarter of its area.source
18516 February – The Black Thursday bushfires rage from Mount Gambier to Melbourne. Fires covered a quarter of what is now the state of Victoria, approximately 50,000 km 2 . Areas affected include Portland, the Plenty Ranges to the north of Melbourne, Westernport, the Wimmera and Dandenong districts. Approximately 12 people died, one million sheep and thousands of cattle were lost.Australia source
185115 March – Explosion at Victoria Pit colliery, Nitshill kills 61 men and boys.Scotland source
185128 May – The arrival of two convict ships, the Lady Kenneway with 249 male prisoners and Blackfriars with 260 female prisoners, further turns Tasmanian sentiment against transportation.Australia source
1851December 24 – The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., burns.source
18524 January – The wooden paddle steamer RMS Amazon catches fire and sinks on her maiden voyage in the Bay of Biscay with between 105 and 115 killed and 58 saved.United Kingdom source
1852February 25 – HMS Birkenhead sinks near Cape Town, British Cape Colony. Only 193 of the 643 on board survive, after troops stand firm on the deck so as not to overwhelm the lifeboats containing women and children.source
185225 February – HMS Birkenhead sinks near Cape Town, British Cape Colony. Only 193 of the 643 on board survive, after troops stand firm on the deck so as not to overwhelm the lifeboats containing women and children.United Kingdom source
1852July 8 – Beginning of a fire which burns 11,000 houses in Montreal.Canada source
1852July 28 – Henry Clay steamboat disaster in Riverdale, Bronx, claims several lives, including Stephen Allen.source
1853January 6 – President-elect Franklin Pierce and his family are involved in a train wreck near Andover, Massachusetts. Pierce's 11-year-old son Benjamin is killed in the crash.United States source
185323 January — Six members of the Rhyl lifeboat crew are drowned when the boat overturns.Wales source
185315 February – City of Dublin Steam Packet Company PS Queen Victoria, inward bound from Liverpool, sinks in a snowstorm at night below Baily Lighthouse on Howth Head with the loss of more than 80 lives.Ireland source
185315 February – PS Queen Victoria sinks in a snowstorm at night entering Dublin Bay with the loss of more than 80 lives.United Kingdom source
1853March 5 – Saint Paul Fire and Marine, as predecessor of The Travelers Companies, a worldwide insurance service, founded in Minnesota, United States.source
185328 September – emigrant ship Annie Jane sinks in heavy seas off Vatersay, with the loss of 350 lives.Scotland source
185328 September – Emigrant ship Annie Jane sinks in heavy seas off the Scottish island of Vatersay with the loss of 350 lives.United Kingdom source
1853David Williams (Alaw Goch) opens a new colliery at Cwmdare.Wales source
1854January 21 – The iron clipper RMS Tayleur runs aground off the east coast of Ireland, on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool, bound for Australia, with the loss of at least 300 out of 650 on board.source
185421 January – the iron clipper RMS Tayleur runs aground on Lambay Island on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool with the loss of at least 300 of around 650 on board.Ireland source
185421 January – The iron clipper RMS Tayleur runs aground on Lambay Island (off the east coast of Ireland) on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool with the loss of at least 300 of around 650 on board.United Kingdom source
1854April 16 – The United States packet ship Powhattan is wrecked off the New Jersey shore, with more than 200 victims.source
1854April 16 – The American packet ship Powhattan is wrecked off the shore of New Jersey with a loss of more than 200 lives.United States source
1854July 8 – An anti-Catholic riot in Bath, Maine, destroys a church used by Irish Catholics.United States source
1854September 9 – British Inman Line's SS City of Philadelphia is wrecked off Cape Race (Newfoundland) on her maiden voyage without loss of life.source
1854September 27 – SS Arctic disaster: The American paddle steamer SS Arctic sinks after a collision with the much smaller French ship SS Vesta, 50 miles (80 km) off the coast of Newfoundland, with approximately 320 deaths.source
1854October 6 – The great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead in England is ignited by a spectacular explosion.source
18546 October – The great fire of Newcastle and Gateshead is ignited by a spectacular explosion.United Kingdom source
1854October 27 – A Great Western Railway passenger train collides with the tail end of gravel train at Baptiste Creek, Canada West. At least 52 people are killed.Canada source
1854November 14 – Great Storm of 1854 in the Black Sea: 19 British transport and other ships (plus 2 French) supporting the Crimean War are wrecked with the loss of at least 287 men.source
185414 November – Great Storm of 1854 in the Black Sea: 19 British transport and other ships supporting the Crimean War are wrecked with the loss of at least 287 men.United Kingdom source
185430 November – SS Nile is wrecked on The Stones reef off Godrevy Head on the north Cornwall coast, with the loss of all on board – at least 40.United Kingdom source
185521 January – Fire at the Monnaie Theatre.Belgium source
185530 March – The Severn ferry from Chepstow sinks, and seven people drown.Wales source
1855The 3,000 kilns at Jingdezhen, Jiangxi are destroyed by the TaipingsChina source
185520 Irish miners arrive to work in the Namaqualand copper minesSouth Africa source
18564 February – The sailing ship Grand Duke is wrecked off St. Govan's Head in Pembrokeshire with the loss of 29 lives.United Kingdom source
18566 February – The sailing ship Grand Duke is wrecked off St Govan's Head, with the loss of 29 lives.Wales source
1856February 12 – American clipper ships Driver and Ocean Queen leave Liverpool and London respectively; both will be lost without trace in the Atlantic, perhaps due to ice, killing 374 and 123 respectively.source
185612 February – American clipper ships Driver and Ocean Queen leave Liverpool and London respectively, both to be lost without trace in the Atlantic, perhaps due to ice, killing 374 and 123 respectively.United Kingdom source
1856March 5 – Fire destroys the Covent Garden Theatre in London.source
18565 March – A fire destroys Covent Garden Theatre in London.United Kingdom source
1856May 21 – Sacking of Lawrence: Lawrence, Kansas, is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.source
1856May 21 – Bleeding Kansas: Lawrence, Kansas is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces (the "Sacking of Lawrence").United States source
185615 July – An underground explosion at the Cymmer Colliery in the Rhondda kills 114 men and boys.United Kingdom source
1856July 17 – The Great Train Wreck of 1856: Two trains collide near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania killing at least 59 and injuring at least 100.United States source
1856Authorities in Canton order attacks on Thirteen Factories, which are subsequently destroyed in a fireChina source
185719 February – Lundhill Colliery explosion at Wombwell in the South Yorkshire Coalfield kills 189 miners.United Kingdom source
1857August 20 – The Dunbar wrecks near the entrance to Sydney Harbour, Australia, with the loss of 121 lives.source
185720 August – The Dunbar is wrecked at the entrance to Sydney Harbour, killing 121 passengers.Australia source
1857September 12 – The SS Central America sinks off the coast of North Carolina with the loss of 425 lives.source
1857September 12 – The SS Central America sinks off the coast of North Carolina, killing 425 people and sending large quantities of gold to the bottom.United States source
1857September 22 (September 10 O.S.) – Russian ship of the line Lefort sinks in the Gulf of Finland during a sudden squall with the loss of 826 lives; 30 other ships are wrecked in the same storm.source
185729 October — St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden, badly damaged by arson.Wales source
1857Devastating fire in the Mosebacke area in Stockholm leads to significant damage to property.Sweden source
185814 April – The 1858 Christiania fire. Several city blocks were destroyed, 41 buildings burned down, and around 1,000 persons lost their homes.Norway source
1858The Miners Association is established in Cornwall, England, UK.source
1858The Miners Association established in Cornwall.United Kingdom source
1858End of Aberdare Strike 1857-8 in the coal mining industry.Wales source
1859April 28 – American ship Pomona is wrecked off the Irish coast, with 424 dead.source
