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{{Short description|English extratropical cyclone}}
{{Infobox winter storm
|name                = Great storm of 1703
|image location      = Great Storm 1703 Goodwin Sands engraving.PNG
|image name          = ''The Great Storm November 26, 1703 Wherein Rear Admiral Beaumont was lost on the Goodwin Sands... Beaumont's Squadron of Observation off Dunkerque''
|stormtype           = [[European windstorm]], [[Extratropical cyclone]], [[Winter storm]]
|date formed         = 7&nbsp;December&nbsp;1703 N.S. (26&nbsp;November&nbsp;1703 O.S.)
|date dissipated     = 10&nbsp;December&nbsp;1703 N.S. (29&nbsp;November&nbsp;1703 O.S.)
|pressure            = <!--{{convert|990|mb|inHg|abbr=on}}-->
|gust                = <!--{{convert||km/h|mph|abbr=on}}-->
|total damages (USD) =
|total fatalities    = >8,000
|areas affected      = [[England]], [[Wales]], [[Netherlands]], [[France]], [[Belgium]], [[Germany]]
}}
The '''Great storm of 1703''' was a destructive [[extratropical cyclone]] that struck central and southern England on 26 November 1703. High winds caused 2,000 chimney stacks to collapse in London and damaged the [[New Forest]], which lost 4,000 oaks. Ships were blown hundreds of miles off-course, and over 1,000 sea men died on the [[Goodwin Sands]] alone. News bulletins of casualties and damage were sold all over England – a novelty at that time. The [[Church of England]] declared that the storm was God's vengeance for the sins of the nation. [[Daniel Defoe]] thought it was a divine punishment for poor performance against Catholic armies in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]].<!-- Citation for this is in a section below -->

==Severity==
Contemporary observers recorded [[barometric]] readings down to 973 [[millibars]] (measured by [[William Derham]] in south [[Essex]]),<ref>{{cite journal |last=Derham |first=William |year=1704–1705 |title=A Letter for the Reverend Mr William Derham, F. R. S. Containing His Observations concerning the Late Storm |journal=[[Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society]] |volume=24 |issue=289 |pages=1530–1534 |doi= 10.1098/rstl.1704.0005|jstor= 102921 |bibcode=1704RSPT...24.1530D|publisher=The Royal Society |s2cid=186212786 }}</ref> but it has been suggested that the storm deepened to 950&nbsp;millibars over the [[English Midlands|Midlands]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Sturmhistorie|url=http://aonbenfield.de/sturmhistorie/sturmhistorie.pdf|publisher=AonBenfield|access-date=5 November 2017|language=de}}</ref>

Retrospective analysis conjectures that the storm was comparable to a [[Saffir–Simpson scale|Category 2]] hurricane.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://forms2.rms.com/rs/729-DJX-565/images/ws_1703_windstorm_300_retrospective.pdf |title=December 1703 Windstorm |access-date=November 29, 2016 |publisher=Risk Management Solutions }}</ref>

==Damage==
In London alone, approximately 2,000 massive chimney stacks were blown down. The lead roofing was blown off [[Westminster Abbey]] and [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]] had to shelter in a cellar at [[St James's Palace]] to avoid collapsing chimneys and part of the roof. On the [[River Thames|Thames]], some 700 ships were heaped together in the [[Pool of London]], the section downstream from [[London Bridge]]. Huge waves on the Thames river sent water {{convert|6|ft|m}} higher than had ever been recorded in London, destroying more than 5,000 homes along the river.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Freak storm dissipates over England |url=https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/freak-storm-dissipates-over-england |access-date=2023-01-08 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> [[HMS Vanguard (1678)|HMS ''Vanguard'']] was wrecked at [[Chatham, Medway|Chatham]]. Admiral Sir [[Cloudesley Shovell]]'s [[HMS Association|HMS ''Association'']] was blown from [[Harwich]] to [[Gothenburg]] in [[Sweden]] before way could be made back to England.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/mar/10/weather|title=A history of great British storms|date=10 March 2008|work=The Guardian}}</ref> [[Pinnacle]]s were blown from the top of [[King's College Chapel, Cambridge|King's College Chapel, in Cambridge]].

