Tag Archives: Shipwrecks

Clipper Ship Tornado, Struck by a Whirlwind

DescriptionEnglish: Clipper ship Tornado as it might have appeared after a whirlwind struck it on the way from San Francisco to New York.
Date1853
SourceGleason’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion (https://archive.org/details/gleasonspictoria04glea/page/80/mode/2up)
AuthorAnonymous

“The whirlwind struck her at 2 A. M., Sept. 11th, [1852,] 33 days out, and when nearly half way to New York. The shock was instantaneous. The bowsprit was broken off close to the knight-heads, and the whole of it carried inboard on the port side. The foremast instantly followed it, close to the deck, being lifted from between the mainstays so that the heel of it grazed the house, and went over the side, tearing away the main and monkey rails.”