Broadside entitled 'Dreadful Death of Eleven Soldiers Belonging to the Artillery'

Transcription

DREADFUL

DEATH

OF

ELEVEN    SOLDIERS

BELONGING TO THE ARTILLERY.

Full, True, and Correct Account of the Explosion
of the Powder Magazine, at Gibraltar, on the
27th December last, when Eleven Soldiers be-
longing to the Garrison were blown up 300 feet
in the air, with an account of their dreadful and
horrid Death, most of them being shattered to
pieces, also an account of the number of men
bruised and wounded.

Extract of a letter from a corporal of the 42d
regiment, to James Bryce, hosier, Lanark, father
of me of the unfortunate young men, killed at
Gibraltar on the 27th Dec. last.?" It is with
heartfelt regret that I acquaint you of the death
of your worthy and much lamented son, William,
which happened here on the 27th Nov. last, by
one of the most dreadful accidents that ever was
witnessed. He was one of a party of men order-
ed for great-gun practice, which practice was to be
from an excavated gallery in the north front of the
rock, at a target on the plain below.

The practice had just begun, as there was only
one gun fired when the dreadful event took place.
It is supposed that a spark from the gun fired, had
found its way through another gun-port, into a
portable magazine, containing about 120 pounds
of powder : when, horrible to relate, the whole ex-
ploded. The effect was instantaneous. Eight of
the unfortunate party were instantly forced out at
the two gun-ports, where they had placed them-
selves to watch the shot. One of these was your
son. He was the last of the eight that came out;
All of them were quite dead when taken up. No-
thing else could be expected, as, besides the effect
of the fire upon their bodies, the fall could not be
less than three hundred feet. Their clothes were
burned to ashes, and their faces, heads, and every
part exposed, were quite black.

Some of them were prodigiously shattered.
Their legs, thighs, and arms, were broken in many
places. One man had his head severed from his
body. Three more were killed inside, and seven
or eight wounded.

On the 29th, they were interred with military
honours. The band of the 43d regiment conduc-
ted them to their last resting place, and thus closed
the career of eleven of the cleverest men in that
department of the service, in this garrison.

The implement with which your son wrought
was firmly fixed in his grasp after the vital spark
had for ever fled.

John Campbell, Printer, Edinburgh.

previous