At Colón in the Panama, an exploding British cargo of nitro-glycerin devastates the port and kills fifty

Aspinwall, now Colón, Panama was the western terminus of the short journey across the Isthmus to the Pacific.  At around 7 a.m., the cargo of seventy cases of nitro-glycerine, together with percussion caps, exploded aboard the British freighter European as it was moored at the docks.  The ship was a total loss and extensive damage was also done to port installations. More than fifty people were killed.  (By John Osborne)
Source Citation
"Explosion at Aspinwall," Harper's Weekly Magazine, May 5, 1866, p. 285. 
How to Cite This Page: "At Colón in the Panama, an exploding British cargo of nitro-glycerin devastates the port and kills fifty ," House Divided: The Civil War Research Engine at Dickinson College, https://hd.housedivided.dickinson.edu/node/45379.