The Storm

by Daniel Defoe

  ‘In November, 1675, happen’d a Storm at North-West, with a Spring-tide, so violent, as gave apprehensions of some loss irrecoverable to the Province of Holland, and by several breaches in the great Diques near Enchusen, and others between Amsterdam and Harlem, made way for such Inundations as had not been seen before by any man then alive, and fill’d the Country with many relations of most deplorable Events. But the incredible Diligence and unanimous Endeavours of the People upon such occasions, gave a stop to the Fury of that Element, and made way for recovering next Year all the Lands, though not the People, Cattel, and Houses that had been lost.’4

  Thus far Sir William Temple.

  I am also credibly inform’d that the greatest Storm that ever we had in England before, and which was as universal here as this, did no Damage in Holland or France, comparable to this Tempest: I mean the great Wind in 1661. An Abstract of which, as it was printed in Mirabilis Annis,5 an unknown, but unquestion’d Author, take as follows, in his own Words.

  A dreadful Storm of Wind, accompanied with Thunder, Lightning, Hail and Rain; together with the sad Effects of it in many Parts of the Nation.

  Upon the 18th of February, 1661, being Tuesday, very early in the Morning, there began a very great and dreadful Storm of Wind (accompanied with Thunder, Lightning, Hail, and Rain, which in many Places were as salt as Brine) which continued with a strange and unusual Violence till almost Night: the sad Effects whereof throughout the Nation are so many, that a very great Volume is not sufficient to contain the Narrative of them. And indeed some of them are so stupendious and amazing, that the Report of them, though from never so authentick Hands, will scarce gain Credit among any but those that have an affectionate Sense of the unlimited Power of the Almighty, knowing and believing that there is nothing too hard for Him to do.

  Some few of which wonderful Effects we shall give a brief Account of, as we have received them from Persons of most unquestionable Credit in the several Parts of the Nation.

  In the City of London, and in Covent Garden and other Parts about London and Westminster, five or six Persons were killed outright by the Fall of Houses and Chimneys; especially one Mr. Luke Blith an Attorney, that lived at or near Stamford in the County of Lincoln, was killed that Day by the fall of a Riding-House not far from Pickadilla: and there are some very remarkable Circumstances in this Man’s Case, which do make his Death to appear at least like a most eminent Judgment and severe Stroak of the Lord’s Hand upon him.

  From other Parts likewise we have received certain Information, that divers Persons were killed by the Effects of this great Wind.

  At Chiltenham in Gloucestershire, a Maid was killed by the Fall of a Tree, in or near the Church-Yard.

  An honest Yeoman likewise of Scaldwel in Northamptonshire, being upon a Ladder to save his Hovel, was blown off, and fell upon a Plough, died outright, and never spoke Word more.

  Also at Tewksbury in Gloucestershire, a Man was blown from an House, and broken to Pieces.

  At Elsbury likewise in the same County, a Woman was killed by the Fall of Tiles or Bricks from an House.

  And not far from the same Place, a Girl was killed by the Fall of a Tree.

  Near Northampton, a Man was killed by the Fall of a great Barn.

  Near Colchester, a Young-man was killed by the Fall of a Wind-mill.

  Not far from Ipswich in Suffolk, a Man was killed by the Fall of a Barn.

  And about two Miles from the said Town of Ipswich, a Man was killed by the Fall of a Tree.

  At Langton, or near to it, in the County of Leicester, one Mr. Roberts had a Wind-mill blown down, in which were three Men; and by the Fall of it, one of them was killed outright, a second had his Back broken, and the other had his Arm or Leg struck off; and both of them (according to our best Information) are since dead.

  Several other Instances there are of the like Nature; but it would be too tedious to mention them: Let these therefore suffice to stir us up to Repentance, lest we likewise perish.6

  There are also many Effects of this Storm which are of another Nature, whereof we shall give this following brief Account.

  The Wind hath very much prejudiced many Churches in several Parts of the Nation.

  At Tewksbury in Gloucestershire, it blew down a very fair Window belonging to the Church there, both the Glass, and the Stone-work also; the Doors likewise of that Church were blown open, much of the Lead torn up, and some Part of a fair Pinnacle thrown down.

  Also at Red-Marly and Newin, not far from Tewksbury, their Churches are extreamly broken and shatter’d, if not a considerable part of them blown down. The like was done to most, if not all the Publick Meeting-places at Gloucester City. And it is reported, that some Hundreds of Pounds will not suffice to repair the Damage done to the Cathedral at Worcester, especially in that Part that is over the Quire.

