The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-23 00:00:00

The Gale.

Yesterday morning a violent gale broke over the
metropolis, doing great damage, From about nine
o'clock the wind blew with great violence, and the
rain was dashed in sheets against the houses. It
was at its height at half-past 9. At Hackney a house
in course of construction was almost levelled with
the ground, and two men received rather severe in-
juries from the falling bricks. A chimney-stack
fell in the Whitechapel-road, at a time when seve-
ral persons were passing, and a man about 50 years
of age was knocked down and injured. At half-
past 10 o'clock upwards of 300 square feet of the
zinc roofing covering the labour-shed attached to
the Marylebone Workhouse was blown off in one
sheet, and, after whirling round high in the air, fell
with a heavy crash into the middle of the Maryle-
bone-road. In its descent it struck the wheels of a
waggon which was passing and the driver from
fright fell into a fit and remained insensible for
several minutes. A workman was blown from a
scaffolding, in the morning, in the district of Hol-
born; falling some 50 feet, his skull was fractured,
and he now lies in King's College Hospital. At the
entrance of the station near Cannon-street, where
the new City Hotel is being built by Messrs. Lucas,
a labourer lost his life. The wind had loosened
many of the boards which had been used for roof-
ing the station, and about a quarter to 11 one of
these boards was blown off the roof by a fearful
gust and struck a labourer named Longnine, who
was on the scaffolding on the Dowgate-hill side of
the new hotel. He was ill ked instantly. This led
to further alarm among the large number of work-
people, and many of them left their work, it being
feared that the lofty scaffolding would come down,
as it was seen to sway to and fro. In New South-
wark-street a large building in the course of erec-
tion was blown down. Nearly the whole of the
brick and stone work is a wreck, and the police
have had much difficulty- in keeping the public
at a distance from the ruins, in front of which
a tall scaffold is still standing. In the
docks, and generally below bridge, consider-
able damage was done by vessels breaking from
their moorings and coming into collisionwith others.
Off 'Blaokwall a boat containing three men was

swamped, but fortunately a steam-tug was near the
spot and rendered assistance. It is feared, however,
that one man belonging to a collier brig moored off
Deptford, who fell overboard, has lost his life, as he
was carried away by the tide and has not since been
seen. Above London-bridge several collisions oc-
curred, but no serious results are recorded. Two
barges came into collision between Vauxhall and
Chelsea, and such was the force of the concussion
that one of them had a hole knocked in its side and
immediately sank. The man in charge of it jumped
on the other barge just in time to save his life.
PLYMOUTH, Nov. 22.
Stormy weather has prevailed through the night,
and a heavy gale set in this morning from W.S.W.
Between six and ten o'clock more vessels have been
driven ashore at this port than has been known for
many years. No lives have been lost. The height
of the gale coming by daylight and at high water
fortunately lessened the risk to the crews of the
wrecked vessels.
The Amour, with 435 emigrants on board, for
Adelaide, brake from her anchorage, and went
ashore in the Catwater. The emigrants were all
safely landed. The French ship Paulista, the
Swedish brig Jules 1., the Belgian brig Espoir, the
brigantine Apollo, the schooner Swift, several col-
liers from Swansea, the schooner Victoria of Lon-
don, the schooner St. Germans of St. Germans, a
Swedish brig with timber, and a small schooner
with oats, are ashore.
Several vessels are damaged by fouling, and
others by loss of spars.

BRISTOL, Wednesday.

