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

TILE Cpl Ed EASTERN IN THE

HOLYHEAD, OCT. 27.
During 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 I
life and property has been great and wide-spread,
for, though brief, the gale was one of terrific via
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 w:ek has shown a consi-
derable diminution in the number .of venturesome
tourists who have put cif to the great ship, and
when all the circumstances were taken into consi-
deration, the wonder was, not that there were less,
bat 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 her to winter in. She could not come inside the
most awkwardly constructed breakwater, but lay
abreast of its eastern extremity, exposed during 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 everypre-
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. By
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 Channel.
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 its 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 rigging
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 tho 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, jerking at the masts as if it would snap them
off at the dck, 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 ribauds off him, and
he himself at last carried before the kale 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
alter 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 mattines to be much like walking
on an ill-drained. marsh. At 4 o'clock, a wistful
look out was kept fur the light on the breakwater,
for it was evident that if th gale continued much
longer the Great Eastern must endeavour 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 tons, with GO fathoms, to port. The
cables of both seemed taughtened to the very ut-
most which they could bear; and though it was
quite_ possible they would
_hold on through still
worse weather, yet,
with what was_y lee then feared to
rocky , it
hhore
be bad holdino•-ground and
a dc
'Therefore
would not do °to calculate too finely. T
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 pu the head of the

