TOO Ml- 1). ]\Iilnc o» FMrthqnake-Shock.'^ felt in Great Bnfaitt, 



sons immediately started on deck, to ascertain the cause. The 

 vessel was then about three or three and a half feet from the 

 pier, the shock having caused her to recoil, and she was then 

 moving back to it again, .lust before the collision, the engi- 

 neer heard a distinct rumbling noise, as if under ground, 

 wliieh seemed to proceed towards the south. The engineer 

 on looking at his watch, found the time to be between 10 and 

 20 minutes past 10 o'clock. The shock was felt at the same 

 moment, by another vessel in the harbour. 



(3.) Close to Alloa Ferry there is a small watch-house, the 

 back wall of which runs parallel with a wall inclosing the 

 glass-house premises. These two walls are about eleven feet 

 high, and are about four inches apart. The watch-house has a 

 sloping roof, and, in order that the rain falling on it may not 

 run down the back wall, there is an edging of lead which pro- 

 jects from the roof, making the distance between it and the 

 glass-house wall only three inches. 



The ferryman was, at the time of the shock, sitting in the 

 watch-house, when he was startled by a noise and concussion, 

 produced by something striking against the wall or roof of the 

 house. He supposed, at the moment, that the glass-house people 

 were playing him a trick, by tumbling some heavy body upon the 

 house. This thought, however, was almost immediately dis- 

 pelled by seeing some articles within the house moved, and 

 in particular the cover of a pot, which was shaken from the 

 spar of a small table on which it was placed. The noise ap- 

 peared to come from the N. or NW. 



On examination of the premises next day, it was found that 

 the leaden gutter or edging on the roof of the watch-house, 

 bad been bent upwards by the pressure of the glass-house 

 wall. 



The glass-house wall runs in a direction NE. and SW. It 

 is built on the thick deposit of diluvial or alluvial clay, which 

 extends through all the low grounds adjoining the river Forth 

 in this part of its course. 



Considering the height and distance from each other of the 

 two walls just described, it is plain, that if one remained sta- 

 tionary and the other leaned over, the deviation of the latter 

 from the perj)endicular, must have been at least 1° 18', in order 



