1804 — Oct 9, “Winter” Storm (“Hurricane”), New England, especially coast of MA — >32

—      >32  Blanchard estimate based on locality breakouts below.

—        17  Snow. Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. 1943, p. 94.

—      >16  Harris. “The Great Snow Hurricane of October 9, 1804.” Historic Ipswich. 10-9-2015

—        10  Snow. Marine Mysteries and Dramatic Disasters of New England.  1996, p. 179.

–Several. Hobart. History of the Town of Abington, Plymouth County, Mass.. 1866, p. 259.

 

Massachusetts            (>30)

—  1  Boston. Part of new building falls onto roof of Ebenezer Eaton home, crushing the bldg.[1]

—  3  Boston Harbor. “several persons” lost their lives.[2] (We translate “several” into “3.”)

–2  Men “cast into the water from a boat that upset at May’s wharf, and drowned…”[3]

–1  Lad trying “to keep a sloop free of water near Four Point channel…drowned.”[4]

—>3  Cape Cod (“back” of).Schooner John Harris of Salem “was lost with all on board.”[5]

—  1  Cape Cod. Ship Protector grounds so. of Cape Cod Light, one man lost. (Snow 1943, 94.)

—  1  Cohasset. Captain Gardner of Hannah swept off the deck and drowned. (Snow 1943, p. 94.)

—  1  Gloucester. Sloop founders, female passenger drowns.[6]

—  3  Gloucester harbor.[7]

—  7  Ipswich. Schooner Dove “wrecked on Ipswich Bar, all seven on board perishing.” ([8]

—  4  Newburyport.  Harris. “The Great Snow Hurricane of October 9, 1804.” 10-9-2015.[9]

—  3  Plymouth. Body of “a mariner” found on the beach and “those of two others in a wreck.”[10]

—>3  Vineyard Sound.[11] Sloop “upset” “all hands perished.” [We assume “at least” 3 lives.][12]

 

New Hampshire         (    2)

–1  Rye Beach. Vessel “lost on Rye beach…and a woman…passenger…found dead…”[13]

–1  Rye area. Schooner Amity wrecks; passenger named Schroeder drowns. Perley 1891, p. 172.

 

Narrative Information

 

Colonial Sense: “….The shipping was also very much injured by the wind all along the coast from Rye, N. H., to Newport, R. I. Many vessels in the harbors dragged their anchors or broke their cables, and dashed against each other or the wharves, or were driven upon lee-shores and wrecked. The lives of many seamen were lost….Vessels were driven out to sea from Marblehead, Manchester and other places and lost.”[14] (Colonial Sense. New England Weather. “1804 Storm of October.”)

 

Hobart: “There have been other losses in town [Abington, MA]…occasioned by two severe tornadoes or hurricanes. The first occurred October 9, 1804, and was very destructive. The wind was north-east; and it commenced blowing very hard in the afternoon. The height of the gale was in the forepart of the night; and being in the night, made it much more terrific. It began to abate after midnight; but few went to bed that night. The tornado was very disastrous to the ole heavy forests, to the pine and oak timber lots — especially to those which were most valuable for ship-building. This loss never has been, and cannot be made up. Ship-building declined after this calamity, and after another tornado, about ten years later, entirely ceased to be carried on — scarcely anything having been done in this business for over fifty years. Previously it had been extensively carried on, in this neighborhood, and had been very profitable to this town. Many mouldering remains of these once stately forests are still to be seen decaying before they could be made use of. The gale was very destructive to fruit and ornamental trees; it unroofed houses and barns, prostrated fences, chimney-tops, and everything it its way. The shipping interest suffered most severely. In harbors, bays and inlets the moorings of vessels and boats gave way, and they were dashed against each other, and brought up on a lee shore, complete wrecks. Some lives were lost in these disasters. The storm extended not only a long distance on the Atlantic coast, but also far into the interior.” (Hobart. History of the Town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts. 1866, p. 259.)

