Great Storm of 1703
Encyclopedia
The Great Storm of 1703 was the most severe storm
or natural disaster
ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain
. It affected southern England
and the English Channel
in the Kingdom of Great Britain
. A 120-mph (193-km/h) "perfect hurricane", it started on 24 November, and did not die down until 2 December 1703 (Old Style).
Observers at the time recorded barometric readings as low as 973 millibars (measured by William Derham
in South Essex), but it has been suggested that the storm may have deepened to 950 millibars over the Midlands
.
) were wrecked, including HMS Resolution
at Pevensey
and on the Goodwin Sands
, HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Northumberland
and HMS Restoration
, with about 1,500 seamen killed particularly on the Goodwins. Between 8,000 - 15,000 lives were lost overall. The first Eddystone Lighthouse
was destroyed on 27 November 1703 (Old Style), killing six occupants, including its builder Henry Winstanley
. The number of oak
trees lost in the New Forest
alone was 4,000.
On the Thames, around 700 ships were heaped together in the Pool of London
, the section downstream from London Bridge
. HMS Vanguard
was wrecked at Chatham
. HMS Association
was blown from Harwich
to Gothenburg
in Sweden
before way could be made back to England.
In London
, the lead roofing was blown off Westminster Abbey
and Queen Anne
had to shelter in a cellar at St. James's Palace
to avoid collapsing chimneys and part of the roof.
There was extensive and prolonged flooding in the West Country
, particularly around Bristol
. At Wells
, Bishop Richard Kidder
was killed when two chimneystacks in the palace fell on the bishop and his wife, asleep in bed. This same storm blew in part of the great west window in Wells Cathedral
. Major damage occurred to the south-west tower of Llandaff Cathedral
at Cardiff
.
-—in recognition of the "crying sins of this nation", the government declared 19 January 1704 a day of fasting
, saying it "loudly calls for the deepest and most solemn humiliation of our people". It remained a frequent topic of moralizing in sermons well into the nineteenth century.
Following the storm's destruction of the first Eddystone Lighthouse
(in which the first architect was lost), John Rudyard
was contracted to build the second lighthouse on the site.
, and was the first weather event to be a news story on a national scale. Special issue broadsheets were produced detailing damage to property and stories of people who had been killed.
Daniel Defoe
produced his first book, The Storm
, published in July 1704, in response to the calamity, calling it "the tempest that destroyed woods and forests all over England". "No pen could describe it, nor tongue express it, nor thought conceive it unless by one in the extremity of it," he wrote of it. Coastal towns such as Portsmouth
"looked as if the enemy had sackt them and were most miserably torn to pieces". He thought the destruction of the sovereign fleet was a punishment for their poor performance against the Catholic
armies of France
and Spain
during the first year of the War of the Spanish Succession
.
Lamb (1991) claimed 10,000 seamen were lost in one night, a far higher figure, about 1/3 of all the seamen in the British Navy. narrowly escaped a similar fate. Over 40 merchant ships were lost.
European windstorm
A European windstorm is a severe cyclonic windstorm associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure that track across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe. They are most common in the winter months...
or natural disaster
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. It affected southern England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
and the English Channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
in the Kingdom of Great Britain
Kingdom of Great Britain
The former Kingdom of Great Britain, sometimes described as the 'United Kingdom of Great Britain', That the Two Kingdoms of Scotland and England, shall upon the 1st May next ensuing the date hereof, and forever after, be United into One Kingdom by the Name of GREAT BRITAIN. was a sovereign...
. A 120-mph (193-km/h) "perfect hurricane", it started on 24 November, and did not die down until 2 December 1703 (Old Style).
Observers at the time recorded barometric readings as low as 973 millibars (measured by William Derham
William Derham
William Derham was an English clergyman and natural philosopher. He produced the earliest, reasonably accurate estimate of the speed of sound.-Life:...
in South Essex), but it has been suggested that the storm may have deepened to 950 millibars over the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
.
