1797 A Ball of Fire Fell upon a Stack of Hay
Note
It seemed somehow appropriate to keep the long s in this one. Hilsea reference is in paragraph five.
Quote
16th July 1797
We experienced in London a thunder ſtorm, accompanied by immenſe torrents of rain, more awful and tremendous than any thing of the kind ever before remembered by the oldeſt inhabitant of the metropolis. From about twelve at night till four in the morning the eaſtern ſky preſented the moſt terrific appearance, the fiery agitation of the firmament ſeeming momentarily to threaten the earth with univerſal conſlagration. Of the dreadful flaſhes of lightning and the awful peals of thunder that prevailed, no adequate deſcription can poſſibly be given; the mere recollection of them is painful, and the conſequences cannot be contemplated without emotions of horror. The ſtorm paſſed over the Continent previous to viſiting this country. It was felt at Lille on Saturday afternoon, and continued till three o’clock on Sunday morning, without intermiſſion.
A man who lived in Brick-lane, Old-ſtreet, was killed by the lightning. Three houſes in Great Portland-ſtreet, and ſeveral others in various quarters, ſuffered materially.
A ſnuff-mill at Croydon was ſaved from total deſtruction, only by the timely aſſiſtance of the engines.
A barn belonging to Mr. Adderſon, of Petersfield, was burnt to the ground. A rick-yard, about a mile and a half from Petersfield took fire, and was burning at three in the morning, when the mail-coach paſſed.
Farmer Burrel, of Hilſea, had two cows ſtruck dead, and farmer Green, of Hilſea-green, had one cow killed. A cow at Burg, near Goſport, was alſo ſtruck with a flaſh of lightning, and is ſince dead. The ſheer-hulk drifted from her moorings at Spithead, but has received no material damage.
The accounts from Cowes and Ryde, in the Iſle of Wight, mention the thunder ſtorm to have been equally terrific there, without having done any injury.
At Yately, in Hants, the old poor houſe was tremendously ſtruck by the lightning; the roof was entirely torn off and demoliſhed, the window frames driven in and ſhivered to pieces, two doors knocked down and rent to ſplinters, and part of the brick-work on one ſide of the houſe forcibly burſt into the yard. Four women ſitting round a table, with a child in the arms of one of them, were ſtruck down, and remained inſenſible for near an hour; and a young woman, ſtanding in the ſame room at a ſmall diſtance, had her cap forced off, and her hair much ſinged; but providentially neither of them received any material injury. The bed of a poor man, inhabitant of the ſame premiſes, who that evening was fortunately detained by the tempeſt at Blackwater, was forcibly thrown through the chaſm in the wall into the yard, and the bedſtead broke to atoms.
A large oak tree, nearly two feet in diameter, at Church Walton, Wilts, was ſtruck by the lightning, and literally ſhivered to pieces.—A cow belonging to farmer Attwood, at Babington, in that county, was killed.
An extraordinary incident took place at Mr. Rowley’s, an eminent farmer of Prior’s Lee. A ball of fire fell upon a large ſtack of two-year-old hay, and paſſed quite through it, making a large perforation into the ground. The hay took fire; but being very ſolid, the flames did not ſpread with that rapidity which might have been expected from an article of ſo combuſtible a nature; and a man who was then paſſing through the ſtack yard, and ſaw the thunder-bolt ſtrike the ſtack, inſtantly giving the alarm, the fire was preſently extinguiſhed. The damage done was ſo trifling, that it was not computed to amount to five ſhillings. Mr. Rowley, very prudently, had the ſtack as ſoon as poſſible cut through and laid open. By the ſame thunder-ſtorm, however, he had the miſfortune to loſe one of his beſt horſes, found dead in the field.—The whole horizon was at the ſame time ſo overcharged with the electric fluid, that a gentleman near Colebrook Dale, who very attentively obſerved the progreſs of the ſtorm, beheld a great number of very large and vivid ſparks almoſt inceſſantly emitted by the colliſion of the clouds.
At Oxford, ſuch was the violence of this ſtorm, that the mail and other coaches were detained for a conſiderable time, the utmoſt exertions of the drivers not being able to overcome the terror of the horſes; and many of them, when they did ſet out, were led for ſeveral miles before they could proceed on.
