The Sun.
London, England, 1802-02-01 00:00:00

WHITEHAVEN. JAL t 6.

0* Wednesday night, and the greater part of
the next day, we were visited by one of the most
awful tempests ever felt upon this coast. The wind
was variable, but principally from the North-West,
accompanied with, or rather driving with astonish-
ing fury, a very heavy rain.
From the high state of the tides, and the violence
of the gale, the most serious apprehensions were
entertained of a destration similar to what was
experienced from the memorable tempest, on the
:3d and zsth of January, 1796. The wind was
higher, and the extraordinary flow of the tide,
rolling its billows with amazing rapidity, pre-
sented a spectacle not less terrifying and alarming
than that.

This menacing appearance continued from about
eight o'clock on Thursday morning, till between
one and two in the afternoon. In the regular
course it would have been high water at twenty-six
minutes past twelve : but it was the highest flood
at about half( past ten ; and instead of 15 feet 8
inehe', it is supposed to have risen to 20 feet at.
the end of the Old Q:tiay. Fortunately, but con-
trary to general,:observation, the hurricane abated
considerably.teefore the regular .period of high wa.
ter, and the *virl also shifted to a more favourable
point, and rCle precautions taken to secure the
shipping; prayed effeetual in preventing any mate..
rial damage I' ,:g done in the Harbour.

For sever hours, the agitation of the sea was so
:.
great as so etimes to darken
.the horizon ; the
foam thrown' up by the bUrsting of the liillows, fre-
quently hid the Light-house : the " yeaity waves"
- did indeed strem. as if they were intended to " con-
found 041 swallow Navigation up ;" and the spray
was seen flying in almost every part of the town,
resembling lirge flakes of snow. Immense bodies
of water were sometimes. dashed against the battle-
ments of the outer piers (the New Quay and the
-North Wall), and breaking, were tossed in every
diredion throughout the.flarbour: at other times,
they were heaved to such a height_ as to roll over
these moles and the bulwark, as if there had been
nothing opposed to their wild and impetuous raging.-
The swell of the tide inundated, for a short time,
the places ixirest to the shore—lVlark.lane, the
lower end. of Duke-street, New Lowther-street,
and Strand!street ;. but- neither was the inconve-
nience which it occasioned, nor the injury sustained
by this vast commotion of the elements, in which
two of them seemed to contend for sole dominion,
equal to what has frequently been the consequence
or storms infinitely less formidable and menacing.
In this, we confine ourselves merely to what con..
terns this Port, and the ships within it at the time
of the hurricane. We should behappy to conclude
our whole information on this subjea with a similar
charater of it in other situations.

The of efts of the wind were felt in every part of
this town. h had raged in a most tremendous
manner, from about two o'clock in the morning ;
and, at day-light, the streets were found strewed
with bricks, slates, stones, mortar, rough.cast,
glass, &c. Several chimnies had been blown down ;
several houses wholly, or partially, unroofed; the
roofs of many others damaged by the falling of
the chimnies ; and the inhabitants, in various in.
stances, very narrowly escaped from destruftion. The
following is a very remarkable instance ofthiskind :

An' old chimney, the lower part composed of
large stones, and the upper part of brick, upon a
house in Church-street (occupied by Ylr.;Brockbank,
tobacconist) was blown down about eight o'clock
in the morning, and penetrating the roof and ceil-
ing, forced'its way into a room in which were two
beds, and four children lodged in them. The fa-
ther, who was at the instant prepared to leave the
house to attend his business (and. who in two or
three minutes. would have lost the opportunity of
affording any assistance), on hearing the crash, ran
op stairs; but what was his horror, when he be_
'held the apartment nearly filled with rubbish, tins,
roof open to the sky, and only one bed to be,seen !
the other, in which two of his children had been
put to repose the preceding evening, was totally
covered with the fragments of the chimney, &c. ;
nor could he hear any sound, but the howling of the
wind through the shattered roof. Prompted by
ti4ose feelings which impart a strength unknown,
except in moments of extreme alarm, he instantly
proceeded to remote the rubbish. One of the chil-
dren began to cry ; the other was silent for some
:time. At length he had the, satisfaelion to know
that they were both alive (these were a boy of six,
and a girl of four years) ; and in a short time, after-
wards, he was enabled to extricate them from their
most perilous and awful situation, which, without
instant relief, must of itself &we proved fatal.—
Both of them were considerably bruised : the little
girl had also received a Wound in the .forehead,
which, at the time Mr. Brockbank discovered her,
had nearly covered her face with blood ; but it is
n it apprehended, that the injury received by either
is such as to occasion any serious consequences.—
None of the fragments had touched the bed in which
were the other two children ; but a large portion of
the ceiling attached by one end, hung dreadfully
suspended between them
The circumstance, which was exa&ly as related,
must be considered altogether as a signal instance
of the merciful interposition of Providence, to
shield so many innocents (by means which ap-
peir almost miraculous), from an accident which
threatened inevitable destruaion.

A great part of the pavement of the Old Quay
was torn up, and several large stones washed from
the different piers, and carried by the force of the
v;ater to a considerable distance. Marks of its
violence are to be seen all through the neighbour-
hood. One of the windmills near this town was
unroofed ; trees were blown down in several places.
instances of this kind are too numerous to men-
tion ; but it does not appear to have extended far
from the sea coast. A great deal of damage was
done in Egremont and its' v 1 inity,