The Storm

This is an account by Defoe of a week long storm that hit London on the 24th November 1703. Defoe advertised in Newspapers for personal accounts of the storm and these extraordinary and revealing accounts are included in this book, One fifth of the fleet was destroyed at Portsmouth, some of the other accounts are as follows-One Rev. James King of London told of a chimney that crashed through a house and buried a maid who was thought crushed dead, but then appeared the next morning from the rubble unharmed. Thomas Powell, a shopkeeper in Deal, paid five shillings each to rescue sailors stranded on a sand bar, Defoe credited him with saving 200 lives. Defoe recounts another story of the captain of a ship who committed suicide rather than drown, only to have his ship rescued but too late for him. A fascinating book.