DESTRUCTIVE GALE AT AUCKLAND.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2542, 11 April 1871, Page 2

DESTRUCTIVE GALE AT AUCKLAND.

The most destructive gale that has been experienced in Auckland for the last eight years, passed over the town late on the night of the 24th. At 2 a.in. on the 25th the wind rushed through the town in a perfect hurricane, shaking the houses, tearing branches off trees, and carrying them in all directions, loosening slates and shutters, and making corrugated iron buildings creak and groan as though blown to pieces. The gale continued to increase, and between three o’clock and half-past the noise was terrific There were but few houses that did not sustain some slight injury, in the form of fences and tn es blown down, or panes of glass broken. In many parts of the streets verandahs -were carried away. It is estimated that at halfpast three o’clock in the morning the wind was blowing with a velocity of over 71 miles an hour, and the barometer tbon stood at 29.40. In the harbor the full effects of the gale wcivoxperienci d. A frightful sea was running, and the fury of the wind indescribable. The steamer Duke of Edinburgh, to save her being thrown on to the reef, beyond Fiveman’s Ikay, bad to be benched, and she now remains high and dry, and cannot be launched until spring tides. The number of schooners and cutters that were hopelessly wrecked is legion ; and their value alone is estimated at 1/2,099. One of them, the Aloe had a cargo of wheat valued at L-390, which was completely destroyed. The Cro*# says the scone at the wharf between six and ciidit o’clock was grand and awful. Heavy foamtopped waves came rolling on, tossing the craft upon their surface like play tilings, and shattering still further the already wrecked vessels near the wharf. The wind whistled and howled through the rigging of the vessels, and sent the water in a complete stream across the wharf. The stone portion of the wharf on the eastern side ultimately gave way in three places under the heavy weight of water which continually poured over it, causing gaps about live feet deep and three or four yards long. The brig Seagull drifted stern foremost into the Customs warehouse, smashing the building and shattering the vessel’s stern, besides destroying her boats. The schooners Tanr.mga and Herald collided ; the schooner Success lost her bulwarks fore and aft; the barque Duke of Edinburgh dragged her anchors, and was driven broadside on to the breakwater, making a hole in the aboneworh

20 feet long by 7 feet deep. The dirt and stones were thrown down under the vessel’s bottom, and it was subsequently found impossible to float her off. It is supposed that her bottom has been heavily strained. The barque Farniugham had her chain plates, bulwarks, and s:er:i carried away, causing a loss of nearly LI •‘*o ; the barque Kate was damaged ; the new schooner Severn, driven on to the rocks at the foot of Harding street, had a hole knocked in her bottom ; and no less than live yachts, valued at L2OO, wore driven on shore and completely destroyed. The damage on the west side of Queen street Wharf is sot down at LldOO ; on the east side LSDO. The damage in the City was not great. The only serious case is the total destruction of the Newton Congregational Church, and Three Kings Schoolroom. Considering the number of houses blown down, it is surprising no fatal accidents occurred. Several narrow escapes, however, arc chronicled. At the Thames there was a tidal wave on a small seal" ; and a good deal of damage was done. One firm alone lost LOO!) worth of timber, washed out to sea. The town was Hooded, and the wharves were carried away. The damage is not represented by a much loss sum than LIO.OUO.* It is generally believed that the gale was one of those cyclones or rotatory storms that cause so much destruction to ship ing in the tropics; and it is surmised that Auckland was about the very centre of it. At tiic Observatory during the time the gale raged, lofl'J miles of wind were registered, an average velocity of 5(5 miles per hour. At the most damaging period on shore the wind is estimated to have moved at a velocity of more than SO miles per hour.