A gale almost unexampled for its fury commenced
here early this morning, and raged several hours.
The new Passage-pier of the Bristol and South
Wales Union Railway was seriously injured. About
half-past 9 this morning Mr. Adey, superintendent
of the line, visited the passage, and found it impos-
sible to take the passengers across as usual as the
sea was sweeping over the entire length of the pier,
which extends into the Channel for a distance of a
quarter of a mile. An old hulk used for the landing
of passengers prior to the construction of the pier
had got into the corner at the point of junction of
the pier with the shore, and against it the sea came
with such violence that it was dashed completely over
the pier. Mr. Adey succeeded, not without imminent
risk, in crossing the surf, and found that the centre
of the pier was passable, but on reaching the end it
was found that a portion had been carried away.
The " skirting-board," 4 ponderous piece of the
structure, having first yielded to the fury of the
waves, taking with it a considerable portion of the
ballast of the line, had thus displaced the rails, ren-
dering it impossible for an engine to traverse them.
Such of the passengers as declined waiting for the
repair of the line and did not care to encounter the
supposed dangerof a passage across thepier returned
to Bristol. As the tide receded it was further disco-
vered that a portion of the stairway used at low
water had been demolished, and this part of the pier,
together with the skirting boards, was found float-
ing in the sea. Packers and other workmen were
immediately brought to the spot, the ballast and
skirting-board werereplaced, and traffic was resumed
in the course of the afternoon, the company running
special trains to accommodate the passengers who
had been delayed on the Portskillock side. After
the receipt of the usual telegrams in advance of the
London morning papers, all electric communication
was suspended, the wires of the various companies
having been blown down or otherwise rendered use-
less_ The steam-packets and other vessels leaving
he port had hardly quitted the river before thefury
of the gale warned them to proceed no further, and
they returned and sought safety by anchoring in the
Avon. In the Queen's-road, leading to Clifton, a
large and massive plateglass window, I of an inch
in thickness, was blown in at the shop of Mr.Mundy,
and the valuable stock of china and other ornaments
which were displayed behind were almost without
exception shattered to fragments. The plateglass
of the folding doors at the principal entrance to the
Queen's Hotel were also blown out and broken.
SWANSEA, Wednesday.
The wind this morning blew with great fury from
the West, driving all the vessels that were out in the
Channel towards the shore. Five vessels have been
driven on the beach—the Prince of Wales, 1,100
tons, a new ship built in Cannda for the Canadian
trade, has drifted into the Abcravon Sands, and is
a partial wreck. A Prussian bark has also drifted
near these sands, and a schooner has been compelled
to cut her masts away. The Claudius, an iron
vessel for the Chili trade, has been drifted to the
beach, but has sustained comparatively little da-
mage. Four other vessels are stranded in the bay.
A portion of the stonework of the new pier has
been washed in by the tide. The shore
side of the Llanelly Railway is partially blown
down. The tide washed into the lower part of
the town rendering several of the streets impassable
for
traffic. The damage to house property is consi-
derable both in the town and the suburbs. There is
scarcely a Street that has escaped the fury of the gale.
The South Wales Railway below Swansea to Mil-
ford is torn away, and all traffic along that part of
the line is stopped. he up and down lines are torn
up and wrapped over one another, and the telegraph
line is also washed away. No trains are running,
and it is expected that a day or two will elapse be-
fore the damage is repaired.
CARDIFF, Wednesday Afternoon.
gale sprang up this morning
A terrificabout 7
o'clock, and gradually increased in violence until
high water (about 9 a.m.), when it was at its height.
The wind, being S. W., caused the tide to rise to a
great height, covering the whole of the ground be-
tween the Taff river and the Glamorganshire canal.
The entrance of the several docks were completely
flooded, the sea running over them, and the spray
rising 20 or 30 feet high, and covering a consider-
able portion of the wharfage with what appeared a
dense fog. The Penarth roads soon presented an
animated appearance hundreds of vessels beating
up Channel for safety. Several in the roads, how-
ever, broke from their anchors and went down Chan-
nel, where it is feared great damage has been done.
Among those who have slipped their anchors are the

Marquis, of Cardiff, the Telegraph, and the Eliza-
' beth Yeo. Several brigs have gone to sea after them.
The schooner Volante, which was being re-coppered
on the gridiron, has drifted on the mudbank, and
fears are entertained that when the tide recedes she
will break her back. Numerous slight accidents
have occurred to the shipping in the docks, and
most of the pilot-boats have been injured. One is
dismantled, and another has gone ashore on the
breakwater, where it is expected to become a wreck.
The gale was slightly felt at noon, but great fears
are still entertained for much of the shipping in the
roads. Innumerable accidents have happened through
the falling of tiles from houses, and the windows of
the Stuart-hall and other places have been blown in.
PORTLAND, DORSET, Tuesday.

Yesterday the wind (which had previously blown
strongly from the southward) veered again by W. to
N.W decreasing in strength meanwhile, and the sun
shone out in the morning very strongly, but only to
prove temporary. As the sun declined the sky be-
came rapidly overcast with heavy cirro-cumulus
clouds, and during the night the wind got back to
S.S. W., bringing with it heavy squalls of rain, which
have continued all to-day without intermission.
There has been a heavy chopping sea in the West
Bay all day. The barometer has oscillated consider-
ably since we last wrote, having to-day fallen as low
as 29.269 in. at the sea level, while the temperature
has maintained an average throughout the day of
more than 9 deg. above the average for this period of
the year. The atmosphere has only shown 2 deg. of
dryness, as registered by the hydrometer. There is
now-6 p.m.--every evidence of the present boister-
ous weather continuing.

BRIDPORT, Tuesday.

