The Blizzard in the West / Being as Record and Story of the Disastrous Storm which Raged Throughout Devon and Cornwall, and West Somerset, On the Night of March 9th, 1891

by Unknown

On their way to and from the scene of the fire by way of Millbridge, many pedestrians from Plymouth had narrow escapes from being blown over the parapet of the bridge into the Deadlake. About half-past eight, when the fire had somewhat abated, the majority of the Plymouth spectators moved back with the intention of re-crossing the bridge, but the wind had increased in violence, and the water in the lake was so disturbed that the waves could be heard lashing against the bridge and on the shores. Some who ventured on the bridge were driven back, and consternation began to spread among the crowd, many women screaming loudly. To proceed to Plymouth by way of Pennycomequick was also a matter of difficulty, as the full fury of the gale blowing down the valley had to be faced. Many waited on the Devonport side until there was a lull, when some of them linked their arms in those of their friends for safety's sake and so crossed to Plymouth.

During the whole of Monday night Her Majesty's vessels in the Hamoaze were in positions of great peril, and those holding responsible posts in connection with them underwent great anxiety. The Lion and Implacable, anchored just above Torpoint, which form an establishment for training boys, under the command of Commander Morrison, dragged their moorings during the evening. The vessels were moored stern to stern, and connected by a covered gangway. The cause of the mishap was the parting of the starboard bridle of the Implacable. At about half-past nine signals of distress were made to the shore, and it was stated that the two ships had been driven ashore, and were in the mud off Thanckes. This, however, proved not to be the case, as the vessels never even touched the ground. As soon as the danger was known all available tugs at Devonport Dockyard were despatched with a view to taking off, if necessary, the hundreds of boys who were on board. At midnight, however, all apprehension for the safety of the vessels had been practically removed, although as the storm had by no means abated, the tugs were ordered to stand by all night in order to give any assistance that might be required.

In the meantime there was great excitement in Sutton Harbour. Between eight and nine o'clock several of the trading vessels, trawlers, and fishing craft lying at anchor began to drag, and extra warps had to be got out, and the vessels secured. The sea in the harbour was very heavy, and at one time some fear was felt for the buildings along the quay, but no damage of this nature occurred. Some of the stores along the North quay were roughly handled by the wind, the roof of the new coal store of Messrs. Hill and Co. was blown off, and a similar accident occurred to the premises in the occupation of Messrs. Vodden and Johns, but generally speaking the damage on the quays was satisfactorily light. A good deal of anxiety was expressed as to the welfare of trawlers who were known to be in the channel, and, as a subsequent chapter will show, these fears were by no means groundless. The cutter of the harbourmaster, lying in Plymouth Sound was reported to be in a sinking condition during the night, and a tug was sent to her assistance. She had four men on board, who were removed for safety, but ultimately the cutter weathered the storm, and is still afloat.

Under conditions like these the night of the ninth of March wore away in the Three Towns. To many the night was a long one, and crowded with all sorts of apprehensions. The wind, never for a moment silent, rose again and again to hurricane force, and the fine snow so swiftly covered the window panes that to look out upon the night soon became a matter of difficulty. There was no great feeling of security indoors, but to remain out for long was a matter of impossibility, and the imperfect and disconnected rumours of disaster that were disseminated created all the more alarm from the fact that they could not be investigated. Hundreds of households did not go to bed at all, while very many sat up all night because their bedrooms were in a state of hopeless confusion, or of absolute wreck. Some were without fire, through a defect having been brought about in the chimney, or through the chimney having fallen in altogether; and in those localities where the buildings were of the dilapidated or frail order the wretchedness for the night, and, indeed, for the week throughout, was very great.

Not the least serious part of the gale was the number of friends missing from the Plymouth district. Quite early there was a breakdown of the telegraph wires, which made all telegraphic communication with other parts of the country impossible, and the late arrival of many trains into the west, and the non-arrival of others, led to much anxious conjecture as to the fate of those whose appearance in Plymouth during the night had been confidently expected. The first indications of telegraphic interruption were observed as early as half-past four on Monday afternoon, when communication with Tavistock was suspended. Following this, the reports of breakdowns from all parts of the two counties became very frequent until about seven o'clock, when communication with London and all places above Plymouth ceased. Penzance, and one or two Cornish towns could be communicated with for some time longer, but soon all operations were suspended, and no messages were received at the Plymouth office after eight o'clock. As a general rule the breakdown was caused by trees falling across the wires, or by the telegraph posts having been brought bodily to the ground. As will be subsequently seen, this condition of things prevailed to a great extent, and in some cases the telegraph wires and posts got upon the railway lines and prevented the progress of the trains.