There was extensive and prolonged flooding in the [[West Country]], particularly around [[Bristol]]. Hundreds of people drowned in flooding on the [[Somerset Levels]], along with thousands of sheep and cattle, and one ship was found {{convert|15|mi}} inland.<ref>{{cite book |last=Moss |first=Stephen |title=Wild Hares and Hummingbirds |year=2011 |publisher=Square Peg |page=32 |isbn=978-0224086721}}</ref> Approximately 400 windmills were destroyed, with the wind driving their wooden gears so fast that some burst into flames.
At [[Wells, Somerset|Wells]], Bishop [[Richard Kidder]] and his wife were killed when two chimneystacks in the palace fell on them, asleep in bed. This same storm blew in part of the great west window in [[Wells Cathedral]]. Major damage occurred to the southwest tower of [[Llandaff Cathedral]] at [[Cardiff]] in [[Wales]].

At sea, many ships were wrecked, some of which were returning from helping [[Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor|Archduke Charles]], the claimed King of Spain, fight the French in the [[War of the Spanish Succession]]. These ships included [[HMS Stirling Castle (1679)|HMS ''Stirling Castle'']], [[HMS Northumberland (1679)|HMS ''Northumberland'']], [[HMS Mary (1650)|HMS ''Mary'']] and [[HMS Restoration (1678)|HMS ''Restoration'']], with about 1,500 seamen killed, particularly on the [[Goodwin Sands#Great storm of 1703|Goodwin Sands]]. Between 8,000 and 15,000 people died overall. Some sources cite a figure between 10,000 and 30,000.<ref name=":0" /> In total, around 300 Royal Navy ships anchored along the south coast were lost.<ref name=":0" />[[File:Eddystone 1703 Chambers.PNG|thumb|Destruction of the first Eddystone lighthouse in great storm 1703]] The first [[Eddystone Lighthouse]] off [[Plymouth]] was destroyed on {{OldStyleDateNY|8 December|27 November}}, killing six occupants, including its builder, [[Henry Winstanley]]. ([[John Rudyard]] was later contracted to build the second lighthouse on the site.) Two days later, a cargo ship struck the rocks and sank. She was the first wrecking to occur there since the lighthouse was constructed five years prior.<ref>{{cite book |title=Crusoe, Castaways and Shipwrecks in the Perilous Age of Sail|last=Rendell |first=Mike |page=53|year=2019|publisher=Pen and Sword|location= Barnsley|isbn=978-1-52674-747-1}}</ref> Another ship, torn from its moorings in the [[Helford, Cornwall|Helford]] River in [[Cornwall]], was blown for {{convert|200|mi}} before grounding eight hours later on the [[Isle of Wight]]. The storm also caught a convoy of 130 merchant ships sheltering at [[Milford Haven]], along with their man of war escorts ''Dolphin'', ''Cumberland'', ''Coventry'', ''Looe'', ''Hastings'' and ''Hector''. By 3:00pm the next afternoon, losses included 30 vessels.<ref>{{Coflein|num=506442|desc=Unnamed Wreck; Shipping Losses During Great Storm of 1703}}</ref>

The number of [[oak]] trees lost in the [[New Forest]] alone was 4,000. The towns of Plymouth, Hull, Cowes, Portsmouth and Bristol were devastated.<ref name=":0" />

==Reaction==
The storm was unprecedented in ferocity and duration and was generally reckoned by witnesses to represent the anger of [[God]], in recognition of the "crying sins of this nation". The government declared 19 January 1704 a day of [[fasting]], saying that it "loudly calls for the deepest and most solemn humiliation of our people". It remained a frequent topic of moralising in sermons well into the 19th century.<ref>In Plumptre, E. H. (1888) ''The Life of Bishop Ken'' – quoted by Martin Brayne, ''The Greatest Storm'', 2002 – it is stated that a 'Storm' sermon endowed by a Mr Taylor was still being preached at Little Wild Street Congregational Church, London well into the 19th century.</ref>

===Literary===
The great storm also coincided with the increase in English [[journalism]], and was the first weather event to be a news story on a national scale. Special issue broadsheets were produced detailing damage to property and stories of people who had been killed.

