Disasters & Accidents in the 19th century

248 sourced entries, 1800 CE to 1899 CE, oldest first. Also see Disasters & Accidents across every century or everything else in the 19th century.

• 1800March 17 – The British Royal Navy ship of the line, , catches fire off the coast of Capraia, with the loss of 673 lives.source
• 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
• 1804April 2 – Forty merchantmen are wrecked when a convoy led by British frigate runs aground off Portugal with considerable loss of life.source
• 1805June 11 - Detroit burns to the ground; most of the city is destroyed.source
• 1805October 23 – British troopship Aeneas is wrecked off Newfoundland with the loss of 340 lives.source
• 1806July 18 – 1806 Birgu polverista explosion: A gunpowder magazine explosion in Birgu, Malta kills around 200 people.source
• 1806October 20 – British ship of the line is wrecked in the Strait of Sicily with the loss of 347 of the 488 on board.source
• 1808February 11 – In Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Jesse Fell becomes the first known person to burn anthracite coal as residential heating fuel.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
• 1810December 22 – British ship of the line is wrecked on Texel in the West Frisian Islands with the loss of 500 lives.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
• 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
• 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.source
• 1812May 25 – Felling mine disaster: A mine explosion at the Felling colliery near Jarrow, England, leaves 96 dead.source
• 1814February 12 – A fire destroys the Custom House in the City of London.source
• 1814July 30 – The Great fire of Tirschenreuth in Bavaria destroys the town and 907 buildings.source
• 1814September 1 – War of 1812 – Sinking of HMS Avon by the USS Wasp.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
• 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
• 1816January 17 – Fire nearly destroys the city of St. John's, Newfoundland.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
• 1820March 3 – A fire in Guangzhou in China burns 15,000 houses and kills an undetermined number of people.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
• 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
• 1822May 26 – Grue Church fire: The biggest fire disaster in Norway's history kills 116 people.source
• 1822November 22 – A fire in Guangzhou (Canton) kills 500 people, and destroys 13,070 homes and several European-owned businesses.source
• 1823February 11 – Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a stampede at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta.source
• 1823July 15 – The Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome is almost completely destroyed by fire.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
• 1825October 21 – PS Comet II sinks off Gourock (Scotland) with the loss of 62 lives.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
• 1827September 4 – The Great Fire of Turku destroys three-quarters of the city (at this time Finland's largest), with 27 human casualties.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
• 1831May–June – Merthyr Rising: Coal miners and others riot in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, for improved working conditions.source
• 1831June 21 – The North Carolina State House and Canova's George Washington are destroyed by fire in Raleigh, North Carolina.source
• 1833May 11 – At least 170 people—and perhaps as many as 265—are killed when the British brig Lady of the Lake sinks off Cape St. Francis at Newfoundland. Only 15 people survive.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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 1836December 30 – In Saint Petersburg, the Lehman Theater catches fire, killing 800 people.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
• 1837December 17 – Fire breaks out in the Winter Palace, in Saint Petersburg, Russia killing 30 guards.source
• 1838January 10 – A fire destroys Lloyd's Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London.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
• 1841January 30 – A fire destroys two-thirds of the city of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.source
• 1841March 12 – All 136 passengers and crew on steamship , commanded by legendary captain Richard Roberts (known for saying "I'd go to sea in a bathtub"), are killed when the ship founders in rough seas.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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 1845May 25 – A theater fire in Canton, China, kills 1,670.source
• 1845August 4 – British emigrant barque Cataraqui is wrecked on King Island (Tasmania) with 400 people killed and only 9 survivors.source
• 1847April 25 – The , carrying Irish emigrants from Derry bound for Quebec, is wrecked off Islay, with only three survivors from more than 250 on board.source
• 1847December 20 – British Royal Navy steam frigate is wrecked on the Sorelle Rocks in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 246 lives and only eight survivors.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
• 1849March 28 – Four Christians are ordered to be burnt alive in Antananarivo, Madagascar, by Queen Ranavalona I; 14 others are executed.source
• 1849May 17 – The St. Louis Fire starts when a steamboat catches fire and nearly burns down the entire city.source
• 1850March 31 – The paddle steamer , bound from Cork to London, is wrecked in the English Channel with the loss of all 250 on board.source
• 1850April 15 – Angers Bridge collapses in France killing around 226 of the soldiers crossing it at the time.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
• 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
• 1851December 24 – The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., burns.source
• 1852February 25 – 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
• 1852July 28 – Henry Clay steamboat disaster in Riverdale, Bronx, claims several lives, including Stephen Allen.source
• 1853January 6 – U.S. President-elect Franklin Pierce's only living child, Benjamin "Benny" Pierce, is killed in a train accident.source
