_Of the Opinion of the Ancients, That this Island was more Subject to
Storms than other Parts of the World_
I am not of Opinion with the early Ages of the World, when these Islands
were first known, that they were the most Terrible of any Part of the
World for Storms and Tempests.
_Cambden_ tells us, The _Britains_ were distinguish'd from all the World
by unpassable Seas and terrible Northern Winds, which made the _Albion_
Shores dreadful to Sailors; and this part of the World was therefore
reckoned the utmost Bounds of the Northern known Land, beyond which none
had ever sailed: and quotes a great variety of ancient Authors to this
purpose; some of which I present as a Specimen.
_Et Penitus Toto Divisos Orbe Britannos.
Britain's_ disjoyn'd from all the well known World.
_Quem Littus adusta,
Horrescit Lybiæ, ratibusq; Impervia_ [A]Thule
_Ignotumq; Fretum_.
Claud.
[A: Taken frequently for _Britain_.]
And if the Notions the World then had were true, it would be very absurd
for us who live here to pretend Miracles in any Extremes of Tempests;
since by what the Poets of those Ages flourish'd about stormy Weather,
was the native and most proper Epithet of the Place:
_Belluosus qui remotis
Obstrepit Oceanus_ Britannis.
_Hor._
Nay, some are for placing the Nativity of the Winds hereabouts, as if
they had been all generated here, and the Confluence of Matter had made
this Island its General Rendezvouz.
But I shall easily show, that there are several Places in the World far
better adapted to be the General Receptacle or Centre of Vapours, to
supply a Fund of Tempestuous Matter, than _England_; as particularly the
vast Lakes of _North America_: Of which afterwards.
And yet I have two Notions, one real, one imaginary, of the Reasons
which gave the Ancients such terrible Apprehensions of this Part of the
World; which of late we find as Habitable and Navigable as any of the
rest.
The real Occasion I suppose thus: That before the Multitude and Industry
of Inhabitants prevail'd to the managing, enclosing, and improving the
Country, the vast Tract of Land in this Island which continually lay
open to the Flux of the Sea, and to the Inundations of Land-Waters, were
as so many standing Lakes; from whence the Sun continually exhaling vast
quantities of moist Vapours, the Air could not but be continually
crowded with all those Parts of necessary Matter to which we ascribe the
Original of Winds, Rains, Storms, and the like.
He that is acquainted with the situation of _England_, and can reflect
on the vast Quantities of flat Grounds, on the Banks of all our
navigable Rivers, and the Shores of the Sea, which Lands at Least lying
under Water every Spring-Tide, and being thereby continually full of
moisture, were like a stagnated standing body of Water brooding Vapours
in the Interval of the Tide, must own that at least a fifteenth part of
the whole Island may come into this Denomination.
Let him that doubts the Truth of this, examine a little the Particulars;
let him stand upon _Shooters-Hill_ in _Kent_, and view the Mouth of the
River _Thames_, and consider what a River it must be when none of the
Marshes on either side were wall'd in from the Sea, and when the Sea
without all question flow'd up to the Foot of the Hills on either Shore,
and up every Creek, where he must allow is now dry Land on either side
the River for two Miles in breadth at least, sometimes three or four,
for above forty Miles on both sides the River.
Let him farther reflect, how all these Parts lay when, as our ancient
Histories relate, the _Danish_ Fleet came up almost to _Hartford_, so
that all that Range of fresh Marshes which reach for twenty five Miles
in length, from _Ware_ to the River _Thames_, must be a Sea.
In short, Let any such considering Person imagine the vast Tract of
Marsh-Lands on both sides the River _Thames_, to _Harwich_ on the
_Essex_ side, and to _Whitstable_ on the _Kentish_ side, the Levels of
Marshes up the _Stour_ from _Sandwich_ to _Canterbury_, the whole Extent
of Lowgrounds commonly call'd _Rumney-Marsh_, from _Hythe_ to
_Winchelsea_, and up the Banks of the _Rother_; all which put together,
and being allow'd to be in one place cover'd with Water, what a Lake
wou'd it be suppos'd to make? According to the nicest Calculations I can
make, it cou'd not amount to less than 500000 Acres of Land.
The Isle of _Ely_, with the _Flats_ up the several Rivers from
_Yarmouth_ to _Norwich_, _Beccles_, &c. the continu'd Levels in the
several Counties of _Norfolk_, _Cambridge_, _Suffolk_, _Huntingdon_,
_Northampton_, and _Lincoln_, I believe do really contain as much Land
as the whole County of _Norfolk_; and 'tis not many Ages since these
Counties were universally one vast Moras or Lough, and the few solid
parts wholly unapproachable: insomuch that the Town of _Ely_ it self was
a Receptacle for the Malecontents of the Nation, where no reasonable
Force cou'd come near to dislodge them.
