TERRIBLE NIGHT.
Thousands Killed and tens of
Thousands Homeless.
26
sre
ENORMOUS TYPHOON west, whereas it had previously been She was uppuryj ithe wor DAMAGE AT SWATOW. blowing from north-west and of an
some thirty feet. The pole onlooker fag. the distance, is 20 feet above the ground. Dortherly direction. It was evidentsitting on the nud two cables Whole districts of the town THE CHINESE TOWN IN RUINS, that the margin of the typhoon, lengths from the Point."
which had been circling from
Later infutterly impassable, for rows ut the day it was seen that the Lokhouses have been reduced to rub- VIVID DESCRIPTION OF A northerly direction, had passed over Sang was able to get clear of l'atauble which fills what was once the
Swatow, and the opposite margin Point. The Tangshing a the street. which, like the rim of a wheel, was Shantung were anchored, wh the buildings which have escaped damn-1 It is easier to pick out the noving in the contrary direction as storm began, in the Typhoon Anchorage than to enumerate those that the centre of the typhoon revolved, age off Double Island, which is just have been destroyed. One that has was now passing over Swatow. Pre-inside the river mouth four miles escuped is the new Chiness Post Hongkong, Hug. 7, viously the full force of the wind from Swatow. When seen on the Office. It is now clear that the typhoon had been felt by the European morning after the stormn, they were built native houses, behind the Whole districts of poorly which struck Swatow on Wednesday Settlement, opposite Swatow; now both ashore in the south-west corner Bund, have night was one of the worst that have the native town was to get the full of Mud Bay, having apparently ground.
been mized to the occurred in these seas for several force of the storm. With squalls dragged auchor a distance of three years and perhaps the worst visita-increasing in duration, and shorter miles. These vessels were to leave wreckage dead
Everywhere, from amongst the tion that Swatow has had, even in intervals between them, the wind port
bodies protrude. the Wednesday afternoon Hourly the stench increases and
TOWN.
her unenviable experience of typ-'rapidly rose again to typhoon force and when the typhoon warning was even the natives walk about now hoons. The very centre of the and probably reached its greatest received they put into Double Is with typhoon passed over the town, a violence at 2 30 a.m. The typhoon land for safety.
handkerchiefs ROTORS their great part of which is now in ruins, was then twice as bad as it had ever looked over the waters of the har-has displayed great promptitude in Everywhere one noses. The Chinese administration The full story of the calamity did been before the interval of calin. bour were to be seen wrecks not reach Hongkong until Saturday THE WORST FORTY MINUTES. junks and sampans, some Boating sand bodies were collected on the of disposing of the dead." Over a thou- morning, with the return the B. From 2.80 to 3,10 a.m. the typ-upside down. There & S. steamer, Kweichow, to this hoon was at its greatest violence: dead bodies in
were many first day after the disaster and taken the water port. The Government, on learning this was also the experience of those wreckage of every description. Look the temples. Disposal of the car- and to a place in the vicinity of one of the extent of the devastation, called ashore. The wind blew with terrific ing towards the shore junks were to cases of animals is an equally urgent a special meeting of the Legislative force and without a moment's lull, be seen high and dry on the mud and probably a larger tasks. Actuat Council and voted $10,000 towards howling and screaming and accom and masts and wreckage strewn all ed by sentiments of veneration for meeting immediate necessities, also panied by deluges of rain. It was round them. ordering 50 tons of rice and other impossible to walk even on the more TREMENDOUS HAVOC IN THE be far more speedy in removing dead the dead the Chinese are likely to supplies to be sent at once to sheltered parts of the ship, the Swatow, consigned to the British officers had to crawl when it was
bodies of their fellow countrymen A survey through telescopes direct-then carcases of animals. Consul there.
necessary to move about the vessel.ed towards the town enabled the ON THE “KWEICHOW.” and, of course, it was necessary to tremendous havoc that had been
There were four European pas- The 6.5. Kweichow reached make sure that ng one on a special done to be seen.