The interruption of the local train service commenced early on Monday. Trains due at North Road Station, Plymouth, between mid-day and eight o'clock in the evening were all considerably behind time, and the telegraphic and telephonic instruments being rendered useless, thus making communication with other stations impossible, the officials had an anxious period of waiting for information of belated trains. At about nine o'clock the "Jubilee," which left London at one o'clock, and should have reached North Road, Plymouth, at 7·30, came into the station. With the remarkable experiences of passengers by this, one of the last trains that reached Plymouth by either the London and South Western or Great Western lines from Monday night to Saturday, and other trains that failed to reach Plymouth at all, a subsequent chapter will deal, should space permit. A train from Tavistock, due at 8·40, did not appear until eleven o'clock, and the eight o'clock train from Launceston did not come at all. The "Alexandra," a train that left Waterloo Station at 2·40 arrived at nine o'clock, the driver stating that near Okehampton he had to drive through three feet of snow. These, however, are the trains that did arrive. There were many that did not, and in many scores of instances a member of a family was not heard of for days, although, happily, in the majority of cases, the missing one ultimately turned up with nothing worse than a severe cold and a great distaste for winter life in small Devonshire or Cornish towns.

So far the state of affairs in the Three Towns only has been dealt with, but it will be readily surmised that adjacent towns, and more especially those in the neighbourhood of Dartmoor, and the more open parts of Cornwall, suffered very considerably. Generally speaking, the damage to house property was nowhere so great as in Plymouth and Devonport. In the country districts, as a matter of course, calamities of a most serious and special character were met with, and trees were felled, sheep buried, and oxen frozen in enormous quantities,—in some instances, also, human life was sacrificed, but in none of the other larger towns was the devastation so widespread as in the Three Towns. At Exeter, the fall of snow was said to be the heaviest for years, and by reason of its suddenness, even more severe than the storm of 1881. The drifts of snow in some places were of great depth. As at Plymouth, traffic as well as business was suspended, but there were no serious mishaps, the force of the wind, though great, being evidently not so fierce as was the case further west. Railway communication between Exeter and Plymouth was of course impossible, but there were on Tuesday four trains trying to run between Exeter and Taunton. The North of England mail, which should have arrived at Exeter at half-past eight was four hours late, but it did put in an appearance. The trains of the London and South Western Railway ran to Exeter from the North just as usual, throughout the week.

At Torquay the storm was the severest experienced there for many years. There was a heavy fall of snow on the night of Monday, and on the following morning the ground was covered to the depth of a foot. A strong easterly wind was also blowing, and trees were uprooted in every part of the district. At the Recreation Grounds the roof was blown off the grand stand, and a huge tree blew across the railway at Lowes Bridge, near Torre Station. An engine of the up-train cut through this and traffic was suspended until the line was cleared by a breakdown gang on Tuesday. The trains from London and Plymouth failing to run, Torquay soon became isolated, and telegraph and telephone communication was early interfered with in consequence of the poles being blown down and the wires broken by the burden of snow. Considerable damage was done to the New Pier works by the heavy gale. Plant for moulding the concrete was washed away, as was also a portion of the masonry, while parts of the sea-wall were damaged, and a flight of stone steps leading to the sea-wall were swept completely away. Street traffic was so much impeded by the snow that on the Tuesday after the storm the Town Surveyor constructed a wooden snow-plough, and with this, drawn by two horses, the roads were cleared. All the public clocks in the town were stopped by the snow.

Tavistock was one of the towns that had the severest experiences. The barometer fell rapidly on Monday morning, and at about eleven o'clock snow began to fall; while, as the day advanced, it was accompanied by a high wind, that, towards seven o'clock in the evening, increased to a hurricane. In Tavistock, and all along the Tavy Valley, the full force of the storm was felt, large trees being uprooted, houses unroofed, and chimney-stacks blown down in every direction. One of the latter instances occurred in West Street, where the occupant, a lady, had been suffering from a serious illness. The chimney-stack being blown over, the débris fell through the roof into the bedroom where the invalid was lying. Her attendant received some cuts on the head, but the invalid escaped the falling masonry, although she received a severe shock to the system through the incident. A waggoner employed at the Phœnix Mills, Horrabridge, was returning to Tavistock from Lifton on Monday night, in charge of an empty waggon and three horses, and when within two miles of his destination, found that through the violence of the storm he was unable to continue his journey. He took the horses out of the waggon, and made an ineffectual attempt to drive them home. Failing in this the waggoner walked into Tavistock, and at about ten o'clock returned to the spot where he had left his horses. By this time the snow was so deep that the horses could not be seen, and it was necessary to leave them until the following morning. Eventually they were dug out, and driven home, not much the worse, to all appearance, for their night in the snow. Tavistock being an important market town, and the centre of a large district, experienced great inconvenience through the interruption in railway traffic, and the impassable state of the roads. Wednesday, March 11th, was the monthly cattle fair day, but not a single animal was brought in. At the Fitzford Church the window was blown in. Like many other towns in the Dartmoor vicinity, Tavistock received more than one disastrous visitation during this memorable week, and its record of lost sheep and cattle, to which more extended reference will be made further on, is a very serious one.