The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-02 00:00:00

TIER GALE OF YESTERD.II7.

Throughout the whole of yesterl,lay and the pre-
vious night a gale of wind, equalling in duration
and occasionally in fury that of last week, swept
over the metropolis, blowing from the west and by
south, and accompanied now and then by driving
showers of rain. Between,s and 6in the morning,
the time of high water, and again about noon, the
wind rose to a perfect hurricane ; the river between
bridges, lashed into foam, resembled an inland sea,
and the passengers by the little steamers, scarcely
able to keep their footing on deck, were fain to seek
shelter below. The wind blew straight down the
river, and rushed with extraordinary fury through
the arches of the bridges. Below bridge the aspect
of things was extremely wild. Vessels and large
coasting steamers, moored to buoys or lying at an-
chor in the stream, had all their yards and every
bit of moveable rigging so disposed as to offer the
least possible resistance to the gale ; but with every
precaution some of them occasionally dragged their
anchors and partially broke away from their moor-
ings. The collies in the Pool and Woolwich Reach
were all more or lessin danger. For upwards of
an hour in the afternoon a small schooner in ballast,
which rode at anchor nearly in the middle of the
stream, a little below the entrance to the London
Docks, was in great jeopardy, and excited alarm
among many people on shore. She lay with her
head towards London-bridge, and as the tide began
to flow it brought her broadside against the raging
wind. In that position she was kept right across
the fairway of the river, the sport of the contending
tide and storm, and was every now and then
thrown flat on her broadside, her yards dipping
in the water. A steam tug proceeded to the spot,
but the captain of the schooner declined to avail
himself of its assistance, and there she lay for
some time, having the appearance of a ship in
distress. Eventually a large screw steamer, on
her way up the river, struck her on the bow,
but without doing much, if any, damage. At
one period of the afternoon the storm was so
violent and the. river so extraordinarily rower
that the occasion was deemed suitable for the trial
of a new lifeboat, which was seen moving about,
fully manned and equipped. Towards the evening
the storm had somewhat abated.
In the suburban districts, buildings of a light
character were in many instances destroyed. 'At
an early hour in the morning a man named Michael
Connor, aged 28, a bricklayer's labourer, while lash-
ing some scaffolding at a new building fronting the
bank of the Surrey Canal at Peckham, was blown
into the water, and the body has not yet been re-
covered. In consequence of the immense deal of
mischief done in this and adjoining neighbourhoods
a large number of labourers now on strike obtained
lucrative employment by being engaged by various
tradesmen and others in shoring up the exposed
portions of premises, as well as the heavy sign-
boards at the houses of licensed victuallers. About
noon an incident occurred at the corner of Short-
street, Walworth-road, which not only caused great
damage, but also nearly resulted in loss of life.
An immense board, running the whole length of
the top of a house, was blown down,a portion being
dashed with considerable violence into the roadway,
falling near a horse and cart, causing the animal
to take fright, and, before it could be stopped, run-
ning over a young lad, and severely injuring him.
The board was so firmly fixed that in its fall it car-
ried away a portion of the coping and roof. Near
the same spot the portion of the facia of a shop,
together with the ironwork of the sun-blind, fell
upon a gentleman named Sproston, likewise strik-
ing a little child, who it is supposed resided in the
neighbourhood. Mr. Sproston, with the exception
of a severe blow on the head, was uninjured, but
the child received a severe lacerated wound of the
cheek, nearly laying bare the jaw, and, as it was
unknown where the poor little sufferer lived, he
was conveyed to the hospital. In Newington-
causeway a very narrow escape took place, a large
coping•stone being forced by the gale from its place,
and falling with considerable violence within a few
inches of three gentlemen walking along. At the cor-
nerof King-street, Borough, a child named Emma
Houseton was blown off the pavement,and run over b,

a heavy cart. She was conveyed to St. Thomas's Hos-
pital, her legs being dreadfully broken. At West-
minster Hospital a man named Henry.Benvont was
attended to, having received severe injuries to his
head through the fall of a stack of chimneys on him
in the Westminster-road. Another man, named
James Skinner, was also icceived into the hospital,
his jaw being broken by a flowerpot which was
blown down on to him. A child named Richard
Jennings was blown off the pavement in the York-
road, Lambeth, and run over by a llansom cab,
both his legs being dreadfully injured; and a man
named Henry Ferris, aged 29, received most severe
injuries to his head and right arm by the fall of a
large slate in the Waterloo-road. While two men
were at work on a wharf at Pimlico they were
blown into the river; one of them, fortunately, was
rescued by a boatman, but the other poor fellow dis-
appeared in the water, and the body has not yet
been recovered. At ,helsea the damage has been
considerable, trees, &c., being uprooted and de-
stroyed. A man while passing along near Cremorne-
gardens was injured very geverelv by the fall of a
piece of coping-stone off a house. Near Black friars-
bridge three barg,es were stove in by coming into
collision, ono of them shortly afterwards filling and
going down. Upwards of 25 barges have received
considerable damage between Vauxhall and Putney,
while off Wandsworth five others hive sunk laden
with coal. Between Westminster and Vauxhall
bridges throe sailing vessels had their sails torn to
ribands, and one of them had her mast snapped off
short like a lath. Near Chelsea upwards of 20 small
boats were smashed and destroyed. Off Barnes-
bridge a boat containing two young men was seen
to capsize, and both were thrown into the water.
The unfortunate young men, before assistance could
reach them, sank, and the boat shortly afterwards
disappeared. A high stone wall on the bank near
Richmond was forced down by the fury of the wind,
and, falling on a barge below, knocked the bottom
out. ''At Wandsworth a sailing barge was forced
with terrific speed against the shore, smashing her
head, which was completely carried away, the
water rushing into her and destroying a great por-
tion of her cargo.

BRISTOL.
There was a strong gale here yesterday morning
from the S.W. A bar, believed to be the Batanga„
which sailed yesterday for Africa, struck on the
Hook Sand yesterday morning,
at 9 o'clock, and
was lost. It is thought that she left Penarth with-
out a pilot. The Severn and Jenny Jones steamers,
and the Jane Black, for Africa, had to put back.
The pilot skiff No. 21 put into Pill, with loss of
mainsail.