The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-23 00:00:00

DREADFUL GALE AT LIVERPOOL

LIVERPOOL, Marten 21.—Yesterday this town wt,s visited
by a gale of extraordinary violence. The morning set in with
heave rain, and towards the forenoon the gale gradually rose
from,the south-west, inerelsing in intensity till high water,
half-past five o'clock in the afternoon, when it was at its height,
and raging with fearful violence. After this it slightly abated*
and the wind chopped round to the westward. Considerable
damage was done in the town by the blowing down of eitimne.,3 pots, and the tearing of slates from the roofs of the ho ml, n, is feared that the tidings from sea will be tnOst dittAltrotis;
When the gale was at its height the Avon, from Natehew, cot,
ton laden, ran on shore nearly opposite Formby. A tqattter
was sent out to her ttssiftance, hut by no effort en4l.a 1)4
brought within two miles of the stranded veslui, Being
holly driven oil by the gale. The tq1".7,:e.,y life-boat was got
out, but all exertions to put 911' tern the shore proved ineffee,
blown out of the water. Under
tual. The beat was 1t.:7-;11.),
l'.:Cuinstances the poor mariners were obliged to bo 'eft
tohnesbeoard, to abide the chances of a tempestuous night.. off
the early, on the tide going cut, the crew wP%e got off
the vessel, which began to break up with the r-turning tide,
the sea making a complete breach over her: Soon after the
from Bombay, was
above vessel had run on shore the Orient
stranded in Bootle Bay, two miles );telow Liverpool, and a
schooner, name unknown, suppos-ed to be a coaster, was soon
after run on shore near her. The same steamer which had
been engaged in encleavollring to render assistance to the
Avon strove to assist these vessels also, but without success.
About six o'clock, as her M ijesty's twill-packet the Lucifer
sas going out of the River from Liverpool, for Dublin,
she came in contact with a large American vessel, the
IVestehester, from Savannah,. inward-bound ; and such was
the force of the concussion that the steamer's chirruicy
went overboard, and severely injured a passenger and one
of the crew. She was so far disabled as to be obliged to
relinquish her course and make for Bootle Hays where
she anchored, and threw up blue lights for assist'nce. A
steam-tug went down to her, and assisted her in making fast
to ride out the night. This morning she waP, towed into Li-
verpool quite disabled, and put into dock repair. During
to-day the bull of a small craft was wr_..shed on shore on the
main of Voel Nant, name unknowr., The large flat-bottomed
boat lately moored off the pier
I:,ead, and used as a landing
bridge at low water, after )2,eir,- g frequently nearly capsised bythe gale, filled, and sunk
fact—and one which yesterday evening. A most singular
deserves to be recorded in the annals of
maritime advent,,re_is the following :---The John Porter,
which sailed 4:or Halifax, Nova Scotia, from Demerara, is now
in this port, with this damage, having been absolutely driven
the wkole breadth of the Atlantic out of her course. Such a
eirs:umstance may fairly be said to be unprecedented. It is
fortunate that yesterday the tide happened to range low, about
eleven feet. Had the same gale occurred with a2l feet tide,
the effects upon the river would have been tremendously mag-
nified. The water would have been blown at least four or five
feet higher than the calculated level, and vessels, as has be-
fore been the case, might have been mounted completely over
the pier. It is feared that very disastrous accounts will yet be
received. The last telegraph from Holyhead states the wind,
a s!ron,g• breeze, to have veered round to the N. E. The gale
abated at Liverpool down to a stiff breeze this morning, and
to-night it is quite calm.