Damage
At sea, many ships (many returning from helping the King of Spain fight the French in the War of the Spanish SuccessionWar of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
) were wrecked, including HMS Resolution
HMS Resolution (1667)
HMS Resolution was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Harwich Dockyard in 6 December 1667. She was one of only three third rate vessels designed and built by the noted maritime architect Sir Anthony Deane.-History:...
at Pevensey
Pevensey
Pevensey is a village and civil parish in the Wealden district of East Sussex, England. The main village is located 5 miles north-east of Eastbourne, one mile inland from Pevensey Bay. The settlement of Pevensey Bay forms part of the parish.-Geography:The village of Pevensey is located on...
and on the Goodwin Sands
Goodwin Sands
The Goodwin Sands is a 10-mile-long sand bank in the English Channel, lying six miles east off Deal in Kent, England. The Brake Bank lying shorewards is part of the same geological unit. As the shoals lie close to major shipping channels, more than 2,000 ships are believed to have been wrecked...
, HMS Stirling Castle, HMS Northumberland
HMS Northumberland (1679)
HMS Northumberland was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Bristol in 1679.-Service:She fought in the War of the Grand Alliance....
and HMS Restoration
HMS Restoration (1678)
HMS Restoration was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, named after the English Restoration. She was built by Betts of Harwich and launched in 1678.She took part in the Battle of Barfleur on 19 May 1692...
, with about 1,500 seamen killed particularly on the Goodwins. Between 8,000 - 15,000 lives were lost overall. The first Eddystone Lighthouse
Eddystone Lighthouse
Eddystone Lighthouse is on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, south west of Rame Head, United Kingdom. While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are in Devon and composed of Precambrian Gneiss....
was destroyed on 27 November 1703 (Old Style), killing six occupants, including its builder Henry Winstanley
Henry Winstanley
Henry Winstanley was an English engineer who constructed the first Eddystone lighthouse.-Early life and career:He was born in Saffron Walden, Essex, and baptised there on 31 March 1644...
. The number of oak
Oak
An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 600 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
trees lost in the New Forest
New Forest
The New Forest is an area of southern England which includes the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in the heavily-populated south east of England. It covers south-west Hampshire and extends into south-east Wiltshire....
alone was 4,000.
On the Thames, around 700 ships were heaped together in the Pool of London
Pool of London
The Pool of London is a part of the Tideway of the River Thames from London Bridge to below Tower Bridge. It was the original part of the Port of London. The Pool of London is divided into two parts, the Upper Pool and Lower Pool...
, the section downstream from London Bridge
London Bridge
London Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames, connecting the City of London and Southwark, in central London. Situated between Cannon Street Railway Bridge and Tower Bridge, it forms the western end of the Pool of London...
. HMS Vanguard
HMS Vanguard (1678)
HMS Vanguard was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard and launched in 1678.She ran onto Goodwin Sands in 1690, but was fortunate enough to be hauled off by the boatmen of Deal....
was wrecked at Chatham
Chatham, Medway
Chatham is one of the Medway towns located within the Medway unitary authority, in North Kent, in South East England.Although the dockyard has long been closed and is now being redeveloped into a business and residential community as well as a museum featuring the famous submarine, HMS Ocelot,...
. HMS Association
HMS Association
HMS Association was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Portsmouth Dockyard in 1697. She served with distinction at the capture of Gibraltar, and was lost in 1707 by grounding on the Isles of Scilly in the greatest maritime disaster of the age.-Service:Association...
was blown from Harwich
Harwich
Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
to Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
in Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
before way could be made back to England.
In London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, the lead roofing was blown off Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...
and Queen Anne
Anne of Great Britain
Anne ascended the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland on 8 March 1702. On 1 May 1707, under the Act of Union, two of her realms, England and Scotland, were united as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain.Anne's Catholic father, James II and VII, was deposed during the...
had to shelter in a cellar at St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace
St. James's Palace is one of London's oldest palaces. It is situated in Pall Mall, just north of St. James's Park. Although no sovereign has resided there for almost two centuries, it has remained the official residence of the Sovereign and the most senior royal palace in the UK...
to avoid collapsing chimneys and part of the roof.
There was extensive and prolonged flooding in the West Country
West Country
The West Country is an informal term for the area of south western England roughly corresponding to the modern South West England government region. It is often defined to encompass the historic counties of Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset and the City of Bristol, while the counties of...
, particularly around Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. At Wells
Wells
Wells is a cathedral city and civil parish in the Mendip district of Somerset, England, on the southern edge of the Mendip Hills. Although the population recorded in the 2001 census is 10,406, it has had city status since 1205...
