The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-04 00:00:00

THE GALE.

The storm which has swept over London during the last
two days is one of the most severe which has occurred for
many years. As stated in The Sun of yesterday, the first
indication of it was a gale from the S.S.W,, shifting occa-
sionally to the W.S.W., which broke out about 1 o'clock on
Wednesday morning, and which continued to blow at in-
tervals during the whole day. At 2 o'clock the anemometer
eigkhy tl
yesterday moderated, although still
morning the storm
y
at Lloyd's showed a pressure of 251 b. upen the square foot.
setvAesrynihgehatvy,and a
inthe wind t
burst forth again with increased fury. From 6 o'clock till
half-past 9 the storm was frightful. Then came a slight lull
till shortly before 11 o'clock, when it again burst forth in
terrific blasts. The anemometer on the Royal Exchange
showed a pressure of no less than 301 b. upon the square
foot. This pressure is so unusual in the heart of London,
that it was suspected that the anemometer had given a false
indication, but it appears that this was not the case. The
instrument had been recently examined by Messrs. Negretti
, and Zambra, and the information derived from it may be
safely relied on. During the gales of last October at Green-
wich, the anemometer of the same construction registered
3,51 b., while the one on the Exchange only showed a pres-
sure of 181 b. About 8 o'clock in the morning, at the city
end of London-bridge, a sudden gust of wind rushed over
the bridge, driving vehicles in one direction, and in another
immerge sheets of water. At the same time a noise was
heard, which led many to believe that some part of the Cus-
tom-house had been blown down. It was occasioned by, in
the first place, an immense zinc chimney being blown from
the roof of the premises belonging to Mr. J. B. Palmer, at
the corner of Botolph-lane,,Lower Thames-street; in an in-
stant the brick chimney stalk came down with a crash, strik-
ing a cab horse. Several persons passing were struck, and a
man named Thos. Jones was so severely cut about the head
that he had to be removed to the hospital. A large stack of
chimneys was blown down at Queen's Arms, No. na, Upper
Thomas-street, but fortunately no person was injured.
Nearly facing a building, known as Broken-wharf, in
Thames• street, when the tide had receded, the body of a
man, with an umbrella lying by his side, was found on the
bed of the river ; whether or not he had been blown into the
water it is impossible at present to tell. The engines of the
London brigade were called out to a fire in High-atreet,
Shadwell, which was occasioned by the roof of a house
being blown off, The inmates had a very narrow escape.
At 11 o'clock, when the gale was highest, yesterday, a large
piece of lead was blown off the top of the house of Mr. Gar-
rott, 59, Cornhill, and struck a gentleman just descending
from an omnibus, inflicting severe injuries on his head. At
about 8 o'clock the telegraph wires of the London and North
Western Railway Company, extending over the Totten-
ham-court-road, were blown down en the roof of Messrs,
Schoolbred's premises, and, trailing in the road, occasioned
considerable obstruction to the traffic. At the Globe Tavern,
situate at the corner of London-street and John-street, a
heavy plate-glass door was blown in and smashed by the
violence of the wind, and numerous tradesmen in the loca-
lity sustained great loss and damage by the destruction of
exposed goods and by the removal of tiles from the roofs of
the houses, admitting the rain, which descended in torrents.
About the same hour, a youth named Wells, in the employ
of Mr. Anthony, greengrocer, Hampstead-road, was in the
act of fixing a tarpaulin on a cartload of vegetables, in How-
land street, when he was precipitated with great violence
into the road. The horse at the moment moving forward,
one of the wheels of the cart passed over his leg, fracturing
the bone, and causing serious contusions ; he was conveyed
to the hospital suffering greatly. The morning trains due
at the Euston-station and also at the King's-cross station
were considerably delayed by the effect of the storm of last
night.
The gale swept along the Thames with great fury, and
almost stopped the navigation for the larger classes of ships.
In some of the lower exposed reaches there was almost as
much sea as could be seen below the Nore. There were se-
veral disasters caused by vessels driving from their anchors.
One of the most serious happened shortly after six o'clock
yesterday morning off Blackwall. The tide had just begun
to ebb, and while the gale was at its height a tremendous
crash was heard at the upper end of Blackwall-pier, in the
direction of the:Brunswick (Lovegrove's) Hotel. It was
then discovered that two large ships had been driven from
the mooring (Conservancy) buoy, off Green's-yard, and
driven alongside the hotel and pier, carrying away every..
thing before them. One of the vessels was a large 1,000-
ton ship, called the British Lion, which had only arrived at
the buoy on the previous evening from Calcutta, waiting to
go into the East Dock, and the other was the American
ship Harraseekit which was light and had lately been un-
dergoing some repairs in Somes' Dock. They had been
riding together at the one buoy throughout the whole