185930 April – American ship Pomona carrying, mainly Irish, emigrants from Liverpool to New York, is wrecked on a sandbank at Ballyconigar, off Wexford, with 424 deaths and only 24 survivors.Ireland source
18595 August – The passenger steamship SS Admella is shipwrecked on a submerged reef near Mount Gambier South Australia with the loss of 89 lives.Australia source
1859August 27 – Edwin Drake drills the first oil well in the United States, near Titusville, Pennsylvania, starting the Pennsylvania oil rush.source
1859October 26 – The steamship Royal Charter is wrecked on the coast of Anglesey, Wales, with 454 dead.source
185917 December – Frederiksborg Castle is devastated by fire but Frederiksborg Chapel is saved.Denmark source
185925–26 October – Royal Charter Storm, the most severe storm to hit the British Isles this century. 133 ships are sunk and another ninety badly damaged, with a death toll estimated as up to 800 (including some killed on land); most notably from the steam clipper Royal Charter, driven ashore on the north-east coast of Anglesey on 26 October with around 459 dead and just 39 men surviving.United Kingdom source
1859St Brynach's Church, Cwm-yr-Eglwys, is destroyed.Wales source
1859Steam clipper Royal Charter is wrecked off the north-east Anglesey coast, with the estimated loss of around 459 lives, the greatest loss of life in any maritime accident in Welsh waters.Wales source
1860January 10 – The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts collapses, killing at least 77 workers.source
1860January 10 – The Pemberton Mill collapses in Lawrence, Massachusetts, killing at least 77 workers.United States source
1860February 20 – Canadian Royal Mail steamer SS Hungarian (1859) is wrecked on Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, on passage from the British Isles to the United States with all 205 onboard lost.source
1860February 20 – 205 killed when the SS Hungarian (Allan Line) is wrecked at Cape Sable, Nova Scotia.Canada source
1860May 1 – A Chondrite-type meteorite falls to earth in Muskingum County, Ohio, near the town of New Concord.source
18609 July – Belgian consulate in Damascus destroyed during anti-Christian pogroms.Belgium source
1860September 7 – The PS Lady Elgin is accidentally rammed and sunk in Lake Michigan, drowning at least 300 people.source
18607 October – One of the monks sets fire to the church and one of the dormitories at Scourmont Priory.Belgium source
1860October 18–21 – Beijing's Old Summer Palace is burned to the ground by orders of British general Lord Elgin, in retaliation for mistreatment of several prisoners of war, during the Second Opium War.source
1860October 18 Destruction of the Old Summer PalaceChina source
186018 October – Lord Elgin orders his forces to set fire to the huge complex of Beijing's Old Summer Palace, known as the Gardens of Perfect Brightness, which burns to the ground.United Kingdom source
186011 November – Kildare Street Club, Dublin destroyed by fire.Ireland source
18601 December — The sixth underground explosion in the Risca Black Vein Pit at Crosskeys in the Sirhowy Valley of Monmouthshire kills 142 coal miners.Wales source
18617 February – François Robyn (Br Hugo in religion) sentenced to death at the Court of assizes in Mons for arson at Scourmont Priory the previous October.Belgium source
1861June 7/8 - Shipwreck of the "Prince of Wales" in Rio Grande do Sul.Brazil source
1861June 22 – Tooley Street fire breaks out and takes the life of James Braidwood, first superintendent of the London Fire Brigade.source
1861June 30 – Lambing Flat riots: White miners attack Chinese in the Australian goldfields.source
1861November 25 – A tenement collapses in the Old Town, Edinburgh (Scotland), killing 35 people, while 15 others survive.source
186125 November – a tenement collapses in the Old Town, Edinburgh, killing 35 with 15 survivors.United Kingdom source
1861December 10 – In southern French Indochina, resistance forces led by Nguyễn Trung Trực ambush, board and sink the French lorcha (boat) L'Esperance on the Nhat Tao canal.source
186121 to 26 March – the Tooley Street fire in Southwark destroys several buildings.United Kingdom source
1862January 16 – Hartley Colliery disaster in north-east England: 204 men are trapped and die underground when the only shaft becomes blocked.source
186216 January – Hartley Colliery Disaster: 204 miners die following collapse of machinery at the Hartley Colliery in Northumberland.United Kingdom source
186219 February – Gethin Pit disaster, Abercanaid: the first of two firedamp explosions at this colliery near Merthyr Tydfil kills 47 men and boys.Wales source
1862March 6 – An ammunition warehouse explosion in San Andres Chalchicomula, Mexico, kills between 1,400 and 2,280 during the Second French intervention in Mexico.source
18627 August – Ferry from Porthmadog to Talsarnau sinks with the loss of 8 lives.Wales source
186213 October – Winchburgh rail crash: A head-on collision on the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway kills 15.Scotland source
1862December 17 – General Order No. 11, which expels all Jews from his military district, is issued by General Ulysses S. Grant. This order is rescinded just a few weeks later.source
1862December 17 – General Order No. 11, expelling all Jews in his military district, is issued by General Ulysses S. Grant (it is rescinded a few weeks later).United States source
186227 December – The Swedish brig Daphne is wrecked off Skagen North Beach. A rescue boat from Skagen with 11 men capsizes and only two of the men survives, leaving eight women in Skagen as widows and 25 children fatherless.Denmark source
1862December 30 – USS Monitor sinks in a storm in the Atlantic, off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.source
1862December 30 – USS Monitor sinks off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.United States source
1862December – Peruvian slave raiders land on Easter Island, beginning a decade of the destruction of the society and population on the island.source
1862The Dublin Fire Brigade is established under the Dublin Corporation Fire Brigades Act.Ireland source
1863January 11 – In the Swiss canton of Ticino, the roof of the church of Sant'Antonio in Locarno collapses under the weight of snow, killing 47.source
1863February 7 – HMS Orpheus sinks while attempting to enter Manukau Harbour in New Zealand, with the loss of 189 lives.source
18637 February – The Sydney-based Royal Navy corvette HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of New Zealand claiming 189 lives.Australia source
18637 February: HMS Orpheus is wrecked at the entrance to Manukau Harbour with the loss of 189 lives.New Zealand source
18637 February – HMS Orpheus sinks attempting to enter Manukau Harbour in New Zealand with the loss of 189 lives.United Kingdom source
1863March 19 – The SS Georgiana is destroyed on her maiden voyage while attempting to run the blockade into Charleston, South Carolina. The wreck is discovered exactly 102 years later, by E. Lee Spence.source
1863October 15 – The Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley, first tested in July, sinks during another test, killing Horace Lawson Hunley (its inventor) and a crew of seven.source
1863October 15 – American Civil War: The first successful submarine, the CSS Hunley sinks during a test, killing Horace Lawson Hunley (its inventor) and a crew of seven.United States source
1863December 8 – The Church of the Company Fire in Santiago, Chile, kills between 2,000 and 3,000 people.source
18638 December - Church of the Company FireChile source
1864January 22 – the Stifone powder-magazine explosion near Narni, Italy, destroys much of the village of Stifone and kills 12 people.source
1864February 17 – The tiny Confederate hand-propelled submarine H. L. Hunley sinks the USS Housatonic, using a spar torpedo in Charleston Harbor, becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy ship, although the submarine and her crew of eight are also lost.source
1864February 17 – American Civil War: The Confederate submarine Hunley torpedoes the USS Housatonic, becoming the first submarine to sink an enemy ship (the sub and her crew of 8 are also lost).United States source
186414 May – The Orgueil meteorite falls to earth.France source
18642 June – The schooner Waratah disappears between Sydney and Newcastle, claiming seven lives.Australia source