At Lewes, with little wind and a cloudleſs ſky, the thermometer before 2 o’clock was 80 deg. of Fahrenheit’s ſcale; the barometer, upon a conſiderable eminence, was 29 deg. 44 min. The ſun ſet with great ſplendour, though ſome broken clouds were ſeen in the weſtern horizon. Soon after ſun-ſet, the inhabitants of the weſtern parts of this country obſerved an extenſive cloud approaching from the ſouth-weſt, with little wind; but the flaſhes of lightning were very frequent, and the peals of thunder extremely loud, with rain falling in heavy ſhowers. The firſt ſtorm had ſpent its force about twelve o’clock, and before one an extenſive cloud, with a briſk gale, had again overſpread the horizon; the flaſhes of lightning ſucceeded each other ſo inceſſantly, that the interval ſeldom exceeded 12 or 13 ſeconds of time; the brilliancy of the lightning was ſo great, that objects ten or twelve miles diſtant might be ſeen very diſtinctly. The obſcurity of the intervening ſpaces, and the rain pouring down in ſuch a continued ſtream, could only be exceeded by a tropical tornado. At one time the flaſhes of lightning were inceſſant for 10 or 12 minutes, during which the thunder in awful peals rolled round the horizon in every direction. On Monday, by noon, the levels were completely inundated, as they generally are after 24 or 36 hours rain in the winter ſeaſon. The damage we chiefly hear of, is half-made hay being carried away in great quantities by the ſtream. The oldeſt inhabitants do not remember a ſtorm of ſuch violence, or ſo much rain to have fallen in ſo ſhort a ſpace of time as three hours. The ſtorm was felt with equal ſeverity in this town and neighbourhood, where it commenced with the twilight, and did not totally ſubſide till four the next morning. It was moſt violent between 12 and 1, when a cloud, very highly charged, exploded immediately over the town, and produced thunder more awful and alarming, than any we had ever before heard. We are, however, happy in having the opportunity to add, that no material damage has been done by it. Cattle are the only animals to which, as far as we have heard, it proved fatal. Four were killed in the warehouſe of Mr. Rickman, merchant, where two or three others were ſtruck blind, and had their hair ſinged.
The lightning that fell on the houſe of Mr. Richardson, of Stamford Bridge, Yorkſhire, broke an hearth-ſtone to pieces, ſet fire to a bed, and damaged the walls of the building. Two adjoining houſes received a moſt violent ſhock; the lightning entered betwixt them, and made its progreſs through moſt of the rooms in both; it tore down two fire-places, broke a hearth-ſtone, and ſet fire to ſome boſs-mattreſſes in one of them. It forced out two windows, paſſed through a door, ran along a bell-wire, and threw in various directions ſplinters of wood. Though it had paſſed cloſe to the bed in one of the lodging rooms, in which were ſleeping a ſervant maid and two children, yet it happily did them not the leaſt harm. We have heard of its having killed, that morning, cows and horſes in various parts of the Eaſt Riding.
Between five and ſix o’clock, a tremendous ſtorm came on at Tinmouth and Whitley, which was felt all along the north coaſt. The lightning entered the ſtable door occupied by the eaſt and weſt Lothian cavalry, encamped on Whitley Sinks, and inſtantaneouſly killed two horſes; three others were much burnt, two of which are ſince dead. The remainder of the horſes were turned out of the ſtable as ſoon as poſſible, and ran off in all directions, being dreadfully terrified by the ſtorm. Upwards of 60 of them reached Newcaſtle between ſeven and eight o’clock, when they were ſecured, and next day conducted back to the camp, by the men who had followed, but were unable to ſtop them. Part of the ſtable and forage were conſumed, but fortunately none of the men received the leaſt injury, though ſeveral were very near the ſpot at the time. The ſtorm, we learn, has been equally ſevere in many other places, but we have not yet heard of any particular damage done, or any lives loſt.
— ed. unknown (1806) The Annual Register, or a View of the History, Politics, and Literature for the Year 1797. F. C. & J. Rivington, London. (source)
Question
Is this this original source?
Question
Where the hell is “Burg near Gosport”?