1310.] 
thunder to the horrors of the night. The 
fnhabitants of many farm-houses were en- 
vironed by the water before they knew of 
danger, and escape was impossible, had the 
formation of the country permitted any ex- 
emption from the inundation ; owing, how- 
ever, to its unvariable flatness, there is not, 
in several parishes, a foot of ground unflooded. 
The consternation and affliction produced by 
this event can scarcely ‘be imagined, and 
much less adequately described: the whole 
country about Boston, tothe north and south 
of that town, has experienced this overwhelm- 
ing calamity; the lands on the eastern side 
have been saved, in consequence of those capa- 
sious drains, Hob-hole, and Maud ‘Foster, 
{heretofore condemned as uscless,) having 
received the weight of waters. It is impos- 
sible yet to be very accurate in stating the 
heads of loss sustained; but the number of 
sheep drowned ‘in distressed tract of 
country between Wainfleet and Sutterton (to 
which latter town the inundation extended 
southwardly) is computed at 15,0005; besides 
many horses and other cattle. “Implements 
ef every description have been swept in a ge- 
meral wreck; stacks of corn and hay to a 
great amount carried like litter over the coun- 
trys and the hopes of the husbandman blasted, 
not metely for the present, but, on account 
of the ponds, weils, and ditches, being, with- 
wut exception filled with salt water, for a con- 
siderable time in the future. At Fosdyke 
the tide came upon the lands so suddenly, 
that a servant maid of Mr. Birkett, of that 
place, was surrounded by the sea, whilst 
milking the cows in a pasture not. far from 
the house, and perished before assistance 
sould be given. Another person of shat pa- 
rish an elderly woman, was in the course of 
the night washed out of an upper window of 
her cottage, and drowned. At Fishtoft, 
Mr. Smith Jessop lost hie life in endeavouring 
to rescue some of his father’s sheep. His 
death was not less extraordinary than that of 
the other two persons above mention- 
ed. About seven oclock in the evening, 
his father, looking out inte the storm, mis- 
took the approaching deluge from the sea for 
a fall of snow on the pastures, and exclaimed 
to his son, that care should be taken of some 
sheep. The latter immediately went forth, 
and before he had recovered from his asto- 
nishment at the coming waters, fell a sacri- 
fice to them, by getting out of his depth. 
Plomer’s hotel at Frieston shore, was for 
a long time expected to be completely 
washed away. The great bow:window was 
forced trom the buiiding by the water, and 
earried to the distance 
The houses of Mr. Keall and Mr. Dick- 
inson, of Wyberton, have been nearly demo- 
lished; and many others much dsmaged. 
Small tenements, and barns and sheds, have 
th e 
aa 
shared a common destruction in several 
parishes. The water continues to be at leas 
Lincolnshire. 
‘and sunk. 
of several fields. 
478 
\ - 
two feet deep on the Iands, in general; and 
when it will be got rid of can hardly be cate 
culated. Not Jess than 20,600 acres of the 
richest land in England are in this situation. 
The water runs over the London road in 
several places within seven rhiles of Boston 3 
it is in some situations 2 foot deepon the road, 
Almost all the-land to the right of that Jine, 
and some on the left, is flooded; and the wind 
gives the vast expante of water an undulatory 
motion, which makes itin every thing resem. 
ble a sea. ‘The performance of divine ser. 
‘yicey on Sunday, in the parish church of 
Boston, was prevented, by the tide on the 
preceding evening having completely flooded 
the extensive area appropriated to public 
worship, The waterfrom the river, entering 
chiefly at the weftern door, and partly at the 
‘southern, covered the whole floor of the 
church, as far as the fteps into the chancel g 
and inthe northern aisle, to a %onsiderable 
depth. The height of the water against 
the western end of the steeple, was two feet 
eight inches and a half. That beautifut 
fabric, the steeple, has sustained no injury 
from the gale; of the church, part of the 
florid parapet on the external roof, between 
the body of the building and the chancel, has 
been blown down: the injury is not extensive. 
In October, 1793, the tide at Bofton flowed 
remarkably high; on the 30th of September, 
1807, it flowed seven inches higher than at 
‘that time; and on Saturday it attained a 
height exceeding by four inches and a half 
the tide of 1807. A barge drifted ever the 
bank near the Scalp, and may now be seen 
‘in the midst of the pastures, with the sheep 
grazing round her. Three vessels of burden 
were driven up the Wafhway by the tide, 
nearly as far as Fosdyke Inn; one, the Anny 
(Cartwright, miaster,} was carried into the 
‘Marsh, half a mile from the Fosdyke Char. ' 
nel, A large hay-stack, on the farm of Mr. 
‘Day, of Frieston, (near the shore-houses,) 
was moved entire by the tide, from one end 
‘of a pasture to the other, (a distance of 3 or 
400 yards,) and now stands erect and per- 
fect! At Wisbech the gale was. severely 
felt: the tide rose to an unusual height, and 
flowed with such rapidity, that several crate 
loaded with grain broke trom their moorings, 
‘The banks in several places were 
overflowed, and the lands near the towr 
inundated, Several of the inhabitants haye 
sustained a serious loss, as the warehouses 
and other buildings, near the river, were 
filled with salt water. 
Tt is Computed that 
there are nearly SOO trees blown down by — 
the side of the road between Leicester and | 
Stamtord;and trees in Burghley, Grimsthorpe, 
Exton, and Walcot parks, to the number of 
several hundreds. ‘Lhe losses at sea have 
been truly dreadful ali along the coast; the 
number of 
Jumber and Boston Deeps only, 
aie 
imated at no less than forty. 
sak 
a be Marrisd ; 1 ; 
yessels wrecked between the - 
being 
ie . 3 
a <i 
fn 
v is i 
Be 
