Part 7 (1/2)
9th. Last night (2 A.M. of 9th) squall from N.-W. very black; 4 A.M., still raining and blowing hard, the sky a perfect blaze, but very few flashes reach the ground; 7 A.M., raining hard; 8 A.M. (N.-W. strong); a constant roll of thunder; noon (N.-E.); 2 P.M. (N.); 4 P.M. clearing; 8 P.M., a line of heavy c.u.muli in S., but clear in N-W., N., and N.-E.[19]
NEW YORK STORM, JULY 8, 1853.
”At 5 o'clock Friday afternoon, a terrible storm of rain, hail, and lightning, rose suddenly from the north-west, and pa.s.sed over the upper part of the city and neighborhood. It was quite moderate in the lower part of the town, and probably scarcely felt on Staten Island. The whole affair lasted not more than a quarter of an hour, yet the results were most disastrous, as will be seen by the following accounts from our reporters:
”Happening to be in the neighborhood of the Palace about 5 o'clock Friday evening, we sought shelter under its ample roof from an impending thunder storm, of very threatening appearance, rapidly approaching from the west. We had scarcely pa.s.sed the northern entrance, and reached the gallery by the nearest flight of steps, when the torrent--it was not rain, but an avalanche of water--struck the building; the gutters were filled on the windward side in a moment, and poured over an almost unbroken sheet of water, which was driven through the Venetian blind ventilators, into and half way across the north-west gallery, and also through the upper ventilators, falling upon the main floor of the north transept. Workmen hastened to close the blinds, but that did not prevent the deluge. The tinning of the dome being unfinished, the water, of course, came down in showers all over the centre. Many workmen were engaged on the dome when the shower struck it; several of them, in their haste to escape such dangerous proximity to the terrific lightning, came down single ropes, hand over hand. Large number of workmen were engaged all over the exterior, and such a scampering will rarely be witnessed but once in a lifetime. It was found impossible to close a north window, used for ingress and egress of workmen upon the rod, and the water came in, in almost solid columns. For a time the water was nearly two inches deep on the gallery floor, and poured down the stairs in miniature cascades.
”A great number of boxes, bales, and packages of goods lay upon the main floor, among which the water poured down from the edge of the gallery floor in destructive quant.i.ties; Fortunately but few goods were opened, and were upon the tables, or the damage would have been irreparable. As it is, we fear some of the goods are injured. In the height of the storm, the centre portion of the fanlight over the western entrance burst in, and several single lights were broken, by staging or otherwise.
”About ten minutes after the storm burst, the most terrific hailstorm we ever saw began to rattle, like discharges of musketry, upon the tin roof and gla.s.s sides. Some of the ma.s.ses of ice were as large as hen's eggs.
There were probably a thousand excited workmen in the building, and a good many exhibitors and visitors, among whom there were some twenty ladies, some of whom appeared a good deal alarmed at the awful din. A portion of the frame-work of the addition next to 42d street, went down with a terrible crash, and a part of the brick wall of the engine-house on the opposite side of the street, was blown over, crus.h.i.+ng two or three shanties, fortunately without any other injury than driving the occupants out into the storm. But an awful scene occurred on the north side of 43d street, directly opposite the Latting Tower. Here two large unfinished frame buildings were blown, or rather, we should judge from appearances, were crushed down into a ma.s.s of ruins, such as may be imagined by supposing a great weight had fallen, with a circular, grinding motion, upon the first fine fabrics. One of them was partly sided, and had the rafters up, but no roof; the other was sided and rooted with tin, and was being plastered. We were told it was three stories high, 50 by 98 feet.
”We reached the ruins among the first, after the burst of the storm subsided a little. The scene was such as we pray G.o.d we may never witness again. A small portion of the roof and upper part of the front of the building stood or rather partly hung over the side-walk. The chamber and lower floor of the front rooms lay flat together. The sides were standing. In the rear all were down. In this building, besides the workmen, there were numerous laborers who had taken shelter under its roof when the storm drove them hurriedly from their work. How so many persons escaped death is truly wonderful. It can only be accounted for by supposing that they had a moment's warning, and rushed into the street. The first alarm was from the tearing off a portion of the tin roof, which was carried high over another building, and fell in the street. A horse and cart barely escaped being buried under this. It seems the frame of the other building came down with a deafening crash at the same time, confusing instead of warning those in danger. At any rate, before they could escape, they were buried in a ma.s.s of timber, and three of them instantly killed, and four or five dangerously wounded; and others slightly bruised and badly frightened. Several would have perished but for timely a.s.sistance to extricate them. In this they were greatly a.s.sisted by Jacob Steinant, boss carpenter of the Tower, who with his men rushed to the rescue, notwithstanding the pouring down torrents.
