Volume Six - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - Select Aspects - Working the Ely Tidal Harbour . . .

In addition to capacious warehouses previously existing in John-street, the company leased the Victoria Wharf from the Taff Vale Railway Company, and erected a substantial landing stage, about 300 feet in length, by the side of the Ely. They leased from the Taff Vale Railway Company two neighbouring jetties, each about 100 feet long, and both stage and jetties are some 50 feet above low water mark, being built of stout pine beams. Double lines of rails run over them, and beneath the long wharf there is a second platform some 15 feet lower, from which there is a direct communication to cellars, which run into the bank for a distance of 50 feet. Facing the lauding stage is a fine warehouse, about 180 feet long by 50 feet wide, and divided into three sections, built of stone, with large openings fitted with plank doors, and a corrugated iron roof, supported by strong iron girders. On the south side of this warehouse are located other smaller sheds, the caretaker's house, the officer, lumber-rooms, and a long stone platform, on which are at the present moment piled over 10,000 barrels of petroleum.

The origin of the fire is wrapped in mystery. On Monday evening there were fully 100 men at work on the wharf or in the immediate vicinity. The warehouse was packed with about 3,000 tons of grain in bulk (for the most part consigned to Messrs. Spiller and Co.), with bamboo rattans, oil (fortunately no paraffin or petroleum), with hay, straw, and moss litter, whilst the stage, both above and below, was crowded with bales of moss litter, casks of lubricating oil, &c., and the cellars were full of moss litter. About twenty minutes to seven the men working on the stage noticed a volume of smoke, followed by a rush of flame from the lower platform. They had barely time to get clear of the place before the whole wharf seemed to be on fire, and in a few moments the warehouse was similarly engulfed, the flames apparently darting out from all points at once.

At 7.15 a telephonic message from the docks warned the chief constable of the occurrence, and Mr Hemingway at once dispatched a fire engine with a detachment of the fire brigade and Engineer Geen, under the command of Superintendent Price, while at eight p.m. the manual was summoned by telephone from the Grangetown police-station. The difficulty of access to the Victoria Wharf and its distance from the town added to the delay, but when the engine arrived little could be done except to play upon the jetties to prevent the fire from reaching the stored petroleum, and also to save the caretaker's cottage and the adjoining sheds. The watchman's family and the principal part of their furniture were at once taken away. Mr Robert Johnston, managing director, and Mr Peter Mac Vane, secretary of the company, together with the chairman, Mr J. Gunn, and all the officials of the T.V.R., were quickly at the scene, and worked with great energy in directing the workmen and fire-brigade in their efforts to save some of the goods in stock and arresting the progress of the flames.