At first I found this tiresome and then I found it entrancing in the meditative repetition of its losses. Credible tales are all averred against inevitable doubt. Innumerable losses will nevertheless be enumerated. The lead of ceilings rolled up like paper; trees snapped and laid down and torn up with roots larger than a man’s torso. Deliverance. Death. Barns blown quite down, quite down, chimneys down, the cost of tiles is now quite impossible to afford.
Your dedicated servant,

I love this book but I would not necessarily recommend it to everyone. If, however, you like eighteenth-century disaster stories, particularly with a lot of death, then this book is for you!

The Editor of this Book has labour’d under some Difficulties in this Account: and one of the chief has been, how to avoid too many Particulars, the Crowds of Relations which he has been oblig’d to lay by to bring the Story into a Compass tolerable to the Reader.(179)

Viz.,
A Quantitative/Numerological Analysis
Of Whatever TF This Book Is S'posed To Be:

# of occurrences of the word Storm: 454
# of occurrences of the word Wind: 350
# of occurrences of the word Blow : 317
# of occurrences of the word Sea : 227
# of occurrences of the word Violent/ce: 116
# of occurrences of the word n  n    Tempest: 88n  n

# of occurrences of the word Ship : 250
# of occurrences of the word Church : 168
# of occurrences of the word Tree : 143
# of occurrences of the word Bed : 78

# of occurrences of the word Chimney: 76
# of occurrences of the word n  n    Window : 66n  n
# of occurrences of the word Roof : 65
# of occurrences of the word Barn : 64
# of occurrences of the word Tile: 47

# of occurrences of the word Kill(ed): 55
# of occurrences of the word Hurt : 34
# of occurrences of the word Dead : 20
# of occurrences of the word Die : 16
# of occurrences of the word Maim('d) : 11


# of occurrences of the word n  n    Judgement : 66n  n
# of occurrences of the word Providence: 43
# of occurrences of the word Punish(ment): 21
# of occurrences of the word Deliverance: 21
# of occurrences of the word Repent(ance) : n  n    14n  n
# of occurrences of the word Mercy: n  n    14n  n

And yes, Virginia, there is indeed an Augustinian or neo-Platonic or whatever one-to-one correspondence dealio going on here, on earth as it is in heaven—there is Providence in the fall of a sparrow, and a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will:

In publick Callamities, every Circumstance is a Sermon, and every thing we see a Preacher.
—The Lay-Man’s Sermon upon the Late Storm, 1704 (p.186)

No, 1703 was not a very good year (kinda like 2020, unless I too am falling foul of the analogical disease!), with Defoe spending time in Newgate and then the Pillory and poor Olivia Coleman becoming queen and the war with France not going well and the newly-ascendant Tories more intent upon having the shortest way with the dissenters like Mr. D than bringing peace and prosperity to the nation and to Europe...surely some Reveleation was/is at hand?

n   When ever our rulers think fit to see it, and to employ the Men and the Methods which Heaven approves, then we may expect success from abroad, Peace at home, prosperity in Trade, Victory in War, plenty in the Field, Mild and Comfortable Seasons, Calm Air, Smooth Seas, and safe Habitations.

Till then we are to expect our Houses Blown down, our Pallaces Shatter’d, our Voyages broken, our Navys Shipwreck’d, our Saylors Drown’d, our Confedrates Beaten, our Trade ruin’d, our Money spent and our Enemies encreased.n

Yes, I feel it too, some n  n    window of judgementn  n hast open'd,
As some n  rough beastn, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem, PA to be born(!)(?)

A fantastic book. It was heart wrenching the testimonies of those on board sea vessels. Reading all the letters stating the effects of the storm, really gives you a taste of what nature can do. Many believing it was punishment for the sins of the many. Yet also praising god for making the tempest not as bad as he could have. I am not religious, but in those days without tv or media, these once in a lifetime (or two) events, with little knowledge of weather occurring worldwide (Or similar disasters), They needed help and guidance to help them through these terrible times. Also its reading real life natural disasters that you have to realise, that if it happened once in a blue moon, it can surely happen again. For me it means heeding warning. Yes it may not happen, but the events unfolding, if not veering off current track, can easily become another catastrophe.

An obvious classic, and one under appreciated by today's literary public.

