Published: 2015-08-06
Total Pages: 30
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Excerpt from Awful Calamities, Or, the Shipwrecks of December, 1839: Being a Full Account of the Dreadful Hurricanes of Dec; 15, 21& 27, on the Coast of Massachusetts, in Which Were Lost More Than 100 Vessels, and Nearly 200 Dismasted, Driven Ashore or Otherwise Damaged, and More Than 160 Lives Destructed, of Which Full St It has probably never fallen to the lot of the citizens of New England, to witness, or record, so many terrible disasters by sea, in the short period of fourteen days, as have transpired within that length of time the present month. Three gales of unequalled fury and destructiveness, have swept along our coast, carrying desolation and death in their stormy pathway, and overwhelming many families in the deepest mourning. Many who entered upon the month of December with a fair prospect of enjoying "a happy new year," and perhaps a long life, now sleep in the bosom of the great deep with the sea-weed wrapped around them, or have been tossed on shore by the bellowing surges, and all bruised and mangled, have been followed, perhaps by strangers, to an untimely grave. Often as we have been called to weep with those who have wept over the sad wreck of human hope, we have seldom met with any thing so well calculated to excite the sympathy of all the friends of humanity, as the melancholy events which we have recorded below. In giving the history of the late dreadful shipwrecks, we propose to speak of the devastations of the three gales separately, first inserting a list, as complete as possible, of all the vessels wrecked or damaged; and then detailing some of the affecting incidents accompanying these disasters. We have been at great pains to collect the materials from the most authentic sources, and have no doubt but this unpretending pamphlet will afford the best account of these remarkable providences of God which will fall into the reader's hands. The first gale. On the night of Saturday, December 14, at about midnight, a violent snow storm commenced along the coast, and continued to rage until late on Monday. During a part of the time, the snow gave place to a freezing rain. About 2, P. M. on Sunday, the rain commenced and the wind at the same time rose to a gale; but it was not until 11, P. M. that the unprecedented and devastating hurricane broke upon the ill-fated shipping. From that time until 2 or 3 o'clock, A. M. of Monday, it continued a perfect tornado. It blew hard all Monday, and Monday night, but the most damage was done on Sunday night. The following is a list of the vessels wrecked or damaged, as far as has been learned. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.