Explosion of Elisabeth
The Elisabeth explosion was a ship accident on March 19, 1895 at Schürpoll near Griethausen , Emmerich and Kleve on the banks of the Rhine on the sailed cargo ship Elisabeth , which continued on land and affected other ships .
prehistory
150 tons of dynamite were to be shipped by ship from the manufacturer's factory in Opladen to an overseas mining company in the winter of 1894/1895 . For this purpose, at the beginning of the voyage, the dynamite was to be brought across the Rhine to a Dutch seaport with sails (presumably and typically Ewer ) and reloaded there. Because of the impending ice drift of the Rhine, these ships sought refuge in an old arm of the Rhine near Schenkenschanz / Griethausen. Since it was feared that the ice drift could damage the ships and cause the dynamite to explode , the ships were unloaded and the dynamite was stored in a barn on the flood-protected Schürpoll bank above the pier.
explosion
After the end of the ice drift, the dynamite was to be loaded onto six sailed inland cargo ships that were anchored or moored at Schürpoll between two groynes (river kilometers 859.7 and 859.8). These were the ships De Duif , De Hoop , Elisabeth , Gezina , Maria Odelia and Veer Gebroeders . The dynamite was driven by dock workers from Cologne-Porz from the storage location in wheelbarrows over boarded paths to the banks of the Rhine and loaded onto the ships.
The loading activities had proceeded without incident all day. The ships Gezina and Veer Gebroeders were fully loaded, the Elisabeth was just being loaded when, for unknown reasons, around 6.10 p.m. the dynamite load of the Elisabeth, approx. 1,400 boxes, exploded. The force of the explosion sank or smashed all other ships involved, but the fully loaded Gezina and Veer Gebroeders did not explode. However, two wheelbarrows loaded with dynamite, which were being pushed from the storage building to the ship and were already near the shore, also exploded. A third wheelbarrow a little further away did not explode.
Debris and some of the dynamite were thrown far through the area, causing further detonations on impact. The barn with just over half of the dynamite was not hit.
In total, according to conflicting sources, the explosion claimed 13 or 16 lives and three or four injured. The property damage included the destroyed ships as well as broken glass and destroyed roofs on buildings in the area.
Wrecks
When the Rhine water levels are low, the remains of a wreck can be seen at the accident site in the Rhine , presumably that of the De Hoop ship ; it is 51 ° 50 '42 " N , 6 ° 8' 12" O . The ship's anchor winch and stern post are on display in the Rheinmuseum Emmerich .
Another unknown wreck lies a little further east . It is not known whether this ship also sank in the explosion. It can only be seen at extremely low tide (Emmerich level below 60 cm).