Southern Britain, November 1703: a ferocious storm wrecks fleets, flattens buildings and sweeps away Henry Winstanley Eddystone Lighthouse, and Daniel Defoe sets out to record it all
Hurricane-Force Winds Batter Country
LONDON, 27 November 1703 – A storm of unprecedented violence has swept across southern England and Wales overnight, with winds of hurricane strength tearing roofs from houses, toppling chimneys and church spires, uprooting countless trees and wrecking ships in ports and at sea. In London, lead was stripped from the roof of Westminster Abbey and many buildings were damaged. The young Queen Anne has called the storm a calamity. Officials describe the damage as beyond calculation.
The Navy Losses
The storm was devastating at sea. Many Royal Navy ships were anchored off the coast, including a squadron near the Goodwin Sands, a notorious stretch of sandbanks off Kent. Several warships were wrecked there and elsewhere, with very heavy loss of life. Estimates vary, but historians believe that well over a thousand sailors of the navy died in a single night, possibly considerably more, along with many merchant seamen. Some sailors survived for a time on the sandbanks before being swept away by the rising tide. It was one of the worst disasters in the navy history, not in battle but at anchor.
The Lighthouse
Fourteen miles off Plymouth stood the Eddystone Lighthouse, the first lighthouse built on an exposed rock in the open sea, completed only a few years earlier by Henry Winstanley, an inventive and eccentric engineer, artist and showman. Winstanley was so confident in his tower that he reportedly wished to be inside it during the greatest storm that ever blew. On the night of the Great Storm, he was there, carrying out repairs. The next morning, the lighthouse had vanished, along with Winstanley and everyone in it. Only some iron fixings remained in the rock. Historians note that it is one of history more unfortunate cases of a wish being granted.
Later Eddystone lighthouses were built on the rock, including the influential stone tower designed by John Smeaton in the eighteenth century, which was later dismantled and rebuilt on Plymouth Hoe, where it still stands.
Defoe Book
The writer and journalist Daniel Defoe, later famous as the author of Robinson Crusoe, was in London during the storm, and nearly hit by falling masonry. Fascinated, he placed advertisements in newspapers asking people across the country to send him their accounts. He collected letters from clergymen, sailors and ordinary people, and in 1704 published The Storm, a detailed record of the disaster. Historians regard it as one of the earliest examples of modern journalism and a pioneering use of eyewitness reports.
Reactions
Many at the time interpreted the storm as a sign of divine anger, and the government declared a national day of fasting and prayer. Modern meteorologists believe it was an exceptionally intense extratropical cyclone, a deep depression sweeping in from the Atlantic.
Meanwhile, in 2026
Storms still blow through public life. The London Prat reports Prince William reportedly calling Earl Spencer and Harry traitors after an anonymous source claimed the heir believes his brother read their uncle memoir first. Reports say reconciliation is off, and the uncle says he told everyone. Historians note that Defoe built his account from many voices rather than a single source, and suggest that this remains the best way to understand any story, royal or otherwise.
The London Prat has been weathering storms since 1961 at https://prat.uk/, with its royal row video on YouTube. Bohiney at https://bohiney.com/ covers American hurricanes.
Study Questions for Students
Why was the Great Storm so destructive? Why is Defoe book important in the history of journalism? What does Winstanley fate tell us about confidence? Discuss, indoors.
SOURCE: https://prat.uk/prince-william-called-earl-spencer-and-harry-traitors/