Disasters timeline

  • Battleship 'Imperatritsa Mariya' Magazine Explosion

    The second class, the three-ship Imperatritsa Maria-class, were true dreadnoughts. Displacing 22,600 tons, armed with 12 X 12-inch guns, and... Read more

  • Fort Point Channel Accident

    On November 7, 1916, double truck box car No. 393, controlled by hand brakes and having a seating capacity for 34 passengers, left P street barn,... Read more

  • Silvertown Explosion

    On Friday 19 January 1917, a small community in the East End was ripped apart by an enormous explosion – the biggest London had seen before or has... Read more

  • Eddystone Ammunition Works Explosion

    A total of 133 people were killed in the explosion, mostly women and young girls. On that Monday, April 10th at about 9:55 a.m., “F” Building of... Read more

  • Mattoon Tornado of 1917

    The funnel of the tornado on May 26, 1917 first appeared at noon just west of a small town southeast of Quincy (Wilson and Changnon, 1971). It... Read more

  • Destruction of HMS Vanguard

    The eighth HMS Vanguard was the victim of an internal explosion. Her magazine was detonated by unstable cordite and within seconds the battleship... Read more

  • Bere Ferrers Rail Accident

    The men died on 24 September 1917 when they mistakenly got off their train at Bere Ferrers thinking they had arrived at their destination of... Read more

  • The Halifax Explosion

    The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation... Read more

  • Minnie Pit Disaster

    In the Minnie pit at Halmerend, North Staffordshire , on January 12 th 1918 the conditions prevailing at the time were, begging disaster. A... Read more

  • Flu Pandemic of 1918

    In the fall of 1918 the Great War in Europe was winding down and peace was on the horizon. The Americans had joined in the fight, bringing the... Read more

  • Hammond Circus Train Wreck

    At 3.56am on 22 June 1918, the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus train had been moved onto a siding while it awaited clearance to proceed onto the line to... Read more

  • Chilwell Shell Filling Factory Explosion

    It's the forgotten tragedy in which 134 Nottingham workers were killed, and dozens more injured. It was also Britain's worst ever disaster... Read more

  • Great Train Wreck of 1918

    Because somebody blundered, at least 121 persons were killed and fifty-seven injured shortly after 7 o'clock on Tuesday morning, when Nashville,... Read more

  • Getå Railroad Disaster

    In 1918 F 1200 was involved in the severe accident at Getå when passenger train 422 was derailed and hurled down a high embankment built against... Read more

  • Cloquet Fire of 1918

    On October 12 1918, a massive forest fire raced through northeastern Minnesota from Sturgeon Lake to Lake Superior north of Duluth. When it was... Read more

  • Wreck of the SS Princess Sophia

    Princess Sophia, was built for the Alaska run, and made her maiden voyage on June 7, 1912. She was not a fancy ship, her hull was short and had... Read more

  • Malbone Street Wreck

    A Brighton Beach Train of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company, made up of five wooden cars of the oldest type in use, which was speeding with a rush... Read more

  • Sinking of HMS Iolaire

    Iolaire cast off from Kyle at 7.30pm on Old Year’s Night. At half past midnight she was twelve miles from Stornoway where the armed drifter Budding... Read more

  • Molasses Disaster in Boston's North End

    The Boston Molasses Disaster, also known as the Great Molasses Flood and the Great Boston Molasses Tragedy, occurred on January 15, 1919, in the... Read more

  • Eruption of Mt. Kelud

    The volcano sits on the island of Java, about 385 miles east of the capital of Jakarta. It last erupted in 1990, killing dozens. In 1919, an... Read more

  • ZR-2 Disaster

    Whilst over the Humber the [ZR-2] airship carried out some high speed turns. The stress on the fuselage was too much and the craft broke in two,... Read more

  • Oppau Explosion

    The Oppau explosion occurred on September 21, 1921 when a tower silo storing 4,500 tonnes of a mixture of ammonium sulfate and ammonium nitrate... Read more

  • Knickerbocker Theatre Roof Collapse

    Accumulated snowfall from a blizzard collapses the Knickerbocker Theatre in Washington, D.C., on this day in 1922. The blizzard formed in the... Read more

  • First Mid-Air Collision of Commercial Airliners

    On April 7, 1922 the first midair collision of commercial airliners took place some 70 miles north of Paris. The aircraft involved were a... Read more

  • Great Kantō Earthquake

    On September 1, 1923, just before noon, an earthquake of magnitude 8.3 occurred near the densely populated, modern industrial cities of Tokyo and... Read more