3.5 out of 5

A boring tale of conformity that so lacks style

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42234

The Great Storm of 1703 was significant not only because of its freakish nature, taking place on the verge of winter in the North Atlantic, and the tremendous damage it wrought to English shipping and trade, but to the fact that it likely spawned the whole industry of mass media.

Because of strict printing laws, only one newspaper, the Oxford Gazette of London, officially existed in 1703. One could find pamphlets, mostly of a political nature, circulating throughout the British Isles but, other than the Crown's Gazette, media was non-existent.

The year before, England's Queen Anne started a war with France and Spain in what was known as the War of Spanish Succession because England challenged French influence in the selection of the new Spanish monarch. The war was waging on the mainland when the unpredicted storm struck England on a northwest to southeast course destroying England's civilian and military fleet.

Recently paroled Daniel Defoe had spent some time in a London pillory being pelted with garbage and excrement for his pamphleteering a cause unpopular with the crown until released by Sir Robert Harley, reputed to be the Crown's chief spymaster. He was looking to find a new means of income when The Storm struck. Owing to Its nationwide inpact, Defoe had placed ads in the Gazette within a week of the event, soliciting stories from people throughout England with the intention of publishing a comprehensive and permanent record of the event.

Almost immediately, correspondences flooded his post box and, for the next few months, he grouped them geographically to give a sense of the scope of the damage. Rather than just taking the data and putting it in his own words, he transcribed the letters, some wholly intact, some edited for length, which each report credited to the correspondent except those begging anonymity. Interestingly, Defoe also received quite a few ribald and phony missives as well, which he left out, but demonstrating that trolls and fake news have been a reality since journalism was first conceived.

Within a few months, Defoe produced and edited his work with trade publisher John Nutt of England, releasing The Storm by mid-1704. While not a blockbuster, it sold respectably, particularly among the middle class and literate tradesmen of England who would find themselves reading long passages to the illiterate masses. This put Defoe in the public sphere and helped shape his writing approach. On one hand, he launched his own newspaper, The Review, which was a scalding critique against France and reputed to be covertly supported by Queen Anne through her spymaster Harley. On the other, he started a literary career, popularizing the English novel often based on real historic events and people.

The lesser discussed but no less profound affect that The Storm had, both the event and the book, was on America itself. Boston was the primary port of entry of the American colonies and devastated as so many American and America-bound ships were destroyed by The Storm. Hundreds of ships were either sunk, swept to sea, or piled up like cordwood in English ports with over 1,000 sailors among the over 8,000 killed.

With England at war, her Navy devasted by the hurricane, and her merchant fleet being pressed into privateering service both at home and in the colonies, it would take decades for the maritime trade to get back to normal.

But information from England dribbled in as ships not destroyed but The Storm were able to pass along what information they knew. The center of the information pipeline was via Boston Portmaster and Postmaster John Campbell, who was always the first person arriving sea captains engaged. Shortly after the time that The Storm was published and had likely made its way to America's principle port, John Campbell launched the Boston News-Letter, the first colonial newspaper. For, while America's first printing press was installed in 1638 at Harvard College, no one had yet found information of note worthy to be gathered and distributed. The Storm, and likely Defoe, changed that.

I first skimmed The Storm about 15 years ago as research for Thatcher. I never delved as completely as this time, thus not understanding the scope and significance of Defoe's work. As such, I did not fully appreciate the profound affect he had in shaping the entire industry of journalism and media. For this reason alone, I think every person who has made a living in media would find this a worthwhile read.

For everyone else, the significance of the storm itself can only be placed in historical context. In the 1600 years of English recorded history prior to it, no such storm had ever been noted. And, after, it stood alone for over 300 years until Hurricane Ophelia ravaged England in October 2017. Both were rated as Category 2 storms. And both should never occurred so far north in the Atlantic.

It's always difficult for me to review books I have to read for uni.
As a classic work of literature I can see how valuable this is and how it sparks conversation on genre, authenticity and "what even is a novel?"
Defoe does something that hadn't been done before and I can appreciate that. Doesn't mean I enjoyed it.
As a book to read for fun I have to say stay far away from this, it will probably bore you to tears.

