CHAPTER XI.

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NE of the heaviest disasters that ever befel the shipping of the river Wear occurred on the morning of Monday, January 18th, 1841. For some time previous the river had been frozen over in various places above Sunderland harbour. The frost continued till Saturday the 16th, when a thaw commenced, the wind being then from S. to S. W. On that and the following day great quantities of rain fell, by which the river was much swollen and the ice loosened before any considerable portion of it had time to be dissolved with the thaw; the consequence was, that several floating fields of ice were carried down the river, at succeeding intervals, during the ebb tides of Saturday and Sunday, until it arrived at Deptford, which is the high end of Sunderland harbour, where the progress of the ice was stopped. On Sunday afternoon the Wear above Sunderland bridge presented one sheet of ice, as far as the eye could reach. Shortly after that hour, the day, which had been remarkably bright, began to lower, and very soon the rain came down in torrents; the river rose rapidly, and the pressure of the ice, urged on by the flood, carried away some ships from near the patent ropery at Deptford before five o'clock. At six, some others went adrift from the tiers above, but these were brought up and moored. Soon after seven, the inhabitants of the borough were alarmed by hearing the bellman summoning all masters and mates of ships in the harbour, to look after their vessels; and, in most instances, this injunction was promptly obeyed, though there then appeared to be no imminent danger. It seems, however, that the ice which had come down, was only that formed in the neighbourhood of Hylton, and being thin, it passed easily over the shallows. But about midnight, large pieces, several inches in thickness, that had covered the river some miles above, were

observed to be floating down past Hylton. As the front sheets came down, they met with obstacles at every turn of the river; the pieces behind were driven either under or upon them, and thus, huge, unwieldy masses were cemented together to the depth of several feet, which so far impeded the free flow of the downward current, that about Pallion the water at one time stood six feet higher than at the Mark Quay! This continued till about four in the morning, when the barrier of ice formed below Pallion yielded to the increasing pressure of the water, and the mingled torrent rushing down with irresistible force, tore away whole tiers of ships from their moorings at the Hetton and Lambton staiths, hurried them rapidly under the bridge, breaking their masts in the passage, and then dashing them against the vessels below, swept away tier after tier, and huddled them into a mass of wrecks extending from one side of the river to the other, opposite the Durham and Sunderland railway staiths. All who witnessed this scene of destruction admit their utter inability to convey anything like an adequate idea of its terrors. The shouting of men, the shrieks of terrified sea-boys, who had been aroused from their sleep, the noise of the ice rushing up against the ships' sides, the breaking of bowsprits, masts, and bulwarks,— and all in darkness,-formed a chaos of horrors enough to appal the stoutest heart. When morning broke, it revealed such a picture of havoc as only such a night could have made. Several ships had been driven out to sea; another, the Newby, of Sunderland, lay on her broadside at the mouth of the harbour, heaving and lurching in the waves, and at intervals spouting out water like a huge whale: higher up, near what is called the Caunch, was the deplorable sight of three sunken vessels-the Pilgrim, of Lynn, with only her stern above water, the Rosebud, of Sunderland, crushed down by the heel of the Cornelius, and the Kirton, of Sunderland, a total wreck. These unfortunate vessels, were all coal-laden, had taken the ground in drifting down; other ships coming away at the rate of five knots an hour, ran into them and sunk them instantly, thus at once closing the channel of the river, and stopping the further progress of a large fleet of all sizes that were hurrying away to sea. Besides these, there were sunk about the same place the Seaflower and Queen Victoria, of Sunderland, a French vessel, the Deux Amis, and the Caroline, Korff, of Altona, laden with coals and earthenware. The spectacle presented by the crowd of vessels immediately above the more unfortunate craft just named, literally beggared all description. Truly, the ships at this part of the river looked much more like an enemy's fleet after a sea-fight with a Nelson or a Napier, than British merchantmen in harbour. The river, above this barrier of ships, was a "sea of ice,"

