THE LATE GALES.
The gales have continued to be very destructive although no other wreck of the magnitude of that in Moelfra bay has been recorded. " The loss of North country vessels is likely to prove the most serious that has been experienced for many years." Several ships yet remain not ac- counted for. Fifteen ships from Shields alone have been wrecked; the crews of nine were saved. " The crews were saved in every case through the devoted gallantry of the beachmen, whose conduct all along the coast has been deserving of tho highest praise." A large number have been lost in the Channel, and a still larger number damaged, and obliged to seek port. One large ship with 104 emigrants on board is supposed to have gone down at sea. As specimens of the daring of our coastguards and lifeboatmen take these two stories cut from the morning papers. " On Sunday night the brig Policy, timber laden, from Quebec, which i
had been observed riding very heavily in Caldy Roads throughout the day, parted her cables during a heavy gale from W.S.W., and was seen by the Coastguard look-out at 9.30 p.m., drifting fast towards the shore; shortly afterwards a blue light and other signals of distress were made from her, the lifeboat was promptly launched, and with the Honourable R. F. Boyle, Lieutenant R.N., the coxwain, R. Parrott, and a crew of ten men .proceeded to her assistance ; the vessel was found by them on shore in the midst of the breakers, which were rolling in frightfully ; the lifeboat dropped her anchor and veered away cable until sufficiently near to enable them to communicate with those on board, when they found that four of the crew had gained the shore by taking the vessel's boat, but had been unable to render any assist- ance to the five men remaining on board. Just as the lifeboat was about to veer still nearer the vessel her cable parted, and she was for some time in great danger ; however, having by great exertions extricated her from the tremendous surf, and finding it impracticable to render any help in the dis- abled state of the lifeboat, and as the brig was rolling so heavily among the breakers, they returned to Tenby, and with thegreatest despatch this gallant little band proceeded with the rocket apparatus over the cliffs (a distance of between two and three miles) until they arrived over the spot where the brig was still labouring in the surf. The cliffs being high and rugged, and in a very slippery state from the rain and spray of the sea, they had great difficulty in getting down (having to slide upon their haunches and hold on by every slight projection) and placing the rocket apparatus in a properposition. The first rocket was so admirably directed that the line fell directly on the brig's forecastle, and being secured by the men on board, the five men (among whom was the captain) were hauled on shore through the surf, the whole party reached Tenby between four and five o'clock on Monday morning, thoroughly drenched, and in a very exhausted state."
The North Esk ran ashore of Braunton Barrows in Bideford Bay "The crew (six hands) remained in the maintop rigging the whole of the night. Soon after daybreak two countrymen observed the vessel, and gave infor- mation to the Lighthouse keeper. A flag was immediately hoisted from the lighthouse, and a crew of volunteers passed over from Appledore and launched the lifeboat of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution with the utmost despatch. The crew had been since 11 o'clock the previous night in the maintop. The captain assured the reporter that, although he had seen many wrecks, he never witnessed anything more quickly and cou- rageously done than the saving of himself and crew by the lifeboat. The Braunton lifeboat station is in excellent order, and reflects much credit on Mr. Chanter and other gentlemen who act for the National Lifeboat Institution on this coast."
A drover died from sheer exhaustion on the fells between the Allan and Derwent. He was driving a herd ; it is supposed they strayed ; and that in endeavouring to collect them he lost his way in the storm.
Mr. Burder has sent some facts to the Times, giving illustrations of the violence of the gale on shore :- ' " I have just returned from Shirehampton (four miles north-west of Bris- tol), where, on Sunday last, November 6, at about half-past six a. m., there was a most remarkable hurricane. Scores of fine elms are down, sometimes six or more in a row. I have taken the bearings of sixteen of the principal ones, on the roadside. They lie with their heads very nearly north, and differ inter se only a point or two. The wind must therefore have been nearly south. In addition to the great trunks which are lying prostrate, vast numbers of branches of other trees yet standing are torn off. Indeed, the scene is worth going many miles to witness. It completely distances everything of the kind which has come within my observation, and is of a character which must necessarily be rare, or the country would long before this have lost its fine characteristic features. At Pill, close by, roofs were taken off houses, chimney stacks blown down, and a vast number of smaller effects produced, all very different from those of ordinary storms. In one woody spot the scene is as if some mighty giants had been hewing away at random among the forest trees. For myself I can only say that the effect was so unexpected and so new that I almost fell speechless. I could only look and wonder. What the pressure of the wind on the square foot must there and then have been I cannot say, and one longs to possess some definite idea thereupon. There was nothing very remarkable at Clifton. The forest wreck referred to (as far as a very tempestuous morning has enabled me to ascertain) is mostly comprised within an area of about a mile square." Admiral Fitzroy has forwarded to the same medium of publicity two interesting letters. The first was written early in the week. Speaking of the last two gales, he says-
" That of the 25th and 26th was preceded and foretold as to strength and general (polar) northerly direction by a low barometer (29-1 at the sea level), and, for the season, a very low thermometer (22 deg.). The storm of the 31st ult. and 1st inst. was preceded by a very low barometer (28.8 at the sea level), and a thermometer at 50 degrees, indicating a storm from the southward (or equatorial direction). Remarkably, in the first gale, our Channel Fleet were at the very meeting place of the conflicting winds, where a temporary south-easterly was stopped and overpowered by a north- westerly torrent of (polar) air, which had previously chilled the south- easterly and caused deposition of its vapour in rain. Of the last storm it is only yet known that it veered, as usual, from southward towards the west, and moderated after the barometer had risen nearly to 30 inches (29.9), but as the mercury in the barometer did not move higher, and as the tempera- ture of the air remained tolerably high, there was no reason for expecting a polar or northerly gale of any great strength for some time, but rather a continuance of westerly winds."
In a subsequent letter he says- " In reply to an inquiry made through your columns, may I be permitted to state that observations respecting the late very remarkable weather will be collected and discussed for a very limited time only—from October 20 to November 10, inclusive—and that the results will be printed and circulated, apart from other subjects, as soon as possible ? It may interest some of your readers to know that the communications already made to the Secretary of the Board of Trade have proved that the northerly storm of the 25th and 26th of last month came along part of the west of Europe, but did not at all affect the west of Ireland, and that the southerly storm of the 31st and 1st came to the southern coasts of England and Ireland before it was felt in more northerly places. The first storm was extremely severe, with excessive thunder and lightning, at Guernsey as well as Bristol and other places."
A great quantity of snow fell some days since in the mountains of Savoy ; subsequent rain melted the snow, and swelled the rivers so ra- pidly that inundations have taken place, and the Victor Emmanuel Rail- way has been injured in many places. It is announced that the bridge of Aiguebelle, between Chambery and St. Jean de Maurienne, has been swept away by the flood. The wooden bridge of St. Remy, carried away by the current, damaged one side of the bridge of Argentina. M. Nella, the chief Sardinian engineer, who went to the ground inundated to adopt measures of precaution, was drowned. Two other persons were likewise drowned near the railway station at Chatillon. On Sunday the waters of the Rhone overflowed the Place Seyssel. On Wednesday the bridge over the Aine and the high embankment at Chancy were carried away by the waters. The Piedmontese Government, in order to en- courage industry, has granted concessions of three lines of railway, being in length 120 leagues. The first is from Rivieres, following the coast of the Mediterranean, to the French frontier at Parmignola. Interest at five per cent is guaranteed by the State. The second is from Savona to Carmagnola, the third from Torreberetti to Pavia.
Previous page
