The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-15 00:00:00

HURRICANE.

The whole north and centre of England seem to have been
exposed to the devastation of the most furious gale within the
memory of man. A convincing proof that this storm has not
been equalled within living memory, is furnished by the fact,
that most of the accounts, though from widely different places,
represent it as altogether unparalleled. In London south-
ward, and Edinburgh northward, the storm was violent, but
not of unprecedented force, nor attended with much destruc-
tion. One of the most remarkable proofs of the force of the
wind in Yorkshire is the fact, that at Leeds, which is seventy
miles distant from the Irish sea, as well as at Huddersfield,
Hebden-bridge, and other places which are nearer to the wes.
tern coast, but all separated from it by a high ridge of hills,
there was a saline deposition, which must have proceeded from
the spray of the sea caught up by the wind and carried to so
great a distance. The salt on the windows was very percep
tible to the taste.

The depression of the barometer was great. In Leeds, be-
tween eight and nine o'clock on Monday morning, the mercury
stood at 28 inches 3-10ths. It is worthy of the attention of
philosophers, whether the still greater and almost unprece-
dented fall of the barometer some weeks since, was not the
evidence of an extraordinary disturbance of the atmosphere in
;me remote part of the world, greater than was experienced
here at the time, and with which the recent gale may also be
connected. The rapid fluctuation of the barometer within
these few weeks favours the conjecture. Between nine
o'clock A.M., on Monday, and ten o'clock P.M., the
barometer rose a full inch. On the nights of Friday,
Siturday, and Sunday there were vivid flashes of light-
ning, and again amidst the storm of snow on Tuesday, all of
which facts show the electrical state of the atmosphere to have
ben much disturbed. A very distinct lunar rainbow on
Thursday evening, also deserves to be mentioned in this con-
nection.

A scientific friend at Liverpool informs us that he conjec-
tured the wind at that place to be travelling at the amazing
speed of a hundred miles per hour.
We are not without fears that the deficiency of the late
harvest may be aggravated by the very extensive destruction
of corn-stacks in this and the neighbouring counties. Im-
mense numbers of stacks were thrown down, and their con-
tents scattered far and wide ; and we apprehend they could
not be gathered together again without much waste.
Many lives have been lost, but fewer thin might have been
anticipated from the numberlesi dangerous downfalls of build-
ings, chimneys. roofs, &c. The tempest was the most fatal
at Liverpool, where not less than one hundred and sixteen
liras were lost in the town, in the Mersey, and at the mouth
of the river; many ships and vessels were wrecked, swamped,
and cast ashore; and many buildings reduced to ruins ! The
following is a list of the number of lives lost at different
places, as far as we have heard :

. -
LIVES LOST FROM THE HURRICANE.—At Leeds 1, Halifax
3, Leighley 1, Hull 6, Driffield 4, Boston, 1, Gainsborough
4, Liverpool (land) 9, Liverpool (drowned)* 106, Manches-
ter 4, Staley-bridge 2, Preston 2, Carlisle 2, Newcastle 1,
North Shields 1, Sunderland 4, Shrewsbury 1. Dublin, &c.
(land) 10, Dublin (drowned) 3, Belfast 2. Total of lives
lost, 170.
Houses blown or burnt down in Ireland, 177.

* The accounts report 14 wrecked by the Brighton, 14 by
the Pennsylvania, about 53 by the Lockwoods, and 2 in the
sloop Convoy, 4in a flat, 7 of the crew of the Runcorn
steamer Bridgewater, 1 in the steamer Eclipse, 3 riggers
swamped in a boat, 2 in the Seacombe steamer.