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which was far-reaching, and which had come suddenly,
acted swiftly, and left behind it enormous damage. The
disaster evoked widespread regret and sympathy among
all classes in the town, and on the following day a meeting
was held and a subscription opened to repair the damage.
£200 was obtained at the meeting; and the Earl of Egre-
mont, with prompt and commendable liberality, promised
to surrender his proprietorial interests in the Pier (he was
one of the original subscribers for £300) to the Town
authorities in the event of the structure being restored.
As a result of the organisation, there was a house to house
collection, and in the end some £1,200 or £1,300 was
raised, and the Chain Pier, by sundry judicious altera-
tions, was made stronger than ever.

The annexed illustration affords a graphic picture of
this severe storm; its disastrous effects being still more
clearly seen by the reproduction of drawings showing the
injured sections of the Pier.

The Hurricane of 1836-the Pier again
Damaged.

Little more than three years had elapsed, when the
Pier was again destined to undergo a very serious catas-
trophe from a terrific hurricane, which was admitted to
have been without parallel in the recollection of the then
oldest inhabitant, and wholly eclipsing in violence the
great November gale of 1824. This occurred on Tues-
day, November 29th, 1836; and, besides doing appalling
damage to the town in all directions, destroyed, singular
to say, as in 1833, the third bridge of the Chain Pier.
About half-past twelve in the day the centre bridge seemed
to have acquired, through the force of the wind, a vibra-
tory motion, which soon after more or less affected the

whole structure.

At times the platform was raised to the level of the protecting iron rails at the sides of the Pier. Eventually one of the Towers began to rock, and the piles also to twist; and finally the platform of the third bridge was lifted up from its bed several feet, and, falling again, -the suspension rods being unable to bear the stupendous strain,-plunged into the stormy waters below. (See annexed illustration.) Almost from that moment, strange to relate, the storm abated. The exciting nature of the catastrophe was increased by the narrow escape of two gentlemen, who, for some reason unknown, had gone to the extreme end of the Pier some time previously at the risk of what would have been deemed certain death. Amid the raging storm they were seen struggling to return. By occasionally clinging to the rails, and sometimes crawling on their hands and knees, they reached the second bridge, after being blown down several times. A moment later, and the upheaval and fall of the third bridge, which they had just crossed, took place! The feelings of the two reckless adventurers (one of whom was a relative, we believe, of the late Mr. Somers Clarke) may be better imagined than described. The damage occasioned by the hurricane was estimated at about a thousand pounds. It was in this storm that Mr. Leggatt, builder (great-uncle of our townsman, Mr. T. G. Leggatt), lost his life while crossing the New-steine, by being struck on the head with a piece of lead blown from a house.

As with the storm of 1833, there was an attempt in 1836 to raise a public subscription to repair the Pier; but it fell through, as subscriptions were urgently needed in other directions. As a matter of fact, times were then bad in Brighton. The town had passed the meridian of its earlier and more especially its pre-Railway prosperity. It was retrogressing and was over-built; and lack of

COPYRIGHT.

THE PIER AFTER THE HURRICANE OF NOVEMBER 29th, 1836. (Kindly lent by Mr. JOHN HAINES, of Brighton.)