The daily gazette., 1883-08-30
THE SURF AT ATLANTIC CITY.
Highest Ever KnOwn-The Board Wall
and Bath Houses Washed Away.

l nlBueAt ENoE lAnOAn-InO board Walk
and Bath Houses Washed Away.
ATLANTIC CRY, August 29.-For a week
the high seas which have been running
| steadily, despite the absence Of heavy winds,
| have puzzled the old coast men. Owing to
the position of the moon the evening tide
runs the highest. The height obtained on
Tuesday evening was sufficient to alarm a
great many about the safety of the piers,
| boardwalk and even the bathing establish
ments. At high tide, at o'clock this
morning, 1t was raining, but hundreds were
on the beach TO see the great waves. It was
warning Of what might be expected when
the evening tide came in, with Its 1S inches
more of water than the morning flow, and
workmen were kept busy all day strength
ening in every possible way the walks, pa
vilions and bath houses.
High water was due at o'clock and 40
minutes, and although thousands of people
went down earlier In the afternoon the
crowd comprised nearly everybody in town.
They were rewarded by the most magnifi-
cent spectacle ever witnessed upon the coast
There have been higher tides than this FIRE.
quently, but never anything like so heavy
surf. The best view was had from the ocean
pier, which stoOd'as firm as a rock through
IT. all. From the elevation of the pier, as
far as the eye could reach, the surf was roll.
ing house-top high, the sea was lashed into
a fury and its aspect was changed from blue
to almost white, so solid was its covering of
foam. A steady wind was blowing from
the northeast.
As the waters came 10 the breakers be-
gan creeping nearer and nearer to the board
walk, until at last they broke beneath it,
At point after point the water began to climb
up to the underside of the walk and the
people upon 1t reluctantly fed to higher
In fhn Nf NhA l.oA
From Pennsylvania to South Carolina ay-
enues, two blocks in distance, the walk was
built nearer the water than at others and
here the work OF destruction began. The
surf would come rolling under the walk and
break there, lifting the walk from its piles
and dashing 1t against the underpinning
upon which the bath houses rested. Then
IL would be carried out to sea until it would
be broken to pieces or carried back and
dashed against the piling supporting
the bath houses These repeated attacks
against the bath houses began to
tell. The first to succumb to them
was the large bathing establishment of Lions
Brothers, at the foot of South Carolina
avenue. 1t was two stories and a-half in
height, the upper portion being occupied as
a residence When the walk had battered
down the piles which held the house up it
dropped into the sea and would be c. rried
out, lifted up and then dropped suddenly
into the trough of the sea and broken; then
the waves would grind the pieces into frag-
ments. Others rapidly followed it, and in
an hours time nearly all the Lathing estab-
lshments, photograph galleries, cigar and
fruit stands, stores and booths were carried
out to sea and fairly pulverized. In many
instances the beach end of long bathing es-
tablishments would be ground to pieces,
leaving the remainder of the buildings
standing with their ragged ends.
Before the work OF destruction was com
pleted it had grown dark and places, if
standing, would be surrounded by water
This rendered 1t impossible to obtain any,
thing like list of the properties damaged,
but from Wiedemer's establishment, next
adjoining the ocean pier entrance, north
ward to the United States Hotel establish
ments the destruction is widespread. In
the first few blocks above the pier Apple
gates photograph gallery is the only estab
lishment not carried away, but everything
IN front of 1t is gone. Below the pier, which
stands In about the centre of tine beach, the
damage has not been so universal, but still
it is great. The pavilion of the Park Parlors
was carried away. AT about 8 o'clock the
West Jersey excursion pier was carried away
In a moments time.
By actual measurement the water ad
vanced up Kentucky avenue 730 feet. The
ocean pier has received a terrible strain, but
1t didn't give way. Twenty five sections, l6
feet in length, of board walk, three bath
houses and large number OF electric light
poles were dashed against the pier at one
time. Two thousand feet of boardwalk
above the pier are gone. All the railroad
tracks across the meadows are under a few
inches water. The contents of the build
ings destroyed are nearly all lost. The loss
on the buildings themselves is not less than
$500, 900, with no insurance whatever. The
wind is increasing in velocity and rain
has set in. 1t is feared that If the wind
continues through the night the high water
in the morning will more than double the
damage already done by making q clean
sweep of the beach. The wonder is that no
lives, SO far as known, have been lost. Tie
people had ample warning from the board
walk to escape through the rear ends of the
buildings. The owners of the buildings
stood upon the beach and saw their houses
floating away, some of them riding out to
sea upon the roofs, to be dashed ashore
again a moment later. Pieces of furDiture,
trunks and other articles would be ground
to pieces within sight, and men, women and
children were weeping and crying aloud at
the destruction of their property.