  The like Fate happen’d to many more of them, as Hereford, and Leighton Beau-desart in Bedfordshire, and Eaton-Soken in the same County; where they had newly erected a very fair Cross of Stone, which the Wind blew down: and, as some of the Inhabitants did observe, that was the first Damage which that Town sustained by the Storm, though afterwards in other respects also they were in the same Condition with their Neighbours. The Steeples also, and other Parts of the Churches of Shenley, Waddon, and Woolston in the County of Bucks, have been very much rent and torn by the Wind. The Spire of Finchinfield Steeple in the County of Essex, was blown down, and it brake through the Body of the Church, and spoil’d many of the Pews; some Hundreds of Pounds will not repair that Loss. But that which is most remarkable of this kind, is, the Fall of that most famous Spire, or Pinnacle of the Tower-Church in Ipswich: it was blown down upon the Body of the Church, and fell reversed, the sharp End of the Shaft striking through the Leads on the South-side of the Church, carried much of the Timber-work down before it into the Alley just behind the Pulpit, and took off one Side of the Sounding-board over the Pulpit: it shattered many Pews: The Weather-Cock, and the Iron upon which it stood, broke off as it fell; but the narrowest Part of the Wood-work, upon which the Fane7 stood, fell into the Alley, broke quite through a Grave-stone, and ran shoring under two Coffins that had been placed there one on another; that Part of the Spire which was pluck’d up was about three Yards deep in the Earth, and it is believed some Part of it is yet behind in the Ground: some Hundreds of Pounds will not make good the Detriment done to the Church by the Fall of this Pinnacle.

  Very great Prejudice has been done to private Houses; many of them blown down, and others extreamly shattered and torn. It is thought that five thousand Pounds will not make good the Repairs at Audley-End House, which belongs to the Earl of Suffolk.8 A good Part also of the Crown-Office in the Temple is blown down. The Instances of this kind are so many and so obvious, that it would needlesly take up too much time to give the Reader an Account of the Collection of them; only there has been such a wonderful Destruction of Barns, that (looking so much like a Judgment from the Lord, who the last Year took away our Corn, and this our Barns) we cannot but give a short Account of some Part of that Intelligence which hath come to our Hands of that Nature.

  A Gentleman, of good Account, in Ipswich, affirms, that in a few Miles riding that Day, there was eleven Barns and Out-houses blown down in the Road within his View; and within a very few Miles of Ipswich round about, above thirty Barns, and many of them with Corn in them, were blown down. At Southold not far from the Place before mentioned, many new Houses and Barns (built since a late Fire that happened there) are blown down; as also a Salt-house is destroyed there: and a thousand Pounds, as it is believed, will not make up that particular Loss.

  From Tewksbury it is certified, that an incredible Number of Barns have been blown down in the small Towns and Villages thereabouts. At Twyning, at least eleven Barns are blown down. In Ashchurch Parish seven or eight. At Lee, five. At Norton, a very great Number, three whereof belonging to one Man. The great Abby-Barn also at Tewksbury is blown down.

  It is credibly reported,
that within a very few Miles Circumference in Worcestershire, about an hundred and forty Barns are blown down. At Finchinfield in Essex, which is but an ordinary Village, about sixteen Barns were blown down. Also at a Town called Wilchamsted in the County of Bedford (a very small Village) fifteen Barns at least are blown down. But especially the Parsonage Barns went to wrack in many Places throughout the Land: In a few Miles Compass in Bedfordshire, and so in Northamptonshire, and other Places, eight, ten, and twelve are blown down; and at Yielding Parsonage in the County of Bedford (out of which was thrust by Oppression and Violence the late Incumbent) all the Barns belonging to it are down. The Instances also of this kind are innumerable, which we shall therefore forbear to make further mention of.

  We have also a large Account of the blowing down of a very great and considerable Number of Fruit-Trees, and other Trees in several Parts; we shall only pick out two or three Passages which are the most remarkable. In the Counties of Gloucester, Hereford, and Worcester, several Persons have lost whole Orchards of Fruit-Trees; and many particular Mens Loss hath amounted to the Value of forty or fifty Pounds at the least, meerly by Destruction of their Fruit-Trees: and so in other Parts of England proportionably the like Damage hath been sustained in this Respect. And as for other Trees, there has been a great Destruction made of them in many Places, by this Storm. Several were blown down at Hampton-Court.9 And three thousand brave Oaks at least, but in one principal Part of the Forest of Dean, belonging to his Majesty. In a little Grove at Ipswich, belonging to the Lord of Hereford (which together with the Spire of the Steeple before-mentioned, were the most considerable Ornaments of that Town) are blown down at least two hundred goodly Trees, one of which was an Ash, which had ten Load of Wood upon it: there are now few Trees left there.

  In Bramton Bryan Park in the County of Hereford, belonging to Sir Edward Harly,10 one of the late Knights of the Bath, above thirteen hundred Trees are blown down; and above six hundred in Hopton Park not far from it: and thus it is proportionably in most Places where this Storm was felt. And the Truth is, the Damage which the People of this Nation have sustained upon all Accounts by this Storm, is not easily to be valued: some sober and discreet People, who have endeavoured to compute the Loss of the several Counties one with another, by the Destruction of Houses and Barns, the blowing away of Hovels and Ricks of Corn, the falling of Trees, &c. do believe it can come to little less than two Millions of Money.

  There are yet behind many Particulars of a distinct Nature from those that have been spoken of; some whereof are very wonderful, and call for a very serious Observation of them.

