The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-10-19 00:00:00

rine LATE GALES.

You p OCT, 11.—In eonaeeptence of the very heavy rains
that have fallen within the last few days, our river (the.
(lux) hay been swollen to an unusual 'height, which het
put many individuals to great inconvenience.; indeed suck
a flood has not been experienced here for several yews.
The river overflowed to such an extent that North-street,

Skeldergetc, and other streets enjoining the river, were
completely floodixl, and the inhabitants under the ne-
cessity of removing their furniture, &c. to the tippcir
stories of the houses. Several of the gas lamps enjoin-
ing the river were obliged to be lighted by means of a
boat. We are informed, that on Tuesday the water was
full twenty-one feet above th: ordinary level of the river.

The heavy rains which fell tor some days previous to Mon-
day last, and which continued during the whole of that
day, caused the river Wear to awed to a tremendons height.
The water, in the morning, was much ahoy.: its usual
level, and it kept gradually increasing until about half-
past one or two o'clock ou Tuesday morning, when
it was at its greatest flow. At this time it was com-
puted to be upwards of ehrhteen inches higher than the
Hood of the 3d of February, ISt% being, consequently, the
greatest that has been witnessed since the ruetnorab:e one
of 1771. We need hardly inform such of our readers as
are acquainted with the country through which the Wear
runs, that its hanks were overflowed in many places, an 4
in some, to a very considerable depth and extent. The dif-
ferent brooks in the surrounding count 7 sre3re also much.
swollen, and completely inundated, the low lands lying
contiguous to them. In the immediate neighbourhood of
this place, in particulat', there was a great expanse of wa- •
ter, as the grounds adjoining the river, from their general
flatness, present no obstacle to the spreading of the liquiel
element when once it overflows its boundaries. Every
house in the lower part of the north side of New
Elvet, in this city, and the corn-mills, gardens, stables,
&c. adjoining the river, were flooded to the depth
of several feet ; but, with one exception, we are not
aware that any material injury was done: the foundry
of Mr. Chisman, near Elvet Bridge, was filled with water,
which, we understand, did great damage; and some large
stones were washed out of one of the piers of the bridge by
tlieviolence of the current. In the neighbourhood, however,
a good deal of damage was caused by the washing away of
mill-dams, wooden bridges, tte. ; and Mr. Smith, of the
Langley paper mills, is represented to have sustained: a ra-
ther serious loss. Several farmers who had 00,13 stacks stand-
ing within reach of the water have also been sufferers, not
that any, so far as we have heard, have been washed away,
hut that they have been much injured by being ea long
in the water. The road at Sunderland Bridge was entirely
,covered with water; so much so as to prevent the Exmouth
and ilighflyer coaches from arriving in this city until the
'following morning, about twelve hours behind their usua'
time: The Express and Telegraph, however, came in t t
the regular hour, although the water ran in at the betters'
of the former coach as it was passing through. Neither
was the mail retarded, as the flood had subsided consider-
, ably at the time she passed Sunderland Bridge, about half-
past three on Tuesday morning. The Expedition coach
was also detained by the overflowing of the river at Shin-
cliffe Bridge on the Stockton road, and did not reach this
town until next morning. We are happy to hear that,
great as have been the ravages of this flood, it kas not been
attended with any loss of human life in this vicinity, al-
though a boy who was amusing himself by catching water-
wreck, from a yard near Elvet Bridge, had Si narrow escape
from being drowned on Monday afternoon. Ile fell from
a wall on which lie was standing into the river, which was
refining with great velocity. lie was unable to swim, but
by severe struggling he • kept himself above water until
anotherlad, who was in the yard, ran towards him and suc-
ceeded in getting hold of him by the collar and dragging
him out just as he was on the point of being swept away.
The wind during the day blew a perfect hurricane from
the N.H. The loss in shipping, on the coast, is truly la-
mentable, there being, as we arc informed, no less than Ti
ships on shore between the Humber and Holy Island !
' Diu hem Chronicle.
• The rains at the commencement of the put week were
exceedingly heavy in this neighbourhood, and we believe
throughout the county: the roads in many places were
rendered impassable by the floods, and the low lands gent-
welly were inundated. Considerable damage was summed ;
the most material we have heard of was the loss of forty
sheep by J. J. Farquharson, Esq. of Langton, in conse-
quence of the rapid rise of the river Stour. The best
grazing lands in Sotnersetshire have suffered considerable
injury, as an unusual quantity of the grass is at this time
on the land, which is entirely spoiled for stock; the
graziers will consequently be obliged to have an early
recourse to serving their cattle with hay.—SherLor se
Mercury.
Captain Helsel', of the Eclipse steam. packet, brings
accounts of a dreadful storm at Belfast, which began en
Sunday afternoon, and continued without intermission tit
Tuesday forenoon. Much damage was done to the ship-
ping, and the Sally and Dwarf cutters were both wrecked,
crews saved. A number of houses and trees were blown
down, and otherwise damaged. The oldest Pilots in
Belfast declare, that the violence of the storm exceeded
any they ever before witnessed.—Glasgow Chronicle.

Saturday week six men, three women, and three children,
embarked in a fishing-leoat at Essington, about sevea
o'clock in the morning, intending to conic to Hull, it then
being moderate weather. About two o'clock, it came on
to blow very hard, and the master began to fear they had
lust their course, which was the fact ; for, the wind hav-
ing changed, and there being no compass to steer by, and
the weather being so thick they could not see the lana—
they were then in the open sea. About four o'clock they
fell in with the brig Mayflower, Captain Kemp. from Sun-
derland to Lynn, which lay-to tor them. On the boat
coining up, a rope was thrown from the brig, by which
tour nun succeeded in getting on board, viz. W. Fox, F.
Burn, J. Ranson, and W. Wilkinson. After this, the
boatman unfortunately let go the rope ; the consequence of
which was, tk.t his boat got out of sight, and was not
again seen by the people on board the brig. There sere
then in the boat, J. B'ilkinson, the master, his brother
John Wilkinson, Jane Wilkinson, an old woman named
Johnson, and three children, who, it is much to t e feared,
have all perished. Capt. Kemp treated those he had saved
with the greatest possible kindness and humanity, and
landed them safe at Lynn.
Sunday, a labourer at the Distillery, named Roger Rvan,
descended into one of the large vessels in these concert», iu
company with a carpenter, named White, to stop a leak.
A small quantity of spirits which had remained us the vat
after it was drained, unfortunately took fire by a lighted
candle which fell from Ryan's leind ; the blaze Instantly
caught his clothes, and seorchrel h;m in a most tertible
manner. Ile struggled to get up the ladder by whielt he
had descended, but fell back into the flames, where ha
would have been scalded to death, but that a person along-
side the vat caught him by the arm, and dragged him out
in a most terrible condition. The poor fellow, after some
lenitive. were applied to h;s burns, was brought to the
County Infirmary, where be His in a most dangerous con-
dition. The other man (White) was more fortunate, as,
immediately on perceiving the flames, le: ascended the lad-
der, and escaped uninjured, with the exception that biz
hair and eyebrows wets quite burnt oW.—Limerick 05.
server.
The culture of the hop plant is extending in Devon, sa-
me:eget, and Dorset, the soil of which counties apps ar in
many puts well calculated to bring it to perfection.