384 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1804. 



ing as seTerely beat as she JiacI been 

 four days previous by the Os!irey, 

 who killed eight of her men, and 

 wounded nineteen, and whose gal- 

 lantry astonished them, <Sk:c. 



(Sinned) Conway Shipley. 



4th. The storm tiiis afternoon 

 •was attended witii more awiul cir- 

 cumstances in tho neigiiboiniiood of 

 Bath, than ever accompanied any 

 elemental convulsion of the same na- 

 ture within the memory of the old- 

 est inhabitants. Tropical deluges 

 may equal, perhaps, the violence of 

 the rain ; but iu continuance it ex- 

 ceeded the custo'.nary duration of 

 tempests in the neighbourhood of 

 the Line. Unprecedented examples 

 of devastation appeared, when the 

 torrents ceased to ial! ; roads torn 

 up, gardens destroyed, and consi- 

 derable portions of land removed 

 from their situation. Among these 

 phajnomeua may be reckoned — a 

 vast body of earth from the summit 

 ami declivity of Beecheen Cliif, 

 which fell " with hideous ruin and 

 combustion," (for it is doubtful 

 whether it was occasioned by <!:e 

 action of the electrical fluid or wa- 

 ter), loaded with bushes and trees 

 on the field below ; thr dislocation 

 of almost half an acre in a field be- 

 longing to the Rev. 11. Warner, at 

 Hanging-land; and a slip of nearly 

 the same magnitude in a field on the 

 Prior-park estate. We hear of only 

 one life lost (the fatal consequence 

 of imprudence), the gardener of 

 Mr. Langton, at Newton, wJio was 

 drowned in attempting to cross at 

 the bottom of Pcnny-quick-lane. 

 Much damage was sustained in the 

 parish of Combhuv. 



A most awful and tremendous 

 storm of thunder "ml lightning was 

 also e-x.pericnced the same night, in 



the counties of Lancashire and Che- 

 shire ; and the damage sustained is 

 almost incredible. The thunder was 

 succeeded by immense torrents of 

 rain and hail. Not far from War- 

 rington, on the Cheshire side, a bolt 

 fell, which did great injury, and by 

 which one person in particular suf- 

 fered severely in his property. At 

 Bolton, and its vicinity, the people 

 experienced a most dreadful torna- 

 do ; and it is supposed that a wa- 

 ter-spout must have burst in that 

 neighbourhood, the river Irwell 

 having swelled to so great an height 

 as to sweep away many buildings, 

 and large quantities of household 

 furniture, &c. The duration of the 

 storm was upwards oftUo hours. — 

 At Iloulton-park, a ball of fire fell 

 witli such force as to split in shivers 

 and tear up an ash tree, w!>iich had 

 long been admired for its • strength 

 and beauty. Several bridges havr 

 been thrown down. 



3th. A verdict went against Mr. 

 Cromwell, brewer, of Hammersmith, 

 in the court of king's bench, for 

 causing a man to be put into the 

 cold damp cage of that place, at 

 Christmas time, and there kept two 

 nights on an unfounded charge of 

 felony. — Damages 1501. and costs. 



7th. A melancholy accident hap- 

 pened to an infant child of Mr. 

 Boyle, of Truro, at his grandfa- 

 ther's, in the parish of Kea. The 

 grandsire had become so fond of this 

 little boy, that he had taken him 

 from his father to reside with him, 

 and he was the " darling of his 

 heart." Late in the evening the 

 deceased, with another child, about 

 six years old, were playing in the 

 yard, where was a butt placed on 

 its ends against a wall ; which of 

 theai meddled with the butt does not 



appear 



I 



