3-065-888 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Hurricane at the Isle of Mauritius, 1874. 'The island colony of Mauritius has been visited by a severe hurricane...in the very advanced state of the sugar-canes it is feared that it will prove most disastrous to the growing crop. Much damage was sustained by the shipping in the harbour of Port Louis, where many of the principal warehouses and stores were unroofed...We are indebted to an eye-witness for a sketch of the harbour of Port Louis during the storm. In the foreground is a schooner totally wrecked at her moorings. To the right is the French Messageries Maritimes mail-steamer Dupleix, with full steam up to ease her moorings...[Also depicted is the] Shannon, belonging to Messrs. Blyth, Greene, and Co., of London. She had but two days previously arrived from that port with a valuable cargo. Happily, this vessel rode out the storm well, and sustained no damage. Next the Shannon is the Glasgow ship Hartfield, which...received only slight injury. Next is seen the barque B. B. Greene....seen aground, but she was afterwards floated off, with but little damage...To the right is the Signal mountain, and to the left the mountain known as the Pouce. To the extreme right is Fort William, at the entrance of the harbour'. From "Illustrated London News", 1874.