Star.
London, England, 1802-01-30 00:00:00

,DREADFUL HURRICANE.

WHITIM AVIN JAN. 26.—0 n Wednefday night,
and the greater part of the next day, we were vi-
flied by one of the moil awful tempas ever
felt upon this coaft. The wind was variable, but
principally from the North Weft, accompanied
with, or rather driving with altonithing fury, a
very heavy rain.
From the high flateof the tides, and the violence
of the gale, the molt ferions appreherdions wete
entertained of a deftruaion fimilar to what was
experienced from the memorable tempcit on the
23d and 25th of January, 1796. The Wind was '
higher, and the extraordinary flow of the tide,
lolling its billows with amazing rapidity, prefent-
ed a fpeelacle not lefs.terrifying and alarming .
than that.
This rnenaeingappearance continued from about
eight o'clock on Thurfday morning, till between
one and two in the afternecn. In the regu!ar
courfe, it would have been high water at 26 mi-
nutes pail 12 but it was the higheft flood at
about half pall ten ; and inftead of fifteen feet

eight inctL-s, it is fuppofed to have rifen to twenty
feet, at the end of the Old (bay. Fortunattly,
but contrary to general obfervation, the hurricane
abated confiderably before the regular period of
high water, and the wind alto shifted to a more
favourable point, and the precautions takento fe.
cure the fhirpirg proved effeEtual in preventing
any material damage being cinn2 in the harbour.
For kvet al hours, the agitation of the fea was
fo great its (=meioses to darken the horizon ; the
foam, thrown up by the brisling of the billows,
frequently Lid the liOit•honfe; the 44 yea ay waves"
did indeed teem as ii they were intended to w eon.
found and fv:allow navigation up ;"and the fpray
was Peen flying in almott ever)? part of the 'town,
relembliag large flakes of fnov'. Immenfe bodies
of water werifome:lmes againlt the bit-
tlements of the outer pigs, (the New Ctay and
the Ninth Wall) an.l, breaking, were toifed In
every sliretlinn throughout the Larbour : a: other
times, they were heaved to latch a height, as to
roll over thcfc moles writhe bulwark, as if there
had been nothing °pooled to their wild and impe-
tuous raging. The (well of the tide inundated,
for a (;tort ume, the places neareil to the Ihorc—
• Mark-lane, the lower end of Duke-ffreets I`',w
Lowther-lireet, and Szrand-fireet; but neither was
the inconvenience which it occasioned, no, the in-
jury (Whined by ttis raft commotion of the ele-
ments, in which two of them feenied to contend
for fide dominion, equal to what has frequently
been the confequence i f llorms infinitely lea for-
midable and menacing. In this, we confine our.
felces merely to what concerns this port and the
;hips within it a: the time of the hurricane- We
fhoisld be hapr to cnn,lude our whole intrama-
tion on this fishjen a ith a fimilar charaCter of it in
ether iltuation,.

The dais of the mind were felt in every part of
this town. It had raged in a moll tremendous
manner, from about two-o'clock in the mown* ;
and, at daylight, the Ilreets were found thews-4
with bricks, Oates, II rues, mortar, rough cailochrfs,
&c. Several chimneys had been blown down ;
Several hunks whey, or partially, unroof-ft? ; the i
roofs of many others damagtd by the falling of
the chimneys; and the inhabitants, in various in.
fiances, eery narrowly elcaped from deb-aft-tn.
The following is a very remarkable infiance of
this kind:
An old chimneys the tower part eotrpoferl of
large lion's, and the upppeerr pact atria, upon a
hour, in Church-greet (occupied by Mr. Brock-
bank, tobacconill)xas lown down itbont eight
o'clock in the morning, and penetrating the roof
and ceiling, forced its way into a room in which
were two beds, and four children lodged in them!
The father, who was at the inßant prepared to
leave the houfe, to attend his Winds, (and who
in two or three minutes would have UR the oppor-
tunity of affording any alfitiance) on hearing the
crafb, ran up Ram. But what was his horror,
when he beheld the apartment nearly filled with
rubbifh; the roof open to the fit'', but pnly one
bed to be fees! The other, in which two of his
children had been put to repofe the preceding
evening, was totally covered with the fragments
of the chimney, &e. Nor could he hear any
found, but the howling of the wincllhrough the
!battered roof!
Prompted by that...! feelings which impart a
(trench unknown, except in moments of extreme
alarm, he inflantly proceeded to remove the rub.
hint. One of the sirildren began to cry.—The
other was filent fir Tome time. At length, he had
the fatisfailion to know that they were both alive
(there were a boy of 6, and a girl of 4 years) ;
and, in a nowt time afterwards, he was enabled to
extricate them from their moil perilous and awful
fituation, which, without inaant relief, mufti of
itfelf, have proved fatal.
Both of them were confiderably broiled; the
little girl ]sad atilt received a wound in the fore-
head, which at the time Mr. Brockhank difcovered
her, bad nearly covered her face with blood! but
it is not apprehended that the injury received by
either is fuck as to occalion any ferious confe-
quences. None of the fragments had touched the
bed in which were the other two Children ; but a
large portion of the cieling, attached by one end,
hung dreadfully fufpended between them !
The circunrflance, which was exatilyas related,
mit be coofidered altogether as a fignal intlance
of the merciful interpofition of Plovrozwca, to
!Meld fo many innocents (by means which ap-
pear almoß miraculous), front an accident which
threatened inevitable dellruelion.
A great part of the rdvement of the Old Ittay
was urn up, and feverutla:rge Ronts walhed firm
the different piers, and carried by the force of the
water to a confiderable difiance. Marks of its
Ntolcnee Are to be teen an through the neighbour.
loa'd. One of the windmills near this town was
unroofed; trees wereidown doivn in fevenal places.
Ir:fiances of this kind are too numerobs to men.
ti•at ; but it d:,,:s not appear to have extended far
1r an the fca coati. 'A great deal of damage was
dc.ac in Lgrcutor.t and its vidittity. ~ .