The Great Gale Of Mid-October 1881

[Weather-history]

This was a nasty storm which zipped across the Border regions of the UK on the 14th October 1881

Some reports

Strathfield Turgiss: Considerable damage done to trees, houses and agricultural buildings

Banbury: A factory blown down near the railway station, many hundred trees uprooted or broken

Culford: Considerable damage to trees

Cossey: A hurricane on the 14th, many trees blown down or broken

Circencester: Many trees blown down, unthatching ricks in all directions.

Woolstaston: A most destructive hurricane on the 14th, many large trees blown down.

Boston: An immense number of trees destroyed. 977mb at 11am

There was a great loss of life and shipping in the North Sea.

35 trees were blown down in Greenwich Park.

[Coast]

The Eyemouth disaster was a severe European windstorm that struck the southern coast of Scotland, specifically Berwickshire, on 14 October 1881. 189 fishermen died; most of them were from the village of Eyemouth. Many citizens of Eyemouth call the day Black Friday.

wikipedia.org

This, Scotland's worst ever fishing disaster, devestates what was until today, a prosperous East coast fishing village as well as claiming numerous ships off Ireland. 'I went to sea, taking three Fishermen with me ... One of them poor fellow, had lost three brothers, even now I an hardly, get his sad, wistful look out of my mind, ever scanning the face of the sea, with an eager, yearning look. Alas! All in vain ... the terrible state of distress at Eyemouth baffles description. In one block of 12 houses there are eight widows to say nothing of the orphans reports a letter to The Times 'Black Friday', as it becomes known claims 129 men from Eyemouth that day which was roughly half the male adult population of the town. 45 boats went out to sea but sadly only 26 returned. 73 women lost their husbands and 263 children lost their father.

Many drown 50 yards of the harbour, under the eyes of their families, prompting calls for non-tidal 'harbours of refuge along the coast.

List of those who perished

ERECTED

BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION

TO

THE MEMORY OF

189 EAST COAST FISHERMEN

OF WHICH

129 BELONGED TO EYEMOUTH

WHO PERISHED AT SEA

ON 14TH OCTOBER 1881

WHEN THOU PASSEST THROUGH THE WATERS

I WILL BE WITH THEE

[Jo Farrow]

"These sculptures located at Cove (1), Burnmouth and St Abbs (2), commemorate the widows and bairns left behind by the great storm of October 14th 1881. Scotland suffered her worst fishing disaster and the Berwickshire ports lost a total of 189 men, many within sight of their loved ones. The Euroclydon left 107 widows and 351 fatherless children in our coastal villages. Research has uncovered that there were actually many more children, but they were not recorded with the Church of Scotland at the time."

https://www.visitberwickshirecoast.co.uk/listings/1881-fishing-disaster-memorials/

https://eyemouthmuseum.co.uk/the-museum/the-eyemouth-tapestry/

Edited August 31, 2021 by Jo Farrow
eyemotuh link

[Jo Farrow]

Fishing Disaster - Eyemouth Museum

EYEMOUTHMUSEUM.CO.UK

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Fishing Disaster ‘Black Friday’ The following version of the story of 'Black Friday' has been taken from Will Collin's, "Please take a cord", arranged by Rennie Weatherhead: "In the autumn of 1881, Eyemouth was the...

Fishing Disaster ‘Black Friday’ - last chance that week to go out, didn't work weekends

The following version of the story of ‘Black Friday’ has been taken from Will Collin’s, “Please take a cord”, arranged by Rennie Weatherhead:

“In the autumn of 1881, Eyemouth was the homeport for 55 fishing boats.  Seven were at the herring fishing at Yarmouth; the other 48 were line fishing from Eyemouth.  October 1881 had brought a spell of particularly bad weather and by Friday 14th, the Eyemouth fleet had been kept in harbour for a whole week.  On the Friday morning, the men gathered as usual to assess the weather and the likelihood of a day’s fishing at last.  During the night a gale from the east-southeast had finally fallen away about 5am.  The morning had dawned calm and clear although the weatherglass or barometer was abnormally low.  The older fisherman cautioned against putting to sea, but the younger men were impatient – bait was getting stale and families had to be fed.  Those with money tied up in boats and gear had loans to repay.”

“By 7.30am the first of the boats put to sea and one by one the other followed; those with reservations, unwilling to be thought of as ‘feart’.  Little did they know that a storm had already broken farther south…”

“The fishing fleet from Eyemouth sailed for just over three hours, a distance of some eight or nine miles and the first arrivals at the fishing grounds were shooting their lines when, as a St. Abbs woman wrote to a friend at the time, “a horrible sort of stillness fell over everything”.  The light wind died away and the sky darkened with storm clouds.”

“The suddenness of such a storm would catch some by surprise, but many responded with the automatic reactions of generations of experience at sea.  There was no time to haul lines already shot and they were let go.  The boats’ heads were brought round in to the wind and sails reefed.  Decisions were made whether to run for Eyemouth or weather the storm at sea.”

“Ashore, crowds of people gathered on the sea front and on the brae heads.  The school was closed and the children joined the others, straining to see through the driving spray and lashing rain.”

…you can hear the rest of the story of ‘Black Friday’ when you visit Eyemouth Museum and buy your copy of “Please take a cord”, for sale in the gift shop.

[LetItSnow!]

The chart for this day shows an exceptionally deep low in the North Sea with incredibly tightly packed isobars bringing down exceptionally strong NNW winds. Would have been excruciating out there, cold too. Oct. 1881 was an exceptionally cold month with a C.E.T. of 7.3, 2.4 degrees below the then-current average and 3.6 degrees below the 1991-2020 average

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