The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-20 00:00:00

THE SUi, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENII\ G, OCTOBER 20, 1865

LAW INTELLIGENCE—This Day,

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.
(Before Mr. Commissioner Goulburn.)
IN RE MARSHALL-HEAVY FAILURE.

Violent Storm on the Coast

Most disastrous accounts have been received of the heavy
gale which set in on Wednesday afternoon, and has con-
tinued with increased severity. The wind got up strongly
from N.E. and the usual storm signals were hoisted at the
various ports. After dusk on Wednesday the rain, which
had been falling during the afternoon, came down heavily
with fearful gusts, and the north and north-east section of
the coast appears to have suffered severely.
Between Berwick and Holy Island, on the Northumbrian
coasts, sever-al shocking losses are reported to have occurred
during the gale. A flue new brig, called the Janet Allison, of
Dundee, was driven ashore off Lowbarton, near Berwick,
and it is stated that all the crew perished with the excep-
tion of the master. The ill-fated vessel only left Dundee
in the course of Sunday, on her first voyage for Rio Grand;
when she was driven ashore at the place before mentioned.
Another sad wreck took place in Goswick Bay, a few miles
to the southward of Berwick. The schooner Agnes, of
Portsoy, was cast ashore by the heavy wind and sea, and it
is believed that the,whole of her unfortunate hands were
drowned. A third ill-fated vessel is supposed to have been
lost off Holy Island, and it is supposed that her crew
perished. The schooner Martha, bound to the Tyne from
London, which was blown up the coast, was wrecked off
Holy Island, but happily the crew are reported to have
been saved. The sloop Newcastle and Berwick Packet
was cast ashore at Coldingham, but the crew was reported
to have been preserved. The schooner Fear Not, of Bos-
ton, bound to Dundee, from the Thames, with most of her
canvass blown away, becamed embayed at St. Andrew's.
Towards midnight she parted from her anchor, and was
driven ashore on the north sand bank, at the mouth of the
Eden. With some difficulty the crew remained on board
the whole night, the sea at times making a clear breach
over her. At daylight, the tide having receded, the crew
(four men, with the captain's wife) landed, but one of them
died from exhaustion.
The storm signal was hoisted on Tuesday afternoon at
Tynemouth, and early on Wednesday morning the • gale
burst on the coast, accompanied by incessant rain. About
five o'clock, during the height of the storm, the William
and Mary and the Vigilant steams tugs broke from their
moorings in the harbour, and drifted against the launch
lying inside of the Castor. The officer on duty on board
the Castor called out repeatedly, but received no reply.
The steamers then drifted against the Olive Branch steam-
boat. The officer of the Castor again hailed the men, and
told them that the boats were adrift. The men of the
Olive Branch afterwards got up steam, and put off after
the vessels, but it was too late. The two tug boats drifted
into the space between the south and inner piers, and there
the William and Mary became a total wreck. She was
literally knocked to pieces, and nothing is now to be seen
of her but one of her paddle wheels sticking in the sand.
The keel was carried outside the south pier. The Vigilant
drifted on to the south pier opposite the blacksmith's shop,
and all the apparent damage done to her is that one of her
paddle cases has been smashed. There were two men on
board the Vigilant at the time she broke away. They
were the fireman and the " fort" hand, but they escaped
ashore at the Low Lights on board the steamer's boat. A
salvage crew proceeded out in the William Wake and
attempted to board the Vigilant when she foundered, but
in consequence of' the heavy sea they could not get near
her. The William and Mary was strongly moored fore and
aft to the dolphin, opposite Dawson's Quay, and the
Vigilant was moored astern of her, with one rope attached
to tho William and Mary, another to the dolphin, and a
third to the keel. The Vigilant belongs to Mr. F. George
Stephenson, of North Shields, and was, we believe, in-
sured to the amount of £750, and it is very likely that
she will be got afloat again with little damage. The
William and Mary belonged to Mr. R. Dixon, and she is not
insured at all. Mr. Dixon estimates his less at between
£4OO and £5OO. When the steamers broke from their
moorings a keel also got adrift, and was carried out to
sea. It was the property of Mr. Edward Lavler, and was,
we believe, not insured. The gale continued throughout
the whole day, accompanied at intervals with heavy showers
of rain. The sea on the bar and in the harbour was very
heavy. So terrific was the sea that huge waves burst over
the whole extent of the north pier in endless succession. A
vessel which entered the harbour in the morning narrowly
escaped shipwreck. She was towed in by a steamer, but
the force of the sea all but carried her behind the south
pier, where she would inevitably have been lost. Fortu-
nately, the crew were enabled to avert the impending
calamity. The vessel was put about before she struck, and
after standing out to sea, she was ultimately enabled to
enter the harbour in safety. Owing to the heavy fresh
in the river, occasioned by the recent incessant rains, seve-
ral vessels are reported to have received damage at their
moorings in the river. At 8 p.m. it was still blowing a
heavy gale, and the sea was running very high. Through-
out the day it increased, and in the evening made a com-
plete breach over both piers. About 11 o'clock in the morn-
ing, a screw steamer, while crossing the bar, was struck on
the stern by a tremendous sea, which completely drove in
her stern and flooded the cabin. She steamed up the river
to the Northumberland Dock.
Thn }lndy of nonthor of the crew of the ill-fated Medora
was washed ashore on Wednesday evening at 5 o'clock. It
was much decomposed and bruised. The body was that of
Thomas Cox, of South Shields, which name was marked
on his clothes. The corpse was conveyed in a cart to the
dead-house at Tynemouth. At midnight there was no
abatement of the storm. Very few vessels were to be seen
off the harbour. The Life Brigade assembled in great force
on the Spanish Battery.
Towards noon on Wednesday a heavygale of wind sprung
up at Sunderland from the north-east, accompanied with
driving showers of rain. In the forenoon, when the weather
looked threatening and gloomy, a large fleet of vessels was
off the bar; and it being then low water they could not
enter the harbour, and as the gale increased, they wore off
to the southward. During the afternoon's tide, and when
the tide was at its height, and the sea breaking heavily
over the piers, the screw steamer Haswell, of London,
made for and entered the harbour in safety. Her approach
towards the harbour's mouth was watched with great
anxiety by hundreds of people on the north pier, promenade,
and banks. The schooner, May, Capt. Ritchie, of and from
Dundee, while entering the harbour, was struck by a heavy
sea, The master, who was at the wheel at the time, was
caught by it, and washed from the wheel right along the
deck, but he at once rose, rushed back to his position, took
hold of the ,vheel, and brought his vessel safely into the
harbour.