A huge storm at Scarborough and a shipwreck
The violent gale of wind which suddenly arose on Saturday night last, proved fatal to many a hapless and unfortunate mariner; and the severities of it's effects were deeply experienced at this place.
The evening until ten o'clock was serene and pleasant; the sky unclouded; not a single prognostic of a storm was visible in the heavens, the winds seemed hushed to rest, and the sea was uncommonly smooth and placid. But the scene changed in a moment! The clouds suddenly gathered darkness; the storm, loud as thunder, came sweeping from the North with irresistible violence, and the awful hour of the night, added to the tremendous gloom, increased the general consternation, The buildings shook as though they had been moved by the concussions of an earthquake; the roofs of several houses were stripped of their coverings; the streets were overspread with the ruins; and large masses of the Castle walls (the venerable remains of antiquity), fell beneath the fury of the impetuous tempest.
The num'rous turrets to the Storm resound,
It's ancient walls fall thund'ring to the ground.
When the day appeared, the sea exhibited a scene awful beyond description. Far as the eye could reach the great expanse was covered with broken water, and arrayed in all it's terrors. The foaming billows followed each other in rapid succession, rolling over the piers in vast accumulated masses, dashed to an incredible height. The ships in the harbour received great damage, and appeared in the greatest confusion, A brigantine belonging to Lynn, broke her moorings, and was forced by the violence of the storm among the rocks to the southward, where she was broken to pieces in a few moments. A ship from Newcastle, oppressed by the boisterous sea, and unable to reach the harbour, appeared in a situation perfectly desperate. The shore surrounded with rocks and broken water threatening destruction in every direction. Impelled by the wind and sea, she approached the dreadful scene with fatal rapidity. The pointed rocks seemed ready to receive her, and the foaming billows to overwhelm her, the waves burst over her poop and decks with incredible fury; the weight of her strokes upon the ground made her whole fabric tremble and she was expected every moment to be shattered to pieces by the violence of the concussions. After many tremendous shocks, she at length beat over the rocks to the gravelly part of the beach at the foot of the cliff, about a mile beyond the Spaw. Crowds of people hastened along the strand to her assistance. The strongest expressions of anxiety were depicted on every countenance. They were actuated by one of the noblest principles of the human heart, that of SUCCOURING their FELLOW-CREATURES in Distress. It however fortunately happened that the dauntless seamen in the ship, waiting a favourable moment, launched their boat into the midst of the broken water, and reached the shore in safety.
The following lines are descriptive of the situation:
"Now borne impetuous o'er the boiling deeps,
Her course to Scarboro's shores the vessel keeps,
Above the poop th' audacious seas aspire,
Uproll'd in hills like fluctuating fire,
High o'er the ship, they cast a dreadful shade,
And o'er her burst in terrible cascade,
Uplifted on the surge, to heaven she flies,
Her shatter'd top half buried in the skies,
Then headlong plunging, thunders on the ground,
Earth groans, air trembles, and the deeps resound!"
A small vessel in distress, deeply laden, and almost buried in the sea, was discovered making toward the harbour, her sails were torn to shreds by the violence of the wind, and the helm had lost it's government. The foaming sea made a clear passage over her, and every wave threatened instant destruction. I observed with painful agony her hopeless situation, and trembled for her fate at the approach of every billow. As she drew near the shore, two distressed seamen were distinguished upon the deck using every possible exertion. One was at the helm endeavouring to steer her - the other, was trimming the sheet of a tattered sail which fluttered in the wind. Vain were all their efforts! - it was a forlorn hope, the last struggle of persevering fortitude! - I saw a mountainous wave collecting it's trememdous force, and marked the fatal progress - The hapless vessel was overwhelmed by it's fury, and buried from the sight for some moments; but she afterward appeared floating upon her side, a melancholy wreck upon the water! A little interval succeeded, and she seemed rather recovering from the violence of the shock: but another wave, if possible more tremendous than the former, burst upon her, and plunged her into the deep abyss! -
I caught the last glance of the top of her mast - a momentary calm succeeded, nothing was to be seen save the broken water, she had totally disappeared and all on board perished!
"Ye victims of the whelming waves, adieu!
Your toils and pains and dangers are no more!
The tempest now shall howl unheard by you,
While ocean smites in vain the trembling shore.
What though no funeral pomp, no borrow'd tear,
Your hour of death to gazing crowds shall tell,
Nor weeping friends attend your sable bier,
Who sadly listen to the passing bell,
Yet shall rememb'rance from oblivion's veil,
Recall the scene, and sigh with grief sincere,
And soft compassion at the tragic tale,
In grateful tribute pay her kindred tear."
Great commisseration was excited for the unhappy sufferers and their surviving friends! - Let us therefore indulge the sympathetic tenderness of the moment, whilst a scene is presented, which must call every benevolent affection into action. See that lowly mansion! It is the habitation of a distressed widow, whose husband perished in the late tremendous storm! Her loss is great! O pity her tender sorrows I Let the foot of charity softly approach the mournful dwelling. Whence are those plaintive notes of deep affliction? - Listen - O! listen to the tremulous sounds, which murmur to the hollow wind, and strike the ear with such a melancholy cadence! - It is the voice of the disconsolate mourner lamenting her hapless situation. What a scene of exquisite tenderness! She is dividing her little, her last small portion of bread with helpless children, while the mourning group with supplicating looks, anxiously surround her! In all the attitude of unutterable woe, she mingles the scanty morsel with her tears, tells them it is her all, and how their Father, the chief support, perished on the merciless ocean!
Gracious Father of unbounded beneficence, whose tender mercies are over all thy works, and before whose throne the prayers of the Widow and Orphan ascend as the sweetest in - scense! - Thy sacred influence can sooth the sorrows, and soften the anguish of the agonized bosom, and inspire it with Faith, with Hope, and Pious Resignation! We, indeed, are unable to penetrate the veil of thy mysterious Providence; thy ways are not as our ways, nor thy thoughts as our thoughts; they are unsearchable and past finding out, the greatest apparent losses and misfortunes of this mortal life, are frequently mercies in disguise.
"Tho' doom'd with all that's dear to part,
Hope, still on God! relies,
And ev'ry pang that rends the heart,
Bids expectation rise,
Hope, like the glimm'ring taper's light,
Adorns and cheers the way,
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits a brighter ray."
Bear up then a little while disconsolate mourner, and the storms of this life will soon be over - The God of mercy, will send his richest consolations to mitigate the seeming severity of thy lot - He has promised to he a Husband to the Widow, and a Father to the Fatherless; and they are the promises of Immutable Truth.
OTHER ARTICLES
• A great storm off Filey Bridge and a famous rescue in 1799
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• Scarborough sailors rescued in the Baltic - Thomas Hinderwell
• Charles Dickens account of a shipwreck at Filey
• Article by the granddaughter of James Ruffen Bayes
• Loss of the Scarborough Lifeboat November 2nd, 1861
• A great storm in 1874 along the coasts of England
• Sailors graves on the Scarborough coastline.
• The Harwood and Bullamore fishing family history in Scarborough
• Scarboroughs first Lifeboat and its first rescue in 1801
• Scarborough's harbour and the coal trade. Thomas Hinderwell
• Losses amongst Filey fishing cobles
• Filey and the gales of 1860,1867,1869 AND 1880
• The Allen and Truman Scarborough fishing families
• Filey fishermen in 1862 - yawls and cobles
• Charles Dickens account of Filey and Scarborough graveyards
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• Events and newspaper clippings from Scarborough
• An epic Lifeboat rescue in Robin Hoods bay and a terrible tragedy