, Bishop Richard Kidder
Richard Kidder
Richard Kidder was an English Anglican churchman, Bishop of Bath and Wells from 1691 to his death. He was a noted theologian.He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, where he was a sizar, from 1649, graduating 1652. He became a Fellow there in 1655, and vicar of Stranground,...
was killed when two chimneystacks in the palace fell on the bishop and his wife, asleep in bed. This same storm blew in part of the great west window in Wells Cathedral
Wells Cathedral
Wells Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Wells, Somerset, England. It is the seat of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, who lives at the adjacent Bishop's Palace....
. Major damage occurred to the south-west tower of Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral
Llandaff Cathedral is the seat of the Bishop of Llandaff, head of the Church in Wales Diocese of Llandaff. It is situated in the district of Llandaff in the city of Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The current building was constructed in the 12th century over the site of an earlier church...
at Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
.
Beliefs and response
A recently discovered contemporary diary written by a witness in rural Worcestershire describes in richly descriptive language the damaging emotional and psychological effects of the storm. The storm, unprecedented in ferocity and duration, was generally reckoned by witnesses to represent the anger of GodGod
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
-—in recognition of the "crying sins of this nation", the government declared 19 January 1704 a day of fasting
Fasting
Fasting is primarily the act of willingly abstaining from some or all food, drink, or both, for a period of time. An absolute fast is normally defined as abstinence from all food and liquid for a defined period, usually a single day , or several days. Other fasts may be only partially restrictive,...
, saying it "loudly calls for the deepest and most solemn humiliation of our people". It remained a frequent topic of moralizing in sermons well into the nineteenth century.
Following the storm's destruction of the first Eddystone Lighthouse
Eddystone Lighthouse
Eddystone Lighthouse is on the treacherous Eddystone Rocks, south west of Rame Head, United Kingdom. While Rame Head is in Cornwall, the rocks are in Devon and composed of Precambrian Gneiss....
(in which the first architect was lost), John Rudyard
John Rudyard
John Rudyard was the man contracted to build the second Eddystone Lighthouse, following the destruction of the original building in the Great Storm of 1703. He was neither an architect nor professional engineer, but a silk merchant and a property developer...
was contracted to build the second lighthouse on the site.
Literary
The Great Storm also coincided with the increase in English journalismJournalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
, and was the first weather event to be a news story on a national scale. Special issue broadsheets were produced detailing damage to property and stories of people who had been killed.
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe
Daniel Defoe , born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer, journalist, and pamphleteer, who gained fame for his novel Robinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularise the form in Britain and along with others such as Richardson,...
produced his first book, The Storm
The Storm (Daniel Defoe)
The Storm is a pioneering work of journalism and science reporting by British author Daniel Defoe. It has been called the first substantial work of modern journalism, the first account of a hurricane in Britain, and was the first book-length work of Defoe's career. It details the events of a...
, published in July 1704, in response to the calamity, calling it "the tempest that destroyed woods and forests all over England". "No pen could describe it, nor tongue express it, nor thought conceive it unless by one in the extremity of it," he wrote of it. Coastal towns such as Portsmouth
Portsmouth
Portsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
"looked as if the enemy had sackt them and were most miserably torn to pieces". He thought the destruction of the sovereign fleet was a punishment for their poor performance against the Catholic
Catholic
The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...
armies of France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
during the first year of the War of the Spanish Succession
War of the Spanish Succession
The War of the Spanish Succession was fought among several European powers, including a divided Spain, over the possible unification of the Kingdoms of Spain and France under one Bourbon monarch. As France and Spain were among the most powerful states of Europe, such a unification would have...
.
Thirteen ships lost in the Royal Navy
The Royal Navy was badly affected, losing thirteen ships, and upwards of fifteen hundred seamen drowned.- The third rate RestorationHMS Restoration (1678)HMS Restoration was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, named after the English Restoration. She was built by Betts of Harwich and launched in 1678.She took part in the Battle of Barfleur on 19 May 1692...
was wrecked on the Goodwin SandsGoodwin SandsThe Goodwin Sands is a 10-mile-long sand bank in the English Channel, lying six miles east off Deal in Kent, England. The Brake Bank lying shorewards is part of the same geological unit. As the shoals lie close to major shipping channels, more than 2,000 ships are believed to have been wrecked...
