June 6, 1889 



NA TURE 



141 



In Guernsey four successive vibrations were felt at 8. 15 p.m. 

 It is said that the houses in St. Peter-Port trembled for 

 several seconds, and that most of the occupants rushed into the 

 streets. The weather had been very sultry for some hours pre- 

 viously. 



The shock was felt not less severely in Jersey, as the two 

 following letters will show. The first, which has been sent to 

 us from the Meteorological Office, is by the correspondent of 

 that Office at Jersey," and is dated St. Aubin's, May 31 :— 

 "Last evening, at 8.15 p.m., there was a rather severe shock 

 of earthquake here ; in fact, it visited the greater part of the 

 island, as far as I can learn. But what I heard myself was a 

 loud rumbling noise, and everything began to shake and tremble, 

 even the buildings ; it so frightened a great many that they ran 

 out of their houses, not knowing what was the matter. It ap- 

 peared to me to travel from north to south, and lasted for about 

 two to three minutes. The barometer at the time was steady, 

 the wind south -south- west, force 4, and a fine night with a 

 clear starlit sky ; this morning the weather was gloomy. There 

 was a mock sun, and afterwards a solar halo, but it has been a 

 fine day, with a deal of cirro clouds moving from a southerly 

 direction and looking very heavy in the westward all day, and at 

 present we have cold nights." The second letter has been sent 

 to us by the Rev. W. Clement Ley, to whom it was written, 

 on May 30, by a friend at St. Heller's, Jersey:— "A series 

 of earthquake v/aves passed here at 8.14 this evening: I 

 could not be quite sure of the direction, but I think from 

 south-west to north-east. They continued for forty seconds at 

 least. I was in my room at the top of the house, and so felt the 

 full force. The whole room trembled; windows rattled, and at 

 the same time the room swayed gently. Some one at the time 

 ran along the road shrieking, ' Earthquake ! earthquake ! ' I think 

 that this is the most severe shock that has been felt in Jersey for 

 many years." 



At Sark, also, the earthquake was noticed. Major R. D. 

 (;ibney, writing to us from that island on May 30, says : — 

 "This evening I felt two distinct shocks of earthquake, the 

 whole lasting about three seconds, the direction being from 

 south to north-west. Time (believed to be Greenwich) 8.25 p.m. 

 The night was clear, but the setting sun and angry clouds hang- 

 ing on the horizon presaged rough weather. The shock or 

 shocks were sufficiently severe to shake furniture and to rattle 

 crockery on shelves in almost every house in the island. A low 

 rumbling noise, somewhat like distant thunder, accompanied the 

 vibrations." 



Three sharp shocks were felt on the same evening at Cher- 

 bourg, but the time has not been exactly noted. The cornice of 

 the doorway of the Church of the Holy Trinity was thrown to the 

 ground. The earthquake is said to have been distinctly felt at 

 Havre, Granville, Caen, and Rouen ; and it is stated that it was 

 also felt in Paris at certain points on the left bank of the Seine. 

 Correspondents have written on the subject to Nature and 

 . the daily papers from many different parts of the southern coast 

 of England. A writer at Penzance testifies that three or four 

 shocks were felt there at 8.21, the direction being from west to 

 east. Mr. J. M. Hayward, writing to us from Sidmouth, on 

 May 31, says: — "As I was sitting here alone quietly reading 

 yesterday evening, 1 felt a very decided shock of earthquake, 

 three distinct vibrations, each of which shook my chair to and fro 

 several times, and made the things on the table — a china plate 

 with a small glass of flowers in it — rattle ; the last was strong 

 enough to make me put down my paper, take off my glasses, and 

 wonder whether the room would tip over. I immediately made 

 a note of the time, 8.20, but I cannot answer for my clock being 

 exactly right." At Blandford, Dorset, a vibration, which is said 

 to have occurred at 8.18, lasted about ten seconds ; and Mi. G. 

 J. Groves states that the glass and china ornaments in the room 

 in which he was sitting rattled audibly. According to the Rev. 

 L. Lester, a distinct shock was felt at Wareham, Dorset, "about 

 a quarter past 8." " It happened," he says, " while we were in 

 church. There was first of all a very slight shock, which caused 

 the roof to crack, as it does sometimes in a strong gale ; but im- 

 mediately after there was one much more severe, strong enough 

 not only to make the roof timbers crack in a far greater degree, 

 but also to set the lamps in the chancel swinging. Those 

 of the congregation who happened to be sitting in seats attached 

 to the main piers or pillars of the church felt a distinct move- 

 ment. The direction of the shocks seemed, by the way in which 

 the noise ran along the roof, to be from north-west to south-east." 

