The Devastating Storm That Claimed Thousands of Lives

A deadly storm is recorded in English history. The storm, which occurred in 1703, killed thousands of people.

According to the Royal Meteorological Society, it began battering the coast at The Downs on 24 November 1703 and did not abate until 2 December. At its peak, wind speeds reached 120 mph.

An estimated 8,000 people lost their lives. The Royal Navy suffered the heaviest losses, with 13 ships destroyed and more than 1,500 sailors drowned.

The disaster was caused by an extreme, high-speed windstorm. At the time, it was generally seen as an “Act of God” punishing the nation for its sins, prompting the government to designate 19 January 1704 as a national day of fasting.

The storm damaged all 120 church steeples in London. It tore the lead roof off Westminster Abbey and felled 4,000 trees in the New Forest.

A historical eyewitness account

The storm was recorded by a sailor named Thomas Atkins, who was 15 at the time and serving aboard the warship HMS Mary.

He saw the storm’s extraordinary force, which destroyed English warships in the waters off The Downs.

Atkins was the sole survivor of the HMS Mary after living through two shipwrecks in a single night. He swam to HMS Stirling Castle, which had also been driven on to a sandbank but had not yet sunk completely.

The death toll was high partly because most sailors at the time could not swim, and many crew members drowned as soon as their ships broke apart.

The storm at sea crippled ships’ handling, damaged masts, dragged anchors and drove warships on to dangerous shallow sandbanks.

A lack of adequate food had left many sailors ill and exhausted before the storm struck, leaving them without the strength to control their ships.