On the 18th of July 1806 at 6.15 AM in Birgu (also known as Vittoriosa) Malta, approximately 40,000 lb of gunpowder was accidentally detonated causing a huge loss of lives in the devastating explosion. The 40,000 lbs of gunpowder, along with 1600 shells and grenades, was stored in a magazine located in a casemate near to the Porta Marina – this was an improvised setup due to the casemate not being designed to store gunpowder and artillery. Complaints had been made as the store was close to civilian housing, but nothing more than vague preparations had been put into place to move the gunpowder to stores further-afield.
The explosion is thought to have been caused by a garrison gunner, Bombardier Anderson, who against instruction used a metal chisel to remove fuses from shells as he and 13 men under his command prepared shells to be shipped to Sicily. During the Napoleonic Wars Malta became a British Protectorate, due to its status as an important naval base for the British to operate out of. After France’s siege of Gaeta on Sicily the latter’s stocks had been depleted, resulting in the British preparing shells for them using the magazine at Birgu. Anderson’s disregard for the instructions on preparation caused sparks to fly, resulting in the magazine – which was at capacity at 370 barrels – to be detonated. Anderson and the 13 men under his command were killed instantly, along with 23 Maltese Soldiers of the 2nd Provincial Battalion, 3 members of the 39th Regiment of Foot, 14 from the Royal Regiment of Artillery and approximately 150 civilians. A further 100 were injured. The destruction did not end with human lives as roughly 50 houses and seventy-six metres of the ramparts were destroyed. A section of the city gate was affected and never rebuilt, along with a bastion and sections of the curtain walls. It is said that 493 people reported property damages and the Maltese government spend £35,000 (over £3,000,000 today) reimbursing those who had claimed, and rebuilding civilian housing.
The Dorset Regimental Journal (1913-1914) makes a note of this explosion more than 100 years on, noting the impact it had on the 39th Regiment who were based in Malta. The editors of the Journal believed the whole of the 39th to be either killed or injured in the explosion but with the toll that time takes on the stories of history it is possible that the writer is mistaken. The Regimental History, produced by C.T. Atkinson differs from the journals account stating that only three men of the 39th foots band were killed citing the official report into the incident.
The fate of those in the 39th is not the only discrepancy in the accounts told of the aftermath of the explosion. There is seemingly much debate around how many people were killed and injured by the explosion, with some stating as few as 180 people (civilians and military personnel) were killed and 300 wounded, others noting 400 people having died, and a few even reporting a combined death toll and injured count of over 1000 people. A reason for these discrepancies may lie in the conditions in which the dead were being recovered, as the heat of the summer greatly slowed the process of recovery by hand. There was also a lingering worry that live charges could remain buried beneath the rubble and further lives could be lost throughout the search.
“The houses adjacent in every direction were thrown immediately into ruins; – and how shocking it was to the inhabitants you may easily conceive, as there was no chance of escaping. The buildings are all of stone, of immense thickness. It is calculated that one thousand persons have either perished, or are dreadfully maimed. The principal sufferers are the Maltese, who chiefly lived near the place.” – an account from The Annual Register, 1808.
Another reason for the varied reports could come from the widespread coverage of the incident as the news reached as far and wide as the United States, inciting international press. The combination of a slow recovery, and thus staggered reports, alongside staggered international coverage could mean many early deaths and injuries were accounted for, but the incident was forgotten once the lengthy search for the missing concluded resulted in many deaths not being publicized in the majority of cases.
Ella Thomas
Bibliography:
Bonnici, H. (2023). ‘Early British interventions on the Grand Harbour Baroque hospitaller fortifications’, University of Malta. Available HERE.
Darmanin, D. (2006) ‘Huge explosion rocks Vittoriosa, 180 killed.’, The Sunday Times, 2 July. Available HERE.
Duggan, T. (2020). ‘Review: Ernle Bradford’s The Great Siege: Malta 1565, 1961, its New Subtitle of 2010-2019, Clash of Cultures: Christian Knights Defend Western Civilization Against the Moslem Tide, and the Deliberate Omission of 16th c. Burmola (Burmula-Bormola-Bormla-Cospicua) – A Best-Selling Falsification of History in the 21st Century’, Phaselis Research Project, Journal of Epigraphy, Reviews and Translations. Available HERE
Mercieca, S. and Muscat, J. (1970). Windmills and the production of gunpowder in Malta. University of Malta. Junior College. Available HERE.
Various. (1913-1914). “The Dorset Regimental Journal”, volume 2.
Atkinson. (1947). The Dorsetshire Regiment the thirty ninth, fifty-forth foot and the dorset Militia and Volunteers. Oxford, Oxford University Press.