block piled on block in every variety of fantastic form, and throughout besprinkled with wreck of every conceivable description-keels, timber, ships' boats, and brushwood, all frozen into a solid mass. Going upwards to the Hetton coal staiths, where the mischief commenced, it was astonishing to witness the amount of damage. Out of eight drops for the delivery of coal, seven were rendered unserviceable, one of them being absolutely torn away altogether, and a part of it carried down as far as the Durham and Sunderland railway drops, in the rigging of a ship. The mooring-posts for ships at this place stood full ten feet from the edge of the quay, which was supported by a stout wall of masonry; but so heavy was the strain at the breaking up of the ice, that not a single post retained its position, much of the wall was seriously shaken, and in one part full sixty yards length of solid quay was pulled into river! The cost to the Hetton company was estimated by a practical engineer at not much less than five thousand pounds, which sum was shortly demanded from the commissioners of the Wear, on the plea that their moorings were insufficient. The Lambton drops suffered less; the brunt of the onset having fallen on their less fortunate neighbours, although out of eleven drops, eight were damaged, six of them very seriously. Considering their position, as immediately overlooking the very vortex of destruction, the Durham and Sunderland railway staiths had a remarkable escape. It is hardly necessary to enumerate all the ships that suffered damage, for scarcely a ship in the harbour escaped. During the whole of Monday, the ordinary business of the town was at a stand-still. This is true to the very letter, for, in the afternoon of the day, many of the shops were closed, the population thronged in its thousands to the pier and the river banks, to behold the scene of desolation. So sudden and tremendous a blow to the very vitals of the commerce of the port seemed almost to have stupified for awhile those most deeply interested; but, rapidly arousing themselves from their temporary lethargy, the ship-owners applied themselves vigourously to the rescue of their property, and with the aid of steam-boats, which had luckily taken shelter in the Wearmouth dock, by half-past four on Tuesday afternoon a passage was effected, and the ice went to sea, but unfortunately carrying along with it a large quautity of most valuable timber, not less, it is calculated, than about 250 loads. The following ships were picked up at sea, and taken into Hartlepool :-Era, of Rochester, which drove out of this harbour with no hands on board; the Jean, of Sunderland, with three boys and the captain of a French vessel on board; and the Gamma, of Sunderland. The Seaham pilots picked up the Young, of Sunderland, without a hand on board; the Beatitude, Lamb, of London,

with the mate, a man, and boy worked herself into Seaham harbour; a French schooner, with an English boy on board, was picked up by Morley, the pilot; 100 planks, 73 pieces of timber, two boats, and three keels, one loaded with bottles from Ayre's quay, were secured at Seaham, and at the Black Halls, Hawthorn Hythe, and Old Seaham, large quantities of timber were ashore. The Wear commissioners' valuable steamer, the Utility, was almost a wreck; and the steam-tugs-Safety, Hare, Earl of Durham, George and Ann, and Neptune, were either sunk, wrecked or missing. About thirty keels were sunk or destroyed, and almost all the harbour boats and other small craft disappeared from the river. Had it not been for the shelter of the north dock, in which twenty-five valuable ships, and about half that number of steamers took refuge, the loss to the port must have been fearfully augmented. The contrast between the tight and trim ships in the dock, and the wretched wrecks on the stream, was most striking. It could scarcely be expected that so frightful a destruction of property would occur without the loss of life; and a poor boy belonging to the Richard, in endeavouring to make his escape into the Canova, fell into the river and was drowned. Another life was lost in the Newby: when she took the ground to the North Pier, the boom swung over to leeward and carried overboard a smart young running fitter, named Davison. The rest of the people on board, seven in number, took refuge in the chains, and were rescued from the very jaws of death by Mr. Garthwaite, of the Wearmouth dock, assisted by two of the dock watchmen, named Henry Robson and Arthur Urquhart.-Local Papers.

About this period the queen of Portugal forwarded to John Adamson, esq., of Newcastle, member of several literary societies, the orders of the Tower and Sword, and that of Christ, as an acknowledgment for his successful illustrations of Portuguese literature. These distinctions were announced in a letter from the duke of Palmella, as follows:

"MOST ILLUSTRIOUS SENIOR, J. ADAMSON,-At last I have the satisfaction to be able to send you the diploma of knighthood, so long ago announced; to expedite which it became difficult, by reason of a series of complications which it is unnecessary to unfold.

"Now, I have to ask you to discharge me from blame for the prolonged silence, since I was not desirous to break it, until I could send you the royal grant, which I had had the honour to announce to you, and to expeIdite which I have not ceased to work.

"I am persuaded that this proof which her faithful Majesty gives of the appreciation of your literary labours, will be an incentive to you to continue to dedicate them to illustrate Portuguese literature.

"On my part, I judge myself happy to have this propitious occasion to make to you the profession of the consideration and appreciation with which I have the honour to be your faithful servant,

1841 (January). This month, the vicarage of Newcastle-uponTyne was conferred by the patron, the lord bishop of Carlisle, upon the rev. Richard Charles Coxe, M.A. incumbent of archbishop Tennison's chapel, Regent-street, London. Mr. Coxe arrived in Newcastle on Wednesday evening, the 24th of March, and was greeted with peals from the bells of the several churches. The reverend gentleman preached for the first time in St. Nicholas' church on Sunday morning, March 28, and under circumstances which excited the liveliest interest throughout the whole community. The venerable fabric was crowded in every part with a most respectable and attentive audience, and it was observed that the magistrates and corporate officers of the borough were present in more than usual numbers. The vicar took formal possession of the living on Monday, April 12, by demanding, of the churchwardens, the keys of St. Nicholas' church, and by observing the usual formalities.-Local Papers.

January 20.-Died, at the Grove, near Durham, aged 78, Elizabeth, relict of Stephen George Kemble, esq. In early life Mrs. Kemble, formerly Miss Satchell, was one of the first actresses of her