Star.
London, England, 1824-11-25 00:00:00

PORTSMOUTFI, NOVEMDP:II. 23.

We were this day visited with the most violent gale
that has blown here these thirty years. It blew all
night with
~great strength ; but about eight o'clock
this morning it increased to a tempestuous height,when
the Admiral Berkeley transport, which took troops on
board yesterday for Sierra Leone •Ind Cape Coast,
parted from her anchors, drove ashore on the Hospital
Beach, cot away her masts and bilged. Soon after, his
Majesty's brig Jasper, Captain FREMANTLE., was driven
on board by another vessel, by which she lost her bow-
sprit, then slippe.!, and ran into the harbour. About
10, A ht. the Shipley transport, parted from her anchors,
struck on the Spit, which lifted ber rudder out of the
pintles, and in attempting to run into the harbour, not
having a pilot on board, she got ashore on the beach
close to the Sally-port. Having a large cargo en board,
(provisions fur our squadron in South America), she
strained very much, as the wind and sea beat most,
violent upon her all day afterwards. Towards sunset,
when the gale moderated, they were able to strike
her top-masts, so that she lies snugly on the beach.
At noon, the Asia, Pope, with 200 convicts on board
for New South Wales, parted from her anchor, 'and
drove into Stoke's Bay, where she took the ound in a
secure spot; her topmasts being struck, she lies with-
out much danger of loss. • At three P. M. a ship from
Batavia, bound to Hamburgh, drove on shore under
the Hospital wall. His Majesty's yacht Herald drove,
and much apprehension was felt for her safety ; but
providentially we have not had any other disaster ; the
four ships named, out of 100 sail ,lying here, are the
only vessels that have sustained any material damge
The Sparta transport slipped and ran into the harbour,
and every ship in the port drove, but brought up
again. We are happy to say that we have not heard
ca any life being lost, although the most daring and
courageous efforts were made by our watermen to
afford assistance to the ships as they successively were
impelled by the gale on our shores.

EXTRACT OS A PRIVATE LETTER, DATED DORCHES.
TER, N0V.23.
" Last night this town was visited with a tremendous
gale from the S.W. which for several hours continued
to increase, till the most violent hurricane prevailed
ever remembered by the oldest inhabitant. Its devasr
Laing effects were felt in every quarter, and the da-
mage to dwelling-houses, in the destruction of chim-
nies, roofing;, and glass, created alarm and anxiety for
the safety of the affrighted families. About six o'clock
this morning. a heavy stack of chimnies on the house
of the Rev. J. Richman, was blown down with a tre-
mendous crash, and falling on the bed of the Rev. Gen-
tliman, crushed him and his amiable wife beaeath the
ruins. Instant alarm was given, and medical attend-
ance promptly obtained ; but it was too late; one com-
mon and instantaneous, destruction involved them both.
Mr. Richman was Rector of the Holy Trinity in this
town, and had bat a few weeks enjoyed the possession of
the new Church tecently erected In that parish. The,
completion of this building had been looked forward to
by him with'anxious solicitude ; but the many embellish-
ments and improvements he had contemplated, and
which wete in progress, be was not permitted to see
perfected. Ile was a man of singular learning and
piety, and remarkable for great simplicity of manner
and singleness of life, and during a residence of more
than thirty years had secured to himself the 'eget d and
confidence of all who knew him. In the 71st year of
his age, an awful calamity awaited him, which has
overwhelmed his family and friends with affliction and
dist' ess. A Coroner's Jury was early summoned, and a '
verdict recorded of—Accidental Death.
" The effects of the storm are not confined to this
town ; and afflicting accounts of the loss of lives and
property must be expected from along the whole coast.,
Weymouth has suffered very considerably; a large por-
tion of the Esplanade being completely carried away,
and other loss to the estimated amount of several thou-
sand pounds. A Dutch ship is on shore in the bay,
near the Old Castle ; and other vessels ir. Poitland-
roads, already dismasteJ, and otherwise damaged, are'
expected to share the same fate. Some idea may be
tOrmed of the violence of the wind, when it is stated'
that the Regulator, Exeter coach, was blown over twice
txtween this town and Salisbury.*
BRIOIITON, NOVEMBER 25.

The weather to-day has included a hurricane from
the south-west, and one of the most overwhelming and
=harming that has occurred here fur many years. At
half-past one P.M. it was high tide, and the agitated
appearance of the water in the channel was terrific.l
The breakers rolled over the bridge of the chain-
' let, -carrying Away some pan of the protecting
works of the outer platform, and totally capsizing
the inner dolphin, and snapping the chain which
connected it to the other dolphin southward. The strong
:a:1 fence which skirts the Esplanade in several
ii!aces was broken off short, and swept away, while the
waves laved the base of the stupendous cliffs as far as,
the eye timid reach, east and west, and cast their spray,
or frothy disunited particles, high in air, and which fell
in drenching quantities into the town and about the
r eighbourhood. Rain, and sometimes hail, was mixed
with it, creating at intervals, inland, a temporary deluge.
At Kemptowu, the injury sustained by the storm has
been of considerable magnitude; as many as eight or
ten houses, in a forward state towards completion, are,
said to have been levelled with their foundations by it,'
and conveyed to heaps of ruins. The exposed shell of
the house, tie source of the conflagration in that quar-
ter, mentioned in a former report, fell inward at an
early part of die morning; and, what irremarkable, the
Lecond house from it, for ming the western angle of the
Marine Crescent, and which had so narrowly escaped
the fire Oil Saturday, exhibited several wide fissures in
its main walls, about three o'clock in the afternoon, and
soon alter, with a hc;rrible crash, it fell suddenly to the
ground, leaving the house between that and the razed
walls previously mentioned. insulated, and in a truly

insecure and dangerous state, and in set:dal condition
as yet remains.

