Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1918-04-12
B~IGNORTHEASTER WORST
STORM In YEARS .
AngIesea Hard Hit, and ConsId-
cradle Damage Done TO Wild
wood. A Heavy Rain,
Fierce Winds and
Swirlfng Waters

Tuesday night, April 9th, 1918, rain
began to fall heavily and the wind
sho we'd a tendency to increase in force,
blowing steadily from the northeast.
By midnight atmospheric conditions
had developed to such a degree, that it
was evident a northeastern of unusual
severity was upon US.
Some alarm was felt, because of the
violence of the wind, %galloping, as it
did In spurts, at a 75-mile per hour
gait. In fact it blew great guns and
showed a determination to beat all pre-
vious records here. Captain freezing
Hewitt, keeper of Anglesea lighthouse
for forty years, says this has been the
worst storm ever; and Col. George j.
Emit in his thirty years. experience on
Five Mile Beach, can remember none
to compare with this storm In persis-
tency and in intensity. There seemed
to be no let up in it-blast upon blast
following fast and faster, assuming at
times cyclonic proportions!
AT Anglesea, foul big pound fishing
boats, loaded with heavy 751foot pilfng
were sunk. Each of these boats had
on board twelve or fifteen of these long
poles to be used in construction of
pounds, nine or ten miles out from the
shore. Two of the boats ounk were
owned by the Neptune Fisheries Co.,
and the other two boats were the prop
erty of the North Mild wood Fish Co.
On board of one of the Neptune boats
was a large force pump, designed for
letting in the long poles used by the
pound fishermen. IF this went to the
bottom, to recover it will be some job.
In addition 10 the four pound boats
that went down, two fishing smacks
were submerged, the Eta K. and the
Osric, besides numerous small boats
and skiffs. OF the latter not sunk,
many were throw out upon the strand;
avenue and the lots adjacent
being Uttered with them.
ADglesea wharf was a sight-bulk-
heads battered in, piling twisted of,
boards ripped up and chaos spread all
around. The building along the dock
used by Mrs. Andrew Apologize as a
was smashed into smither-
Gems, and Malott's fishing tackle and
supply store, next door to Applegate's,
was fioated and blown around on
q ort1on ounnno Moato ~ hnatp Uuoro
splintered, rigging torn and tapped TO
shreds, and pandemonium held sway
in a mad revel, while the winds and
waters raved. Practically the entire
wharf is ruined and will have to be re-
built.
Damage at Anglesea was not confined
to the shipping alone. A number of
tall chimneys were blown down aud
houses were unroofed. The big
metal sign on new Hotel Hereford,
owned by Ludy Bishop, was sent crash
ing to earth, regardless of the strong
iron supports, and the second-story
porch, on the north side of this hotel,
about so feet long by Is feet wide, was
raised up by the force Of the wind and
oyer onto the roof, where it
still is hanging. This may be consid-
cred a freak performance, in which
mere man could not figure, shutting
out as it did, all the light from the Sec
windows.
The damage at Anglesea is estimated
to be about $4,000.
In Wildwood, the Stag roof on Hotel
Sheldon, was blown off and much
damage resulted to the interior from
rain falling through the broken roof.
A large part of the framework of the
Roller Coaster or scenic railway was
snapped into pieces and cast down into
one indiscriminate mass. The mishap
to the coaster will prove quite a loss to
the owners, the American Amusement
Co., of Scranton, Pa, who operated the
scenic railway on a royalty, on the
property of the Ocean Pier Co.
Taken altogether, Wednesday last
be considered a day of disasters.
The excessively high tide at ten a. M,
a serious washout on the Read
ing railroad, a short distance west of
Sunset lake, stopping all traffic for the
day. Passengers we're transferred from
the Junction I Wildwood aud return
by auto carriers. Wire service to Phil
adeiphia was put out of business with
promptness and dispatch. Early III.
the morning a broken wheel on a Penn-
.sylvapia freight train caused a wreck
at Cape May Court House, which
blocked trains for the better part of the
day, passengers being transferred round
the wreck. To cap the climax of the
days disasters fire broke out in the
cottage section of Cape May and two