On November 26, 1914, 800 men were killed in an explosion aboard HMS Bulwark moored at Kethole Reach off Sheerness.

The 15,000-ton battle cruiser was being used to take coal from the airship base at Kingsnorth on the Isle of Grain.

The dreadful irony was that she had been there for some days and many of the crew had been given shore leave. They had returned at 7am just 35 minutes before the explosion - and the full complement was on board.

Such was the ferocity of the blast it was heard in Whitstable and Southend and debris was raining down up to four miles away. When the smoke cleared, there was no sign of the ship and when naval divers investigated three days later, they found just two large fragments of wreckage.

Some claimed it was the expected and feared Zeppelin raids starting, others that a periscope had been sighted and Bulwark was sunk by a submarine. But, a subsequent Naval court inquiry (held at the Royal Naval Hospital, Gillingham) found much of the ammunition for the ship's guns had been stored in the corridors.

There had either been a fault with one of the shells or overheating cordite near the boiler room bulkhead could have started a chain reaction which destroyed the ship.

On May 27, 1915, 76 Island workers were among those who perished when the minelayer HMS Princess Irene exploded.

She had on board a complement of 225 officers and men, three of whom were ashore that morning as the mines were being primed on the ship's two mine decks. Also on board were a party of 80 or so petty officers from Chatham in addition to Sheerness Dockyard men.

They were completing tasks prior to the ship's planned departure to lay her mines on May 29.

Without warning the ship was blown to pieces and her remains, and the remains of those on board were scattered over a wide area of river and countryside.

The town was in mourning. So many families were affected by the tragedy. Sadly, few bodies were found.

Those who were located were buried in Woodlands Cemetery, Gillingham. There was just one survivor, Chatham Dockyard worker David Wills. The names of those lost both on this and the Bulwark disaster, are inscribed on the Cenotaph, Bridge Road, Sheerness.

The cause of the explosion posed as many questions as answers.

A faulty primer (pistol) could have been responsible, although evidence at the official inquiry showed the work of priming lethal mines was being carried in a hurry and by untrained personnel.