'Tis needless to reckon up twelve or fourteen like Places in _England_,
as the Moores in _Somersetshire_, the Flat-shores in _Lancashire_,
_Yorkshire_, and _Durham_, the like in _Hampshire_ and _Sussex_; and in
short, on the Banks of every Navigable River.
The sum of the matter is this; That while this Nation was thus full of
standing Lakes, stagnated Waters, and moist Places, the multitude of
Exhalations must furnish the Air with a quantity of Matter for Showers
and Storms infinitely more than it can be now supply'd withal, those
vast Tracts of Land being now fenc'd off, laid dry, and turn'd into
wholsome and profitable Provinces.
This seems demonstrated from _Ireland_, where the multitude of Loughs,
Lakes, Bogs, and moist Places, serve the Air with Exhalations, which
give themselves back again in Showers, and make it be call'd, _The
Piss-pot of the World_.
The imaginary Notion I have to advance on this Head, amounts only to a
Reflection upon the Skill of those Ages in the Art of Navigation; which
being far short of what it is since arrived to, made these vast Northern
Seas too terrible for them to venture in: and accordingly, they rais'd
those Apprehensions up to Fable, which began only in their want of
Judgment.
The _Phoenicians_, who were our first Navigators, the _Genoese_, and
after them the _Portuguese_, who arriv'd to extraordinary Proficiency in
Sea Affairs, were yet all of them, _as we say_, Fair-weather Sea-men:
The chief of their Navigation was Coasting; and if they were driven out
of their Knowledge, had work enough to find their way home, and
sometimes never found it at all; but one Sea convey'd them directly into
the last Ocean, from whence no Navigation cou'd return them.
When these, by Adventures, or Misadventures rather, had at any time
extended their Voyaging as far as this Island, which, by the way, they
always perform'd round the Coast of _Spain_, _Portugal_, and _France_;
if ever such a Vessel return'd, if ever the bold Navigator arriv'd at
home, he had done enough to talk on all his Days, and needed no other
Diversion among his Neighbours, than to give an Account of the vast
Seas, mighty Rocks, deep Gulfs, and prodigious Storms he met with in
these remote Parts of the known World: and this, magnified by the
Poetical Arts of the Learned Men of those times, grew into a receiv'd
Maxim of Navigation, That these Parts were so full of constant Tempests,
Storms, and dangerous Seas, that 'twas present Death to come near them,
and none but Madmen and Desperadoes could have any Business there, since
they were Places where Ships never came, and Navigation was not proper
in the Place.
And _Thule_, where no Passage was
For Ships their Sails to bear.
_Horace_ has reference to this horrid Part of the World, as a Place full
of terrible Monsters, and fit only for their Habitation, in the Words
before quoted.
_Belluosus qui remotis
Obstrepit Oceanus Britannis._
_Juvenal_ follows his Steps;
_Quanto Delphino Balæna Britannica major._
Juv.
Such horrid Apprehensions those Ages had of these Parts, which by our
Experience, and the Prodigy to which Navigation in particular, and
Sciential Knowledge in general, is since grown, appear very ridiculous.
For we find no Danger in our Shores, no uncertain wavering in our Tides,
no frightful Gulfs, no horrid Monsters, but what the bold Mariner has
made familiar to him. The Gulfs which frighted those early Sons of
_Neptune_ are search'd out by our Seamen, and made useful Bays, Roads,
and Harbours of Safety. The Promontories which running out into the Sea
gave them terrible Apprehensions of Danger, are our Safety, and make the
Sailors Hearts glad, as they are the first Lands they make when they are
coming Home from a long Voyage, or as they are a good shelter when in a
Storm our Ships get _under their Lee_.
Our Shores are sounded, the Sands and Flats are discovered, which they
knew little or nothing of, and in which more real Danger lies, than in
all the frightful Stories they told us; useful Sea-marks and
Land-figures are plac'd on the Shore, Buoys on the Water, Light-houses
on the highest Rocks; and all these dreadful Parts of the World are
become the Seat of Trade, and the Centre of Navigation: Art has
reconcil'd all the Difficulties, and Use made all the _Horribles_ and
_Terribles_ of those Ages become as natural and familiar as Day-light.