• 1853March 5 – Saint Paul Fire and Marine, as predecessor of The Travelers Companies, a worldwide insurance service, founded in Minnesota, United States.source
• 1854January 21 – The iron clipper 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
• 1854April 16 – The United States packet ship Powhattan is wrecked off the New Jersey shore, with more than 200 victims.source
• 1854September 27 – SS Arctic disaster: The American paddle steamer sinks after a collision with the much smaller French ship , 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
• 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
• 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
• 1856March 5 – Fire destroys the Covent Garden Theatre in London.source
• 1856May 21 – Sacking of Lawrence: Lawrence, Kansas, is captured and burned by pro-slavery forces.source
• 1857August 20 – The Dunbar wrecks near the entrance to Sydney Harbour, Australia, with the loss of 121 lives.source
• 1857September 12 – The sinks off the coast of North Carolina with the loss of 425 lives.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
• 1858January 9 – Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic of Texas, commits suicide.source
• 1858The Miners Association is established in Cornwall, England, UK.source
• 1859April 28 – American ship Pomona is wrecked off the Irish coast, with 424 dead.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
• 1860January 10 – The Pemberton Mill in Lawrence, Massachusetts collapses, killing at least 77 workers.source
• 1860February 20 – Canadian Royal Mail steamer (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
• 1860May 1 – A Chondrite-type meteorite falls to earth in Muskingum County, Ohio, near the town of New Concord.source
• 1860September 7 – The is accidentally rammed and sunk in Lake Michigan, drowning at least 300 people.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
• 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
• 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
• 1862January 16 – Hartley Colliery disaster in north-east England: 204 men are trapped and die underground when the only shaft becomes blocked.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
• 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 30 – sinks in a storm in the Atlantic, off Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.source
• 1862December – Peruvian slave raiders land on Easter Island, beginning a decade of the destruction of the society and population on the island.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 – sinks while attempting to enter Manukau Harbour in New Zealand, with the loss of 189 lives.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
• 1863December 8 – The Church of the Company Fire in Santiago, Chile, kills between 2,000 and 3,000 people.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 , 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
• 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
• 1864December 1 – The Great Fire of Brisbane breaks out in Australia.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
• 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 sinks off the Georgia coast, with a cargo of $400,000 in coins.source
• 1865A forest fire near Silverton, Oregon, destroys about one million acres (4,000 km 2 ) of timber.source
• 1866January 12 – British auxiliary steamer 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
• 1866December 12– Oaks explosion: The worst mining disaster in England kills 383 miners and rescuers.source
• 1867January 15 – Regent's Park skating disaster in London: 40 people die when ice on a lake breaks.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
• 1868August 20 – Abergele rail disaster in Wales: An Irish Mail passenger train collides with 4 cargo trucks loaded with paraffin oil (more akin to modern kerosine); 33 are killed (the first major train disaster in Britain).source
• 1869July 10 – Gävle, Sweden, is destroyed in a city fire; 8,000 people become homeless.source
• 1869September 12–13 – P&O's runs aground and sinks in the Red Sea; 31 drown.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
• 1872March 11 – Work begins on the Seven Sisters Colliery in South Wales, located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain.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 acre km2 of the city, 776 buildings, much of the financial district and causes US$60 million in damage).source
• 1873April 1 – The British ocean liner sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 people.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
• 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
• 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
• 1874The medieval Frankish Tower on the Acropolis of Athens is demolished.source
• 1875February 24 – The sinks off Australia's east coast with the loss of approximately 102 lives, including a number of high-profile civil servants and dignitaries.source
• 1875May 7 – German liner wrecks on the rocks off the Isles of Scilly, with the loss of 335 lives.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
• 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
• 1876December 5 – The Brooklyn Theatre fire kills at least 278, possibly more than 300.source
• 1876December 29 – The Ashtabula River railroad disaster occurs in Ohio when a bridge collapses, leaving 92 dead.source
• 1877October 22 – The Blantyre mining disaster in Scotland kills 207 miners.source
• 1878March 24 – The British Royal Navy frigate capsizes in the English Channel; all but 2 of the 319 crew members are killed.source
• 1878May 2 – The Washburn "A" Mill in Minneapolis explodes, killing 18.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
• 1878September 3 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.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
• 1879September 8 – 1879 Octagon fire: A fire in The Octagon, Dunedin (New Zealand), claims 12 victims.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
• 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
• 1881March 23 – A fire caused by a gas explosion destroys the Opéra de Nice in the south of France with fatalities.source
