DESTRUCTIVE GALE AT AUCKLAND.

Grey River Argus, Volume X, Issue 842, 8 April 1871, Page 2

DESTRUCTIVE GALE AT AUCKLAND.

GREAT LOSS OF SHIPPING.

[southern cross, march 27.] It is generally believed that the gale which commenced on Saturday, the 25th, was one of those cyclones or rotatory storms that cause so much destruction to shipping in the tropics. This Colony is not within the belt ordinarily travelled by those destructive tempests, but tie present being the hurricane month at the South Sea Islands, itis not unlikely that the storm that passed over the town may have been drifted from that direction. It appears extremely probable that Auckland was brought through the very centre of the storm. The s.s. Hero, which arrived on Sunday night from Sydney and Mel- : bourne, did not experience the least effects of it, her passage throughout being a fair-weather one. On Friday night and Saturday morning, she was abont 200 miles to the west of the Three Kings. The gale, upon the supposition that it was going in a S.E, direction, would consequently pass considerably to the southward of the Hero, a fact which would account for her immunity from its effects. During the 24 hours between 9.30 on Friday morning and 9.30 a.m. on Saturday, 1360 miles of wind was iegistered af the Meteorological Observatory, Domain; This would give an average velocity of 56| miles per hour. But it- is clear that the wind during Friday did not travel at nearly so great a rate ;;in fact, during the greater portion of the day it would not probably average more than from 40 to 45 miles. Estimating that from half-pa9t nine o'clock to half -past three; a period of. six hours, the wind had an average velocity of§4o miles per hour, and that it continued at the rate .of 45 miles from half-past three o'clock until halfpast nine, that would leave 850 miles, or an average velocity of 70 6-6 miles per hour for the twelve hours that intervened between half-past nine o'clock on Friday night, and half -past nine on Saturday morning. During the three hours before midnight the wind was not so strong, while after that time it exceeded the average.. The most damaging period on shore was about ten o'clock on Saturday morning, when the wind, is estimated to have moved for. a short period at a velocity of more than 80 miles per hour. It was under the force of this that the Newton Church and the Three Kings schoolroom were blown down, arid the chief damage in town was done. In one instance the gale passed from one tree in a row to the next one along the line, rooting them up successfully in its course. Supposing the «ale to have been a cyclone and that Auckland passed through or near the centre of it, the sudden change from N.E. to W., which followed tie temporary lull, would be readily accounted for, from the fact that, after passing through the centre and encountering the inner belt of the revolving storm, the direction of the wind would of course be at once changed into an almost opposite direction from that experienced during the first contact with it. The amount of rain which fell during the 24 hours specified was -71 inches. After eleyen o'clook on Saturday morning* the barometer commenced to. rise rapidly, and by evening the. gale had decreased into a moderate breeze . from the south-west, with fine, weather and a smooth sea,

The following is an estimated average of. the damage caused by the gale on the shipping in the harbor :— West side Qneen street Wharf : Waymouth's boat shed, total loss L 20 0; Severn, cutter, L 100; Lulu, schooner, 70; Lily, yacht, total loss L3O ; Form, yacht, total loss LI 5 ; Cambria, yacht, total loss L4O; Ida, yacht, total loss L 35 ; Solid Rock Baths, LSO ; Duke of • Edinburgh*- p S;, LlO ; Ma/u-i rjoats., totai'Jbss I#o ; Tea'zer, cutter, Lls; Leader, cutter, Lls ; Dee, cutter, L 25; house oh wharf, Ll5O ; Farningham, barque, Ll5O ; Kate, barque, L3O ; Restless, brigantine, Lls ; Alarm, brig, LlO ; Lady Rath, cutter, L 15"; Carr, wharf and boat-hou3e, with boats under repair, L 35; waterman's boats, Fly and Pleiades, L2O. Ejast sidle Queen street Wharf : Sea Gull, brigantine, and boat, £»XOQ ; Alabama, Annie, Aloe, cutters, total loss. LSSO; Triad, cutter, LSO j Tartar, cutter, L 1 0!;; Tauranga, schooner, L6O; Success, schooner, L6O ; Mount Albert, total loss L 8. 0; Customs Shed, Lls ; Glance, Alarm, Aquila, cutters, slight damage ; Duke of Edinburgh, barque, supposed to : be damaged under water-ljhe ; breakwater, portion carried away, L4O $ 'wood "wharf, L2O ; Peri, schooner, L3O ; Auckland Rowing Club shed, LlO ; QUiver's boatshed, LJQ. ; r ,'■

