And therefore some People have excus'd the Extravagancies of the _Paris Gazetteer_, who affirm'd in Print, that there was 30000 Sea-men lost in the several Ports of _England_, and 300 Sail of Ships; which they say was a probable Conjecture; and that considering the multitude of Shipping, the Openness of the Roads in the _Downs_, _Yarmouth_, and the _Nore_, and the prodigious Fury of the Wind, any Man would have guess'd the same as he. 'Tis certain, It is a thing wonderful to consider, that especially in the _Downs_ and _Yarmouth_ Roads any thing shou'd be safe: all Men that know how wild a Road the first is, and what Crowds of Ships there lay in the last; how almost every thing quitted the Road, and neither Anchor nor Cable would hold; must wonder what Shift or what Course the Mariners could direct themselves to for Safety. Some which had not a Mast standing, nor an Anchor or Cable left them, went out to Sea wherever the Winds drove them; and lying like a Trough in the Water, wallow'd about till the Winds abated; and after were driven, some into one Port, some into another, as Providence guided them. In short, Horror and Confusion seiz'd upon all, whether on Shore or at Sea: No Pen can describe it, no Tongue can express it, no Thought conceive it, unless some of those who were in the Extremity of it; and who, being touch'd with a due sense of the sparing Mercy of their Maker, retain the deep Impressions of his Goodness upon their Minds, tho' the Danger be past: and of those I doubt the Number is but few. OF THE EFFECTS OF THE STORM The particular dreadful Effects of this Tempest, are the Subject of the ensuing Part of this History: And tho' the Reader is not to expect that all the Particulars can be put into this Account, and perhaps many very remarkable Passages may never come to our Knowledge; yet as we have endeavour'd to furnish our selves with the most authentick Accounts we could from all Parts of the Nation, and a great many worthy Gentlemen have contributed their Assistance in various, and some very exact Relations and curious Remarks; so we pretend, not to be meanly furnish'd for this Work. Some Gentlemen, whose Accounts are but of common and trivial Damages, we hope will not take it ill from the Author, if they are not inserted at large; for that we are willing to put in nothing here common with other Accidents of like nature; or which may not be worthy of a History and a Historian to record them; nothing but, what may serve to assist in convincing Posterity that this was the most violent Tempest the World ever saw. From hence 'twill follow, that those Towns who only had their Houses until'd, their Barns and Hovels levell'd with the Ground, and the like, will find very little notice taken of them in this Account; because if these were to be the Subject of a History, I presume it must be equally voluminous with _Fox_, _Grimston_, _Holinshead_ or _Stow_.