The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1883-05-26
THE TWO GREATEST STORMS
on RECORD.


has been called the Great Storm. 1t
occurred or rather its worst effects
were experienced, on October tenth.
l7eO. Generated probably in mid-At-
%lantic, not far from the equator it was
first felt in Barbados where trees and
houses we re blown down. At Martini
que the storm overlook Il French
transport fleet and entirely des-
troyed il. There were forty YES
sells, conveying fou: thousand sol
dicrs, and the Governor Of Martinique
reported their fate to the french Gov
ernment in three words-'The vessels
Disappeared" Nine thousand persons
persisted at Martinique, and one thou
sand at st. Pierre, where not a house
Was lett standing. st. Domingo, St.
Vincent, st. Eustache, and Porto Rico
were next visited and devastated, while
scarcely u single vessel near this pa l.
Of the cyclones track was afloat on DC
tober llth. At Port Royal, the cathe
dral, seven churches. and fourteen hun
dred houses were blown down and six
teen hundred sick and wounded per
sons We're buried beneath the ruins Of
:he hospital. At THE Bermudas Fifty Bit
LII ships were driven ashore, two line
OF battle ships vent down at sea, AID
twenty-five thousand persons persisted.
Perhaps the most remarkable effects of
the storm in this portion Of its course
were those experienced IN the Lceward
Islands. The hurricane drove "a twelve
FOUNDER cannon a distance Of !our hun
dred feet. Those who lived ia The gov
ernnient building took refuge in ii Q
central part, whe re circular walls
nearly a yard thick seemed to afford Il
promise of safety. But ut l1:3O O'Clock
the wind hand broken down parts OF
these walls, and lifted off the roof. As
in great floods, a oa,mon terror pie
serves peace among animals which usu
ally war upon each other, SO during
the great storm human passions We're
70: the time quelled by the fierce war
If the elements. Among the ships de
stroyed at Martinique We're two Eng
fish war ships. Twenty-Five sailors
who survived surrendered themselves
prisoners to the Marquis OF Bonille.
the Governor of that island, but hesi
sent them to St. Lucie, writing to the
English Governor of that island that
8 he was unwilling to retain as prison
ers men who had fallen into his hands
during a disaster from which SO many
had suffered" The great storm of
1850 must not be COMPOUNDED with the
storm remembered for SO many years in
Great Britain as the great storm. The
latter occurred on November 26, l7O3,
and its effects were ex experienced not as
usual in the tropics, but in Western
Europe. The great tempest of Novem
Der. l705. the only tempest which. in
our !atitcde, says Macaulay. has equal
led the rage of : tropical hurricane,
had left Il dreadful recollection on the
of all men. No other tempest
was ever in this country the occasion
of a Parliamentary address or of a pub
tic fast. Whole fleets had been east
away. Large mansions had been blown
down. One prelate had been buried
beneath the ruins of his palace. Lon
don and Bristol had presented the ap
pearance Of cities just sacked. Hun
areds Of families We're still in mourn
ing. The PROSTATE Trunks of large
trees, aud the RUNS of houses still at
in all the southern countries,
the fury Of the blast. But Macau]ay
strangely omits to mention one of the
most striking events connected with
he storm the destruction of the Eddy
stone Lighthouse. Winstanley. a,chi.
:ect of the first Eddystone Lighthouse,
confident that it conld resist
he fiercest storm which ever
blew, and expressed a hope that
le might he in it when such a
torn ragged. On November Goth he
arrived with - party of men who were c
to repa:r the building. The
Great storm soon after began to blow.
md ragged throughout the night. On
he morning OF the 9th no trace of the