1864June 29 – St-Hilaire train disaster, a passenger train operated by Grand Trunk Railway and travelling from Quebec City to Montreal is derailed at a swung open bridge after a signal passed at danger. The train also collapses onto a ship, sinking both ship and train. 99 people are killed and 100 injured making this the deadliest train accident in Canada's history.source
186418 October – abolition of squadron colours in the Royal Navy, reserving the White Ensign to the Navy, the Red Ensign to the Merchant Navy and the Blue Ensign to military vessels.United Kingdom source
1864December 1 – The Great Fire of Brisbane breaks out in Australia.source
18641 December – Great Fire of BrisbaneAustralia source
1864David Davies Llandinam takes a lease of coal in the Upper Rhondda Valley and sinks the Parc and Maindy pits.Wales source
1865February 17 – American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.United States source
1865February – American Civil War: Columbia, South Carolina burns, as Confederate forces flee from advancing Union forces.source
1865April 27 – The steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,300 passengers, explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing 1,800, mostly Union survivors of the Andersonville Prison.source
1865April 27 – The steamboat Sultana, carrying 2,300 passengers (and news of Lincoln's assassination), explodes and sinks in the Mississippi River, killing 1,800, mostly Union survivors of the Andersonville Prison.United States source
18657 June – Rednal rail crash in Shropshire: 13 killed, 30 injured.United Kingdom source
186517 June – A fire breaks out in the eastern part of Nørresundby and ends up destroying much of the town.Denmark source
186517 July – The wooden barquentine Ada collides with the RMS Jeddo and sinks in Sydney Harbour.Australia source
1865July 30 – The steamer Brother Jonathan sinks off the California coast, killing 225 passengers and crew.source
1865August 25 – The Shergotty meteorite Mars meteorite falls in Sherghati, Gaya, Bihar in India.source
1865October 26 – The paddlewheel steamer SS Republic sinks off the Georgia coast, with a cargo of $400,000 in coins.source
186529 November — Two men die when a coal train falls into the North Dock at Swansea.Wales source
1865A forest fire near Silverton, Oregon, destroys about one million acres (4,000 km 2 ) of timber.source
1865Shergotty meteorite fell at Sherghati, Gaya, Bihar, IndiaIndia source
186530–31 December – 24 vessels are wrecked around the Dubh Artach reef in a storm.Scotland source
1866January 12 – British auxiliary steamer SS London sinks in a storm in the Bay of Biscay, on passage from the Thames to Australia, with the loss of 244 people, and only 19 survivors.source
186612 January – Auxiliary steamer SS London sinks in a storm in the Bay of Biscay on passage from Gravesend to Australia with the loss of 244 people and only 19 survivors.United Kingdom source
1866July 4 – The Great Fire of Portland, Maine kills two and leaves 10,000 homeless in the worst fire in an American city at this time.United States source
186612 July – SS Cawarra was wrecked off Newcastle, only 1 of 61 passengers and crew surviveAustralia source
186618 July – The passenger vessel Netherby is wrecked off King Island, all 450 on board survivedAustralia source
1866India officially stops sending Indian labourers to Natal.South Africa source
1866December 12– Oaks explosion: The worst mining disaster in England kills 383 miners and rescuers.source
186612 December – the Oaks explosion in the Barnsley seam in Yorkshire kills 361 coal miners; a subsidiary explosion the following day kills 27 rescuers. This is the all-time worst colliery or mining disaster in England, and the worst mining accident in the U.K. until 1913.United Kingdom source
1866The meteorite Jamkheir fell in Maharashtra on 5 OctoberIndia source
186612–13 July – The town of Drammen is destroyed by fire, with the flames visible from Christiana (now Oslo) 36 km (22 mi) away. Tingle, Joseph Child (25 August 1866). "A Town in Ashes". All the Year Round. XVI (383). London: 150–153.Norway source
18677 January – Riots at the Crocodile Creek goldfield destroyed the property of Chinese miners.Australia source
1867January 7 – Kingstree jail fire kills 22 in South Carolina.United States source
1867January 15 – Regent's Park skating disaster in London: 40 people die when ice on a lake breaks.source
186716 January – Emil Messershcmidt's Tannery on Gammel Kongevej in Copenhagen is hit by fire.Denmark source
18672 February – Mines across the Charleroi coalfield closed by strikes.Belgium source
1867October 12 – End of penal transportation from Britain as the last convict ship, the Hougoumont, departs from Portsmouth on an 89-day passage to Western Australia. 62 Fenians are among the transportees.source
186712 October – The transportation of convicts to Western Australia ceases when the last convict ship to Western Australia, the Hougoumont, left Britain.Australia source
18678 November – An underground explosion at Ferndale Colliery in the Rhondda kills 178.United Kingdom source
1867Jesuits destroy the ruins of the Chudamani ViharaIndia source
186726–27 October – Barque Earl of Chester is wrecked off Rhosneigr, Anglesey, with the loss of at least 17 lives.Wales source
186810 January – The last convict ship to Western Australia, the Hougoumont, arrives in Western Australia. This brought the end of penal transportation to Australia.Australia source
186813 January – The brig Albion runs aground off Whitford Point and is abandoned by her seven crew members, all of whom drown.Wales source
186822 January – Sixteen vessels are lost in a gale off the Burry estuary, with a total of thirty lives lost.Wales source
186824 March – 20 killed when soldiers shoot on striking miners from the Epine mine in Dampremy.Belgium source
1868April 21 – Alfred Henry Maurer, modernist painter (suicide 1932)United States source
186820 August – Abergele train disaster kills 32 passengers and a fireman.United Kingdom source
186820 August – Abergele rail disaster: 33 people die in a fire resulting from a collision between a mail train and a set of trucks at Llandulas station near Abergele, the greatest loss of life in a railway accident in Wales.Wales source
186919 May – Two days after John Young, the English manager of the Leeswood Green colliery, announces a pay cut, he is attacked by some of his workers.Wales source
18692 June – seven men are tried at Mold for attacking a colliery manager following a pay cut. A riot breaks out as those convicted are being transported to the railway station; soldiers fire on the crowd, killing four people.United Kingdom source
186910 June – an underground explosion at Ferndale Colliery in the Rhondda kills 53.United Kingdom source
1869July 10 – Gävle, Sweden, is destroyed in a city fire; 8,000 people become homeless.source
186910 July – Gävle is largely destroyed in a fire; 80% of its 10,000 residents are left homeless.Sweden source
1869September 12–13 – P&O's SS Carnatic runs aground and sinks in the Red Sea; 31 drown.source
187028 January – Inman Line's SS City of Boston departs Halifax, Nova Scotia, on a passage for Liverpool on which it will be lost with all 191 aboard.United Kingdom source
18707 September – masted turret ship HMS Captain capsizes off Cape Finisterre, less than 5 months after commissioning, due to design flaws, with the loss of 481 lives.United Kingdom source
187019 October – SS Cambria is wrecked on Inishtrahull with the loss of 179 lives.Ireland source
187019 October – SS Cambria is wrecked on Inishtrahull (Ireland) with the loss of 179 lives.United Kingdom source
1870William Thomas Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr of Senghenydd, begins acquiring the collieries later known as the Lewis Merthyr collieries in Rhondda.Wales source
1871February 6 – A train collision in New York kills 22.United States source
187110 February – Great Gale in the North Sea: 28 ships wrecked and total fatalities are estimated at over fifty, including six crew of Bridlington life-boat Harbinger.United Kingdom source
1871June – Miners' strike in South Wales culminates in defeat for the union.Wales source
1871July 30 – An explosion on the Staten Island Ferry kills 72 and injures 135.United States source
187111 August – Stowmarket Guncotton Explosion kills 28.United Kingdom source
1871October 8 – The Great Chicago Fire breaks out in Chicago, Illinois and burns for 2 days, killing 300 people, destroying 17,500 buildings and leaving 100,000 people homeless.source
