Friend To All Nations - Storm of 1897

Storm of 1897

The great storm of 1897 blew up into a cyclone and all but destroyed the town, its harbour, sea front and main roads. Yet still at daybreak the men of the Friend to all Nations surfboat remained undaunted, and responded to a distress flag put out by the crew of a passing barge. After some difficulty finding a safe launch, the surfboat was maneuvered into position. The rescued crew were taken to the Arcadian Hotel and placed into the care of Mr. and Mrs. Lilley who for many years had acted on behalf of the Shipwrecked Mariners Society.

Conditions that night could not be matched to any other natural disaster known of in local history from living memory. Such was the suddenness and ferocity of that storm that not only did it wreck the Surfboat, it also caused considerable damage to the little town of Margate nestled beside the sea, and stands as an exceptional occasion, with the sea breaching the town causing considerable flooding of shops and homes.

The storm raged throughout the night and allowed so little of an ebb tide when it was due, that when the heavy seas came in again they flowed some eight feet above the normal sea level and thundering against the sea front shops, inns and houses reduced the substantial sea wall to a mass of tangled wreckage, broken timber and confused heaps of stone.

"Huge slabs of masonry were hurled along the torn up surface of the promenade as waves cut six feet into the structure. Chaos reigned and ruin was rampant as coastal defenses, buildings and roadways were washed away. Dense volumes of seawater flooded the streets and locals rowed boats along King Street (behind the Harbour) under the spray from masses of water being thrown as high as the lighthouse. The decking of the jetty was torn away, its iron piles dislodged and thrown, as if by giants hands, on to the shore."

Droit House, the headquarters of the Pier and Harbour Company which was situated above a restaurant suffered considerable damage and the Switchback railway was completely destroyed. Work on the Lifeboat Station had previously been underway, with the intended construction of a much needed slipway incomplete, during the storm blocks weighing 10 tons were lifted out of their positions and ‘thrown about like pebbles’. The beach itself, renowned for its golden sands was a carpet of seaweed ripped up off the murky ocean bed and thrown upon the shore by the hundreds of tons.