The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-29 00:00:00

VIE GREAT EASTERN IN THE GALE.

HOLYHEAD, OCT. 27.
Daring Tuesday and Wednesday last the Great
Eastern has been most sharply tested, and has had
to weather as heavy a gale as has swept into the
harbour of Holyhead for years past. Most fortu-
nately, the tempest was of short duration, or none
can say what the consequences would have been.
While it lasted, however, it equalled in violence
any of the fiercest Channel storms that ever strewed
our coasts with wrecks. On this part of the coast,
indeed, we already know that the destruction of
life and property has been great and wide-spread,
for, though brief, the gale was one of terrific vio-
lence. A large part of the breakwater works at
Holyhead have been destroyed, and vessels anchored
far inside and sheltered, compared to where the big
ship lay, have either gone down bodily, or been
driven high and dry ashore. For one hour or so
the Great Eastern herself was as near destruction
as she is ever likely to be, and nothing but
the unceasing vigilance and long experience of
Captain Harrison and the officers under him could
have saved the vessel from driving ashore with the
others.
For some days past the weather has been break-
ing and unsettled, and as unfavourable as can well
be conceived for water excursions of any kind, and
the visitors to Holyhead seem to have been quite
alive to this most unpleasant discovery. Each day
during this and the last wsek has shown a consi-
derable diminution in the number of venturesome
tourists who have put off to the great ship, and
when all the circumstances were taken into consi-
deration, the wonder was, not that there were less,
but that there were any at all. On shore the wea-
ther has been sloppy and damp, at sea the air was
raw and keen. During the greater part of this and
last week little squalls, with hail and sleet, have oc-
curred at short intervals to vary the monotony of
Holyhead harbour, to which the Welsh mountains,
now thick with snow, form a dreary and cheerless
background. The season for excursions, whether
by land or sea, was evidently over, and more than
enough had been seen of the Great Eastern's pre-
sent anchorage to show that Holyhead was no place
for ber to winter in. She could not come inside the
most awkwardly constructed breakwater, but lay
abreast of its eastern extremity, exposed (luring a
north-easterly gale to a heavy sea, and with what
was supposed to be but indifferent holding ground
for a vessel of such size and with such an area for
the wind to act on. Both these circumstances told
strongly to her disadvantage during the late most
fearful storm.
Since last Thursday night the weather has been
more or less severe with heavy squalls,_ driving
clouds of snow and hail, and brief intermissions of
storms of lightning. The fires have, therefore,
been kept banked up day and night, and every pre-
paration made for the vessel to steam out to sea at
a moment's notice. On Friday night, indeed, the
gale increased to such an extent that Captain
Harrison was obliged to let go a second anchor,
and occasionally keep the paddle engines moving
gently head to wind, to relieve the strain upon the
cables. During that night the frozen snow and hail
covered the decks thickly. Since then the weather
has been tolerably calm (though with the usual
nightly interludes of hail and lightning) till
Tuesday night last. When it does begin to blow at
Holyhead, it blows very hard indeed. The gale
rises slowly, but does its work well. Tuesday ap-
peared a calm cold day, though the air seemed un-
naturally clear, showing every cliff and crag among
the Snowdon mountains with as much distinctness
as the awful and gloomy-looking group of rocks on
which the Skerries Light stands a little way out to
sea. _ _

The wind gradually freshened towards the after-
noon, though not very much till over the moun-
tain came a thin black haze, which rose into
the air with ominous rapidity and overspread the
sky. Then everybody seemed to guess with sur-
prising unanimity that it was going to blow, while
the wind hummed among the spars and rigging,
loud and more loud, as the storm advanced. B.
six o'clock it was pretty generally_ seen that it
would be a " dirty" night. The sea and wind kept
rising as the glass fell, and before eight it blew a
heavy gale from the eastward, with fierce squalls
and storms of rain. The night was very wild and
dark as pitch, though tolerably clear too, showing
with sufficient distinctness the dull red light on the
head of the breakwater and the lamps on the pier
astern, but that was all. Everything seemed to
augur very badly, so that the fires were carefully'
attended to by the indefatigable chief engineer, Mr.
M'Lennan, and Captain Harrison gave orders to
have steam ready in case of being suddenly obliged
to slip and stand out into the Chnnel.
As night wore on the wind increased and came
in fearful gusts, tearing away among the spars and
rigging with a hoarse, sustained , roar that was
awtul to listen to, especially when one bore in
mind that the glass was still falling, and that what
we then saw was only the commencement of the
gale. Sea after sea ran tumbling by, only dis-
cernible through the darkness by it.-; snow-like
foamy crest, or the heavy jerk it gave to the great
ship as the chains surged and rumbled in the hawse-
holes, as though she was going adrift altogether.
Vessel after vessel could be seen in the gloom by
their bright lights dipping and rolling over the
heavy waves as they bore up for the protection of
the breakwater, glad to run for any shelter in so
wild a night, and one which was hourly becoming
worse and worse. At 10 o'clock the rain set in like
a second deluge. Each gust of wind seemed longer
and worse than the last, striking down upon the
ship, as sailors say, with a blow like a hammer, and
testing everything in the way of masts and rigginn-
to the very utmost they could bear. Still, in spite
of all, the Great Eastern rode steadily and lightly
head to wind, and without perceptible motion,
though a fierce sea was rolling in, and we could
see by the rapidly moving lights among the other
shipping far inside the harbour that they were
dipping heavily and making the worst of their bad
weather. _ _ _