The past few days have been very stormy on the
S.W. coast, and among the shipping disasters of the
week has to be recorded the total wreck of the
schooner Black Diamond, belonging to Messrs. Sut-
ton and Donovan, of Cork, Capt. Walsh, when ap-

proaching the harbour of Bridport, on the Dorset
shire coast on Monday night. The vessel, whose
official number was 14,118 and 88 tons register, was
built at Swansea in 1841. She left Cork about six
o'clock on the evening of the 4th inst., laden with
1,218 barrels of oats in bulk, consigned from Messrs.
J. O'Hea and Sons, Cork, to Mr. Knight, Bridport.
Her crew consisted of the captain (G. Walsh), mate
(John O'Hea), two men, and a boy. She left Tor-
bay on Monday morning with a fair wind, and ar-
rived off Bridport at about 4 p.m., when she spoke a
pilot on board the schooner Try Again, waiting for
water off the harbour, of whom the master asked if he
could have a pilot that night, and received a reply in
the affirmative. It was dark, a thick rain fell, and
wind was blowing afresh gale from S.S.W The cap-
tain ran for the harbour pier-head. The mainsail
was snugly set, but the vessel did not answer her
helm, and missed the entrance to the harbour. Her
helm was put hard to starboard, and an attempt was
made to clear the land to the west, but it was found
quite useless. The anchor was dropped just as they
touched on the outside rocks, about a cable length
from the shore, which was paid out as quickly as
possible. She was, however, pitched and tossed
about to such an extent by the ground swell that
she parted her cable and went broadside on the
beach. The coastguard then rendered every assist-
ance in rescuing the crew, a line being thrown
across the forebrace by the mortar apparatus, and
thus communication obtained between the shore and
the vessel, and the crew were then dragged through
the surf by means of buoys. The chief officer of
Coastguard, Mr. Boxhall, rendered very essential
service, displaying great courage in approaching the
side of the vessel through the surf, which several
times threw him down, and at one time drove him
under the bottom of the vessel. The crew were
taken charge of by Mr. Monteith, the Shipwrecked
Mariners' agent at the port. The vessel remained
on the beach subject to the fury of a rough sea,
which broke in her port side and washed out her
cargo. Towards midnight the tide had receded so
as to admit of the captain saving some of the ship's
stores and valuables, but about high tide at seven
o'clock on Tuesday morning she was again subject
to such severe twists that her masts fell over her
starboard side, and she became a total wreck. The
captain cannot state whether the vessel is insured,
but her cargo was insured in the sum of £BOO in the
Phcenix office. The master affirms that he used
every possible effort to keep her off the shore, but
all their efforts for her preservation and that of her
cargo were fruitless. A rough sea is still running.
PORTSMOUTH, Wednesday.
Strong south-westerly winds prevailed here at an
early hour yesterday morning, with the barometer
at 29-35. The wind rose as the day wore on,
and at sunset the weather looked as gloomy as it
has done on the south coast for a very long time.
At 2 p.m. there was a very stiff squall from the
S.W., and a still more violent one about sunset, the
latter accompanied by one broad lightning flash,
with thunder at a considerlble interval. On the
subsidence of the greatest strength of the squall a
meteoric body of considerable brilliancy was ob-
served for a short period in the north east. About
midnight the weather settled down into a gale from
the S.S.W., with rain. At daylight this morning
the barometer marked 29.0, and soon afterwards
gave signs of rising, at 10 a.m., marking 29.02, at
noon 29.05, and at 2 p.m. 29.1, the wind veering
during the morning as the mercury rose to about
W. by S. The wind continued to blow with una-
bated force all this forenoon, but at high water in
Portsmouth harbour at 1.45 p.m. it considerably
moderated. This afternoon the wind has gradually
fallen and the atmosphere is clearer.
LIVERPOOL, Wednesday.
Early this morning the barometer here com-
menced falling very rapidly, and for some time fell
more than a tenth of an inch per hour. The read-
ing at 11.40 was only 28 deg. 332 in. From that
time it rose with even greater rapidity, the wind
changing from south to west. The lowest reading
of the barometer recorded here was on Dec. 6, 1847,
when it was 28 deg. 154 in. To-day there was a
stiff breeze, at times approaching a gale, with rain.
SHIELDS, Wednesday, Noon.
The weather has a very stormy appearance on the
north east coast to-day. The wind seems freshen-
ing into a gale, and is bloving from S.S.E. The
sea is making fast also. Intelligence has reached
this port of the loss of the Blyth bark Constance in
a heavy gale of wind. Four of the crew were
drowned, viz.: J. Wright, carpenter, Blyth, Taylor,
seaman, of Shields ; Holmes, a boy belonging to
Copenhagen; and the master's eldest son, Thomas
Burgen, a youth of 16 years of age. The mate,
named Scrivener, had a narrow escape from being
drowned.