I read The Storm during storm Brenda or Bethel or Bertha or something. As much as these named storms get a dramatic build-up, they’re never as dramatic as they promise to be, certainly compared to the Great Storm of 1703. Even the storm that barrelled past my childhood house in 1987 was nothing compared to the Great Storm of 1703. This storm was a real doozy and was the subject of Daniel Defoe’s first fall length work.

He wrote this piece at a difficult time. Long a writer under William III, he’d lost his patron and stumbled into dangerous territory with his satirical piece The Shortest Way With The Dissenters, where head aped the vicious rhetoric of anti-dissenters with such accuracy that there are still discussions over whether it was meant or not. (Personally, I feel that as a dissenter, Defoe was probably taking the piss). As a result he’d been put in prison while awaiting his punishment by being put in the pillory. This was a serious punishment, people had died from the injuries sustained but he managed to spin the PR in such a way that he was crowned with flowers and released. Most damaging to him, was that his time in prison unravelled his wavering business and sent him bankrupt - most galling, the business made roof tiles, something people needed a lot of after The Great Storm.

It must be this recent run in with the law that gives the book so nervous a tone. The Preface, addressed from ‘The Ages Humble Servant’ takes great pains in stating the methodology of the book and the importance of truth. He talks about how producing a book that’ll reach thousands has a greater duty to truth than a sermon that reaches hundreds. He says how the public were asked for their experiences of the storm and how he, as editor pored through each communication, selecting the ones that support each other and come from the most reputable sources. Compared to the narrator of The Plague Year, which happily mixes fiction and truth, and of his other novels which confidently present the imaginary as history, it’s a really tip-toeing tone, which is maintained throughout.

The book proper begins with a discussion of weather, and what is known about wind in particular. He cites theories, both classical and modern but concludes that ultimately, not much is known. Even the people who have “rifled Nature by the Torch-Light of Reason, even to her very nudities” have no definitive answer. As such, studying natural phenomena like storms always leads a person back to God, his immensity, his power and his unknowability.

The book then goes on to describe his own experiences with the storm in London. I particularly liked the detail of how his barometer dropped so low and so quickly he’d assumed his children had broken it playing. He would also have recorded the wind direction but his weather-vane had been blown off the roof of the house. I found it interesting he had such things, perhaps The Storm was partly written because Defoe had a previous interest in the weather.

The book then includes a large number of accounts from people in different parts of the country about how the storm had effected their local area. There are many tiles blown off, chimneys blown down - sometimes crushing those on beds in rooms below, sometimes missing them. In the countryside there are reports of barns being blown down and hay-ricks blown up, some of them landing fully formed but in a different place. A Somerset correspondent mourns the ‘apples without number’ that have been blown off trees. Bits of churches were blown off and many lead roofs were described as being peeled off or rolled up ‘like parchment’. There was a particularly striking description of windmills being blown so hard, the friction of their gears set them alight.

The drama is higher in costal places and at sea. The Eddystone Lighthouse collapsed with the designer and builder inside, a man is crushed by a ship. Whole fleets were blown as far as Sweden and the descriptions of sailors include huge panic, fear and a little bit of heroism.

To be frank, this information would probably have been presented better as tables or graphs. The repetition of details becomes quite tiresome. There’s a bit more interest when a correspondent is from a place you know, I was particularly interested in the storm’s impact on Grimsby (where I will soon be moving to) and Brighton (where I was born). It’s an interesting snapshot of ‘Brighthelmstone’ before it became a popular holiday destination.

The biggest controversy in the book is probably the differing accounts relating to the seaside town of Deal, where some accounts stated that the townspeople refused to help those in trouble in ships near the town. The Mayor very indignantly tries to argue that the people of Deal simply could not help because his town had been woefully underfunded.

Defoe’s nervous tone doesn’t help the book much. While the introduction suggests that he probably did rewrite many of the letters to shape it, the appearance is one where he simply mediates what was sent to him. He planned to make a sequel of the book by getting correspondence of the storm’s effect over the wider European area, but he never did. The book reminds me of the programme 999, which ran for ten years on the BBC. It used to show dramatic reconstructions of rescues, and even had a special in 1997 about the Great storm of ’87. I have to say, I hated that programme as a child and found it very dull. The Storm was, however, going to be the next step in Defoe’s career, where he’d gain confidence again and become one of the progenitors of the English novel.