 

Perley: “At about nine o’clock in the morning of Tuesday, October 9, 1804, the temperature fell very suddenly, and a storm of rain and snow, accompanied by thunder and lightning, began….People sat up all that night, fearing to retire lest their houses would blow down. Wednesday morning revealed the streets in towns encumbered with sections of fence, whole or parts of trees, and many other things that the wind could carry away; and the country roads were everywhere obstructed with fallen trees….

 

“It was the earliest snow storm that the people of eastern Massachusetts had experienced for fifty years; and ‘the oldest inhabitant; did [end of p. 168] not remember so violent a storm occurring there before…. [p. 169]

 

[In Boston] “At the western part of the city, the wind blew the battlements from a new building upon the roof of an adjoining house, which was occupied by Ebenezer Eaton. Shortly before, a neighbor noticed that the battlements were giving away, and directed the attention of Mr. Eaton to it. He accordingly took his wife and children, and went to a safer place. A few minutes later the battlements fell and demolished the house, burying in its ruins the four persons who remained in it. These were a servant woman, named Bennett, who was killed, and another woman, a man and a boy, who were seriously injured….

 

“The shipping was also very much injured by the wind all along the coast from Rye, N.H., to Newport, R.I. Many vessels in the harbors dragged their anchors or broke their cables, and dashed against [end  of p. 170] each other or the wharves, or were driven upon lee-shores and wrecked. The lives of many seamen were lost.

 

“In Vineyard sound a sloop was upset, and all hands perished, and on the back of Cape Cod the Schooner John Harris of Salem was lost with all on board. Five miles south of Cape Cod lighthouse, the ship Protector, of about five hundred toms burden, while on a trip from Boston to Lima, ran on the outer bar, about two hundred yards from the beach. This was a large vessel for those times, and was quite attractive, having yellow sides and a white figure-head. She went ashore stern first. Hoer bowsprit remained for some time, but the quarter deck, a part of the stern and the anchor on the larboard bow, with the boat, sails and rigging were soon washed away, some of the wreckage coming ashore. Of her cargo, which was worth a hundred thousand dollars, a considerable part was saved. One man was lost.

 

“Several vessels were driven ashore at Plymouth, and the dead body of a mariner was found on the beach and those of two others in a wreck. Vessels were driven out to sea from Marblehead, Manchester and other places and lost….

 

“The sloops Hannah of North Yarmouth, Capt. Joshua Gardner, master, and Mary of New Bedford, which was commanded by Captain Sanson, drifted together out of the harbor at Cape Ann, and were driven on shore at Cohasset at about the same time. The Hannah struck on a ledge some distance from the shore on Wednesday noon at twelve o’clock, and the first sea that swept the deck carried off the master, who was drowned. Two of the men lashed themselves to the boom, and remained on deck about two hours, until the vessel went to pieces, when the boom with the men still lashed to it washed ashore. Several of the citizens of Cohasset saw the men plunging in the surf, and came to their assistance, saving them when they were nearly exhausted. The people on board the Mary were all saved, and the vessel was afterward gotten off. Three other vessels came ashore at Cohasset and were wrecked.

 

“At Boston, many vessels in the harbor were damaged by being forced by the wind violently against the wharves…. [p. 171] Several men were drowned there during the gale, two being cast into the water from a boat that upset at May’s wharf, and drowned before they could be rescued. A lad was endeavoring to keep a sloop free of water near Four Point channel, but his efforts proved unsuccessful. When the vessel was sinking he clasped a plank, but was soon washed off and drowned….

 

“Near Fresh Water cove in Gloucester, a sloop belonging in Kennebunk, laden with rum, was lost. The master and crew were saved, but a lady passenger perished….Four or five vessels were driven out of the harbor, some of them being lost, with their crews….

