Dedication Ceremony Recalled 1886 Nanaimo Harbour Tragedy

It was all over in an instant, with a single flash of flame like that of a lightning bolt.

We know that more than 600 miners were killed on the job in Nanaimo-area coal mines over that industry's 80-year history. If we take into account those who died later, sometimes much later, from their injuries or from work-related illnesses, the death toll must be much greater.

Neither of these totals included the six longshoremen who were killed in a blast of ignited coal dust while loading the steamship Queen of the Pacific at Cameron Island, July 29, 1886. Their story, in next week’s Chronicles.

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PHOTO: This 1930s postcard shows the Nanaimo coaling wharves in the background, the iconic Bastion in the foreground. It was at these docks, 40-odd years earlier, that 12 longshoremen were caught in a coal dust explosion while loading a ship with coal. —www.pinterest.com