This morning the ale
WINDSOR, Wednesday.
i About half-past 10 o'clock,
damage in this district. g caused a great deal of
when the storm aaat
of the east gable of the Ltaod
highest, the entire front
Royal Gardens at Frogmmo7,Tmlthe old Windsor-
ge
.at the entrance to the
away, the bricks and stone copirina
road, the residence of
happened to was blown
Ingram,
descent
building in the rear,
be at the time.
in
nraswhhiincgh ti‘hirrso.uglhngrthaemrohoafpopfe
She bad a very narrow escape, a block of stone forc-
ing its way through the ceiling near the place ,he
she was standing. The west gable is in a criticaler
position, and other damage has been done. At the
works for the Royal Mausoleum a shed has been
blown down, while trees in the lower grounds of the
Home Park have been damaged, and the park
strewn with branches. On the Round Tower the
" storm" flag was kept flying instead of the large
Royal standard.

CHATHAM, Wednesday Evening.
It has been blowing a strong gale from the south-
westward throughout the whole of the day,the wind
at times having the force of a hurricane. Commu-
nication with all the ships in the harbour was for
some time supended, and throughout the day has
been attended with great difficulty. There is a large
fleet of colliers and other vessels at anchor inside
the Grain Spit, at the entrance to the harbour, and
others are fast taking up their positions for the
night. The Great Eastern has additional anchors
down, but owing to the excellent anchorage where
she is lying, no fears are entertained respecting her,
although the force of the wind driving against her
immense broadside surface is very strong. All the ves-
sels in harbour have their yards pointed to the wind,
and made all snug for the night, which pro-

mises to be wet and stormy, the barometer still fall-
ing, and, at the time of this despatch being for-
warded, the gale continuing to rage.

NOTTINGHAM, Wednesday.

A terrific gale of wind visited Nottingham to-day.
The wind blew fiom the north-west, the storm com-
mencing early in the morning. The roofsof houses
were partially stripped, a great deal of glass was
broken in the windows, sign-boards were blown
down, and other damage was done to property. A
man named Thomas Skerritt was severely injured
by an advertising board, which was blown on to him.
There were several narrow escapes. There has not
been so fearful a gale in Nottingham since Decem-
ber, 1863.

The River Thames.

A great change has come over Old Father Thames

since the period when poets sung his praises as a
" fair," " bright," and " silvery stream." Indeed,
so altered are the conditions of the river that it has

been found necessary to appoint a Royal Commis-
sion to inquire into the causes of its pollution, and
circumstances which have led to its almost total dis-
use for navigable purposes. The Commissioners
appointed to prosecute this investigation commenced
their sittings a short time ago at Oxford, and for
several days last week they sat at Reading, receiving
evidence of a very important character from a large
number of millowners, local authorities, and influen-
tial private gentlemen, bearing upon the various
matters with regard to which the Commissioners
are instructed to report. Witnesses of nearly
every grade furnished facts which left no doubt
whatever but that the river has for years

past been sadly mismanaged by the exist-
ing body of Commissioners, and this mismanage-
ment was accounted for in various ways. It
was strongly urged that the Commissioners are
far too numerous to work satisfactorily, and that,

having with few exceptions, no pecuniary interests
at stake, they grossly neglect their duty, and the
public generally have seriously suffered. Sums of
money have been regularly paid to lock-keepers for
performing duties which business men have ex-
pressed their willingness to undertake, and in addi-
tion make annual payments to the Commissioners
for the privileges of receiving the tolls, the pay-
ments actually being equal to the amount of remu-
neration to the pound-keepers. This fact espe-
cially refers to stations on the river, such as Henley

and Maidenhead, where the stream possesses pecu-
liar features of attraction to parties who indulge
freely in aquatics, and where, consequently, the tolls
paid form an exceedingly good income. The neglect
of the Commissioners has also manifested itself in

the dilapidated state of the river banks, in the
choked and polluted condition of the stream itself,
and in its decayed navigation, and the want of a
proper supervision in general has been shown in the
loose and extravagant way in which various works,
forced upon the Commissioners, have been executed.
A question for solution now is, who shell succeed to
the management of the Thames ? And the fingers of
many who have undergone examination by the
Royal Commissioners at Oxford and Reading point
to the members of the Thames Conservancy Board,

