User:Farelf
Added at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Largest_artificial_non-nuclear_explosions
Corunna 1809[edit]
Another Before 1900 candidate
During Sir John Moore's retreat from Spain in the Peninsular War, on Friday 13 January 1809, the British fired a magazine of 4,000 barrels of blackpowder (200 short tons) near Corruna to deny it to the advancing French. Although planned, the blast killed three men in an exposed position over a mile away, it also shattered all the windows in Corunna and raised a wave that swept the harbor and its 140 ships at anchor.
Citations: p. 321 THE YEARS OF VICTORY - 1802-1812 By Arthur Bryant, London 1944 "... a huge magazine of four thousand barrels of powder, sent out in haste from England at the beginning of the war and since left undistributed and unused. This was fired on the 13th, causing an explosion which broke every window in the town, swept the harbour with a tidal wave and killed a sergeant and two men on piquet more than a mile away."
p 721 LEX MERCATORIA REDIVIVA By Wyndham Beawes, Dublin 1754 "A Barrel of Gunpowder is 100 Pound, and 24 Barrels make a Last." (A 'last' is about 120 cubic feet, representing a load in terms of cargo space)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Corunna#Arrival_of_the_armies_before_Corunna