The Blizzard in the West: Being as Record and Story of the Disastrous Storm which Raged Throughout Devon and Cornwall, and West Somerset, On the Night of March 9th, 1891Unknown
History
The Blizzard in the West: Being as Record and Story of the Disastrous Storm which Raged Throughout Devon and Cornwall, and West Somerset, On the Night of March 9th, 1891
Unknown
Blizzards -- England -- Cornwall (County) -- History; Cornwall (England : County) -- History; Devon (England) -- History
BRIXHAM.--This historic fishing town, which has before now witnessed
some dreadful instances of the disaster to life and property that
furious gales with blinding snowstorms can bring about, was not on the
occasion of the blizzard of 1891 allowed to pass off very lightly.
There was no loss of life, but some rather serious injuries happened
to the trawlers at their moorings. At daylight on Tuesday it was seen
that many of these had fouled each other, by dragging their anchors.
In the inner harbour most of the craft had broken adrift, running
against the quays and other places, and doing themselves all kinds of
damage. One trawler, named the _Alice_, which broke adrift at high
tide, was carried up to the head of the harbour with her bowsprit eight
feet in over the Strand, close alongside the Prince of Orange statue.
About 200 feet of the breakwater was washed away, and its pedestal was
lost. Timber in large quantities was washed away from the yards of the
principal shipbuilders, and in addition to the wreck of the French
brig, and others before mentioned, a boat was driven on the rocks at
Fishcombe, and the Seamen's Orphan Home lifeboat went ashore, and was
badly knocked about. In the town many houses were unroofed, and slates
flew about, serious damage being also done to a wall and embankment in
Higher Street. Large quantities of glass-roofing were smashed in, and a
good deal of glass was destroyed at Newmarket Hall. Many farmers lost
sheep and lambs in the snow-drifts.
BUDE.--The outside world and Bude were not so thoroughly estranged
during the days succeeding the storm as was the case in some other
instances, telegraphic communication remaining unbroken. All the other
inconveniences of the blizzard--absence of mails, presence of immense
drifts of snow, and similar discomforts--were freely experienced. There
was an anxious time among the shipping interest in the port, many of
the coasting vessels being at sea at the time the hurricane was raging.
These vessels did not all escape without calamity, but, on the whole,
the damage wrought to the shipping of Bude was not great.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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