”In Williamsburgh, the storm lasted about fifteen minutes, doing an incalculable amount of damage to dwellings, foliage, &c. Hailstones came down in sizes from that of a hickory-nut to a large apple, some with such force as to drive them through the cloth awnings.
”The storm pa.s.sed over Brooklyn lightly, in comparison with the effects across the Williamsburgh line. On Flus.h.i.+ng avenue, beyond the Naval Hospital, a number of trees were uprooted, and the window-panes of the houses shattered. On the corner of Fulton and Portland avenues, three buildings were unroofed, and the walls of the houses were sprung to the foundation.
”On Spencer street, a new frame building was levelled with the ground.
Along Myrtle, Cla.s.son, and other streets and avenues of East Brooklyn, many of the shade trees were uprooted, and the windows smashed. In Jay street, two trees were struck by lightning, but no other damage ensued.
”Several schooners at the foot of Jay street were forced from their moorings, but were soon after secured. A small frame house in Spencer street, just put under roof, was prostrated to the ground.
”We understand that a large barn filled with hay, situated on the road between Bushwick and Flus.h.i.+ng, was struck by lightning and destroyed with its contents, embracing several head of live stock.”[20]
_July_ 10th, 3 A.M. Overcast and much lightning in south (N. mod.); 7 A.M., clear except in south; 6 P.M. (E.); 10 P.M., lightning south; 11 P.M., auroral rays long but faint, converging to a point between Epsilon Virginis and Denebola, in west; low down in west thick with haze; on the north the rays converged to a point still lower; lightning still visible in south. This is an aurora in the west.
11th. Fine clear morning (N.-E.); same all day; no lightning visible to-night, but a bank of clouds low down in south, 2 high, and streaks of dark stratus below the upper margin.
12th. Fine and clear (N.-E.); noon, a well defined arch in S.-W., rising slowly; the bank yellowish, with prismatic shades of greenish yellow on its borders. This is the O. A. At 6 P.M., the bank spreading to the northward. At 9 P.M., thick bank of haze in north, with bright auroral margin; one heavy pyramid of light pa.s.sed through Ca.s.siopaea, travelling _westward_ 1 per minute. This moves to the other side of the pole, but not more inclined towards it than is due to prospective, if the shaft is very long; 11.10 P.M., saw a ma.s.s of light more diffuse due east, reaching to _Markab_, then on the prime vertical. It appears evident this is seen in profile, as it inclines downwards at an angle of 10 or 12 from the perpendicular. It does not seem very distant.
12 P.M., the aurora still bright, but the brightest part is now west of the pole, before it was east.
13th, 6 A.M. Clear, east and north; bank of cirrus in N.-W., _i.e._, from N.-N.-E. to W. by S.; irregular branches of cirrus clouds, reaching almost to south-eastern horizon; wind changed (S.-E. fresh); 8 A.M., the sky a perfect picture; heavy regular shafts of dense cirrus radiating all around, and diverging from a thick nucleus in north-west, the s.p.a.ces between being of clear blue sky. The shafts are rotating from north to south, the nucleus advancing eastward.
Appearance of the central vortex descending at 8 A.M., July 13th, 1853:
In Fig. 18, the circle represents the whole sky from the zenith to the horizon, yet it can convey but a very faint idea of the regularity and vividness of this display. The reflected image of the sky was received from a vessel of turbid water, which will be found better than a mirror, when the wind will permit.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 18]
At noon (same day) getting thicker (S.-E. very fresh); 6 P.M., moon on meridian, a prismatic gloom in south, and very thick stratus of all shades; 9 P.M., very gloomy; wind stronger (S.-E.): 10 P.M., very black in south, and overcast generally.
14th. Last night about 12 P.M. commenced raining; 3 A.M., rained steadily; 7 A.M., same weather; 8.20 A.M., a line of low storm-cloud, or seud, showing very sharp and white on the dark back ground all along the southern sky. This line continues until noon about 10 at the highest, showing the northern boundary of the storm to the southward; 8 P.M., same bank visible, although in rapid motion eastward; same time clear overhead, with cirrus fringe pointing north from the bank; much lightning in south (W. fresh); so ends.
15th. Last night a black squall from N.-W. pa.s.sed south without rain; at 3 A.M. clear above, but very black in south (calm below all the time); 9 A.M., the bank in south again throwing off rays of cirri in a well-defined arch, whose vortex is south: these pa.s.s east, but continue to form and preserve their linear direction to the north; no lightning in south to-night.
16th. Clear all day, without a stain, and calm.
17th. Fine and clear (N.-E. light); 6 P.M., calm.