night, and it would seem that owing to the fearful strain
the ground moorings yielded, and both ships came ashore
together. The jib-boom of the American ship caught
the circuital balcony of the Brunswick Hotel,
carrying it away and driving in a large portion
of the brickwork of the frontage in a line with
the large dining-room on the first floor. The
timber staying and steps which were used for discharging
cable from the continental steamers were also crushed in,
and other extensive damage done. Efforts were at once
made to get the ships away out into the stream, as the tide
was rapidly falling. The Harraseekit was at length hauled
out and anchored in the middle of the river, bur, unfortu-
nately, all exertions failed to move the British Lion, which
was laden with a valuable cargo. Owing to her drawing 21
feet of water and the strong wind which was blowiug right
on to the pier, she took the ground, and as the tide receded
she gradually listed outwards over to the port side. In order
to guard against the possibility of her going completely on

her beauty ends, thick hawsers were laid out from the star-
board side of the ship to the stones on the pier; but so great
was the strain that the pavement round ono of the stones
was t orn up. Ropes were also laid out from the maiutopmast
and secured to the warehouse on the pier, so as to lessen'

the overhanging weight. At low water the ship, although
in a critical position, was lying as well as could be expected
under the circumstances. It was thought that she was on
her bearings, and that she had not sustained much strain-
ing, and that she would come off in the course of the even-
ing's flood tide. At present, however, it is difficult to state
the amount of damage she has sustained. Another serious
mishap happened higher up the river, which, in consequence
peril, excited quite a
sensationo f it he
among
the
dock of
people. property in
ahe ship Celestial, laden
with tea and silk from China, arrived off the entrance to
St. Katherine's dock about half-past 9 o'clock, three hours
after high water, intending to lie at the buoy until she
could be taken into the dock in the course of the evening
flood. She was in tow of two steamtugs—one ahead and
another at her quarter, and had a pilot on board. The tugs
had somewhat slackened, and the hands were making the
best of their time in securing the ships hawser to the buoy,
when, owing to the strong ebb tide which was running, and
the heavy westerly wind, the Celestial drifted broad on
athwart the stern of the tier of Irish steamers moored off the
British and Foreign Steampacket Company's pier, and
remained there. The tugs endeavoured to tow her out, but
to no purpose. She kept athwart the tier, and as the tide
receded she took the ground, and gradually wont over
almost on her beam ends, More unfortunately still, it was
one of the lowest ebbs that has been known for some time,
which necessarily added to her perilous situation. It was
thought that Iter cargo would not shift, and in the event of
her not having sustained any damage in her bottom it was
anticipated that she would right as the flood made in the
evening and be taken into dock. Capt. Stewart, of Lloyd's
Association, had been appainted to take charge of the opera-
tions, and steam tugs and gangs of labourers were in attend •
ante, and everything done to secure success. The ship and
cargo are reported to be very largely insured,
THE CRYSTAL PALACE.—The wind has been felt in this
lofty and exposed locality (Sydenham) with great severity,
but up to this time (noon, Thursday), beyond a few trees
torn up and boughs blown off and a chimney pot or two
demolished, no mischief has been done. The Crystal
Palace has not suffered any damage.
Telegrams have been received in London which state that
in all parts of England, and particularly along the coast,the
gale has caused great loss of life and property.
At Chatham the gale is reported to have raged with great
fury on Wednesday afternoon until about 6 p.m., when it
fell. The night was fine and clear, with a moderato wind
from the S.W. About 4 o'clock yesterday morning, how-
ever, the gale again arose, accompanied by a heavy fall of
rain, which continued for some hours. About 9 o'clock it
blew down a stack of chimneys on some property belonging
to Mr. J. L. Levy, of Chatham, which iu falling carried
away a portion of the roofs of the adjoining houses. In the
harbour no casualties have been reported. A large fleet of
vessels remained yesterday at anchor at the entrance to the
river.

In the exposed district round Aldershott the trees have
for miles been rooted up by hundreds, and are now lying
about in all directions. On the road between the Club-
house, at which the court-martial is being held, and the
Farnborough-station, there are thick clumps, chiefly of fir
trees, to which great injury has been done. In some direc-
tions the wind seems to have cut a path right through
them and torn them up in a long straight line, leaving
those on either side untouched.
The high wind yesterday morning caused a singular ac-
cident on the Great Western Railway, near the Reading
station. Abort half a mile to the west of this station there