sengers On the Kweichow, Mrs. Swatow on the afternoon of Wednes-post-watching anchor cables, for was a dreadful sight. Over a mile Thomas and Mr. M. H. Turner, all The fore shore Hinton, Mrs. Greig, Dr. W. L day, August 2nd, having steamed all instance was not swept overboard. or more along the Bund, junks, pon-of Hongkong. The officers of the day through heavy seas and in rough During the forty minutes of the toons and rubble of masonry were ship are full of praises for the cool- weather. The falling of the barome-typhoon's utmost severity the ship inextricably mingled and ter and the absence of native craft listed heavily to port and trombled inspection showed that there were When the lull occurred the ladies B closer ness of the ladies in n trying ordeal.; indicated the nearness of a typhoon. violently from stem to stern. As it many dead-both men and animals went On reaching the berth at Swatow appeared afterwards that the ship-amongst the heterogeneous mass through what proved to be the worst to their cabins and slept the steamer commenced discharging had not run aground, it is believed which completely covered the Bund of the typhoon. Ir. Thomas and cargo at four o'clock and soon after that the list was caused by the and foreshore, over a width of 30 Mr. Turner were on shore for the wards a warning was received that passing of the tidal wave which fol-yards and for the extent of at least night; they were visiting at a Euro- the typhoon was in the position 22 lows in the wake of a typhoon, the mile. North and 117 East. From the water being sucked up into the It is impossible to walk along the night. The house had double sets pean resident's and passed a trying direction in which it was travelling vortex at the centre. (It was at Water Front for the Bund is packed of typhoon shutters,-outside it was evident that the typhoon was this time that a tidal wave passed solid with wreckage which extends in. Several on the outside and heading straight for Swatow. over the Bund.) The wind was from the walls of damaged houses torn from their fastenings and once
Captain Lovegrove deomed it literally screaming and the rain fell to the foreshore. advisable to leave the berth-Messrs. in blinding walls of water. 1t was Butterfield & Swire's steamers at impossible to get one's breath when loaded and unloaded at Swatow did lifted on account of the air pressure, The pontoons from which cargo is inwards so that the roof of the house a pair of the inside ones were driven
Swatow deal with cargo from pon-facing the wind and rain. At 3.20 toons connected to the Bund by steel e.m. the squalls gradually decreased done on the Bund. The pontoons their force on the shutters and man- a great deal to increase the damage from below. Everyone concentrated bridges. At 6.80 p.m. the steamer in duration with longer intervals be made for the fairway and anchored. twoen and, as the night wore on, the the heavy seas and large timbers descended again with
were broken up by the violence of nged to close them. The roof then By eight o'clock a strong wind weather moderated. The Barometer evidently flouted to and from during After this it seemed as though the loud clap.. was blowing and the weather was began to register again at 2.40 m very thick and overcast. As the when it came on to the marked por upon junks and houses. Many of withstood the strain until the storm| the atorin, acting like battering rams roof must be torn off bodily but it wind increased, the master veered tion of the dial and showed 28 in these timbers are now some distance was over. the ship for safety and let go the ches. From that point it gradually from the water edge jammed into second anchor. At 10.30 p. m. the rose, and, as Mr. Mandell, the sec-solid masses five or six fest high of the town next morning, and Photographs taken by the visitors wind increased to typhoon force and ond officer, expressed it, "came back A new mooring buoy which was on developed in Hongkong vesterday, was accompanied by heavy deluges to sanity." of rain. For the next two hours As day broke it was possible to place an old one, is now 200 yards say that it is easier to
the edge of the Bund ready to re-show that it is no exaggeration to squalls of terrific violence severely look mund the ship and see what away, up a side street. tested the vessel and the tremendous damage had been done. The vessel and other small craft are far inland; which are demolished, rain continued and increased. Aboutli had been wonderfully fortunate. their owners in some cases, have photograph shows a one smmall this time the barometer became Most of the canvass dodgers (wind traced them and have now resumed damaged, but standing, and unreadable; 28.40 is the typhoon screens) had been torn away and existence in them, as though they rounded by what looks like heaps of rending and the needle went far one had a great piece torn out of its expected another tidal wave to bear spilikins"; these are the remains below this point, wavering over the centre, although it was of substantial them out to sea again. unmarked part of the dial.
