130 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



of the admiralty, shall from time 

 to time direct, and to be rendered 

 unworthy for ever hereafter of be- 

 ing employed in any situation su- 

 perior to landman in the royal 

 navy. 



21. This afternoon, sbout three 

 o'clock, the inhabitants of Palace- 

 yard, Westminster, were thrown 

 into great confusion, in conse- 

 quence of the water from the 

 Thames overflowing their houses, 

 occasioned by the extreme high 

 tide. The tide also burst forth 

 into Westminster-hall, and filled 

 the place. Three boats were soon 

 afterwards brought in, to convey 

 the passengers out at a shilling per 

 fare. At Millbank, Chelsea, and 

 several other places up the river, 

 great damage was sustained by the 

 water washing away the fences of 

 several shrubberies; and at one 

 time the tide was so high as to co- 

 ver the top of the first arch of 

 W^estminster-bridge. The ware- 

 houses below London-bridge were 

 also completely inundated. 



22. The state of the weather of 

 late in Shetland has been, and still 

 continues, most alarming ; not a 

 dry day, scarce a dry hour; only 

 here and there a very little ripe 

 corn to cut, and no weather that 

 will admit of its being reaped, even 

 to save the cattle. There have 

 been five weeks of incessant shak- 

 ing winds and rotting rains, and in 

 the whole time there have been 

 only three dry days; on the whole, 

 many bad years have been seen 

 there, but never one like this. — 

 (Edin. Paper.) 



26. Edinhurgh. — From the year 

 1750, the North Esk, in Kincar- 

 dineshire, emptied itself into the 

 sea upon the lands of Kirkside and 



Woodstone. About a twelve- 

 month ago, however, in conse- 

 quence of an overflow in the river, 

 and a very high tide, it excavated 

 a new channal on the lands of 

 Comieslon, upon which, on an 

 average, one half of its contents 

 continued to run during last fish- 

 ing season. A new revolution has 

 now taken place in the course of 

 the river, which, on Monday last, 

 completely opened out its old chan- 

 nel upon the lands of Kirkside and 

 Woodstone, by which a valuable 

 property is restored to its former 

 proprietors. This river had, seve- 

 ral times previous to the first-men- 

 tioned date, undergone a similar 

 change from the same causes ; and 

 upon one of these occasions, it gave 

 rise to a long and expensive litiga- 

 tion, between the new and old 

 proprietors, which was at last de- 

 cided in favour of the gentleman 

 on whose grounds the river had 

 begun to flow ; all artificial means 

 employed to obstruct or change 

 the course of a river being declared 

 illegal. 



27. During the high wind on 

 this night, a lamplighter, named 

 Burke, while lighting the lamps 

 on the east side of Blackfriars- 

 bridge, was, by a sudden gust, 

 blown into the river, in presence 

 of his son, a child of ten years 

 old, and before assistance could 

 be procured, sunk to rise no more. 

 Part of the roof of a villa at Put- 

 ney, inhabited by madame Chery, 

 was unroofed by the wind. Seve- 

 ral persons were enveloped in the 

 ruins, but no lives were lost. In 

 town several buildings sustained 

 material damage ; the neighbour- 

 hood of Downing-street was great- 

 ly alarmed, from its influence on 



tlic 