 At Poole the shock was so severe that many persons rushed 



from their houses in alarm. Colonel L. S. Venner, writing 

 from St. Rode, Bournemouth, says that at 8.20 p.m. a shock of 

 earthquake passed through the house, travelling from south to 

 north. " The features of it were a strong quivering of the floor, 

 with an up and down movement, accompanied by a hollow noise 

 underneath, and the shaking of shutters and crockery. An in- 

 valid's bed was a good deal oscillated, and a dog on it was 

 alarmed. The shock was not at all violent. The wind, which 

 was cold and fresh from south, became still just before the 

 shock, and then freshened up again. The sky was clear." 

 Mr. J. Grey, also writing from Bournemouth, fixes the time 

 at 8.18. He and three others were in a ground-floor room 

 facing the sea, when they felt two shocks : it seemed as if the 

 floor was upheaving. The servants at the back part of the 

 house did not notice it. At Portsmouth, Havant, and the sur- 

 rounding district the shock is said to have been felt about 8.25 ; 

 and at Havant, where articles were visibly moved, there was 

 "considerable alarm." In many parts of the Isle of Wight 

 the earthquake attracted notice, and at Sandown and Shanklin 

 the residents are said to have been "greatly alarmed." Dr. F. 

 M. Burton, the senior curate of Newport, writes : — "We were 

 in church, attending the evensong of Ascension Day. It was 

 about the middle of the sermon, when a tremor passed through 

 the church, apparently from north to south. The roof groaned 

 and cracked ; the reading-desk in which I was seated (a solid 

 old oak structure, of 1636) perceptibly and very unpleasantly 

 moved, and the gas standards shook for some minutes after. 

 Our vicar, the archdeacon of the island, and several members of 

 the choir and congregation observed it. One lady (Mrs. Haigh) 

 had the presence of mind to time the shock, which took place 

 about twenty-three minutes past eight. Several people told me 

 next morning that they felt the shock more or less severely in 

 their houses." Writing from St. Laurence, Ventnor, Mr. W. 

 E. Kilburn says : — " A very distinct shock of earthquake oc- 

 curred here at 8h. 21m. 30s. p.m. The shock was not sufficient 

 to overthrow anything or to stop the clocks ; but the long pendu- 

 lous drops, 8 inches long, of the glass lustres on the solid marble 

 chimney-piece formed admirable seismometers, vibrating freely 

 for twenty minutes afterwards, and showing the direction ap- 

 parently from the south-west. The aneroid and barometer 

 indicated 2973 at the time ; they were 29 '80 at 9 o'clock 

 in the morning. The temperature in the open air was 

 53° by Casella thermometer, and the wind south-south- 

 west. The duration of the shock was about three seconds." 

 The Rev. A. Conder says that at Bognor there were two severe 

 shocks at 8.20, with an interval of about three seconds betweeri 

 them : — " An invalid in an adjoining house called for assistance, 

 as some one was under her bed lifting it. I distinctly felt the 

 shocks, which caused the window-frames to rattle." At Little- 

 hampton, at 8.22. cranes were seen to swing suddenly, and ari 

 oscillation was felt in different parts of the town. At Arundel, 

 while reading on a sofa, Mr. E. Goldsmith suddenly " felt a 

 peculiar movement, and distinctly saw the sofa vibrate for three 

 or four seconds." " At the same time," he says, "the windows 

 shook, not as they had occasionally done during the evening on 

 account of the wind, but with a quite different and more con- 

 tinuous movement. I called to my daughter, who was at the 

 moment in the dining-room, to know what was the matter ; but 

 she had only heard the windows shake in the room where she was 

 (but in the same peculiar manner), and had not felt any move- 

 ment. My little boy, who was in bed upstairs, felt his bed 

 move ; and my two little girls, who were going to bed, were quite 

 frightened, and ran down to know if it was an earthquake. The 

 servant with them felt it too. The time was 8.20." At Brighton a 

 distinct shock was felt, especially in the western part of the town ; 

 and at Rudgwick, near Horsham, two persons in a room noticed 

 a movement "which caused a rocking of chairs, cracking of 

 woodwork, and the sound of rumbling, apparently exhausting 

 itself to the westward." Captain H. King, R.N., writes to us frorm 

 Petersfield : — "On the evening of May 30, at 8.20 p.m., I was 

 leaning upon a spring mattress, when I felt it vibrating in a 

 peculiar manner. We could only account for it by an earth- 

 quake ; and surely enough the newspaper of next day describecf 

 one at Guernsey, which appears to have been similar to one 

 which I witnessed in Jersey in April 1853." Mrs. Lane, also 

 writing to us from Petersfield, says that she and her children's 

 governess, while sitting together, "were startled by a most 

 peculiar vibration seeming to shake the house, which quivered 

 perceptibly for some seconds." 



Several correspondents of the Times testify that they felt the 



