The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1889-09-25
WAVES. WILD WORK.
Big storm Along the Eastern Coast.


II was great storm For q long time i
will be referred TO In the meteorological an
nails as the great cyclone Of September, 1850,
II was one Of those merry -go-round storms,
generated in the West Indies, where the
wind goes whirIing around in circle per
haps SOC miles in diameter. and tue nearer
the centre one gets the harder the wind
blows. until one reaches the heart Of il,
where there IS calm. This storm has been
travelling along the gulf stream for week,
and for three days the northwest quarter OF
its arc has been over the northeast corner Of
uncle Sans domain. The wind has howl
ed, as it always does when cyclone is
aruuad and there have been stirring times
along shore. Such waves as are seldom seen
have disturbed the beaches, and the people
who owned boats and ships aud bath houses.
The ruin has been particularly great between
Cape Cod and The Delaware breakwater
No lives were lost in Atlantic Ciiy. nor
was any serious destruction wrought there
by the storm, except along the beach. The
greater portion Of the boarix xalk and most
Of the structures along il were damaged or
destroyed, and at one time nearly the whole
OF the city was flooded by the high tides
Less Ocean Terrace property, already dam
aged by the waves was destroyed by fire.
A number OF yachts are reported TO have
been wrecked il. ihoroughfares and creeks at
Atlantic Cny 1t is learned that at Sea Isle
City two hotels and about dozen cottages
were swept away, and some Of the cottages
we're Hooded 10 their third stories. Efforts
are being made to repair the railroad so as
10 get provisions 10 the place.
Reports of destruction and damage to
properly come from all portions OF the New
jersey and Long island coasts, but the only
serious loss of life IS reported in Delaware
Bay. Three schooners have been wrecked on
Fourteen Foot Bank, and il is feared that 81
lives have been lost. The ship W r. Grace
is ashore on the point of the Capes, and has
had her masts cut away. At Lewes. a guar
dian City of Cape Henlopen, twenty-six
vessels broken and forlorn after their buffet
ing with waves, lie in a dismal line along a
two-mile stretch of beach, with the storm
still furiously lashing them.
The total loss along the Atlantic coast is
nearly two millions.
The ocean hammered away at the Sandy
Hook Peninsula opposite the foot OF the
Highlands of Navesink, until il succeeded in
reopening the passage into the Shrewsbury
River which has been closed since the.days
of the Revolution. The waves tore out
bulkheads, carried away the beautiful lawns
which were the pride Of the summer cot
tagers, and toppled several elegant cottages,
down into the boiling surf where they were
almost Instantly knocked to pieces.
One oft saddest features of the storm
was the encroachment of the sea along the
front of Long Branch. Here the storm car
ried away bathhouses aud payilons and cut
huge gaps in the bluff which skirts Ocean
avenue the famous sea drive. On Thursday
night perfect reign of terror prevailed
among the cottagers from Highland Beach
as far south as Monmouth Beach. Many Of
them sat up all night, almost wild with
terror. 1t was pitch dark, and the storm
raged so furiously that even strong men were
unable to face it.
At Asbury Park the loss was not as severe
as it was further north James A Bradley,
the founder of the town had his famous
wooden ocean promenade badly damaged
and one of his big pavilions was partially
undermined by The surf The sand was cut
out from the beach from Deal Lake south,
through Asbury Pack and Ocean Grove TO
Ayon-by the-Sea.
The same story of wrecked walks pavilions
and balhing-houses comes from all parts of
the coast below Ocean Grove as far as Sea
Side Park on the narrow line. of sand that
lies between the ocean and Barnegat Bay.
At several places between thej head ofthe
bay and Sea Side Park the ocean broke over
into the bay, carrying with il hundreds Of
feet Of the track of the Long Branch and
Philadelphia Railroad division of the Penn
sylyania Railroad Company.