The Hidden Sands, almost the only real Dread of a Sailor, and by which
till the Channels between them were found out, our Eastern Coast must be
really unpassable, now serve to make Harbours: and _Yarmouth_ Road was
made a safe Place for Shipping by them. Nay, when _Portsmouth_,
_Plymouth_, and other good Harbours would not defend our Ships in the
Violent Tempest we are treating of, here was the least Damage done of
any Place in _England_, considering the Number of Ships which lay at
Anchor, and the Openness of the Place.
So that upon the whole it seems plain to me, that all the dismal things
the Ancients told us of _Britain_, and her terrible Shores, arose from
the Infancy of Marine Knowledge, and the Weakness of the Sailor's
Courage.
Not but that I readily allow we are more subject to bad Weather and hard
Gales of Wind than the Coasts of _Spain_, _Italy_, and _Barbary_. But if
this be allow'd, our Improvement in the Art of Building Ships is so
considerable, our Vessels are so prepar'd to ride out the most violent
Storms, that the Fury of the Sea is the least thing our Sailors fear:
Keep them but from _a Lee Shore_, or touching upon a Sand, they'll
venture all the rest: and nothing is a greater satisfaction to them, if
they have a Storm in view, than a sound Bottom and good _Sea-room_.
From hence it comes to pass, that such Winds as in those Days wou'd have
pass'd for Storms, are called only a _Fresh-gale_, or _Blowing hard_. If
it blows enough to fright a South Country Sailor, we laugh at it: and if
our Sailors bald Terms were set down in a Table of Degrees, it will
explain what we mean.
_Stark Calm._ | _A Top-sail Gale._
_Calm Weather._ | _Blows fresh._
_Little Wind._ | _A hard Gale of Wind._
_A fine Breeze._ | _A Fret of Wind._
_A small Gale._ | _A Storm._
_A fresh Gale._ | _A Tempest._
Just half these Tarpawlin Articles, I presume, would have pass'd in
those Days for a Storm; and that our Sailors call a Top-sail Gale would
have drove the Navigators of those Ages into Harbours: when our Sailors
reef a Top-sail, they would have handed all their Sails; and when we go
under a main Course, they would have run _afore it_ for Life to the next
Port they could make: when our _Hard Gale_ blows, they would have cried
a Tempest; and about the _Fret of Wind_ they would be all at their
Prayers.
And if we should reckon by this Account we are a stormy Country indeed,
our Seas are no more Navigable now for such Sailors than they were then:
If the _Japoneses_, the _East Indians_, and such like Navigators, were
to come with their thin Cockleshell Barks and Calico Sails; if
_Cleopatra's_ Fleet, or _Cæsar's_ great Ships with which he fought the
Battle of _Actium_, were to come upon our Seas, there hardly comes a
_March_ or a _September_ in twenty Years but would blow them to Pieces,
and then the poor Remnant that got Home, would go and talk of a terrible
Country where there's nothing but Storms and Tempests; when all the
Matter is, the Weakness of their Shipping, and the Ignorance of their
Sea-men: and I make no question but our Ships ride out many a worse
Storm than that terrible Tempest which scatter'd _Julius Cæsar's_ Fleet,
or the same that drove _Æneas_ on the Coast of _Carthage_.
And in more modern times we have a famous Instance in the _Spanish
Armada_; which, after it was rather frighted than damag'd by Sir
_Francis Drake_'s Machines, not then known by the Name of Fireships,
were scatter'd by a terrible Storm, and lost upon every Shore.
The Case is plain, 'Twas all owing to the Accident of Navigation: They
had, no doubt, a hard Gale of Wind, and perhaps a Storm; but they were
also on an Enemy's Coast, their Pilots out of their Knowledge, no
Harbour to run into, and an Enemy a-stern, that when once they
separated, Fear drove them from one Danger to another, and away they
went to the Northward, where they had nothing but God's Mercy, and the
Winds and Seas to help them. In all those Storms and Distresses which
ruin'd that Fleet, we do not find an Account of the Loss of one Ship,
either of the _English_ or _Dutch_; the Queen's Fleet rode it out in the
_Downs_, which all Men know is none of the best Roads in the World; and
the _Dutch_ rode among the Flats of the _Flemish_ Coast, while the vast
Galleons, not so well fitted for the Weather, were forc'd to keep the
Sea, and were driven to and fro till they had got out of their
Knowledge; and like Men desperate, embrac'd every Danger they came near.
This long Digression I could not but think needful, in order to clear up
the Case, having never met with any thing on this Head before: At the
same time 'tis allow'd, and Histories are full of the Particulars, that
we have often very high Winds, and sometimes violent Tempests in these
Northen Parts of the World; but I am still of opinion, such a Tempest
never happen'd before as that which is the Subject of these Sheets: and
I refer the Reader to the Particulars.