• 1881April 30 – hits a reef and sinks off the coast of New Zealand's South Island with only 20 survivors of the 151 on board.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
• 1881December 8 – At least 380 die in a fire at the Vienna Ringtheater.source
• 1882November 2 – The Great Fire of Oulu destroys 27 buildings in the downtown of Oulu, Finland.source
• 1883January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people.source
• 1883May 30 – A rumor that the Brooklyn Bridge is going to collapse causes a stampede, which crushes 12 people.source
• 1883July 3 – The SS Daphne sinks on launch in Glasgow, Scotland, leaving 124 dead.source
• 1884The Yellow Crane Tower last burns in Wuhan.source
• 1885January 24 – Irish rebels damage Westminster Hall and the Tower of London with dynamite.source
• 1885September 15 – A train wreck of the P. T. Barnum Circus kills giant elephant Jumbo, at St. Thomas, Ontario.source
• 1885Before November 1 – More than 24,000 Christians are killed, 225 churches burnt, seventeen orphanages and ten convents destroyed in Cochinchina (modern-day Vietnam).source
• 1886June 13 – The Great Vancouver Fire devastates much of Vancouver, British Columbia.source
• 1886October 24 – The British merchant vessel Normanton sinks off the coast of Japan, triggering the Normanton incident.source
• 1887January 20 – British emigrant ship Kapunda sinks after a collision off the coast of Brazil, killing 303 with only 16 survivors.source
• 1887March 23 – The DS «Vardøhus» whaler sinks outside the town of Mandal in Norway. 46 dead.source
• 1887July 21 – Ten Italian workers are killed and six are injured by a train in New Jersey.source
• 1887September 5 – The Theatre Royal, Exeter, England, burns down, killing 186 people.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
• 1888July 11 – Over 200 miners are killed in an accident at a diamond mine in Kimberley, Northern Cape (South Africa).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
• 1888The Camborne School of Mines is founded in Cornwall, England.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 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
• 1889August 4 – The Great Fire of Spokane, Washington, destroys some 32 blocks of the city, prompting a mass rebuilding project.source
• 1890July 13 – In Minnesota, storms result in the Sea Wing disaster on Lake Pepin, killing 98.source
• 1891January 11 – In Mahoning Valley, Ohio, sixteen blast furnaces shut down, putting 10,000 men out of work.source
• 1891February 21 – Springhill, Nova Scotia suffers a serious mining disaster.source
• 1891March 17 – The British steamship , carrying Italian migrants to New York, sinks in the inner harbor of Gibraltar after collision with the battleship HMS Anson, killing 564.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
• 1892November 24 – The Hotel Zinzendorf catches fire in the city of Winston-Salem, North Carolina; 45 people die.source
• 1893February 11–19 – White Star Line cargo liner sinks without a trace in heavy seas on the Liverpool–New York transatlantic passage.source
• 1893June 22 – The flagship of the British Mediterranean Fleet collides with and sinks in 10 minutes; Vice-admiral Sir George Tryon goes down with his ship.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
• 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
• 1894July 6 – A fire at the site of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago destroys most of the remaining buildings.source
• 1894September 26 – The 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
• 1894November 8 – The Italian cargo steamship Etnea struck the rocks of the islet of Školjić west of Unije and sank.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
• 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
• 1896February 19 – Braamfontein Explosion: A train carrying 56 tons of dynamite explodes at Braamfontein, Johannesburg, killing more than 78 people.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
• 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
• 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
• 1897May 10 – 19 zinc miners die of carbon monoxide poisoning at Snaefell Mine on the Isle of Man.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
• 1898February 15 – Spanish–American War: The 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
• 1898April 26 – An explosion in Santa Cruz, California, kills 13 workers, at the California Powder Works.source
• 1898June 10 – Tuone Udaina, the last known speaker of the Dalmatian language, is killed in an explosion.source
• 1898July 4 – En route from New York to Le Havre, the ocean liner collides with another ship and sinks with the loss of 549 lives. It is considered one of the worst maritime disasters in historysource
• 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
• 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
• 1898November 27 – All 115 people aboard the American steamer SS Portland are killed when the ship founders off of the coast of Cape Cod.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
• 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
• 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
• 1899May 13 – A train wreck near Reading, Pennsylvania kills 28 people and injures 50.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 6 – Near Stratford, Connecticut, 36 people are killed when a trolley falls off of a trestle and lands upside down in a pond 40 feet below.source
• 1899August 18 – Llest Colliery explosion at Pontyrhyl in the South Wales coalfield of the U.K. kills 19 miners.source
• 1899August 28 – At least 512 people are killed when a debris hill from the Sumitomo Besshi copper mine at Niihama, Shikoku, Japan, collapses.source
• 1899September 21 – The Dominion Line steamer Scotsman sinks in the Strait of Belle Isle, killing 15 women and children.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
• 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 23 – 40 coal miners are killed in an explosion near Brownsville, Pennsylvania.source
• 1899December 24 – The wreck of the British steamship Ariosto off the coast of Hatteras, North Carolina drowns 21 of the crew.source