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The Tay Bridge Disaster is an internationally-known poem by the Scottish poet William McGonagall and recounts the events of the evening of December 28, 1879, when, during a severe gale, the Tay Rail Bridge near Dundee collapsed as a train was passing over it with the loss of all on board (now thought to be 75 people, not 90 as stated in the poem).

The poem is by far the most famous ever written by McGonagall, and is still widely quoted. It begins:

"Beautiful railway bridge of the silv'ry Tay

Alas! I am very sorry to say

That ninety lives have been taken away

On the last sabbath day of 1879

Which shall be remembered for a very long time."

And it ends:

"Oh! Ill-fated bridge of the silv'ry Tay

I now must conclude my lay

By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay

That your central girders would not have given way

At least many sensible men do say

Had they been supported on each side with buttresses

At least many sensible men confesses

For the stronger we our houses build

The less chance we have of being killed"

William McGonagall had previously written two poems in praise of the new Tay Bridge. They started as follows:

An Address to the New Tay Bridge

"BEAUTIFUL new railway bridge of the Silvery Tay,

With your strong brick piers and buttresses in so grand array,

And your thirteen central girders, which seem to my eye

Strong enough all windy storms to defy."

and The Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay:

"Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silvery Tay!

With your numerous arches and pillars in so grand array,

And your central girders, which seem to the eye

To be almost towering to the sky"

• List of natural disasters in the United Kingdom

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The Tay Bridge Disaster