In the town, we are gh>d ; to say, th.c absolute damage caused is not so great as was at first anticipated. While there are few residents that have not something to show in the form of fences blown down, trees uprooted, and verandahs destroyed, yet really serious damages are only chronicled from one or two quarters. The chief of these is the total destruction of the. Ifewton Congregational Church, a neat little edifice; capable of seating about 400 people. During the long continuance of the north-east gale t';ie building had been so severely strained that the neighbors feared for its safety, and shortly before ten o'clock the har-monium was. removed. The wind from the west had the effect of completing the mischief,, and the roof and sides fell in, leaving nothing standing but the gable ends. The church was con*paratively newi having been erscted only about two years ago. The damage is of such a nature as to render repairs impossible. At the Mount Eden Stockade, port>iiiij| of both, the, .criminal' and dears' gaols w era blown down, 'but the damage was temp 'r:irily repaired, without loss of time. Tho inmates of a house at Mechanics' Oay had a narrow escape from being killed. About five o'clock in the morning, a large tree, standing alongside the house, was bjown down, and fell on the roof ? completely (smashing it in; but the occupants of thb house were fortunate enough to escape without injury, MrJ

Neil Lloyd's rope-siied, Ponsonbyj|p ( d f was also partly blown down, ca'ftsipfgre&t loss to the owner, who only erected it a few months ago. At the Star Hotel, in Albert street, one of the chimneys fell on the slate roof, smashing in a large portion of it, and doing considerable damage Considering the number of fences, trees, stables, &c, that were, blown down, &,& a wonder that no lives Were lost, or that' ho serious accidents occurred. There were several serious accidents, however, principally, from the blowing about of, >sheets of corrugated iron from the roofs of many honses in town. A school-room near the Three Kings was blown down, and it appeared to have collapsed in a •precisely similar manner to the Newton church, the roof first falling in, followed by the sides. Amongst the damages to private residences, that sustained by ; M* Hesketh, at Parnell, was one of the most remarkable. Two window-frames were blown completely in, the frames' being' smashed on the floor of the room. Considerable damage was also done to the furniture of the apartment thus roughly exposed. • .

At the Thames the gale will long be remembered, for never since the establishment of the settlement has it been visited by such a burst of terrific weather as that which set in this morning, and in the course of a very few hours destroyed an amount of property of which at present only a very general and uncertain estimate can be formed. At about two' hours after midnight a north-east gale set in in fitful gusts, accompanied by sharp rainsqualls. As daybreak approached the gale increased, arid the rain came down in sheets, soon converting the creeks into roaring torrents, and tie Grahamstown - and Shortland flats into expanses of- mud and water. The tide was spring. At 7 o'clock: the gale sent home a tremendous sea, that dashed with? irresistible force upon the beach, ■carryit% away everything within its reach, producing such wreck and disaster as was pitiable to witness. Several boats were swamped in the Kauwaeranga Creek, and the Lalla Roohk was deposited} on extensive pipi bank at the mouth of the creek. When the tide reached its full height, it overflowed the beach in. heavy, waves from the Kauwaeranga Creek to Tararu. At Walters' slaughtering establishment the sea made its first-decided mark by beating down the fences, and slightly damaging the main building. Between the Karaka and Holdship's timber, yard, the beach is lined by cottages, with gardens in front— not one of these gardens but was silted up and consequently destroyed by the sea ; whilst in several cases the fencing was broken down. The beach was strewed with the debris of the wreck of Holdship's timber wharf and bathing establishment. Mr Davidson (Mr Holdship's manager) estimates the quantity of timber swept away at fifty thousand fee^ and the absolute loss to the firm at between five and six hundred pounds sterling. The effects of the weather were especially fel+ at Grahamstown. Brown street and the lower end of Albert street were' flooded to an unprecedented degree, and for a ti-Hie were impassable ; boats plied up and down past the Bank of New Zealand. The Grahamstown wharf sustained no damage, but from the wharf along the' beach to'the Manukau machine the havoc committed to the cottages and gardens by the surf was very great. At the bottom of Abraham street a cottage of some size was blown completely over, the io mates,a boiler-maker and his wife, being in bed at the time. Fortunately, beyond a few' bruises, neither of them was iujured. Captain Davis's cottage Was removed, and had to be moored with strong ropes to save it being carried out to sea. Thgj telegraph office was only flooded, fbifk much damage was. done, fa the posts and wire outside. It is feared' that a great deal of the line is broken down in ther Piako and Thames flats. The retortinghouse at the back of the Herald bairtery was washed away, and some slight damage done tp the tables. ■ ; n •[.-?? j In .Shortland the fall of the , skeleton church broke the windows of the Salfitltion Hotel (opposite to it), and one of the windows of the police-office- I—franle1 — franle and all — was driven in by a flying sheet of corrugated iron. -News from, Taputellji of serious loss to the proprietors of the Waikawau Sawmills, 300 logs piled up having been washed away. Over 100 cf them are strewn on the beaqh between Tapu and Grahainstown. ' : ' : ' fv