The Storm Part 6

OF THE EFFECTS OF THE STORM

The particular dreadful Effects of this Tempest, are the Subject of the ensuing Part of this History: And tho' the Reader is not to expect that all the Particulars can be put into this Account, and perhaps many very remarkable Pa.s.sages may never come to our Knowledge; yet as we have endeavour'd to furnish our selves with the most authentick Accounts we could from all Parts of the Nation, and a great many worthy Gentlemen have contributed their a.s.sistance in various, and some very exact Relations and curious Remarks; so we pretend, not to be meanly furnish'd for this Work.

Some Gentlemen, whose Accounts are but of common and trivial Damages, we hope will not take it ill from the Author, if they are not inserted at large; for that we are willing to put in nothing here common with other Accidents of like nature; or which may not be worthy of a History and a Historian to record them; nothing but, what may serve to a.s.sist in convincing Posterity that this was the most violent Tempest the World ever saw.

From hence 'twill follow, that those Towns who only had their Houses until'd, their Barns and Hovels levell'd with the Ground, and the like, will find very little notice taken of them in this Account; because if these were to be the Subject of a History, I presume it must be equally voluminous with _Fox_, _Grimston_, _Holinshead_ or _Stow_.

Nor shall I often trouble the Reader with the Mult.i.tude or Magnitude of Trees blown down, whole Parks ruin'd, fine Walks defac'd, and Orchards laid flat, and the like: and tho' I had, my self, the Curiosity to count the Number of Trees, in a Circuit I rode, over most part of _Kent_, in which being tired with the Number, I left off reckoning after I had gone on to 17000; and tho' I have great reason to believe I did not observe one half of the Quant.i.ty; yet in some Parts of _England_, as in _Devonshire_ especially, and the Counties of _Worcester_, _Gloucester_, and _Hereford_, which are full of very large Orchards of Fruit-Trees, they had much more mischief.

In the Pursuit of this Work, I shall divide it into the following Chapters or Sections, that I may put it into as good Order as possible.

1. Of the Damage in the City of _London_, &c.

2. in the Counties.

3.} {in the Royal Navy.

} _On the Water_ { 4.} {to Shipping in general.

5. by Earthquake.

6. by High Tides.

7. Remarkable Providences and Deliverances.

8. Hardned and blasphemous Contemners both of the Storm and its Effects.

9. Some Calculations of Damage sustain'd.

10. The Conclusion.

We had design'd a Chapter for the Damages abroad, and have been at no small Charge to procure the Particulars from foreign Parts; which are now doing in a very authentick manner: but as the World has been long expecting this Work, and several Gentlemen who were not a little contributing to the Information of the Author, being unwilling to stay any longer for the Account, it was resolved to put it into the Press without any farther Delay: and if the foreign Accounts can be obtain'd in time, they shall be a Supplement to the Work; if not, some other Method shall be found out to make them publick.

_I. Of the Damages in the City of London, and Parts adjacent_

Indeed the City was a strange Spectacle, the Morning after the Storm, as soon as the People could put their Heads out of Doors: though I believe, every Body expected the Destruction was bad enough; yet I question very much, if any Body believed the Hundredth Part of what they saw.

The Streets lay so covered with Tiles and Slates, from the Tops of the Houses, especially in the Out-parts, that the Quant.i.ty is incredible: and the Houses were so universally stript, that all the Tiles in Fifty Miles round would be able to repair but a small Part of it.

Something may be guest at on this Head, from the sudden Rise of the Price of Tiles; which rise from 21 _s. per_ Thousand to 6 _l._ for plain Tiles; and from 50 _s. per_ Thousand for Pantiles, to 10 _l._ and Bricklayers Labour to 5 _s. per_ Day: And tho' after the first Hurry the Prices fell again, it was not that the Quant.i.ty was supply'd; but because,

1_st_, The Charge was so extravagant, that an universal Neglect of themselves, appear'd both in Landlord and Tenant; an incredible Number of Houses remain'd all the Winter uncovered, and expos'd to all the Inconveniences of Wet and Cold; and are so even at the Writing of this Chapter.

2. Those People who found it absolutely necessary to cover their Houses, but were unwilling to go to the extravagant Price of Tiles; chang'd their Covering to that of Wood, as a present Expedient, till the Season for making of Tiles should come on; and the first Hurry being over, the Prices abate: and 'tis on this Score, that we see, to this Day, whole Ranks of Buildings, as in _Christ Church Hospital_, the _Temple_, _Asks-Hospital_, _Old-street_, _Hogsden-Squares_, and infinite other Places, covered entirely with Deal Boards; and are like to continue so, perhaps a Year or two longer, for Want of Tiles.

These two Reasons reduc'd the Tile-Merchants to sell at a more moderate Price: But 'tis not an irrational Suggestion, that all the Tiles which shall be made this whole Summer, will not repair the Damage in the covering of Houses within the Circ.u.mference of the City, and Ten Miles round.