1871October 8 – Four major fires break out in the Upper Midwest in Chicago, Illinois, Peshtigo, Wisconsin, Holland, Michigan, and Manistee, Michigan. The Great Chicago Fire is the most infamous of these, killing 300 people, destroying 17,500 buildings and leaving nearly 100,000 people homeless, although the Peshtigo Fire in Wisconsin kills as many as 2,500 people, making it the deadliest fire in United States history.United States source
1871Whaling disaster of 1871: 1,219 people abandon 33 whaling ships caught in the ice pack off the northern coast of Alaska.United States source
187226 February – The brig Maria is wrecked when it strikes a reef near Cardwell off the coast of Queensland, killing 39 people.Australia source
1872March 11 – Work begins on the Seven Sisters Colliery in South Wales, located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.source
187218 June — A derailment occurs in the Pencader Tunnel on the Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway.Wales source
1872June 22 – A Grand Trunk Railway express passenger train from Toronto to Montreal derails near Shannonville, Ontario, killing 34.Canada source
18729 July – Tradeston Flour Mills explosion in Glasgow kills 18Scotland source
18722 October – Kirtlebridge rail crash at Kirtlebridge station on the Caledonian Railway in Dumfries and Galloway: 12 killed in a collisionScotland source
18727 October – an underground explosion at Morley Main Colliery, Morley, West Yorkshire, kills 34.United Kingdom source
1872November 9 – Great Boston Fire of 1872: In Boston, Massachusetts, a large fire begins to burn on Lincoln Street (the 2-day disaster destroys about 65 acres of the city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and causes US$60 million in damage).source
1872November 9 – Great Boston Fire of 1872: In Boston, Massachusetts, a large fire begins to burn on Lincoln Street. The two-day event destroys about 65 acres (260,000 m 2 ) of city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and causes US$60 million in damage.United States source
187225 November – loss of the iron sailing ship Royal Adelaide on Chesil Beach: 60 saved, 7 drowned.United Kingdom source
187322 January – Northfleet, carrying emigrants for Tasmania, sinks at anchor off Dungeness after being rammed by a Spanish steamship with the death of 293 and 86 survivors.United Kingdom source
18731 March – The sailing ship Chacabuco sinks off the Great Orme with the loss of 24 lives.Wales source
1873April 1 – The British ocean liner RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 people.source
1873April 1 – The SS Atlantic is wrecked off Peggys Cove.Canada source
18731 April – the White Star liner RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, 547 die.United Kingdom source
1873April 19 – In Richmond, Rhode Island, 11 people perish in a train derailment, due to a bridge washout in the village of Richmond Switch (modern-day Wood River Junction).source
1873June 9 – Alexandra Palace entertainment venue in London is destroyed by fire, only a fortnight after its opening.source
18739 June – Alexandra Palace entertainment venue in north London is destroyed by fire only a fortnight after its opening.United Kingdom source
1873October 2 – The British ship SS Ismailia, an Anchor Line steamer that departed from New York on September 30 with 52 people disappears while en route to Glasgow.source
1873November 22 – SS Ville du Havre, on passage from New York to France, collides with Scottish 3-masted iron clipper Loch Earn in mid-Atlantic and sinks in 12 minutes with the loss of 226 lives.source
18739 December – More than 1,000 striking gold miners attack police and Chinese workers brought in to Clunes, Victoria to break the strike.Australia source
1873Genocide that reduced the population of Yunnan by at least 5 millionChina source
18741 January: Wreck of the Surat, carrying 271 passengers and 37 crew, on the Catlins coast. All survived.New Zealand source
187424 January – Four pilots and two apprentices are drowned in an accident off Llanddwyn on Anglesey.Wales source
187427 January – Bo'ness Junction rail crash near Falkirk on the North British Railway: 16 killed in a collision.Scotland source
187427 February – four crew of Stonehaven life-boat lost on service.Scotland source
187414 April – Astley Deep Pit Disaster: a mining accident as the result of an explosion in Dukinfield, Cheshire, kills 54.United Kingdom source
1874May 16 – The Mill River dam collapses in Massachusetts, killing 139 people.source
1874May 23 – Passenger ship British Admiral, on a voyage from Liverpool (England) to Melbourne (Australia), sinks after hitting rocks off King Island (Tasmania); only nine of the 88 passengers and crew are rescued.source
1874July 14 – The Chicago Fire of 1874 burns down 47 acres of the city, destroying 812 buildings, killing 20, and resulting in the fire insurance industry demanding municipal reforms from Chicago's city council.source
1874November 18 – Sailing ship Cospatrick carrying emigrants from England bound for New Zealand, catches fire and sinks in the South Atlantic with the loss of all but three of the 472 persons on board.source
187418 November: Fire and sinking of the Cospatrick carrying emigrants to New Zealand near the Cape of Good Hope; one of New Zealand's worst disasters as only three of the 472 on board survived.New Zealand source
1874The medieval Frankish Tower on the Acropolis of Athens is demolished.source
1875February 24 – The SS Gothenburg sinks off Australia's east coast with the loss of approximately 102 lives, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries.source
187524 February – The SS Gothenburg strikes Old Reef off Ayr, Queensland and sinks with the loss of 102 lives.Australia source
18759 March – the Advocates Library in Edinburgh suffers a serious fire.Scotland source
187513 April – The Theatre Royal, Cork closes down for good.Ireland source
1875May 7 – German liner SS Schiller wrecks on the rocks off the Isles of Scilly, with the loss of 335 lives.source
18757 May – German liner SS Schiller is wrecked on rocks off the Isles of Scilly with the loss of 311 lives.United Kingdom source
1875June 18 – The Dublin whiskey fire in Ireland leaves 13 people dead and causes more than €6 million worth of damage.source
1875September 27 – American merchant sailing ship Ellen Southard is wrecked off Liverpool in England; 12 crew and life-boatmen are lost.source
187527 September – American merchant sailing ship Ellen Southard is wrecked off Liverpool; 12 crew and life-boatmen are lost.United Kingdom source
1875December 6 – The German emigrant ship SS Deutschland runs aground off the English coast, killing 157 passengers and crew.source
1875December 6 – A firedamp explosion at kills 143 miners at the Swaithe Main Colliery in the South Yorkshire Coalfield of England.source
18756 December – German emigrant ship SS Deutschland (built in Scotland 1866) runs aground on Kentish Knock resulting in the death of 157 passengers and crew and inspiring Gerard Manley Hopkins' poem The Wreck of the Deutschland.United Kingdom source
18756 December – A firedamp explosion at Swaithe Main Colliery in the South Yorkshire Coalfield results in the death of 143 miners.United Kingdom source
1876February 5 – The ship Memento sinks off East London and two 2nd Class 2-6-2TT locomotives intended for the Eastern System of the Cape Government Railways are lost.South Africa source
18765 April – River Dee Ferry Boat Disaster: 32 drown.Scotland source
187611 September – SS Dandenong sinks; 40 lives are lost.Australia source
1876October 19 – The 2,700 ton steamer Windsor Castle sinks off Dassen Island.South Africa source
18761 December – SS Georgette runs aground near Busselton, Western Australia; Grace Bussell and Sam Isaacs help to rescue the passengers.Australia source
1876December 5 – The Brooklyn Theatre fire kills at least 278, possibly more than 300.source
1876December 5 – The Brooklyn Theater Fire kills at least 278, possibly more than 300.United States source
1876December 29 – The Ashtabula River railroad disaster occurs in Ohio when a bridge collapses, leaving 92 dead.source
1877June 20 – The Great Fire of Saint John, New Brunswick had destroyed over 80 hectares (200 acres) and 1,612 structures including eight churches, six banks, fourteen hotels, eleven schooners and four wood boats.Canada source
187711 September – Ships Avalanche and Forrest collide off Portland, Victoria, only 3 of the 107 passengers are savedAustralia source
187711 September – collision of two outward bound sailing ships, Shaw, Savill Line's Avalanche, bound from London to Wellington, New Zealand, and the North American Forest Queen, in ballast for New York, off the Isle of Portland; over 120 persons die from both ships with only 12 survivors.United Kingdom source