  In the Cities of London and Westminster, especially on the Bridge and near Wallingford-house, several Persons were blown down one on the Top of another.

  In Hertfordshire, a Man was taken up, carried a Pole in Length,11 and blown over a very high Hedge; and the like in other Places.

  The Water in the River of Thames, and other Places, was in a very strange manner blown up into the Air: Yea, in the new Pond in James’s Park, the Fish, to the Number of at least two Hundred, where blown out and lay by the Bank-side, whereof many were Eye-witnesses.

  At Moreclack in Surry, the Birds, as they attempted to fly, were beaten down to the Ground by the Violence of the Wind.

  At Epping in the County of Essex, a very great Oak was blown down, which of it self was raised again, and doth grow firmly at this Day.

  At Taunton, a great Tree was blown down, the upper Part whereof rested upon a Brick or Stone-wall, and after a little time, by the force of the Wind, the lower part of the Tree was blown quite over the Wall.

  In the City of Hereford, several persons were, by the Violence of the Wind, borne up from the Ground; one Man (as it is credibly reported) at least six Yards.

  The great Fane at Whitehall was blown down; and one of the four which were upon the white Tower,12 and two more of them strangely bent; which are to be seen at this Day, to the Admiration of all that behold them.

  The several Triumphant Arches13 in the City of London were much shattered and torn; That in Leaden-hall-Street lost the King’s Arms, and many other rare Pieces that were affixed to it; That in Cheapside, which represented the Church, suffered very much by the Fury of the Storm; and a great Part of that in Fleet Street (which represented Plenty) was blown down: but, blessed be God, none as we hear of were either killed or hurt by the Fall of it.

  The Wind was so strong, that it blew down several Carts loaded with Hay in the Road between Barnet and London; and in other Roads leading to the City of London.

  Norwich Coach, with four or six Horses, was not able to come towards London, but stayed by the way till the Storm was somewhat abated.

  It is also credibly reported, That all, or some of the Heads which were set up upon Westminster-Hall,14 were that Day blown down.

  There was a very dreadful Lightning which did at first accompany the Storm, and by it some of his Majesty’s Houshold conceive that the Fire which happened at Whitehall that Morning, was kindled; as also that at Greenwich, by which (as we are informed) seven or eight Houses were burnt down.

  Thus far the Author of Mirabilis Annis.

  ’Tis very observable, that this Storm blew from the same Quarter as the last, and that they had less of it Northward than here; in which they were much alike.

  Now as these Storms were perhaps very furious in some Places, yet they neither came up to the Violence of this, nor any way to be compar’d for the Extent, and when ruinous in one County, were hardly heard of in the next.

  But this terrible Night shook all Europe; and how much farther it extended, he only knows who has his way in the Whirlwind, and in the Storm, and the Clouds are the Dust of his Feet.15

  As this Storm was first felt from the West, some have conjectur’d that the first Generation or rather Collection of Materials, was from the Continent of America, possibly from that part of Florida and Virginia where, if we respect natural Causes, the Confluence of Vapours rais’d by the Sun from the vast and unknown Lakes and Inland Seas of Water, which as some relate are incredibly large as well as numerous, might afford sufficient Matter for the Exhalation; and where time adding to the Preparation, God, who has generally confin’d his Providence to the Chain of natural Causes, might muster together those Troops of Combustion till they made a sufficient Army duly proportion’d to the Expedition design’d.

  I am the rather inclin’d to this Opinion, because we are told, they felt upon that Coast an unusual Tempest a few Days before the fatal 27th of November.

  I confess, I have never studied the Motion of the Clouds so nicely, as to calculate how long time this Army of Terror might take up in its furious March; possibly the Velocity of its Motion might not be so great at its first setting out as it was afterward, as a Horse that is to run a Race does not immediately put himself into the height of his Speed: and tho’ it may be true, that by the length of the way the force of the Wind spends it self, and so by degrees ceases as the Vapour finds more room for Dilation; besides, yet we may suppose a Conjunction of some confederate Matter which might fall in with it by the way, or which meeting it at its Arrival here, might join Forces in executing the Commission receiv’d from above, all natural Causes being allow’d a Subserviency to the Direction of the great supream Cause; yet where the vast Collection of Matter had its first Motion, as it did not all take Motion in one and the same moment, so when all the Parts had felt the Influence, as they advanc’d and press’d those before them, the Violence must increase in proportion: and thus we may conceive that the Motion might not have arriv’d at its Meridian16 Violence till it reach’d our Island; and even then it blew some Days with more than common fury, yet much less than that last Night of its force; and even that Night the Violence was not at its extremity till about an hour before Sun-rise, and then it continued declining, tho’ it blew a full Storm for four Days after it.

  Thus Providence, by whose special Direction the Quantity and Conduct of this Judgment was manag’d, seem’d to proportion things
so, as that by the course of things the proportion of Matter being suited to Distance of Place, the Motion shou’d arrive at its full Force just at the Place where its Execution was to begin.