[[Daniel Defoe]] produced his full-length book [[The Storm (Daniel Defoe)|''The Storm'']] (July 1704) in response to the calamity, calling it "the tempest that destroyed woods and forests all over England". He wrote: "No pen could describe it, nor tongue express it, nor thought conceive it unless by one in the extremity of it." Coastal towns such as [[Portsmouth]] "looked as if the enemy had sackt them and were most miserably torn to pieces". Winds of up to {{convert|80|mph}} destroyed more than 400 windmills.<ref name=bbc>{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/east/series4/great_storm.shtml|title="The Great Storm", ''Inside Out''|date=13 October 2003|publisher=BBC}}</ref> Defoe reported that the sails in some turned so fast that the friction between the wooden brakes and the wheel caused the wood to overheat and catch fire.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/news/2010/nov/22/weatherwatch-great-storm-1703-daniel-defoe|title=The Great Storm of 26 November 1703|date=21 November 2010|author=Paul Brown|work=The Guardian}}</ref> He thought that the destruction of the sovereign fleet was a punishment for their poor performance against the [[Catholic]] armies of France and Spain during the first year of the [[War of the Spanish Succession]].<ref name=McKay>{{cite book |edition=1st |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-41724-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/journalisticimag00keeb/page/n25 15]–28 |last=McKay |first=J. |editor1-last=Keeble |editor1-first=Richard |editor2-last=Sharon |editor2-first=Wheeler |title=The Journalistic Imagination: Literary Journalists from Defoe to Capote and Carter |url=https://archive.org/details/journalisticimag00keeb |url-access=limited |chapter=Defoe's ''The Storm'' as a Model for Contemporary Reporting |year=2007}}</ref>

==Naval losses==
[[File:Rear-Admiral Basil Beaumont (1669-1703), by Michael Dahl.jpg|thumb|upright|Rear-Admiral [[Basil Beaumont]] was the most senior naval officer killed by the storm. Painting by [[Michael Dahl]], early 18th century]]

In the [[English Channel]], fierce winds and high seas swamped some vessels outright and drove others onto the [[Goodwin Sands]], an extensive sand bank off the southeast coast of England and the traditional anchorage for ships waiting either for passage up the [[Thames Estuary]] to London or for favourable winds to take them out into the Channel and the [[Atlantic Ocean]].<ref name=mahs>{{cite web|url=http://www.mahsnet.org/projects/Great_Storm/Great_Storm_1.html|title="The Great Storm Project", Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society}}</ref>
The [[Royal Navy]] was badly affected, losing thirteen ships including the entire Channel Squadron,<ref name=mahs/> and upwards of 1,500 seamen drowned.<ref name=Wheeler>{{cite journal |volume=58 |issue=11 |pages=419–427 |last=Wheeler |first=Dennis |title= The Great Storm of November 1703: A new look at the seamen's records |journal=Weather |year=2003 |bibcode=2003Wthr...58..419W |doi= 10.1256/wea.83.03 |doi-access=free }}<!--|access-date=21 September 2009 --></ref>
* The [[third-rate]] {{HMS|Restoration|1678|6}} was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands; of the ship's company of 387 not one was saved.
* The third-rate {{HMS|Northumberland|1679|6}} was lost on the Goodwin Sands; all 220 men, including 24 marines, were killed.
* The third-rate (battleship)<ref name=mahs/> {{HMS|Stirling Castle|1679|6}} was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. Seventy men, including four marine officers, were saved, but 206 men were drowned.
* The [[fourth-rate]] {{HMS|Mary|1650|6}} was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands. The captain and the purser were ashore, but [[Rear Admiral Beaumont]] and 268 other men were drowned. Only one man, Thomas Atkins, was saved. His escape was remarkable – having first seen the rear admiral get onto a piece of her quarterdeck when the ship was breaking up, and then get washed off again, Atkins was tossed by a wave into the ''Stirling Castle'', which sank soon after. From the ''Stirling Castle'' he was swept into a boat by a wave, and was rescued.<ref>{{cite book |last=Laker |first=J. |title=History of Deal |year=1921 |pages=252–253}}</ref>
* The [[fifth-rate]] ''Mortar-bomb'' was wrecked on the Goodwin Sands and her entire company of 65 lost.
* The [[sixth-rate]] advice boat ''Eagle'' was lost on the coast of [[Sussex]], but her ship's company of 45 were all saved.
* The third-rate {{HMS|Resolution|1667|2}} was lost at [[Pevensey]] on the coast of Sussex; all her ship's company of 221 were saved.
* The fifth-rate ''Litchfield Prize'' was wrecked on the coast of Sussex; all 108 on board were saved.
* The fourth-rate {{HMS|Newcastle|1653|2}} was lost at [[Spithead]]. The carpenter and 39 men were saved, and the other 193 were drowned.
* The fifth-rate fire-ship ''Vesuvius'' was lost at Spithead; all 48 of her ship's company were saved.
* The fourth-rate [[HMS Reserve (1701)|''Reserve'']] was lost by foundering off [[Great Yarmouth|Yarmouth]]. The captain, the surgeon, the clerk and 44 men were saved; the other 175 members of the crew were drowned.<ref name="Lavery, SoLv1 p167">Lavery, Ships of the Line Vol. 1, p. 167.</ref>
* The [[second-rate]] {{HMS|Vanguard|1678|2}} was sunk in [[Chatham harbour]]. She was not manned and had no armament fitted; the following year she was raised for rebuilding.<ref>{{Cite Colledge2006}}</ref>
* The fourth-rate {{HMS|York|1654|2}} was lost at [[Harwich]]; all but four of her men were saved.