1877October 22 – The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland kills 207 miners.source
187722 October – Blantyre mining disaster: Scotland's worst-ever mining accident kills over 200.Scotland source
187722 October – Blantyre mining disaster kills 207, Scotland's worst-ever mining accident.United Kingdom source
18773 December – the original Mount Stuart House on the Isle of Bute is burned down.Scotland source
1877Closure of lead mine at Loggerheads, Denbighshire.Wales source
187824 March – the Royal Navy frigate HMS Eurydice capsizes off the Isle of Wight, killing all but two of the 319 crew.United Kingdom source
1878May 2 – The Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis explodes, killing 18.source
1878May 2 – The Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota explodes, killing 18.United States source
187831 May – the Imperial German Navy ironclad turret ship SMS Grosser Kurfürst is accidentally rammed and sunk by SMS König Wilhelm on manoeuvres off Folkestone with the loss of more than 275 crew (an event witnessed by Arthur Sullivan).United Kingdom source
1878June 1 – British clipper Loch Ard is wrecked off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria (Australia) with the loss of 52 lives and only 2 survivors.source
18781 June – The clipper ship Loch Ard is wrecked at Mutton Bird Island, just off the Shipwreck Coast of Victoria; 45 die, only two lives are saved.Australia source
18787 June – an underground explosion at Wood Pit, Haydock, kills at least 189.United Kingdom source
1878September 3 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat SS Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.source
18783 September – over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat SS Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.United Kingdom source
187811 September – an underground explosion at Abercarn in Monmouthshire kills 268 coal miners.United Kingdom source
1878October 31 – A fire destroys the Eldkvarn gristmill in Stockholm, Sweden.source
1878December 18 – French passenger steamer Byzantin founders in the Dardanelles during a gale after collision with British SS Rinaldo, killing around 210 people, with only 14 crew of the Byzantin saved.source
187818 December – French passenger steamer Byzantin founders in the Dardanelles during a gale after collision with British SS Rinaldo, killing around 210 people, with only 14 crew of the Byzantin saved.France source
187921 February: An explosion in the coal mine at Kaitangata kills 34 men.New Zealand source
18792 March – Castle in Tervuren burns down.Belgium source
187917 April – Firedamp explosion at Agrappe Mine in Frameries.Belgium source
1879May 10 – Meteorite falls near Estherville, Iowa.United States source
1879September 8 – 1879 Octagon fire: A fire in The Octagon, Dunedin (New Zealand), claims 12 victims.source
18798 September: A fire sweeps through several buildings in central Dunedin, killing 12 people.New Zealand source
1879September 25 – A fire in Deadwood, South Dakota, leaves 2,000 people homeless and 300 buildings destroyed; total loss of property is estimated at $3 million.source
1879September 25 – Deadwood, South Dakota fire: 2000 people are left homeless and 300 buildings destroyed; total loss of property is estimated at $3 million.United States source
188021 January – an underground firedamp explosion at Fair Lady Pit, Leycett, in the North Staffordshire Coalfield, kills 62 coal miners.United Kingdom source
18809 February – the Theatre Royal, Dublin, burns to the ground.Ireland source
188025 February – The Resurgam, an early mechanically-powered submarine, sinks off Rhyl.Wales source
1880March 4 – The Belgian ship Mercator founders off the coast of the Netherlands port of Vlissingen with the loss of her entire crew of more than 60 people.source
18808 September – an underground explosion at Seaham Colliery, County Durham, kills 164 coal miners.United Kingdom source
188029 October – Wells lifeboat disaster: RNLI life-boat Eliza Adams of Wells-next-the-Sea, Norfolk, capsizes on service; 11 of 13 crew lost.United Kingdom source
188010 December – an underground firedamp explosion at Naval Steam Colliery, Penygraig, in the Rhondda, kills 101 coal miners.United Kingdom source
1880The Muizenberg Flyer, a faster suburban passenger train service, is introduced in Cape Town.South Africa source
1880The John N Gamewell, a small American brigantine, sinks off the west coast of the Cape Colony near Port Elizabeth.South Africa source
1881March 23 – A fire caused by a gas explosion destroys the Opéra de Nice in the south of France with fatalities.source
188123 March – A fire caused by a gas explosion destroys the Opéra de Nice with fatalities.France source
1881April 30 – SS Tararua hits a reef and sinks off the coast of New Zealand's South Island with only 20 survivors of the 151 on board.source
1881May 24 – The overloaded steamer Victoria capsizes on the Thames River near London, Ontario, killing 182 people.Canada source
1881June 12 – The USS Jeannette is crushed in an Arctic Ocean ice pack.source
1881September 5 – The Thumb Fire in the U.S. state of Michigan destroys over a million acres (4,000 km 2 ) and kills 282 people.source
1881September 5 – The Thumb Fire in the U.S. state of Michigan destroys over a million acres (4,000 km²) and kills 282 people.United States source
188113 October – 19 people drown when the Cyprian is wrecked off the Lleyn peninsula.Wales source
188114 October – the Eyemouth disaster ("Black Friday"): a severe storm strikes the Berwickshire coast; 189 fishermen die.Scotland source
188114 October – great gale across the country; in the Eyemouth disaster ("Black Friday"), a severe storm strikes the Berwickshire coast of Scotland and 189 fishermen die.United Kingdom source
1881December 8 – At least 380 die in a fire at the Vienna Ringtheater.source
188120/21 July – 58 men, the crews of ten fishing boats (mostly sixareens) from Yell, Shetland, are drowned in a sudden storm.Scotland source
188210 January – The vessels Constancia and Primus attempt to pass through a lock at Newport Docks at the same time and a collision results. The lock is blocked and the vessels already in the dock are trapped for nearly two weeks. The resulting losses eventually culminate in the demise of the Newport Dock Company a year later.Wales source
1882January 13 – A train collision in New York City kills eight, including Webster Wagner, a New York state senator and founder of the luxury sleeper-car company bearing his name.United States source
188216 February – Trimdon Grange colliery disaster: an underground explosion in the Durham Coalfield kills 69.United Kingdom source
188220 October – The steamer Clan MacDuff sinks off Holyhead, resulting in 32 deaths.Wales source
188220 October – The Victory, a Bideford schooner carrying coal from Cardiff to Waterford, sinks near Ballyteique with the loss of all crew.Wales source
18821 November – An Austrian barque, the Petroslava, is wrecked on Skokholm with the loss of 10 of its 11 crew members.Wales source
1882November 2 – The Great Fire of Oulu destroys 27 buildings in the downtown of Oulu, Finland.source
188228 December – Newlands Mill chimney in Bradford collapses causing the loss of 54 lives, mostly young girls and boys.United Kingdom source
1883January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people.source
1883January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee kills 73 people.United States source
188327 January – In the same storm, the James Gray is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl, and the Agnes Jack off Port Eynon. The Mumbles lifeboat puts out, and 5 of its crew are drowned in the rescue attempt, in which Jessie Ace and Margaret Wright assist.Wales source
188316 February – Six million tons of rock collapse at the Welsh Slate Company's underground quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog.Wales source
188315 March – Fenian dynamite campaign: An explosion at the Local Government Board, Charles Street, Mayfair (Westminster) causes over £4,000 worth of damage and some minor injuries to people nearby. A second bomb at The Times newspaper offices in Queen Victoria Street, London does not explode.United Kingdom source
1883May 30 – A rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede, which crushes 12 people.source
1883May 30 – In New York City, a rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede which crushes 12 people.United States source
1883July 3 – The SS Daphne sinks on launch in Glasgow, Scotland, leaving 124 dead.source