breakwater and shieldi ghe light in a cloud of
foam and spray.
At last, after a most anxious night,
dawn broke in a thin gray light
with sky and ses,
the cold
was hard to say
a waterdou btfue haze,aed
aiatillthe
Above, all was thick and gloomy ; below,. the wa inwhineVeedthine clouds began.tei
seemed lashed to fury, and the waves came hissinF
and writhing in, " curling their monstrous heads,
'
and breaking upon the rocks like avalanches of
snow. It was, in truth, a very wild and dreary
scene. Over the lighthouse on the inner pier-head
the waves seemed to surge almost unimpeded, while
the breakwater itself was so completely hidden that
the tremendous" jets of spray and foam which
cloaked it from end to end more resembled in their
distant boom and snowy clouds the constant dis-
charges of heavy artillery than
the break of waves,
however dangerous. Within the
very extremity
of the breakwater, where one would have thought
the Channel fleet might have ridden through any
gale, much damage had been done. High and dry
ashore, under I.olyhead mountain, lay a fine bark,
and around her, in the same predicament, were
three smaller vessels. Out in the t cen re of the
harbour the tops of two sender tapering masts
showed where Captain Henry's beautiful schooner
yacht, the Mariquiti, had gone down bodily. Im-
mediately behind this was another and larger
vessel, which had apparently only escaped the same
fate by driving on the rocks, and which, with a
fierce sea breaking over its hull, and its jagged and
tattered sails blown out to riband streamers by the
wind, looked the very picture of a melancholy
wreck. Other vessels there were, too, which al-
though still afloat seemed very little better off than
those which were ashore, and which, dipping bows
under to the angry sea, appeared about to illus-
trate by fresh examples the force of the tempest
which now howled and worried round on all sides.
It was indeed what sailors call a " wicked" gale.
Very little could be distinguished through the
drifting snow, half rain, half cloud, which was
driving through the air. Only occasionally could
the headland to the north be seen, like a heavy fog
bank, with the breakers surging up 100 feet into
the air as they came thundering in against the iron
coast. Round this point, as we afterwards learnt,
a still more dreadful scene was enacting, for here at
a place called Red Beach, the Royal Charter had
been driven ashore, and was then breaking up.
Beneath this headland, also, later in the day, as we
were informed, a smaller vessel stranded, and re-
mained amid the roaring surge, with the sailors
clinging to the rigging, waving their rags of shirts
aloft as signals of distress, beseeching the succour
which, alas, to such a place, could never come.
At 6 o'clock there were symptoms of the storm
breaking, and, as usual, the last gusts were the
worst, and the situation of the Great Eastern was a
matter of deep anxiety on the part of Captain Har-
rison and his officers. There was scarcely room to
steam out, yet it was evident that, if the gale con-
tinued, it would be impossible for her to remain
much longer where she was. Inside the breakwater
the sea ran high, with waves of a deep yellow hue,
while the ocean without resembled hills of muddy
half-thawed snow, reflecting their whitish glare
upon the clouds above, as if the very laws of nature
had been reversed and light came from below.
Both wind and tide were rising, and as the great
billows came dashing in upon the massive frame-
work of tithber which marked the end of the break-
water, it became a nice calculation which would
yield first, the timbers or the gale. Wave after
wave swept in upon the mass of stone and wood,
and seemed to explode in a cloud of smokelike
spray. Yet still the red light in the lighthouse
held on, and shone out cheerily above the desolate
and angry scene around. Sorely was it tried
minute after minute, and well must the framework
have been put together to hold aloof so long the
destruction which all could see was now inevitable.
At last, soon after 6 o'clock, a monstrous wave came
in upon the horizon. Nearer and nearer it rolled,
a white crest towering high above the green wall
of water as it reared. up its monstrous bulk, and
seemed to gather might for one great rush upon its
prey. In another second the foam towered a hun-
dred feet over the head of the breakwater, and the
red light was seen no more, while the wave,
broken, but not disabled, came tearing on, hurling
aloft, as if in triumph, a black mass of timbers,
which seemed like rocks among the seething waters.
This was introducing, so to speak, the thin end of
the wedge, for the work of demolition once com-
menced went rapidly forward, and the massive
timbers began to disappear by a hundred feet and
more at a time, melting away into the angry sea
like a mere fretwork of sugar-candy. The cranes
and machinery at the top dropped off into the water
one by one, as if the-sea possessed the properties of
an universal solvent ; for when once the waters
covered them obstacles were seen no more. Some
lengths of framework, however, held out long and
gallantly, resisting every effort to overthrow them,
till the tide was at its height, and at last they too
disappeared, some in splinters and chips like fire-
wood as the beams were rent to pieces, some in
great angular masses, as if an island of timber had
come to sea. The whole harbour was covered
with such rafts, till their black masses showed
up like reefs of rock in all directions. Still
the storm swept on as wild as ever, and where the
breakwater makes that most injudicious inward
curve and forms a concave surface for the sea to
act on the waves broke high and fiercely, even here
damaging the cranes upon the high scafiblding, and
threatening a clean breach into the harbour.
This scene of destruction was, for the time it
lasted, as grand and awful a sight as can be well
conceived. The great waves not only looked irre-
sistible, but showed themselves to be so in sad and
sober earnest, and everything went down like sand
before their terrific onset. Matters now began to
look very bad, and such tremendous evidences of
danger on the part of the wind and sea were by no
means overlooked. by those on board the Great
Eastern. In fact, it was with most considerable
anxiety that Captain Harrison saw the turn affairs
were taking, for the wind was now dead from the
north-east, and the whole sweep of the Channel
was pouring into the harbour. Some profitable
bargains might have been made in Great Eastern
shares had the shareholders been on board-and seen
the state of the weather—the lee-shore behind, and
the timber work of the breakwater (the great and
only shield ahead) disappearing by hundreds of
yards at a time. Yet still the Great Eastern rode
out lightly for her bulk, and without a sign of
dragging, though the chains apparently could bear
nothing more. The whole harbour was now one
immense mass of wreck-wood, the huge piles
tumbling over and over one another, and rearing
up 15 and 20 feet from the water, as the waves
tossed them to and fro like playthings. The sea
had set in, too, so violently that it was necessary
at once to do something to relieve the ship from the
strain upon the cables, and to effect this the screw
was set to work. But here an obstacle intervened
of the most serious kind, as the masses of timber-
wreck were round the ship, going down upon the
screw at every minute, and once or twice so foul-
ing it as to force the engines to a dead stop. To
clear these it was necessary to put the helm hard
a-port, though this was only a choice of evils, as the
vessel's head payed round and threatened soon to
foul the anchor chains. The latter accident, in
fact, took place at last, and the heaviest
anchor and longest scope of cable on the star-
board bow appeared to be doing nothing
to retain the vessel, while the small anchor ap-
peared to be doing too much, and its cable
flipped out of the water with every surge in a
startling and. ominous manner.
Tosiards 8 or 9 o'clock the wind went round more
to the N.E., sending in a beam swell, to which the
Great Eastern began to roll very heavily. As the
surge swept in, the position of the vessel- hourly
became worse, and at last, at 10 o'clock, Captain
Harrison had no alternative but to try and raise
the heaviest anchor, get the vessel's head more
under the lee of the breakwater, and then let it go
again. This was a difficult and most critical task,
for every part of the harbour was now so completely
covered with drifting beams that the screw could
on'.y be used with the utmost caution. The
paddles, unless in ease of a most dangerous emer-
gency, could not be used at all, as the timbers
would of course knock the floats to pieces. Gradu-
ally, therefore, the Great Eastern was brought up
to her starboard anchor, though with the utmost
difficulty. Before the screw could well get play it
was fouled and had to stop. Directly this occurred
the steam from the screw boilers was let into the
paddle engines, which in turn went ahead, till the
propeller was free and able to work again. At
last, after some time, the anchor was under the
.bow, the slack chain hove in, and the huge mass of
iron got up to the bow ready for letting go again
in a better berth. But the wind now allowed no
choice of situations. The vessel had partly swung
off into a beam sea, which was then sweeping
over and past the Breakwater with
awful
force,
and the Great Eastern began •
to roll quickly and
heavily. In spite of the relief afforded
by the
screw, the cable of the remaining' anchor kept taut-
ening more and more, until at last, at about half-
past 10, it sprang like a cord out of the water, and
in another moment the Great Eastern was adrift,
rolling and tuttbling like a drunken ship towards
the shore. So quiet and orderly was everything
when this most alarming- incident took place, that
reallyhappened, very few knew what had though
all could pretty well guess by the
heavy lurches of
the vessel that something had indeed gone wrong.
Captain Harrison and Mr. Kett were forward, an%
iu an instant all was ready for letting go a second.
heavy anchor, while word was passed to go ahead
with the screw, for the great ship, lurching from
side to side was making rapidly for shore.
The second anchor was la go and the screw moved