{{HMS|Shrewsbury|1695|2}} narrowly escaped a similar fate. More than 40 merchant ships were also lost.<ref name=Jerrold>{{cite book |first=Walter |last=Jerrold | author-link = Walter Jerrold | year=1907 |title=Highways and Byways in Kent |pages=142–143 |publisher=Macmillan |url=https://archive.org/stream/highwaysandbywa02jerrgoog#page/n165/mode/1up }}</ref>

Lamb (1991) claimed 10,000 seamen were lost in one night—a far higher figure—about one-third of the seamen in the Royal Navy.<ref name=Lamb>{{cite book |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=0-521-37522-3 |last=Lamb |first=Hubert |title=Historic Storms of the North Sea, British Isles and Northwest Europe |year=1991}}</ref> Defoe's ''The Storm'' suggests that the Royal Navy lost one-fifth of its ships; this would, however, indicate a much lower proportion of seamen were lost, as some wrecked sailors survived.

==Date: old style==
The date of 26 November is reckoned according to the [[Julian calendar]], still in use in 1703. In today's [[Gregorian calendar]], the date would be reckoned as 7 December.

==See also==
* [[Great storm of 1987]]
* [[List of disasters in Great Britain and Ireland by death toll]]
* [[United Kingdom weather records]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Defoe |first=Daniel |editor-last=Hamblyn |editor-first=Richard |title=The Storm |publisher=Penguin Classics |year=2005 |isbn=0-14-143992-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/storm00defo }}
* {{cite book |last=Brayne |first=Martin |title=The Greatest Storm |publisher=Sutton |year=2002 |isbn=0-7509-2804-2}}
* {{cite book |title=An Exact Relation of The Late Dreadful Tempest: Or, A Faithful Account of The Most Remarkable Disaster Which Happened On That Occasion. Faithfully Collected By An Ingenious Hand, To Preserve The Memory Of So Terrible A Judgement |year=1704 |publisher=A. Baldwin |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mD0LAQAAIAAJ}}
* {{cite book |last1=Lamb |first1=H. H. |last2=Frydendahl |first2=Knud |year=1991 |title=Historic Storms of the North Sea, British Isles and Northwest Europe |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-37522-1}}
* {{cite book |last1=Laughton |first1=Leonard George Carr |last2=Heddon |first2=V. |year=1927 |title=Great Storms |publisher=Phillip Allan & Co.}}

==External links==
* [http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42234 Project Gutenberg: The Storm, by Daniel Defoe]
* [http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?4793 HMS Restoration and many other ships lost during this storm – www.wrecksite.eu]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090729175051/http://geocities.com/Athens/3682/csbionavchron.html?200727  A Biographical Memoir of Sir Cloudesly Shovell]
* [http://www.mahsnet.org/projects/Great_Storm/Great_Storm_1.html "The Great Storm Project", Maritime Archaeological and Historical Society]
* [http://www.wessexarch.co.uk/blogs/splash/2007/10/17/stirling-castle-goodwin-sands "Stirling Castle, Goodwin Sands", Wessex Archaeology]

{{European windstorms}}
{{Heat waves in the United Kingdom}}

{{Coord |51|N|1|W|scale:3000000_region:GB_type:event|display=title}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Great Storm Of 1703}}
[[Category:1703 in England]]
[[Category:1703 natural disasters]]
[[Category:1703 meteorology]]
[[Category:European windstorms]]
[[Category:Floods in England]]
[[Category:History of the English Channel]]
[[Category:Weather events in England]]
[[Category:Extratropical cyclones]]
[[Category:Anne, Queen of Great Britain]]
[[Category:Daniel Defoe]]
[[Category:18th-century disasters in England]]