3-082-178 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Destruction of the new part of Sandown Pier during a gale, 1895. 'To our juvenile readers especially, any information about Sandown, one of the most favoured seaside resorts in the Isle of Wight, will be interesting. The pier, on which countless visitors have promenaded, has been lately undergoing extension, in order that steamers might call thereat during the summer season. All the building operations had been progressing well until Jan. 12. Then the heavy gale, which almost deserved the name of blizzard, undermined the supports of the pier, threw the heavy crane off the metals, and twisted the girders as though they were wire. Father Neptune once more vindicated his right to be monarch of all he surveys, and our Illustration bears witness to the wreckage. Much of the work must be done afresh if the delights of the pier are to be extended as the company desires. In other parts of the United Kingdom during the last two weeks much injury has been done to various buildings by the fury of the gales, while the loss of life at sea has been considerable'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.