HEAVY SEA.

Timaru Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 2864, 15 November 1898, Page 3

HEAVY SEA.

The sea was still running strongly yesterday. In the morning there were hundreds of visitors to the end of the wharf to see what the night's tide had brought forth. The saa appeared to have become heavier during the night, and the roar of the breakers on the reefs at Patiti was heard ail over the town m the calmness of the night. The sea had gone down considerably by morning but was still very heavy indeed. The heap of shingle thrown over at the end of the wharf had been largely added to since Sunday, anH at low tide showed as a wide bank, that was piled to the 9ft mark on the tide gauge that is 9ft above low water mark at the outside of the wharf at the end, and under the wharf it rose three feethigher, whileit spread outwardsabove water about 40ffc; one could walk 95ft under the wharf, and iv other directions the bank was awash to beyond the middle of the curve m the breakwater. Even at low tide quantities of shingle were being , swept over by each bigger wave, past the end of the blocks on the parapet. . On Sunday the shingle was also being carried over the iirst tier of blocks, further back, but yesterday the beach was flattened so much that I none came over at that point, there being a step of three or four feet to the shingle. I I'eople lookt?d anxiously at the end of the breakwater for signs of accumulation there, but no sign was to be seen. It was mentioned that some crane rails were torn up on Sunday. Yesterday morning further damage was to be seen m the breaking up of the outside of the monolith for some feet about the middle of the curve, the concrete being torn up as far as the inner rail of the outer track. Further on, about half way between the fender piles and the end, there was a sign of some alteration m the monolith, m a high geyser-like spirt of water. This may not mean any immediate material damage, but it indicates an opening made to one of the air holes, converting it into a stronger blow-hole than it was before. Between 2 and 3 o'clock m the afternoon at high tide the shingle bank inside had been so greatly added to that it showed nearly as large an area above water as it had done at the previous low tide, and it was still going over. Tt was of course too rough for the dredge to work yesterj day. Walking southward along the beach it could be seen that the damage to the monolith at ■ the curve i« merely superficial, the angle from the parapet step broken off, »s we believe it has broken before. The concrete buttend of the sewer, and the brick arch for a length of 30ft or so, have been exposed by the removal of shingle, but have not suffered any injury. We are informed that the hull of the Elginshire suffered further damage from the seas, the holes m her sides being enlarged, forward, so that the bow end of her is supported now by only n narrow piece of upright material, and this, we hear, is shaky, so that the vessel rolled a little. The foremast can now be seen below ' the deck, and it is said to be plainly kinked. The waves breaking on the vessel made a magnificent display of spray, the water falling m tons on the upper deck. During yesterday the seas came more and more from the east, indicating that the* storm which raised them was travelling eastward as usual. The sea had gone down very much by dark last evening. Yesterday's North Otago Times reports a heavy sea at Oamaru on Sunday : — The northerly weather brought up a heavy sea on Sunday, and it was running into the bay mountains high. The breakwater at high tide was often invisible. The sea threw itself with considerable force against the clay cliff along the esplanade, and away towards the plain opposite Pukeuri, and oftentimes the water was carried right over the cliff on to the land or road. It would readily be understood that before such a sea much of the cliff would be washed away, and this was the case. The spurs standing out from the part of the cliff protected by the Railway Department are now nearly m a line with the stone apron, and before long the Department will be able to protect the whole frontage. The protective works erected by the woollen factory have prevented the sea scouring out beneath t.he bank, and what is now washed away is whatever the force of the sea can wash off the face, and that is not much. Where the inroads of the sea on that part of the frontage which is unprotected will end it is difficult to say. To the landowners on. the verge of the sea along the plain the rapid detrition of the land by the sea is a matter of considerable moment. Twenty or thirty years ago there was a grassy slope down to the shingle beach ; now, m places, as much as five or six chains \ of the bank have been washed away, and there is a high perpendicular cliff 1 instead of a slope. This continual washing away must m time greatly affect land-owners, who m some places have [ lost acres of land.