On 21st October 1763, a cyclone occurred at Madras, which lasted 14 hours; all the ships driven on shore were stranded.
Ou the 21st October 1773, a violent hurricane visited Madras. It began at N.W., and ended with the wind easterly. (It must have travelled S.W., and the vortex passed south of Madras.) The men-of-war put to sea early, but all the vessels that remained at anchor were lost, with the crews.
The next hurricane of which we have to notice, is that of 1782. The weather had been threaten ing, and when it came on to blow, on the 20th October, the boats belonging to Sir E. Hughes' squadron (then in the roads) were on shore with their crews, on duty. The gale commenced at N.W., and every vessel that could bear canvas, put to sea. Most of the men-of-war boats put off to their ships, which were getting under weigh, and were reached with difficulty by the larger boats, and some of the smaller ; but some boats were unable to reach their vessels, and were lost. The Superb was dismasted, and the Exeter was almost rendered a wreck. Sir Edward Hughes was obliged to shift his flag to the Sultan. Both the Superb and the Exeter got to Bombay with jury-masts. The Neckar (a country vessel) lost her main-mast, and some vessels foundered at their anchors. The morning following the hurricane presented a sad spectacle,—upwards of a hundred small country vessels stranded on the beach, the whole remaining stock of rice in the warehouses washed away, 'famine raging, and pestilence threatening ! For the ravages of Hyder had driven thousands from the country to Madras, where already there had been great suffering for want of food. Upwards of 1000 corpses were buried every week for several weeks, in large trenches outside the town. The Governor (Lord Macartney) used noble endeavours to mitigate the calamity, and set an example by sending away all his own horses and servants. Hyder was at Pondicherry, and the admiral's fleet gone ! Ships, however, came in laden with grain from Bengal ; Hyder Ali died in December, and the hopes of the British revived.
The records of the Madras Observatory notice a heavy gale on the 27th October 1797. The barometer did not fall below A hurricane occurred at Coringa and Masuli patam on the 28th October 1800.
On the 4th December 1803, H.M.S. Centurion (of 50 guns, bearing the flag of Admiral Rainier), on her passage from Trincomalee to Madras, experi enced a violent hurricane, which left her with nothing standing but the bowsprit, and had nearly proved her destruction. The gale com menced about midnight ; at 11 A.M. on the 5th, the wind flew round in a violent gust to the southward, and till 6•p.m. it was blowing a hurri cane. H.M.S. was so severely strained, that she had 8 feet of water in her hold, and her upper deck guns were obliged to be hove overboard. Jury-masts were rigged, and on the 11th the Centurion anchored in the Madras roads. H.M.S. Albatross was dismasted in the same storm, and put in at Negapatam to refit.
Madras suffered from another hurricane on the 10th December 1807. Fortunately there was only one vessel in the roads when the storm commenced, and she put to sea. To show the effect of the storm-waves, it may be mentioned, from the testimony of an eye-witness (Captain Biden) that the bottom of a ship of 800 tons, supposed to have been burnt in the roads about ten years before (in 1797), was washed high and dry on the beach near Parry's office; the whole of her floor was perfect, with a large quantity of her ballast (pigs of iron kentledgo). The devastation along the beach and in the town and suburbs of Madras was very great. It was during this hurricane that there occurred an extraordinary rise of the tide, which inundated the whole of Black Town.
Another very disastrous hurricane occurred on the 2d of May 1811. Providentially the fleet, with the troops for the attack of Java, had just sailed. The Dover frigate and Chichester store ship remained in the roads; they parted, and were lost. Ninety country vessels went down at their anchors. Only two vessels that were in the roads when the hurricane set in, were saved, and these put to sea. During this hurricane the surf broke in 9 fathoms of water, four miles from shore! On the 24th October 1818, Madras again suffered. The wind commenced at north, and, after increas ing in violence, suddenly lulled, and as suddenly flew round furiously to south. This hurricane travelled west, and its vortex passed over the town. The barometer fell to 28.78.