From 8 o'clock Captain Harrison never left the
deck or bridge, but was either sounding the lead
overboard to see if she dragged, giving directions
about the steam, or watching the chain cables, as
under the strain they rose up out of the water like bars
of solid metal. Everything that could be done under
the circumstances was done, and there was nothing
for it but to hold on and wish for daylight. This
latter Captain Harrison did most devoutly, for the
wind almost equalled the force of a hurricane at
times, jerkin.. at the masts as if it would snap them
off at the deck, and making the Great Eastern
tremble perceptibly throughout her immense length
and breadth, as if some giant hand was shaking her.
From this time, till between two and three o'clock
in the morning, the gale increased in violence till
the din was appalling, and the rain and hail, driving
with the force of small shot, made it painful to face
it. The gusts revelled over the huge expanse of
deck till none dared stand before them. Well was
it for the great ship that nothing happened at this
time, or her chance would have been poor indeed.
The air was filled with spray, torn from the rugged
waves—the darkness was impenetrable, while the
hoarse roar of the wind drowned every other sound
save the dull, threatening booming of the waves
upon the rocks and breakwater, the sound of which
came up on the gale like peals of distant thunder.
Words of command would have been useless, and
even if heard, neither men nor ship could have
struggled long against the gale which was rushing
past. Those who heard its deafening roar that night
from sea are never likely to forget it. Between one
and two o'clock Captain Harrison went forward and
endeavoured to pierce the thick gloom, and see what
was going on ahead. On his way along the deck his
waterproof coat was blown to ribands off him, and
he himself at last carried before the gale and thrown
down, and tumbled along with such violence as to
receive some most severe contusions. Towards two
or three o'clock in the morning the gale seemed at
its worst. To the roar and scream through the shrouds
other and more unpleasant sounds were soon added,
as the wind blew up the saloon skylights, dropping
them down with a bang and crash of glass that to
those below was startling in the extreme. Crash
after crash the glass in these skylights went, one
after the other ; the rain and wind pouring down
through the apertures into the saloons, and, above
all, into the grand saloon, to decorate which so
much that was really needed in the ship has been
deferred. It wanted not such aids to let in
wind and water, for the upper wooden deck
was leaking at every seam, so that on all the
sofas, carpets, and tables below was an array of ves-
sels of every size and kind which could contain the
ceaseless drippings from above. Yet, in spite of all
this, the lower decks were sopped and plashy, and
seemed. under the mattings to be much like walking
on an ill-drained marsh. At 4 o'clock, a wistful'
look out was I;:ept for the light on the breakwater,
for it was evitlent that if the gale continued much
longer the Great Eastern must urlearour to run
out to sea. Two anchors were down, one of seven
tons, with 80 fathoms' chain, on the starboard bow,
and one of 3-1 tons, with GO 'fithims, to port. The
cables of both :eemed taughtened to the er v ut-
most which they could bear, and though it was
quite pos3ible they would hold on through still
worse weather, yet, with what was then feared to
be bad holdin,g-ground and a rocky lee shore, it
would not do to calculate too finely. Therefore
was the light on the breakwater kept anxiously in
view as a point to be carefully rounded in case of
the worst.
Fortunately, it was easy enough to see this dim,
red beacon at intervals, that is to say,
when the sea
allowed it, for the tremendous rollers came tumbling
in, lashing over the timber work on the head of the