 

“The schooner Dove, of Kittery, was wrecked on Ipswich bar, and all of the seven persons on board perished. An eastern vessel was lost on Rye beach, in New Hampshire, and a woman, who was a passenger in it, was found dead on the sand, with an infant clasped in her arms. Near Rye was also wrecked the schooner Amity, from Philadelphia, commanded by Captain Trefethern. All the people on board were saved, except a passenger named Charles Schroeder, of Philadelphia, who was drowned.” [end of p. 172 and of chapter] (Perley, Sidney. Historic Storms of New England. Salem, MA: The Salem Press Publishing and Printing Co., 1891.)

 

Sources

 

Colonial Sense. “1804 Storm of October.” New England Weather. Accessed 10-26-2017 at: http://www.colonialsense.com/Society-Lifestyle/Signs_of_the_Times/New_England_Weather/1804_Storm.php

 

Harris, Gordon. “The Great Snow Hurricane of October 9, 1804.” Historic Ipswich. 10-9-2015. Accessed 10-26-2017 at: https://historicipswich.org/2015/10/09/the-great-snow-hurricane-of-1804/

 

Hobart, Benjamin. History of the Town of Abington, Plymouth County, Massachusetts, From Its First Settlement. Boston: T. H. Carter and Son, 1866. Google digitized. Accessed 10-26-2017 at: https://ia902708.us.archive.org/3/items/historyoftownofa00hoba/historyoftownofa00hoba.pdf

 

Ludlum, David M. Early American Winters 1604-1820. Boston: American Meteorological Society, 1966.

 

Perley, Sidney. Historic Storms of New England. Salem, MA: The Salem Press Publishing and Printing Co., 1891. Google digital preview accessed 10-26-2017 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=Z2kAAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Snow, Edward Rowe. Marine Mysteries and Dramatic Disasters of New England. NY: Dodd, Mead, 1976.

 

Snow, Edward Rowe. Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. Boston: Yankee Pub. Co., 1943.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[1] “In Boston, the wind blew the battlements from a new building upon the roof of a residence occupied by Ebenezer Eaton, who had left the house with his wife just in time. Four others were crushed in the ruins, one dying later.” (Snow. Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. 1943, p. 94.) [Blanchard note: This could be read to mean that four people who were “crushed” died at the time and one other person died later. Or, it could be that the four “crushed” were just injured, and one of their number died later. To be conservative we take the latter meaning.]

[2] “Shipping in the harbor [Boston] suffered considerably, with several persons losing their lives.” (Snow. Storms and Shipwrecks of New England. 1943, p. 94.)

[3] Colonial Sense. New England Weather. “1804 Storm of October.”

[4] Colonial Sense. New England Weather. “1804 Storm of October.”

[5] Colonial Sense. New England Weather. “1804 Storm of October.” (We assume at least 3 lives were lost.)

[6] Harris, Gordon. “The Great Snow Hurricane of October 9, 1804.” Historic Ipswich (website). 10-9-2015.

[7] “Four of five vessels were driven out of the Gloucester harbor, some of them being lost with their crews.” (Harris. “The Great Snow Hurricane of October 9, 1804.” Historic Ipswich. 10-9-2015) [Not knowing the number of vessels lost, nor their complement, we speculate at least 3 lives lost.]

[8] Snow 1943, p. 94. Also: Harris. “The Great Snow Hurricane of October 9, 1804.” Historic Ipswich. 10-9-2015.

[9] “At Newburyport…four or five others [vessels] were driven out of the harbor, apparently lost with their crews.” Not knowing the size of the crews, or if in fact there was loss of life, we speculate 4 lives lost.

[10] Colonial Sense. New England Weather. “1804 Storm of October.”

[11] Vineyard Sound is between Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard.

[12] Colonial Sense. New England Weather. “1804 Storm of October.” [Article based on Sidney Perley’s Historic Storms of New England. 1891.]

[13] Perley, p. 172. It is noted that “an infant [was] clasped in her arms,” but it is not said whether alive or dead. Also: Harris, Gordon. “The Great Snow Hurricane of October 9, 1804.” Historic Ipswich (website). 10-9-2015.

[14] This article is based on: Perley, Sidney. Historic Storms of New England. 1891.