122 "THE GREAT STORM" OF 1703. 



course, both by land and sea, the puny efforts of man 

 are but as a thing of naught. The history of the 

 world is replete with instances of this. Fortunately 

 for us, as we have already remarked, the British 

 Islands are wonderfully exempt from these visitations; 

 nevertheless they sometimes occur, as for instance in 

 the case of what is known as " THE GREAT STORM," 

 one of the most terrible that ever visited England, on 

 the 26th and 2yth of November, 1703; which there 

 can be no doubt was one of these cyclonic tempests, 

 similar to those which occur in tropical regions. On 

 this occasion the devastation was terrific all over the 

 country; the loss sustained in London alone being 

 estimated at two million pounds sterling: and when 

 we bear in mind the enormously greater value of the 

 pound sterling in 1703, to what it now represents, this 

 loss was simply enormous. This hurricane, as is almost 

 always the case, w r as accompanied by torrential rains, 

 and the loss of life by drowning, through the over- 

 flowing of the Thames, the Severn, and other rivers, 

 was very great. Multitudes of cattle were also lost; 

 in one district alone 15,000 being drowned. The loss 

 of life in ships blown from their anchorages and never 

 heard of afterwards, is thought to have been 8000; 

 twelve men-of-war, with more than 1800 men on board, 

 were lost within sight of their ow T n shore and it is 

 estimated that 17,000 trees were torn up by the roots 

 in the county of Kent alone ; the Eddystone lighthouse 

 was destroyed, and in it, its architect, Winstanley, 

 and those who were with him, all perished.* Such 

 was the upshot of a twenty-four hours' gale in England. 



* Haydn's Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. 

 Article "Storms." 



