SEA-FOWL AND THE STORM 



(BEMBRIDGE LEDGE) 



THE great frost with which the year 1895 p ene( i 

 was preceded, about the beginning of January, by 

 cyclonic gales of quite unusual violence. One of these 

 sprang up so suddenly on the night of January 10, that 

 the seaports received only three hours' warning, and 

 the sea-fowl, who are often reputed the best weather- 

 prophets, were caught by the storm with no warning 

 at all. The wind struck the southern coast at mid- 

 night, and blew for forty-eight hours with a steady 

 roar like the sound of machinery in a mill. As the 

 day broke over the sea, where the long reef of Bern- 

 bridge Ledge juts out at the north-east corner of the 

 Isle of Wight, the whole stretch of waters seemed in 

 motion towards the shore ; the gale had mastered 

 current and tide, and subdued all the minor conflict 

 and welter of the narrow sea. As far as the sight 

 could carry, the whole surface of the Channel was 

 piled up in parallel lines of white-topped waves, 

 hurrying fast and close, line after line, and breaking 

 with a front of miles upon the shingle line. The 