HASTINGS, NOVEMBER 24.

This place was, during Monday and yesterday, a
scene of great confusion, and indeed of alarm to those
whose residences are near the sea-shore. The weather
has been rather stormy, with occasional high winds from
the south and west for some time; but on Monday night
it came. on to blow violently. At about 12 o'clock at
night die storm had so far increased in violence, that
many, dreading what might be its extent during the
hours of darkness, deserted their dwellings, and some of
them were so rapidly followed by theencroachwents of
the tide, that the breakers prevented their retreating by
the doors towards the sea, and they were obliged to make
their escape by the back doors. The sea continued to rise
until half-past 12, and the breakers had now washed
over the summit of the beach, and inundated a large
portion of pasture land, containing above forty acres,
west of the Castle, which, on account •of its iow situa-
tion, was once destined for a harbour. The violence of
the sea now found its way into the dwellings of seve-
ral of the cottagers and fishermen, and even washed the
beds and furniture out, strewing the neighbouring shore
with their little property ; fortunately a good deal of it
was carried over the beach into the inundated pasture.
The sea, even after it was high water, continued to de-
vastate the property near the shore, and finally so far
injured the barracks of the Smuggling Preventive Ser•
vice, that they were abandoned by the men and their
wives and children. No very serious accident, however,
happened ; but the next morning the town prepared it-
self, as the gale continued unabated, for a renewal of
the scenes of the preceding night, during which, we had
forgotten to say, the Providence, of Chichester, laden
with timber, from Portsmouth to London, lost her bow-
sprit, and becoming unmanageable in the Channel,
which was at a great distance from the land, full of
breakers, the crew resolved at least to save themselves,
and run her ashore on the other side of White Rock.
—Luckily, she by accident struck on a sandy bed,
though on either side were rocks, on which, had she
struck, they most probably would have lost their lives.
Being nearly high water, and the sea declining when she
went-an shore, she was a considerable time (nearly two
hours) before she went to pieces, and the crew, three
men and a boy, were preserved. The precautions taken
on Tuesday morning were abundantly requisite, for
though the lower stories of the houses were barricadoed,
shutters fastened, &c. the sea burst in with such fury at
high water, that the cellars in many places were full,
the timber floating in the timber yards, the sand washed
into the houses, and four cottages were washed down
altogether, and the sea boundaries of many washed away
so completely, that the dwellings overhung the loose
shingle on the shore. The Priory was almost al-
together inundated with water, and the communication
was obliged to be kept up by sailors,who exacted a mode-
rate reward for carrying men and women dry shod across
on their backs. Before the tide subsided, the sand was
washed against the doors of Di plock's Marine liibrary.
—Powell's Library_ was cut off from all communication,
as well as the bank adjoining, during the last hour of
high water, by the enormous breakers which struck the
Battery, and were carried over upon these houses to an
elevation of above thirty feet, filling all the little cross
streets with rivulets of water. The fishermen had pro-
vided for the safety of their boats, by hauling them up
into the streets. Some larger craft on the shore, how-
ever, were left to the strength of their own timbers, and
continued to rock like jolly•boats in the tremendous
surf. The Battery being of stone, and strong, resisted
the fury of the storm, though only as it were to chafe
it the more, for here the billow, ran highest. On the
Marine Parade, the windows on the first floor were
broken by the sea, particularly those of Mr. Townsend,
the wine-merchant ; the Parade was torn up• to its
foundation, laying bare the very piles which secured it,
some feet below the surface; and the stone front, which
is composed of large blocks, was broken up to the ex-
tent of several yards. This morning, Wednesday, how-
ever, the gale has abated, and all are busy in repairing
the ruin of the two last tides.

BATH, NOVEMBER 24.
This city and its neighbourhood were visited on
Monday night and yesterday, with a tremendous hurri-
cane from the South-west, which has caused consider:
able damage. Many firs were ,has
down in Wid-
combe Field, and on Chive' ton Doan; and a fine elm
was broken in the field fronting Widcombe House. Mr.
Sims's house, on the Ciavertnn-road, was unroofed, and%
the end of an unfinished house blown down. A stack of,
chininies on the Grove Tavern was blown down. T!*
roof of Chatley Lodge, the residence of Thomas Nlead4,
Esq. was much damaged, and three iron pipes, weigh-
ing little less than one hundred weight each, whiei stood
side by side on a chimney of the residence of the ltfv.
C. Johnson, at Southstoke, were , completely lifted by
the wind out of the stone-work in which they were
firmly fixed, and carried to an adjoining roof ; no part
of the stone-work being damaged.

The effects of the late boisterous weather are very
apparent at the village of Boughton, there bei.ig two
out of three windmills disabled, one of them having lust
two, and the other all four sweeps, the latter of which
blew off during the gale of Thursday last.