who, having discharged the duties intrusted to them
withmuch ability,are likely to acquit themselves cre-
ditably in conducting matters of a similar nature.
A great falling off in the navigation of the river has
taken place during the past 20 years, and fot this
not a little blame has been laid at the doors of the
Commissioners, but the burden they justly bear is
already wearisome, and we would not unfairly at-

tribute to their inefficiency what may have been
otherwise occasioned. It can scarcely be denied that
when the locomotive made its way down the Thames
valley, and opened a rapid communication between
the inland towns and the collieries, a large propor-
tion of traffic was taken from the river, and that
this was particularly the case when the railway
companies resolved upon conveying heavy goods at a
reduced tariff. Whether the navigation can now be
revived to a remunerative condition is a question
upon which there is considerable diversity of opi-
nion. Individuals who occupy waterside premises
agree that coal and many descriptions of heavy
goods might be advantageously brought by boat,
and there are those who believe that with a reduced
scale of charges the navigation might be resusci-
tated. There are millers and others who would re-
sort to the old barges, could journeys be made
with any amount of certainty as regards time ; but
there is also a class of experienced men who think
the navigation of the Thames is as much a thing of
the past as stage coaches, and that whatever Board
undertakes the management of the river, it will find
itself unable to compete successfully with the rail-
way companies which now penetrate every district
of the land ; and we are certainly inclined to think
this latter opinion is a right one. We now come to
the subject which properly forms the most important
part of the inquiry now being carried on by the
Royal Commission—the pollution of the stream.
This is a matter not easily dealt with, but still we
must face the staring fact—that the Thames has for
a long while been the receptacle of all kinds of filth,
and is now ill-suited fur domestic use by the inha-
bitants of the towns past which it runs, or by the
large population at the west end of the metropolis,
where the people are mainly dependent upon the
river for their water supply, as admitted in the in-
structions issued by the Home-office to the Commis-
sioners. At Reading, for instance, the Thames is
connected with the Kennet, into which, again,
pours a stream known as the Holy Brook. The
Thames for some distance forms the northern
boundary of the borough, while the river Kennet
and the Holy Brook both wend their course
through the centre of the town. On the banks
of the Kennet stand a great number of houses,
and not a few manufactories of different kinds,
and the Holy Brook passes completely
beneath many dwellings which drain all
their refuse matter directly into, and may be almost
said to act as a large central sewer uncovered in
many parts, and emptying itself into the Kennet,
which, in its turn, receives various impurities from
paper mills, tanneries, and other large establish-
ments, besides the outfall of public sewers, private
cesspools, pigstyes, &c. A casual observer on the
river's side cannot fail to have many of these nui-
sances forced upon his notice, and none who value
the public health can contemplate this subject with
an indifferent spirit. To obviate the evil may at
first sight appear a matter of very great difficulty,
but the remedy is plain, and with care and fore-
, sight, carried out at a moderate cost to the parties
who are accountable for the pollution of the river.
Reading, like many other towns in close proxi-
nay to rivers, has no thorough and complete
system of sewage, and the drainage works its way
into these streams as we have previously shown.
Proprietors of paper mills, tan-yards, and like
works find it difficult to dispose of refuse matter
and waste liquid—some being of an unquestionably
poisonous nature—and into the passing stream is it
sent. But the evidence given before the royal com-
missioners has made it clear that this objectionable
outflow of impurities might be checked, and with
positive advantage in some cases, and the simple
plan to avoid the mixture of sewage matter with
our river water would be the adoption of under-
ground drainage. The great expense, however,
that would be involved in carrying out the schemes
the thei
proposed, with the need of a suitable outfall for
the sewage, have operated so powerfully in the
mindstow of
good largentenbtoidoyn
intentions of
a
ratepayers
few ardent as
sanitary
ao
noi
tvaery
r-
reformers, and, consequently, we still witness
evils which vexed corporate bodies and their consti-
tuencies in years gone by. Latterly, however, several
large centres in the north, and smaller towns in other
parts of the country, have bravely battled with diffi-
culties and successfully combated
the serious evils
arising from bad drainage, and profiting by themis-
takes which in these cases might have been made,
the towns which border the Thames and now pollute
it may economically effect a complete system of
sewage—so economically, indeed, that Mr. Rawlin-
son, one of the Commissioners, and a most experi-
enced engineer, positively asserts that a 6d. rate
only would be needed. In considering the means by
which the sewage shall be disposed, the idea of any
outfall into the river must be entirely abandoned,
and it must be utilised on neighbouring lands, as
sewage matter has been utilised already at different
places. As a rule local authorities must not look