The next Article in our Street Damage was, the Fall of Chimneys; and as the Chimneys in the City Buildings are built in large Stacks, the Houses being so high, the Fall of them had the more Power, by their own Weight, to demolish the Houses they fell upon.

'Tis not possible to give a distinct Account of the Number, or particular Stacks of Chimneys, which fell in this fatal Night; but the Reader may guess by this Particular, that in _Cambray-House_, commonly so called, a great House near _Islington_, belonging to the Family of the _Comptons_, Earls of _Northampton_, but now let out into Tenements; the Collector of these Remarks counted Eleven or Thirteen Stacks of Chimneys, either wholly thrown in, or the greatest Parts of them at least, what was expos'd to the Wind, blown off. I have heard Persons, who pretended to observe the Desolation of that terrible Night very nicely; and who, by what they had seen and enquired into, thought themselves capable of making some Calculations, affirm, They could give an Account of above Two Thousand Stacks of Chimneys blown down in and about _London_; besides Gable Ends of Houses, some whole Roofs, and Sixteen or Twenty whole Houses in the Out-Parts.

Under the Disaster of this Article, it seems most proper to place the Loss of the Peoples Lives, who fell in this Calamity; since most of those, who had the Misfortune to be killed, were buried, or beaten to Pieces with the Rubbish of the several Stacks of Chimneys that fell.

Of these, our Weekly Bills of Mortality gave us an Account of Twenty One; besides such as were drown'd in the River, and never found: and besides above Two Hundred People very much wounded and maim'd.

One Woman was kill'd by the Fall of a Chimney in or near the Palace of St. _James_'s, and a Stack of Chimneys falling in the new unfinish'd Building there, and carried away a Piece of the Coin of the House.

Nine Souldiers were hurt, with the Fall of the Roof of the Guard-house at _Whitehall_, but none of them died.

A Distiller in _Duke-Street_, with his Wife, and Maid-servant, were all buried in the Rubbish of a Stack of Chimneys, which forced all the Floors, and broke down to the Bottom of the House; the Wife was taken out alive, though very much bruised, but her Husband and the Maid lost their Lives.

One Mr. _Dyer_, a Plaisterer in _Fetter-Lane_, finding the Danger he was in by the shaking of the House, jumpt out of Bed to save himself; and had, in all Probability, Time enough to have got out of the House, but staying to strike a Light, a Stack of Chimneys fell in upon him, kill'd him, and wounded his Wife.

Two Boys at one Mr. _Purefoy's_, in _Cross-Street Hatton-Garden_, were both kill'd, and buried in the Rubbish of a Stack of Chimneys; and a third very much wounded.

A Woman in _Jewin-Street_, and Two Persons more near _Aldersgate-Street_, were kill'd; the first, as it is reported, by venturing to run out of the House into the Street; and the other Two by the Fall of a House.

In _Threadneedle-Street_, one Mr. _Simpson_, a Scrivener being in Bed and fast a-sleep, heard nothing of the Storm; but the rest of the Family being more sensible of Danger, some of them went up, and wak'd him; and telling him their own Apprehensions, press'd him to rise; but he too fatally sleepy, and consequently unconcern'd at the Danger, told them, he did not apprehend any Thing; and so, notwithstanding all their Persuasions, could not be prevailed with to rise: they had not been gone many Minutes out of his Chamber, before the Chimneys fell in, broke through the Roof over him, and kill'd him in his Bed.

A Carpenter in _White-Cross-Street_ was kill'd almost in the same Manner, by a Stack of Chimneys of the _Swan_ Tavern, which fell into his House; it was reported, That his Wife earnestly desir'd him not to go to Bed; and had prevail'd upon him to sit up till near two a Clock, but then finding himself very heavy, he would go to Bed against all his Wife's Intreaties; after which she wak'd him, and desir'd him to rise, which he refus'd, being something angry for being disturb'd; and going to sleep again, was kill'd in his Bed: and his Wife, who would not go to Bed, escap'd.

In this Manner, our Weekly Bills gave us an Account of Twenty One Persons kill'd in the City of _London_, and Parts adjacent.

Some of our printed Accounts give us larger and plainer Accounts of the Loss of Lives, than I will venture to affirm for Truth; as of several Houses near _Moor-Fields_ levell'd with the Ground: Fourteen People drowned in a Wherry going to _Gravesend_, and Five in a Wherry from _Chelsey_. Not that it is not very probable to be true; but as I resolve not to hand any thing to Posterity, but what comes very well attested, I omit such Relations as I have not extraordinary a.s.surance as to the Fact.

