page_title: Night of the Big Wind
section_title: Damage
hierarchical_section_title: Night of the Big Wind / Damage
caption_attribution_description: English: The Loss of the Pennsylvania New York Packet Ship: the Lockwoods Emigrant Ship; the Saint Andrew Packet Ship, and the Victoria from Charleston, near Liverpool during the Hurricane on Monday &amp; Tuesday Jany 7th &amp; 8th 1839 Hand-coloured. Inscription: The loss of the Pennsylvania, New York Packet Ship, the Lockwood Emigrant ship, the Saint Andrew Packet ship and the Victoria from Charleston (Captain Candler), near Liverpool, during the hurricane on Monday &amp; Tuesday Jany 7th &amp; 8th 1839. Also the Ward from St Johns at anchor; the Victoria Steam Tug (Liverpool Steam-Tug Company, Captain Eccles) towing the Lifeboat (Magazine) and the Mountaineer steamer, with a view of Leasowe Lighthouse &amp; Bidston Hill. This print is intended to represent the vessels shortly after they struck on the Tuesday afternoon from particulars given to the artist by Captain Sprowle of The Lockwoods; Captain Thompson of the Saint Andrew and by Captain Candler of the Victoria.
context_page_description: The Night of the Big Wind was a powerful European windstorm that swept across Ireland and the United Kingdom beginning on the afternoon of 6 January 1839, causing severe damage to property and several hundred deaths; 20% to 25% of houses in north Dublin were damaged or destroyed, and 42 ships were wrecked. The storm attained a very low barometric pressure of 918 hectopascals and tracked eastwards to the north of Ireland, with gusts of over 100 knots, before moving across the north of England to continental Europe, where it eventually dissipated. At the time, it was the worst storm to hit Ireland for 300 years. Liverpool also suffered severely, with many shipwrecks and structural damage resulting from strong winds. 120 people died as a result of such accidents in the city alone. Two major shipwrecks resulted in damage worth at least £500,000, equivalent to £52.2 million in 2020.
context_section_description: Even well-built buildings suffered structural damage, including new factories and military barracks. The newly constructed St. Mary's Roman Catholic Church in Derrytrasna was completely destroyed; one of the steeples of the Church of Ireland church in Castlebar was blown down, and a number of large country houses were unroofed. Among the poorly built homes of the poor, damage was more severe and many were completely destroyed. A total of 42 ships, most along the less sheltered west coast, were wrecked while unsuccessfully trying to ride out the storm: a majority of the recorded casualties occurred at sea.
  Stacks of hay and corn were widely destroyed, resulting in severe starvation among livestock in the following months.
caption: The Loss of the Pennsylvania New York Packet Ship- the Lockwoods Emigrant Ship; the Saint Andrew Packet Ship, and the Victoria from Charleston, near Liverpool during the Hurricane on Monday and Tuesday 7-8th January 1839
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