The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-16 00:00:00

TYE L.4TE DIII7.4DFM INUNDATION AT
ST. PFTEirsISURGII.

•We Lave rrerisril the '01i0.% acconnt of this shocking
calamity from a respectabl- an,l intelligent inhabitant of
the Russian cipital. It I% ill be n. at: with p intent'. :
s r.yr.l Ett:4fit'llral. Nor. 12 (24.)

"On Thursday the lith (t still instant, the tinips
Nand the Admiralty steept set re hung out, as is custo-
mary, to warn to: slot to sleep in their lowest
apartments, in cars que-iee or a strong westerly wind
the rapid currem trots the Ladoga Lake. and thus
or, 'ding the Neva and :he caria:s. Dining the whole night
it continued to blow stromv, and by day-II At DU the lth
119th). the water hid Tis.ll higher than has b. Tll known
ter some years. The white flags at the Admiralty Met
bo:leel, and sesta aft, r the guns from the fortress were
to 31111011Ilee the i.cr wing Jong. r. The wind blew
tremendously. :mil by twelve o'clock the water had poured
~,,r the quays, alit 'antidote:l nearly the whole city.
‘,.eliicles of all descriptions were now Setts ill:Ming home-
wods, or to the bridges, or sonic rising ground. with the water
over the wheels; people were a!so seen wading through it
upto •
ther noise ; in a short time only a courier here noel
there appeared.on horseback ; their horses could scarcely
keep their baits above the water; at tine o'ckck nothing
was to be wen on the Granit-plao• and in the streets, but
wooden barytes, empty boats, sentry-boxes. timber, furni-
ture washed ft An the home s, busides bread anti various
arty of provisions, all float Mg in confused masses on its
boisterous aortae.. ; la. ge sheets of iron, with which the
roofs are covered, at the saute titne, were rolling up and
blowing away.
Masses of dark clouds passed rapidly over us, leaving
spacta of clear atinosplo re through will:la the sun, darting
rays vividly, so 'nominatesl the violently troubled water
-cLich optioned over the high. st houses in the Grand-
as to resider it at mice a most magnificent and awful
vectsele. Wooden holies.% wet- seen floating up the river,
most of the inhabitants of wicelt 101 l perished.
Indic Sinolrnsky quarterof tlie town, coftins were washed
,t of the graves, and even the dead bodies thrown from
their quiet habitations; a solitary boat or two at last en-
114'1011feet to sari- from destruction those who hail sought
rfur. on high steps, taws •,f pillars, trees. Ste., and at
two o'clock, the water then being six and seven feet
above the pavements, in Dearly all parts of the city,
the wind, although blowing eqoally strong, changed a few
pinto to the north, and no longer opposed the regular cur-
rent of the river. The water then began to abate, and in
the course of the evening it retired within irs granite boon-
taro. So improbable did it seem that the water would
tae so high, that besides those who hail business out, manse
l ad left their borne', in order to witness the increase of the.
Seta. Amongst them numbers were prevented from re-
taming, and perished in the streets and public places;
:hers, equally surprised within doors, were forced to seek
tefuge in lofts, and upon roofs of small houses, after their
:CMS tad been filled with water, where they also must
have perished had not the wind providentially varied.
On Satordav the Bth ('2oth) at day break, I went out
to view the effects of this catastronhe. I found the quay
of the Neva blocked up with timber, broken barges, gal-
lists, and vessels of various descriptions, which had carried
with them the pillars, lamp-posts of the houses, and had
broken in the windows, and otherwise damaged the edifices
en the quay. The large blocks of granite, of which the
parapet is composed, were thrown over. The St. Isaac's,
die Toochkeff, and summer garden bridges, were broken
away front their anchors, and elisperseel and destroyed.
Manw of the streets were stopped up with timber, so as to
be almost impassable. Nearly all the bridges over the
trials were carried away or destroyed, and many parts of
the canals were passable over the wrecks that choak_ll them
up. In the l'assilyostroff quarter, where most of the
boors are of wood, the destruction was immense—whole
dwellings were hurled from their foundations, wine of
etch were found at a considerable distance from the
fire on which they stood, with the dead bodies of
tkit unfortunate inhabitants within, others were broken
izto pieces on the spot, and some of them have been
n totally destroyed, that not a fragment of them m-
inim. As I approached the Galley Haven the scene was
to most distressing. I met numbers of poor people
belly bewailing the loss of their relatives and friends, and
arving on their backs the vestiges of their property they hail
leviable to collect from the general ruin ; and upon ;sp-
reading nearer, I found the most appalling cativo for so
tooth instress—a plain thickly strewed with dead bodies,
particular!). women. I walked over confused heaps of de-
!station, intermixed with the corpses of men and animals.