The Fall of Brick-Walls, by the Fury of this Tempest, in and about _London_, would make a little Book of it self; and as this affects the Out-Parts chiefly, where the Gardens and Yards are wall'd in, so few such have escap'd; at St. _James_'s a considerable part of the Garden Wall; at _Greenwich Park_ there are several pieces of the Wall down for an Hundred Rods in a Place; and some much more, at _Battersey_, _Chelsey_, _Putney_, at _Clapham_, at _Deptford_, at _Hackney_, _Islington_, _Hogsden_, _Wood's Close_ by St. _John's Street_, and on every side the City, the Walls of the Gardens have generally felt the Shock, and lie flat on the Ground twenty, thirty Rod of walling in a Place.

The publick Edifices of the City come next under our Consideration; and these have had their Share in the Fury of this terrible Night.

A part of her Majesty's Palace, as is before observ'd, with a Stack of Chimneys in the Centre of the new Buildings, then not quite finished, fell with such a terrible Noise as very much alarm'd the whole Houshold.

The Roof of the Guard-house at _Whitehall_, as is also observ'd before, was quite blown off; and the great Vane, or Weather-c.o.c.k at _Whitehall_ blown down.

The Lead, on the Tops of the Churches and other Buildings, was in many Places roll'd up like a Roll of Parchment, and blown in some Places clear off from the Buildings; as at _Westminster Abby_, St. _Andrews Holbourn_, _Christ-Church Hospital_, and abundance of other Places.

Two of the new built Turrets, on the Top of St. _Mary Aldermary Church_, were blown off, whereof One fell upon the Roof of the Church; of Eight Pinnacles on the Top of St. _Albans Woodstreet_, Five of them were blown down; Part of One of the Spires of St. _Mary Overies_ blown off; Four Pinnacles on the Steeple of St. _Michael Crooked Lane_ blown quite off: The Vanes and Spindles of the Weather-c.o.c.ks, in many places, bent quite down; as on St. _Michael Cornhil_, St. _Sepulchres_, the _Tower_, and divers other Places.

It was very remarkable, that the Bridge over the _Thames_ received but little Damage, and not in Proportion to what in common Reason might be expected; since the Buildings there stand high, and are not sheltered, as they are in the Streets, one by another.

If I may be allow'd to give this Philosophical Account of it, I hope it may not be absurd; that the Indraft of the Arches underneath the Houses giving Vent to the Air, it past there with a more than common Current; and consequently relieved the Buildings, by diverting the Force of the Storm: I ask Pardon of the ingenious Reader for this Opinion, if it be not regular, and only present it to the World for Want of a better; if those better furnished _that Way_ will supply us with a truer Account, I shall withdraw mine, and submit to theirs. The Fact however is certain, that the Houses on the _Bridge_ did not suffer in Proportion to the other Places; though all must allow, they do not seem to be stronger built, than other Streets of the same sort.

Another Observation I cannot but make; to which, as I have Hundreds of Instances, so I have many more Witnesses to the Truth of Fact, and the uncommon Experiment has made it the more observ'd.

The Wind blew, during the whole Storm, between the Points of S.W. and N.W., not that I mean it blew at all these Points, but I take a Lat.i.tude of Eight Points to avoid Exceptions, and to confirm my Argument; since what I am insisting upon, could not be a natural Cause from the Winds blowing in any of those particular Points.

If a Building stood North and South, it must be a Consequence that the East-side Slope of the Roof must be the Lee-side, lie out of the Wind, be weather'd by the Ridge, and consequently receive no Damage in a direct Line.

But against this rational way of arguing, we are convinced by Demonstration and Experiment, after which Argument must be silent. It was not in one Place or Two, but in many Places; that where a Building stood ranging North and South, the Sides or Slopes of the Roof to the East and the West, the East-side of the Roof would be stript and untiled by the Violence of the Wind; and the West Side, which lay open to the Wind, be sound and untouch'd.

This, I conceive, must happen either where the Building had some open Part, as Windows or Doors to receive the Wind in the Inside, which being pusht forward by the succeeding Particles of the Air, must force its Way forward, and so lift off the Tiling on the Leeward side of the Building; or it must happen from the Position of such Building near some other higher Place or Building, where the Wind being repuls'd, must be forc'd back again in Eddies; and consequently taking the Tiles from the lower Side of the Roof, rip them up with the more Ease.

However it was, it appear'd in many Places, the Windward Side of the Roof would be whole, and the Leeward Side, or the Side from the Wind, be untiled; in other Places, a high Building next the Wind has been not much hurt, and a lower Building on the Leeward Side of the high One clean ript, and hardly a Tile left upon it: this is plain in the Building of _Christ Church Hospital_ in _London_, where the Building on the West and South Side of the Cloyster was at least Twenty Five Foot higher than the East Side, and yet the Roof of the lower Side on the East was quite untiled by the Storm; and remains at the Writing of This covered with Deal Boards above an Hundred Foot in Length.