18833 July – SS Daphne sinks on launch at Alexander Stephen and Sons' Linthouse shipyard, leaving 124 dead.Scotland source
18833 July – SS Daphne sinks on launch in Glasgow, leaving 124 dead.United Kingdom source
188331 October – 18 people are drowned when the German barque Alhambra sinks off Holyhead.Wales source
188417 July – Barque Vicksburg of Leith goes aground on Muckle Skerry in the Pentland Skerries with the loss of nine lives; twelve are saved by the island's lighthouse keepers.Scotland source
188422 September – HMS Wasp is wrecked on Tory Island, County Donegal, with the loss of 52 lives and only 6 survivors.Ireland source
18843 October – The fire of the 2nd Christiansborg Palace begins.Denmark source
1884The Yellow Crane Tower last burns in Wuhan.source
1884Closure of Talargoch lead mine, near Dyserth.Wales source
1885January 24 – Irish rebels damage Westminster Hall and the Tower of London with dynamite.source
188524 January – Irish terrorists damage Westminster Hall and the Tower of London with dynamite.Ireland source
188518 June – Clifton Hall Colliery disaster: an explosion kills 178 in Salford.United Kingdom source
1885September 15 – A train wreck of the P. T. Barnum Circus kills giant elephant Jumbo, at St. Thomas, Ontario.source
188517 October – Caulfield Cup when 16 of the 44 horses competing fell, resulting in the death of 25-year-old jockey Donald Nicolson.Australia source
188630 January – SS Fulmar sinks off Kilkee with the loss of all 17 aboard.Ireland source
188611 February — The Berti Law, named after Domenico Berti, Minister of Education in the Depretis V government (or officially: Law no. 3657), set the minimum age for admission to work in quarries, mines, and factories, at nine years, the minimum age for night work at twelve years and indicated a maximum of eight hours' work for them. However, the provisions in the law were not actually enforced until the Carcano Law was issued in 1902, thanks to which – for the first time – action was taken to support the protection of underage workers.Italy source
188611 April: Sinking of the steamer Taiaroa near the mouth of the Waiau Toa / Clarence River with the loss of 34 lives.New Zealand source
188630 May – The SS Ly-Ee-Moon sinks off Green Cape, New South Wales, with the loss of 71 persons.Australia source
1886June 13 – The Great Vancouver Fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia.source
1886June 13 – Great Vancouver FireCanada source
188615 October – 20 people are drowned when the sailing ship Malleny is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl.Wales source
188615 October – 18 people are drowned when the sailing ship Teviotdale is wrecked on Cefn Sidan Sands in Carmarthenshire.Wales source
1886October 24 – The British merchant vessel Normanton sinks off the coast of Japan, triggering the Normanton incident.source
18869 December – Southport and St Anne's lifeboats disaster.United Kingdom source
1887January 20 – British emigrant ship Kapunda sinks after a collision off the coast of Brazil, killing 303 with only 16 survivors.source
188720 January – Emigrant ship Kapunda sinks after a collision off the coast of Brazil, killing 303 with only 16 survivors.United Kingdom source
188718 February – National Colliery disaster at Cwtch in the Rhondda: an underground explosion kills thirty miners.United Kingdom source
1887March 23 – The DS «Vardøhus» whaler sinks outside the town of Mandal in Norway. 46 dead.source
188711 May – Ship Darling Downs with 7725 bales of Australian wool sinks at Nore after collision with BritanniaAustralia source
188728 May – Udston mining disaster in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland: 73 coal miners die in a firedamp explosion at Udston Colliery.Scotland source
1887September 5 – The Theatre Royal, Exeter, England, burns down, killing 186 people.source
18875 September – Theatre Royal, Exeter burns down, and 186 people die.United Kingdom source
188719 October – The Sydney-bound steamer SS Cheviot is wrecked near Point Nepean, Victoria, claiming 35 lives.Australia source
1888February 20 – The Croatian sailing ship Kostrena, sailing from Cette to Rijeka, ran aground in the Bobina bay on the Istrian side of the Vela vrata strait because of bad weather; the same happened to another Croatian sailing ship, the Ireneo.source
188825 June – The Umeå city fire destroyed most of the city of UmeåSweden source
1888August 9 – A fire destroys the Main Building, the heart of Wells College in Aurora, New York, causing a loss of $130,000.source
1888August 22 – Earliest evidence of a death and injury by a meteorite, in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq.source
18885 October – Five sailors are drowned at Colwyn Bay while returning to their ship by boat.Wales source
188829 October – Borki train disaster.Russia source
18883 November – the Great Sheep Panic, in which thousands of sheep across Oxfordshire stampede.United Kingdom source
1888The Camborne School of Mines is founded in Cornwall, England.source
1888Camborne School of Mines founded in Cornwall.United Kingdom source
18898 February – Nine people drown in a ferry accident at Pembroke Dock.Wales source
1889March 15 – Samoan crisis: German and American warships keep each other at bay in a standoff in Apia Harbor, ending when a cyclone blows in and sinks them all.source
1889May 15 – In Samoa, 3 U.S. and 3 German ships sink in a typhoon because the captains refuse to leave before the others; almost 200 drown. The British steamer Calliope saves itself by pushing into the wind with full speed.United States source
1889May 31 – Johnstown Flood: The South Fork Dam collapses in western Pennsylvania, killing more than 2,200 people in and around Johnstown, Pennsylvania.source
1889June 6 – The Great Seattle Fire ravages through the downtown area without any fatalities.source
1889June 12 – The Armagh rail disaster: runaway carriages from a Sunday school excursion collide with an oncoming train near Armagh in the north of Ireland, killing 80, leading to rapid passage of the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 on railway signalling and brakes in the United Kingdom.source
188912 June – Armagh rail disaster: runaway carriages from a Sunday school excursion collide with an oncoming train near Armagh in the north of Ireland, killing 80, leading to rapid passage of the Regulation of Railways Act 1889 on railway signalling and brakes in the UK.United Kingdom source
1889July 7 – Great Bakersfield Fire of 1889 devastates Bakersfield, California, destroying 196 buildings and killing one person.United States source
1889August 4 – The Great Fire of Spokane, Washington, destroys some 32 blocks of the city, prompting a mass rebuilding project.source
18895 September – Mauricewood Colliery disaster: a fire at the pit near Penicuik kills 63 of the 70 men and boys working underground.Scotland source
1889September 19 – A rockslide in Quebec City kills 45Canada source
18891 November – Portrush life-boat The Robert and Agnes Blair, going to the aid of the schooner Dryad, capsized off the coast at Portballintrae with the loss of three of her thirteen crew.Ireland source
18891 November – new building under construction at Templeton's Carpet Factory on Glasgow Green collapses killing 29 women in adjacent weaving sheds.Scotland source
18906 February – an underground explosion at Llanerch Colliery, Abersychan in Monmouthshire kills 176.United Kingdom source
1890February 17 - The British steamship Duburg is wrecked in the South China Sea: 400 lives are lostChina source
189028 February – The steamship RMS Quetta sinks off Cape York Peninsula, killing 133Australia source
1890March 31 — Manitoba Liberals under Thomas Greenway halt public funding of Catholic schools; causes uproar in Quebec.Canada source
1890July 13 – In Minnesota, storms result in the Sea Wing disaster on Lake Pepin, killing 98.source
1890October 13 – On Lake Huron, the schooner J. F. Warner is lost in Thunder Bay (Michigan).United States source
1890December 27 - The British steamship Shanghai burns in the East China Sea off the coast of Anhui Province; 101 lives are lost.China source
1890Seapoint tragedy: James O'Connor's wife and four of their daughters die after eating contaminated mussels.Ireland source
1890Almost half of the town of Hammerfest burns down.Norway source
1891January 11 – In Mahoning Valley, Ohio, sixteen blast furnaces shut down, putting 10,000 men out of work.source
1891January 27 – Mammoth Mine disasterUnited States source
1891February 21 – Springhill, Nova Scotia suffers a serious mining disaster.source
1891February 21 – The first Springhill Mining Disaster occurs killing 125.Canada source
