A GREAT STORM.

Otago Witness, Issue 2355, 13 April 1899, Page 28

A GREAT STORM.

BOTH SIDES OF THE ATLANTIC AFFECTED. Although the English winter was unusually mild (writes the London correspondent of the Argus ou February 17) gales and storms of extreme violence followed in quick succession during the lant two months. The last commenced on the 11th, and raged with great violence around the United Kingdom and in America. It is described by meteorological authorities as the worst storm in history on the Atlantic coast. Owing to the extent of its destructivenese, the English coast towns, particularly those on the shores of tho channel, suffered terribly. Throe broaches of tho sea wall at Sandgate were made, one of 300 ft. The promenade vras greatly injured, and Sandgato Castlo was dangerously undermined. Masses of surf wero thrown over the houses near the besch. Many barricades were erected to keep out the volleys, and the shingle was perpetually rattling at tho doors and windows. Hastings and St. Leonards suffered badly. Tho low-lying houses in Southampton were flooded, the inhabitants escaping in rafts and boats from second-storey windows. The cross channel services were performed with great difficulty. The Martello Tower at Dymchurch was split in two by tho action of tho sea. The marine promenade at St. Heliers, Jersey, was greatly damaged. Railways inland were disorganised. The Thames Valley was flooded in<parts. In Portsmouth Harbour H.M.S. Trafalgar, a first-class battleship of 11,940 tons, broke her moorings, and was only just saved by tugs from, collision with the mammoth first-class cruiser Terrible. The first-class cruiser Edgar, 7350 tons, which arrived at Portsmouth, had her funnel, weighing 10 tons, shot out by a terrific roll in the Bay of Bisca}'. ' Tremendous tidal wares inundated the North Wales coast, and flooded the country at many points along the coast, and artificial and natural embankments collapsed. The towns of Battle, Carnarvon, Bangor, Newport, Rhyl, and Llanelly suffered greatly. , Many wrecks occurred, but the only one involving serious loss of life was that of the collier Arno, off the Hampshire coast. She struck thrice on a boulder bank, and suddenly foundered. Thirteen of the crew'jvere drowned.

The dangers and hardships were greatest to those engaged in the Atlantic service. On the Americac Continent, from the 9th to the 15th of February, extreme cold prevailed, with frost, accompanied by a bitter N.E. wind. The storm area covered nearly the whole Continent, as far west as the Rocky Mountains, and as far north as the Gulf of Mexico. The snowfall commenced on the evening of the 11th, and by Monday, 13th, the whole of the social existence of New York and many other places was deranged, and business was at a standstill. Tho next 24 hours New York was

cut off from all communication with the rest of the world by land or sea, except by telegraph. The trains were unable to fan, and the ferries were useless, being thickly packed by ice in the harbours and rivers. No ships ventured in, though a fleet of overdue vessels were outside Sandy Hook waiting to enter. No mails were delievered. Inside New "York was like a beleagured city. Supplies were scanty. Coal doubled in price; meat, vegetables, and goods generally were at extreme prices. Hundreds of houses were uninhabitable from cold or the bursting of pipes. Ten thousand poor persons Buffered grievously. They sheltered at the police station and armouries. 7000 scavengers failed to make much impression on the enow in the streets. Local traffic was suspended until the storm abated. Tho snow embankments in Fifth Avenue were 6ft high on either side of the narrow lane. Other streets were worse, many being simply impassable — the drifts being 10ft deep. The hotels were crowded with people unable to reach their homes. On the 15th matters had improved. Vessels began to enter the harbour, and the traffic of the city slowly regained its normal condition. The White Star liner Germanic sank in the harbour from the weight of ice on the deck and some carelessness in coal filling, which left her coal ports open. Outside New York matters were not much better. Washington was snowbound, and suffered worse than New York as regards scarcity of food, supplies being unable to reach tha capital. The senatorial elections were suspended, and business was at a deadlock. Philadelphia was in a similar plight. The Mississippi was closed by ice from Greenville in the south to Cairo in the north. A hundred trains were stayed by the snow all night ; indeed, half the Continent lay half helpless. At Kentucky 71deg of frost wero registered. The Times correspondent states that tho money losses in single cities are to be reckoned by millions. Scores of deaths took place alike in the southern, middle, and northern States and on the Atlantic seaboard.

Vessels from Europe making the American ooast experienced the full fury of the storm, and were exposed to great danger and hardships. Mr Ferguson, the captain of tho Etruria, reports that the voyage was the worst he had experienced for 40 years. Successions of head gales, heavy seas, and frozen fog, like fine mist, prevented seeing for any distance. Soon after midnight on the 12th, when within 56 miles of Sandy Hook, a vessel was sighted close on his port bow A collision seemed inevitable Captain Ferguson signalled for the engines to reverse- at full speed. The holm was thrown hard a-stavboard, and the Etruria swung round, scraping the stern of the cruiser Marblehead, bound to Boston. Captain Ferguson states that had the Etruria struck the Marblehead she would undoubtedly have gone clean through her,, and tho sea was so high that there wfts little chance of saving life. The steamer Catania had a terrible experience. Her boats were swept away, her holds flooded, her. furnace fires extinguished, and the vessel was reduced to the condition of a helpless log. The captain refused to abandon her, and pluckily brought the vessel to St. Michael's, after two days' strenuous labour. Tho Ham-burg-American liner Pretoria, with 555 passengers, left Hamburg on January 29, and soon c'^rieiifed the forc-a of the tjalc, which disab'..'"* her from steering. On February 6 ehe mcL a, hurricane. Oil pourod on the sea helped to avort danger, but no progress was made, battling vainly for over a week, she steered for Plymouth, which she reached safely.