Great storm of 1703

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Loss of the English fleet off Goodwin Sands

The Great Storm of 1703 was an extraordinarily severe storm across most of Europe . It is considered to be the worst storm that has ever struck the British Isles and the English Channel . It lasted from December 5 to 13, 1703 (or from November 24 to December 2, 1703 according to the Julian calendar still valid in England at that time ). The storm reached its climax in the night of December 7th to 8th, 1703 (or in the night of November 26th to 27th according to the Julian calendar). It caused a severe storm surge in the entire North Sea area . In total, the storm claimed between 8,000 and 15,000 lives, including more than 1,500 members of the Royal Navy .

Meteorological records in England

William Derham measured an air pressure of 973 millibars in southern England , but the low pressure area in the Midlands may only have been 950 millibars.

Damage in England

In London , the storm covered the roof of Westminster Abbey and Queen Anne had to take refuge in a cellar at St James's Palace to avoid falling chimneys and roof parts.

In the west of the country there has been widespread prolonged flooding, particularly in the Bristol area . The number of fallen oaks in the New Forest was given as 4,000.

In Wells , Bishop Richard Kidder and his wife were killed in their sleep when two chimneys in the palace collapsed and fell on their bed. The large west window of St. Andrew's Cathedral was partially destroyed by the storm.

The first Eddystone Lighthouse was destroyed by the storm on November 27, 1703 (Julian calendar), killing six people in it, including the builder Henry Winstanley .

On the Thames , around 700 ships were pushed together in the Pool of London - the section below London Bridge . The HMS Association was driven from Harwich to Gothenburg , Sweden , before returning to England.

The Royal Navy lost thirteen ships and more than 1,500 sailors drowned:

  • The Restoration , a two-decker under Captain Emms with 387 men on board, was lost on the Goodwin Sands ; there were no survivors.
  • The Northumberland , a two-decker under Captain Greenway, was lost on Goodwin Sands and 220 sailors drowned.
  • The Stirling Castle , a two-decker under Captain Johnston, was also lost on the Goodwin Sands, 70 sailors were rescued, 206 drowned.
  • The Mary , a two-decker with Rear Admiral Beaumont on board under Captain Edward Hopson, on the Goodwin Sands, the captain and the cook were thrown ashore, one man saved himself, 269 men including the admiral drowned.
  • The Mortar-bomb , under Captain Raymond, ran aground on the Goodwin Sands; all 65 crew members were killed.
  • The Eagle under Captain Bostock was shipwrecked on the Sussex coast ; the 45-man crew managed to save themselves.
  • The Resolution , a two-decker under Captain Lisle, hit the Sussex coast; all 221 men on board survived.
  • The Litchfield Prize under Captain Chamberlain was shipwrecked on the Sussex coast; all 108 sailors rescued.
  • The Newcastle , a two-decker under Captain Carter, was lost at Spithead . The carpenter and 39 other seamen survived, 193 seamen drowned.
  • The Vesuvius was lost at Spithead under Captain Paddon; the 48-man crew was rescued.
  • The reserve under Captain John Anderson was lost at Yarmouth . The captain, the ship's doctor, the purser and 44 others survived, the remaining crew of 175 people went down with the ship.
  • The Vanguard , a three-decker , went down in Chatham harbor without a crew or armament on board.
  • The York , a two-deck ship under Captain Smith, sank at Harwich ; all but four sailors got away with it.

Daniel Defoe wrote his first book about this event, entitled The Storm , which was published in July 1704. He described the storm as the "thunderstorm that destroyed trees and forests all over England" . Coastal towns like Portsmouth "looked like the enemy had taken them and [they] were horribly torn to pieces" .

Effects in Lower Germany

St. Lamberti in Lüneburg before the collapse

The whole of Lower Germany suffered from the hurricane, which reached its peak on December 8, 1703. In Oderbruch thousands of trees were ripped out of the ground. Church towers were overturned, such as the already dilapidated spire of St. Lamberti in Lüneburg and the tower of the Nikolaikirche in Wismar. In the Osnabrück area, the top of the Christ Church in Ibbenbüren and the top of St. Johannes in Alfhausen were torn down.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Prussian Meteorological Institute: Treatises. Volume 2, 1901, p. 65.
  2. ^ William Derham: A Letter for the Reverend Mr William Derham, FRS Containing His Observations concerning the Late Storm . In: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society . 24, No. 289, pp. 1530-1534. doi : 10.1098 / rstl.1704.0005 .
  3. ↑ "... looked as if the enemy had sacked [sic!] Them and were most miserably torn to pieces" .
  4. ↑ "Anno 1703, December 8th, morning between 10 and 11 o'clock, the uncommon storm wind from the southwest, not unequal to an orcan, threw the top of the Lambertithurm down to the wall on the Kirchhoff" Stadtarchäologie Lüneburg
  5. ↑ Chronology of the history of Altreetz
  6. ↑ See weather chronicle

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