This was the Case, and as the Place is not large, and the Number of Ships very great, the force of the Wind had driven them so into one another, and laid them so upon one another as it were in heaps, that I think a Man may safely defy all the World to do the like.
The Author of this Collection had the curiosity the next day to view the place and to observe the posture they lay in, which nevertheless 'tis impossible to describe; there lay, by the best Account he could take, few less than 700 sail of Ships, some very great ones between Shadwel and Limehouse inclusive, the posture is not to be imagined, but by them that saw it, some Vessels lay heeling off with the Bow of another Ship over her Waste, and the Stem of another upon her Fore-Castle, the Boltsprits of some drove into the Cabbin Windows of others; some lay with their Sterns tossed up so high, that the Tide flowed into their Fore-Castles before they cou'd come to Rights; some lay so leaning upon others, that the undermost Vessels wou'd sink before the other could float; the numbers of Masts, Boltsprits and Yards split and broke, the staving the Heads, and Sterns and Carved Work, the tearing and destruction of Rigging, and the squeezing of Boats to pieces between the Ships, is not to be reckoned; but there was hardly a Vessel to be seen that had not suffer'd some damage or other in one or all of these Articles.
There was several Vessels sunk in this hurry, but as they were generally light Ships, the damage was chiefly to the Vessels; but there were two Ships sunk with great quantity of Goods on Board, the Russel Galley was sunk at Lime-house, being a great part laden with Bale Goods for the Streights, and the Sarah Gally lading for Leghorn, sunk at an Anchor at Blackwall; and though she was afterwards weighed and brought on shore, yet her back was broke, or so otherwise disabled, as she was never fit for the Sea; there were several Men drown'd in these last two Vessels, but we could never come to have the particular number.
Near Gravesend several Ships drove on shoar below Tilbury Fort, and among them five bound for the West Indies, but as the shoar is ouzy and soft, the Vessels sat upright and easy, and here the high Tides which follow'd, and which were the ruin of so many in other places, were the deliverance of all these Ships whose lading and value was very great, for the Tide rising to an unusual height, floated them all off, and the damage was not so great as was expected.
If it be expected I should give an account of the loss, and the particulars relating to small Craft, as the Sailors call it, in the River it is to look for what is impossible, other than by generals.
The Watermen tell us of above 500 Wheries lost, most of which were not sunk only but dasht to pieces one against another, or against the Shores and Ships, where they lay: Ship Boats without number were driven about in every corner, sunk and staved, and about 300 of them is supposed to be lost. Above 60 Barges and Lighters were found driven foul of the Bridge: some Printed accounts tell us of sixty more sunk or staved between the Bridge and Hammersmith.
Abundance of Lighters and Barges drove quite thro' the Bridge, and took their fate below, whereof many were lost, so that we Reckon by a modest account above 100 Lighters and Barges lost and spoil'd in the whole, not reckoning such as with small damage were recovered.
In all this confusion it could not be, but that many Lives were lost, but as the Thames often times Buries those it drowns, there has been no account taken. Two Watermen at Black Fryars were drowned, endeavouring to save their Boat; and a Boat was said to be Overset near Fulham, and five People drown'd: According to the best account I have seen, about 22 People were drown'd in the River upon this sad occasion, which considering all circumstances is not a great many, and the damage to Shipping computed with the vast number of Ships then in the River, the Violence of the Storm, and the heighth of the Tide, confirms me in the Truth of that Opinion, which I have heard many skilful Men own, viz. that the River of Thames is the best Harbour of Europe.
The heighth of the Tide, as I have already observ'd, did no great damage in the River of Thames, and I find none of the Levels or Marshes, which lye on both sides the River overflowed with it, it fill'd the Cellars indeed at Gravesend, and on both sides in London, and the Alehouse-keepers suffered some loss as to their Beer, but this damage is not worth mentioning with what our Accounts give us from the Severn; which, besides the particular Letters we have already quoted, the Reader may observe in the following, what our general intelligence furnishes us with.
The Damages in the City of Gloucester they compute at 12000 l. above 15000 Sheep drown'd in the Levels on the side of the Severne, and the Sea Walls will cost, as these Accounts tell us, 5000 l. to repair, all the Country lyes under Water for 20 or 30 Miles together on both sides, and the Tide rose three Foot higher than the tops of the Banks.