Porto Boat Bridge disaster
On 29 March 1809, the Ponte das Barcas, a pontoon bridge on the River Douro in Porto, Portugal, was the site of one of the world's most deadly bridge disasters which occurred during the First Battle of Porto between Portuguese and French troops. While the exact number of deaths is unknown, estimates of around 4000 deaths are usually given.
The Bridge
Through the medieval period and earlier, passages over the River Douro between Porto and Gaia were principally undertaken in boats and rafts, with historic drawings showing intense traffic between the two shores; from 1744 a regular passenger boat service was established.In special circumstances, such as periods of great festivity or the passage of armies, and depending on the flows and floods of the river, a temporary pontoon bridge would have been constructed over the river. The first definite reference to such a pontoon bridge is in the chronicles of Fernão Lopes who refers to an army of King Ferdinand I which passed over a pontoon bridge between Porto and Gaia to relieve a siege of the city of Guimarães.
In 1806 a permanent pontoon bridge, designed by Carlos Amarante was constructed between Porto and Gaia. It was situated around a few metres west of the site of the current Dom Luís I Bridge in the centre of Porto. Amarante was an architect and engineer responsible for designing many churches in Porto and Braga, including the Porto church of São José das Taipas, which was to become the central point of commemoration for the victims of the bridge dasaster.
The First Battle of Porto
In the Napoleonic wars, French and Spanish troops briefly conquered Portugal in 1807, before being expelled by Portuguese and English forces in 1808. In January 1809 Napoleon ordered a second attempt. French troops commanded by Marshall Soult crossed Portugal's northern border with a view to taking Porto and then proceedings south to Lisbon. Soult's army captured the city of Chaves in central north Portugal on the 12th March. They proceeded west towards Porto, capturing Braga on the 20th March.On the 28th March, now outside of Porto, Soult wrote to the Bishop of Porto, in charge of the city, stating that the French only wished to free Portugal of the English, and asking for no resistance but threatening "rivers of blood" should it be offered.
That same day, French troops probed the city's defensive lines, which stretched around Porto from the coastal fortress of São Francisco Xavier in the west to the riverside district of Freixo, in the parish of Campanhã, at the eastern limits of the city, but their initial attacks met no success. The next morning, at 6 a.m. on 29 March, French forces launched a full-scale assault along the entire defensive line, gradually breaking through as fear and disorder spread among the defenders.
Though the Portuguese troops outnumbered the French, the defenders were poorly trained, organised and armed. Before the battle, the Bishop had already retreated to the Gaia side of the river. On the 29th March, the French captured the city with minimal losses, and in the afternoon Soult permitted the city to be sacked, the sacking to continue until the 1st April.
Disaster
The city of Porto occupies the north side of the river Douro, with the twin settlement of Vila Nova de Gaia on the south side. As French troops broke into Porto from the north and rapidly overcame the defending Portuguese soldiers, both defenders and city residents fled south over the Ponte das Barcas, towards Gaia, followed by the invaders.The causes of the disaster are unclear and disputed. Deaths may have principally resulted from falls as weight of numbers led to the partial collapse of the bridge. Alternatively, or in addition, Portuguese soldiers may have opened the middle of the bridge - the bridge was designed to allow this for passage of river traffic - and citizens were pushed into the middle of the open river by the crowd fleeing behind them. The Portuguese cavalry, forced in retreat to the riverside, added to the disaster: people were killed by the cavalrymen's swords as they attempted to clear a path to the bridge; others were trampled under their horses. Still more people were killed by artillery fire from French troops on the Porto riverbank and from Portuguese soldiers. The latter took defensive positions at a battery positioned at Serra do Pilar, across the river, and started shooting towards Porto, killing more civilians than enemy soldiers. French troops later laid planks over the bridge to cross the river, driving back the Portuguese gunners. Following the disaster, French troops ultimately assisted some survivors who had fallen into the water.
Some reports state that by the end of disaster a few did succeed in crossing the river: they walked on the dead and drowning who filled the gaps in the damaged bridge.