oar hcsue was found removed from its situation at the'
felley Haven, to the Petert.burgh trustier, being two iniles
,scant, with the dead body of a woman, kneeling in the
is of supplicating her Saint which hung against the wall
of the room ; and every body one meets has some equally
eircumstance to tell of what they have seen.
healer. barracks also, with hundreds of their inhabitants,
to entirely destroyed. The rapidity of this inundation
au occasioned distress at prest nt quite incalculable ; and,
,:though we hear of thousands having been found drowns
it is impossible to conr.ive the numbers that may have
iqn lust in the streets, and carried dawn the Gulf of Fin-
'ad with the retreating waters; besides numbers that
Last still remain buried in the ruins of their habitations,
easy must have been drowned in the streets and public
;h.ns while they were seeking to escape. A lady and a
rod in a carriage were in a dangerous situation, s Cossack
:,!itr: pan observed her distress and stopped, site in-
T him at all hazards ta save the child ;he took it from
it:carriage window, but in a few moments his horse slip-
tat, he tell with the child, and they both perished. Soon
E.tetwarils the lady, with her servants, horses and baggage,
tete also cverwhelmed I.: the waters. This is only one
..teethe hundreds of instances that have been witnessed j
.oily distressing. All the lower apartments were tilled
water ; and as all the shops of provisions are on the
..tattiel floor. itsmense quantities have been destroyed or
:mset .1. Every kitul of food is, in consequence, eon-
t.lenthly darer ; and it is expected the prices will rise yet
u whole droves of cattle have been drowned on
L:-er Way to town.
The lon to the merchants is immense. Thousands of
of sugar have been dissolved, and goads of all sorts
al or lost. 'file places I have mentioned are suds
as I have seen ; others are equally damaged or de-
.r.o)ed.
It isstated that before the time of Peter the Great, a like
'',alation compelled the inhabitants to retire to a high
•!ltive or six v.trat-s from the city ; and on September In.
during the reign of Catherine 11., another occurred,
7-alfel inns consequence's, from happening in the night,
et the water was raised ten feet above the common level,
TA it receded two hours afterwards. In Iso2 another,
not very disastrous, the water not being near so
411: but the present exceeds ail these, the water having
-es twelve feet above the ordinary level.
leery day brier; to light 601111: new instances of horror
,14.1staiion ; numbers are seen wandering about quite
'Lieleet ; and up to this time carts continue to arrive at
sarious burial grounds, loaded with corpses, some of
-.tit are not owned.
let Emperor has taken active measures to alleviate the
um of the sufferers ; amongst others he has appointed
e provisionary Governora in different pares of the
•:y cut suburbs.° in order to ascertain the extent of the
`''s, and to rebeve them. Ile has himself given a mil-
1, of rubles for the immediate relief of the wants of the
4ners.
Bost is at present, and has been for two days, at 5
4 d':grets of Reaumur : should it continue, we %ball have
tiler blocked up with ice in a few days ; and the in-
srsble severity of public distress will be aggravated by
the horrors of the intensity of winter coming upon the
%provided and destitute inhabitants of this large city. •
Au following is the substance of another private letter,
"1 St. Petersburg!), N0v..43 :
'fins city was visited on the 7th (19th.) inst. by an in-
xton greyer than has ever been recollected before, the
piences of which are incalculable. For several days
-..tously a considerable swell had been observed in the
..t, and as the water continued to rise, it became evident
st the strung westerly wiials, which prevail a good ilea:
tits season, must be raging with great violence in the
'II- Gil the evening of the tith (I Nth), the water was
agitated for any boats to attempt the passage.
",'snips were hoisted at the Admiralty to warn such
so inhabitants es reside in low places of their apparent