1891March 17 – The British steamship SS Utopia, carrying Italian migrants to New York, sinks in the inner harbor of Gibraltar after collision with the battleship HMS Anson, killing 564.source
189117 March – the British steamship SS Utopia sinks in the inner harbour of Gibraltar after collision with the battleship HMS Anson, killing 564.United Kingdom source
189110 May – Dock strikes in Antwerp and Ghent in support of coalminers in Wallonia.Belgium source
18912–20 May – Miners' strike in Liège, spreading to other parts of Wallonia.Belgium source
1892May 5 – A fire ravages the Tiambeng family home in Orion, Bataan, destroying many of Francisco Balagtas' original manuscripts.Philippines source
1892May 10 – A gas explosion at Mine No. 1 in Roslyn, Washington kills 45 miners, the worst industrial disaster in Washington State history.United States source
189221 May - The French-built monitor Solimoes is wrecked off Cape Polonio, Uruguay, with the loss of 125 lives.Brazil source
1892June 5 – An oil fire in Oil City, Pennsylvania, United States, kills 130 people.source
1892July 8 – The Great Fire of 1892 devastates the city of St. John's, Newfoundland.source
1892July 8 – The Great Fire of 1892 destroys two-thirds of St. John's, NewfoundlandCanada source
189226 August – An underground explosion at Parc Slip Colliery, Aberkenfig, Glamorgan, kills 110 people.United Kingdom source
1892November 24 – The Hotel Zinzendorf catches fire in the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina; 45 people die.source
189226 November – The original Jenners department store in Edinburgh is destroyed by fire.Scotland source
1892Newspaper coverage of Great Fire of St. John's, NewfoundlandCanada source
1892A large fire destroyed a significant portion of the capital, Christiania (Oslo), in July.Norway source
1893February 11–19 – White Star Line cargo liner SS Naronic sinks without a trace in heavy seas on the Liverpool–New York transatlantic passage.source
189319 May – a quick clay slide in Verdal Municipality destroyed 105 farms and killed 116 people.Norway source
1893June 9 – The front part of Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. collapses, killing 22 War Department clerks and injuring 68 others.United States source
1893June 22 – The flagship HMS Victoria of the British Mediterranean Fleet collides with HMS Camperdown and sinks in 10 minutes; Vice-admiral Sir George Tryon goes down with his ship.source
189322 June – HMS Victoria, flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, collides with HMS Camperdown and sinks in ten minutes, Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon going down with it.United Kingdom source
18934 July – An underground explosion at Combs Pit, Thornhill, West Yorkshire, kills 135.United Kingdom source
18937 August – 24 people are drowned at Aberavon when a boat carrying trippers on a Sunday school outing from Ystrad Rhondda capsizes in the bay. A survivor claimed that the inexperienced passengers had been frightened by the waves and all ran to one side of the boat.Wales source
1893September 7 – Russian monitor Rusalka sinks in a storm in the Gulf of Finland, with the loss of all 177 crew; her hulk is eventually discovered in 2003 off Helsinki.source
1893In October, a congress of sulfur miners was held in Grotte in the province of Agrigento which was attended by some 1,500 people, including workers and small producers. The sulphur workers were those who most participated in the establishment of the Fasci. The miners demanded that the minimum age to be raised to 14 years for those who worked in the sulfur mines, the decrease of working hours and setting a minimum wage. Small producers demanded measures to avoid exploitation by large owners. The minimum-age measure was meant to improve the situation for the carusi, minors that worked in conditions of near-slavery that sparked public outrage and inspired many complaints.Italy source
189311–19 February – White Star Line SS Naronic sinks without trace in heavy seas on the Liverpool–New York transatlantic passage.United Kingdom source
1894April 21 – A bituminous coal miners' strike closes mines across the central United States.source
1894May 11 – Pullman Strike: Three thousand Pullman Palace Car Company factory workers go on a "wildcat" (without union approval) strike in Illinois.source
1894May 11 – Pullman Strike: Three thousand Pullman Palace Car Company workers go on a "wildcat" (without union approval) strike to protest lowered wages without an equivalent reduction in expenses charged in the company town of Pullman, Chicago.United States source
189414 June – hooker Victory capsizes off Westport, County Mayo with the loss of at least 30 aboard.Ireland source
189423 June – a firedamp explosion at Albion Colliery, Cilfynydd, Glamorgan, kills 290 coal miners and 123 horses underground.United Kingdom source
189423 June – A firedamp explosion at Albion Colliery, Cilfynydd, Glamorgan, results in the death of 290 coal miners and 123 horses underground, making it the worst disaster in Welsh mining history to date (it will be exceeded only by that at Senghenydd in 1913).Wales source
18945 July – racing cutter Valkyrie II (1893) collides with Satanita on the Firth of Clyde and sinks, with one fatality.Scotland source
1894July 6 – A fire at the site of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago destroys most of the remaining buildings.source
1894July – A fire at the site of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago destroys most of the remaining buildings.United States source
1894September 26 – The SS Ohio and the schooner barge Ironton collide and sink in Lake Huron. While the crew of the Ohio is rescued, five of the other craft's seven-member crew, including the captain, are lost.source
189430 October: Luxury steamer SS Wairarapa, carrying 230 passengers from Sydney bound for Auckland, is wrecked on Great Barrier Island with the loss of 135 lives.New Zealand source
1894November 8 – The Italian cargo steamship Etnea struck the rocks of the islet of Školjić west of Unije and sank.source
1894Lady Victoria Colliery comes into production at Newtongrange, Midlothian.Scotland source
1895January 15 – A warehouse fire and dynamite explosion kills 57 people, including 13 firefighters in Butte, Montana in the U.S.source
1895January 21 – The American steamer S.S. Chicora sinks in a storm on Lake Michigan, along with all 21 of its crew and a lone passenger.source
1895January 31 – The sinking of the German ocean liner SS Elbe kills 334 people on board, 20 minutes after the ship had collided with the British steamer SS Crathie in the North Sea. Only two lifeboats are able to evacuate before the Elbe goes down, and the first lifeboat capsizes when too many passengers attempt to get onboard. A second lifeboat, with 15 members of the crew, four men and a woman, carries the only survivors.source
18958 August - The steamship SS Catterthun strikes Seal Rocks, NSW, and founders, killing 55 personsAustralia source
1895December 24 – Kingstown lifeboat disaster: 15 crew are lost when their life-boat capsizes while trying to rescue the crew of the Palme off Kingstown (modern-day Dún Laoghaire), near Dublin, Ireland.source
189524 December – Kingstown Lifeboat Disaster: the Kingstown Life-boat capsizes on service: all fifteen crew are lost.Ireland source
189524 December – Kingstown Lifeboat Disaster: In Ireland, the Kingstown life-boat capsizes on service: all fifteen crew are lost.United Kingdom source
18951895 Yaroslavl Great Manufacture strikeRussia source
189613 February - The Capsize of the ferry Pearl on the Brisbane River, killing 28Australia source
1896February 19 – Braamfontein Explosion: A train carrying 56 tons of dynamite explodes at Braamfontein, Johannesburg, killing more than 78 people.source
1896February 19 – A train carrying 56 tons of dynamite explodes at Braamfontein, Johannesburg, killing more than 78 people.South Africa source
189626 March: Brunner Mine disaster; 65 miners killed in explosionNew Zealand source
18966 April – The Snowdon Mountain Railway commences public operation. On the first trip down the mountain, locomotive No.1 "Ladas" with two carriages loses the rack and is derailed. A passenger dies after jumping from the carriage. The second train down collides with the wreckage of the first; services are suspended for a year.Wales source
189630 April – Peckfield Colliery disaster in Micklefield, Yorkshire: an underground explosion kills 63 men and boys and 19 pit ponies.United Kingdom source
1896May 26 – A bridge collapse in Victoria, British Columbia kills 55 people.Canada source