; of the ship's company of 387 not one was saved. - The third rate NorthumberlandHMS Northumberland (1679)HMS Northumberland was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the English Royal Navy, launched at Bristol in 1679.-Service:She fought in the War of the Grand Alliance....
was lost on the Goodwin Sands; all 220 men, including 24 marines were killed. - The third rate Stirling Castle was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. Seventy men, including four marine officers, were saved, but 206 men were drowned.
- The fourth rate MaryHMS Mary (1650)Speaker was a 50-gun third-rate frigate and the name ship of the , built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Christopher Pett at Woolwich Dockyard and launched in 1650. At the Restoration she was renamed HMS Mary...
was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. The captain and the purser were ashore, but Rear-admiral Beaumont and 268 other men were drowned. Only one man, whose name was Thomas Atkins was saved. His escape was very remarkable - having seen the rear-admiral get onto a piece of her quarter-deck when the ship was breaking up, and then get washed off again, Atkins was tossed by a wave into the Stirling Castle, which sank soon after. From the Stirling Castle he was swept into a boat by a wave, and was rescued. - The fifth rate Mortar-bomb was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands and her entire company of 65 were lost.
- The sixth rate advice boat Eagle was lost on the coast of SussexSussexSussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
, but her ship's company of 45 were all saved. - The third rate ResolutionHMS Resolution (1667)HMS Resolution was a 70-gun third-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Harwich Dockyard in 6 December 1667. She was one of only three third rate vessels designed and built by the noted maritime architect Sir Anthony Deane.-History:...
was lost on the coast of Sussex; all her ship's company of 221 were saved. - The fifth rate Litchfield Prize was wrecked on the coast of Sussex; all 108 on board were saved.
- The fourth rate NewcastleHMS Newcastle (1653)Newcastle was a 44-gun fourth-rate frigate of the English Royal Navy, originally built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England by Phineas Pett II at Ratcliffe, and launched in May 1653. By 1677 her armament had been increased to 54 guns....
was lost at SpitheadSpitheadSpithead is an area of the Solent and a roadstead off Gilkicker Point in Hampshire, England. It is protected from all winds, except those from the southeast...
. The carpenter and 39 men were saved, and the other 193 were drowned. - The fifth rate fire-ship Vesuvius was lost at Spithead; all 48 of her ship's company were saved.
- The fourth rate Reserve was lost at YarmouthYarmouth-In Canada:*Yarmouth County, Nova Scotia**Yarmouth, Nova Scotia **Yarmouth, Nova Scotia *New Yarmouth, Nova Scotia-In the United Kingdom:*Yarmouth, Isle of Wight...
. The captain, the surgeon, the clerk, and 44 men were saved; the other 175 of the crew were drowned. - The second rate VanguardHMS Vanguard (1678)HMS Vanguard was a 90-gun second-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, built at Portsmouth Dockyard and launched in 1678.She ran onto Goodwin Sands in 1690, but was fortunate enough to be hauled off by the boatmen of Deal....
was sunk in Chatham harbourChatham DockyardChatham Dockyard, located on the River Medway and of which two-thirds is in Gillingham and one third in Chatham, Kent, England, came into existence at the time when, following the Reformation, relations with the Catholic countries of Europe had worsened, leading to a requirement for additional...
. She was not manned and had no armament fitted; the following year she was raised for rebuilding. - The fourth rate YorkHMS York (1654)Marston Moor was a 52-gun third rate frigate built for the navy of the Commonwealth of England at Blackwall Yard, and launched in 1654....
was lost at HarwichHarwichHarwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...
; all but four of her men were saved.
Lamb (1991) claimed 10,000 seamen were lost in one night, a far higher figure, about 1/3 of all the seamen in the British Navy. narrowly escaped a similar fate. Over 40 merchant ships were lost.
See also
- UK Weather RecordsUK Weather RecordsThe UK Weather Records note the most extreme weather ever recorded in the United Kingdom, such as the most and fewest hours of sunshine and highest wind speed.-Temperature:-Rainfall:...
- European windstormEuropean windstormA European windstorm is a severe cyclonic windstorm associated with areas of low atmospheric pressure that track across the North Atlantic towards northwestern Europe. They are most common in the winter months...
- List of United Kingdom disasters by death toll
Further reading
- Lamb, H.H. and Frydendahl, Knud (1991). Historic Storms of the North Sea, British Isles and Northwest Europe. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521375221
- Laughton, Leonard George Carr and Heddon, V. (1927). Great Storms. London: Phillip Allan & Co.