The Trench Of Death: The Dock Disaster at Newport: the fatal trench before and after..., 1909. 1. Before The Disaster: The Fatal Trench Before The Timbers Shifted And The Earth Caved In, Burying Many Workmen. 2. After The Disaster, The Trench As It Appeared After The Collapse Which Caused The Burying Alive Of Many Men. The trench that collapsed was part of the extension of the south dock of the Alexandra (Newport and South Wales) Docks, was fifty feet deep, and was almost complete. At the time of the disaster between fifty and sixty men were at work in it, and it is feared that nearly half of them have perished. The need for quick rescue was very great, for the pumps which kept under the water that percolated from the river Ebbw were wrecked at the time of the collapse, and by the night of the accident the trench was flooded. From "Illustrated London News", 1909.