1896June 28 – Twin Shaft disaster: An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston, Pennsylvania results in a massive cave-in that kills 58 miners.source
1896June 28 – Twin Shaft Disaster: An explosion in the Newton Coal Company's Twin Shaft Mine in Pittston City, Pennsylvania results in a massive cave-in that kills 58 coal miners.United States source
1896July 30 – Atlantic City rail crash: Shortly after 6:30 pm, at a crossing just west of Atlantic City, New Jersey, two trains collide, crushing five loaded passenger coaches, killing 50 and seriously injuring approximately sixty.source
1896August 17 – Bridget Driscoll is run over by a Benz car on the grounds of The Crystal Palace, London, the world's first motoring fatality.source
1896October 4 – A locomotive in Bulawayo explodes and kills ten prisoners.source
1896Nya smedjegården is closed and demolished.Sweden source
1897April 15 – Drillers near Bartlesville, Oklahoma strike oil for the first time, in the designated "Indian Territory", on land leased from the Osage Indians. The gusher, at the Nellie Johnstone Number One well, leads to rapid population growth.source
18974 May – Bazar de la Charité Fire.France source
1897May 10 – 19 zinc miners die of carbon monoxide poisoning at Snaefell Mine on the Isle of Man.source
189711 July – The 1897 Gentofte train crash takes place.Denmark source
1897November – Four Customs officers are rescued from the River Usk, near Newport's Alexandra Dock pier-head after their boat capsizes.Wales source
1898February 12 – The automobile belonging to Henry Lindfield of Brighton rolls out of control down a hill in Purley, London, England, and hits a tree; thus he becomes the world's first fatality from an automobile accident on a public highway.source
189812 February – the car belonging to Henry Lindfield of Brighton runs away on a hill in Purley, Surrey and hits a tree; thus he becomes the world's first fatality from an automobile accident on the public highway.United Kingdom source
1898February 15 – Spanish–American War: The USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana Harbor, Cuba, for reasons never fully established, killing 266 men. The event precipitates the United States' declaration of war on Spain, two months later.source
1898February 15 – USS Maine explodes and sinks in Havana harbor, Cuba, killing 266 men. Popular opinion blames Spain and helps precipitate the Spanish–American War.United States source
1898March 28 – After an investigation, the U.S. Navy publicly concludes that USS Maine was sunk by a mine, further pushing sentiment towards war.United States source
1898April 26 – An explosion in Santa Cruz, California, kills 13 workers, at the California Powder Works.source
18986 May - The paddle steamer Maitland sinks near Broken Bay, drowning 24 people.Australia source
1898July 4 – En route from New York to Le Havre, the ocean liner SS La Bourgogne collides with another ship and sinks with the loss of 549 lives. It is considered one of the worst maritime disasters in historysource
1898September 11 – New Westminster, British Columbia destroyed by fire.Canada source
1898October 4 – The American steam boat Walkatomica, which has made regular runs for travelers along the Gulf Coast of Florida since 1885, is destroyed by fire while in port in Tallahassee.source
189818 October – Trinity Chain Pier at Trinity, Edinburgh, collapses in a storm.Scotland source
1898October 26 – A collision between two Japanese steamers at sea kills 60 Japanese sailors.source
1898November 5 – In the U.S., the collapse of a theater under construction in Detroit kills 11 workmen.source
1898November 5 – In China, an admiral of the Imperial Russian Navy and 40 sailors are denied permission by the Chinese government to proceed from Tientsin to Beijing.source
1898November 18 – The wreck of the ship Atalanta off the coast of the U.S. state of Oregon kills 28 of the 30 crew aboard.source
1898December 4 – The wreck of the British steamer SS Clan Drummond in the Bay of Biscay kills 37 people on board.source
1898December 5 – A fire at a factory in the Russian city of Vilana (modern-day Vilnius in Lithuania) kills 15 women and girls, most of whom die after jumping from the windows.source
1898United Collieries Ltd formed in Glasgow to acquire coal mining companies.Scotland source
1898Cape Midland – Bamboo Junction to Cape Collieries, 16 mi.South Africa source
18994 January - Fire from a quarantined Indian made vessel gutted 300 homes and numerous British owned factories in Fort Kochi.India source
1899January 5 – The collision of a British steamer and a French steamer kills 12 people on the English Channel.source
1899January 14 – The British four-masted sailing ship Andelana capsizes during a storm in Commencement Bay off the coast of the U.S. state of Washington, with the loss of all 17 of her crew.source
1899January 29 – A gas explosion kills 14 people in the Spanish city of Cartagena.source
1899February 12 – In the U.S., a fire kills 17 women at a cottage at the South Dakota State Insane Asylum in Yankton, South Dakota.source
1899March 17 – A fire kills 86 people at the Windsor Hotel in New York City.source
189929 March – A French barque, Le Maréchal Lannes, is wrecked off Grassholm, with the loss of its crew of 25.Wales source
1899March 30 – The British steamer Stella sinks in the English Channel with the loss of 80 people after wrecking against Les Casquets.source
1899April 9 – The Greek ship Maria sinks after a collision sith the British steamer Kingswell in the Mediterranean and 45 people drown.source
1899April 10 – Seven people are shot and killed in a gun battle at the Springside Mine at Pana, Illinois, between striking white union coal miners and African-Americans hired as strikebreakers.source
1899April 13 – The British freighter City of York departs from San Francisco with a crew of 27 and a cargo of timber bound for Fremantle, but never reaches its destination, wrecking on the reefs at Rottnest Island.source
1899April 23 – The steamship General Whitney sinks off the coast of St. Augustine, Florida. While everyone on board escapes in lifeboats, one of the boats capsizes, drowning the captain and 16 other crew.source
1899April 24 – The Scottish ship Loch Sloy is wrecked off the coast of Australia's Kangaroo Island, drowning 32 people on board.source
189924 April – The 1,280-ton barque Loch Sloy hits rocks off Kangaroo Island and sinks, killing 31 persons.Australia source
1899May 13 – A train wreck near Reading, Pennsylvania kills 28 people and injures 50.source
1899May 25 – A fire in Saint John, New Brunswick, destroys 150 buildings and renders over 1,000 people homeless.Canada source
189916 June – Penicuik House gutted by fire.Scotland source
1899July 12 – The British freight ship City of York sinks after striking reefs at Rottnest Island, due to a misunderstanding of signal flare fired from the island's lighthouse. The ship, which was nearing the end of a voyage from San Francisco to Fremantle, Western Australia, evacuates its men in two lifeboats, but one of the boats overturns and 11 men, including the captain, drown.source
1899August 18 – Llest Colliery explosion at Pontyrhyl in the South Wales coalfield of the U.K. kills 19 miners.source
1899September 21 – The Dominion Line steamer Scotsman sinks in the Strait of Belle Isle, killing 15 women and children.source
189913 October – The Røvær accident: A storm kills 30 people at sea near Haugesund.Norway source
1899October 26 – The foundering of the British steamer Zurich off of the coast of Norway kills 16 of the 17 crew aboard, with only the captain surviving.source
18992 November: The first aviation fatality in New Zealand. Balloonist David Maloney (alias Captain Charles Lorraine) is blown out to sea after taking off from Lancaster Park. The balloon crashes into the sea and although Maloney is seen to survive by the time rescuers arrive there is no sign of him and his body is never found.New Zealand source
1899December 9 – An explosion kills 32 coal miners at the Carbon Hill mines in Carbonado, Washington.source
1899December 22 – More than 40 schoolchildren from Belgium drown in the capsizing of a boat near the French town of Frelinghien.source
1899December 22 – A fire kills 16 children in Quincy, Illinois.source
1899December 24 – The wreck of the British steamship Ariosto off the coast of Hatteras, North Carolina drowns 21 of the crew.source
1899December 28 – The bodies of the officers and men killed on the 1898 explosion of the battleship USS Maine are reinterred at the Arlington National Cemetery.United States source