canvas. The wooden portion at the
of scores of houses. One observer IN THE CENTRE OF THE hack of the bridge had been torn house,
occupants of a European declared that the town reminded away by the wind, and both sides terrible night in which the roof after its numberless bombardments. after passing through a him of nothing so much as of Ypres Suddenly, 12.30 a.m., the wind had been blown in. fell light and blew like a gentle during the night, it may be men-out in the morning to see a casualties can only be given very At one time partially torn off the house, lod Estimates of the number of summer breeze. After the deafening tioned, the officers on the bridge bont in the garden. noise of the rain and gale the con-were conscious of a
The house is approximately. dark object
TYPHOON.
The
were
count the
Sampans houses that are standing than these
trast was eerie; one could bear once passing over their heads and they WHOLE DISTRICTS RAZED TO probably about 5,000
mile from the sea.
stona house,
one WAR inclined
sur-
to
First impressions, on Thursday morning, were that more the lesser sounds such as the believe it was a piece of wreckage
THE GROUND.
were killed lapping of the waves against the borne by the wind from another
but when the outlying portions of ship. It was quiet and still, making vessel or from the shore. By 5.30 godown has been severely damaged. extent of the disaster more fully Messrs Butterfield & Swire's the town had been visited and the it seem as though the storm of the a.m. the wind had dropped to the The Club roof has been blown off visualised last four hours was nothing but a force of a moderate gale and con- and now only the walls are stand-double the first figure mentioned. terrible, dream. During this time tinued with squalls of moderating ing. Garden walls have been dashod the wind veered suddenly from force accompanied by rain. down and even new concrete walls and workless it is feared that at- With so many people homeless north, through east to east-south- HOW OTHER SHIPS FARED. east.
Those on board who had pre-
which look strong enough to have tempts at looting in strong force Now it was possible to see how afforded shelter from the storm-will be made upon the ships Iving on vious experience of typhoons realised other ships in the harbour bal fared. have been overturned and smashed the mud at various points. Looting that they were now ID the very None of their lights had been visible by the force of the wind. centre of the great vortex of air all night. Aground, half-a-mile in-every tree has been uprooted and day and Chinese soldiers are patrol- Almost in the town occurred during Thurs esused by the typhoon.
side Flower Island. WAS The strange alm continued for Ming, a Chinese owned, Japanese- down. One pole was lifted right out damaged the waterworks that the
the Wa most of the telegraph poles blown ling the streets. The storm exactly one hour and five minutes. officered steamer. At 1.40 p.m. the wind commenced Matheson & Co.'s Lok Sang was wires of a parallel row of poles opt night it is in utter darkness for Messrs. Jordine, of the ground and thrown across the town is without a supply of water. to freshen from the south-south- on the fishing stakes off Tatau Point. the other side of the street, a dithe electricity supply station
destroyed.
SO
was
S.S. "CHOYSANG" ASHORE.
FOURTEEN MILES NORTH OF SWATOW.
It is to be feared that the full tale of shiping losses by the typhoon has still to be told. News was received, yesterday by Messrs. Jardine. Matheson & Co. that another of their vessels, the Choyaang, encountered the typhoon when north of Swatow, and was driven on to Fort Island. The Chosung (master, Capt. H. G. M. Walker, one of the most experi enced mariners on the China Coast) left Hongkong for Shanghai via Ningpo, on Tuesday evening. anchored on Wednesday night in the Clipper Roads to take shelter from the storm but she lost her anchors and was driven ashore at Fort Island.
"BADLY DAMAGED."
She
The Henry Keswick tug bad adready visited the Choysang when the message was received and she reported that the vessel was badly damaged. Yesterday morning, by courtesy of the naval authorities, H.M.S. Magnolia went to the assist- ance of the Chayang and would! reach her at or before daybreak to day. The Magnolia was in dry dock at the Naval Yard but when it was found she was needed she was hastily refloated and went to her mooring at 7.80 am.. yesterday. When leaving Hongkong she ne cidentally rammed a junk, but she herself received no damage and pro- eeeded northward.-Hongkong Daily 1Press.
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