3-082-273 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Frost, Snow, and Ice on the Medway: Sheerness Harbour after a blizzard, 1895. A 'prolonged hard frost' in Britain. 'Large masses of floating ice came with the tide up the Thames, and at Kingston the river was frozen over. The entrance to the Medway, at Sheerness, was completely blocked with pieces of ice frozen together. The state of Sheerness Harbour is vividly depicted [in our illustration]. Thousands of sea-gulls flew up the Thames to London. In many parts of England, Scotland, and Ireland the weather has been extremely severe...Several Irish and Scottish railway lines became impassable from deep snow-drifts. But neither snow nor high winds prevailed generally in England, only continued frost. Many deaths from exposure to the cold are reported, including, it is said, five London omnibus-drivers and one conductor. From every country of Europe, and from America, we learn that this winter is one of the fiercest known for many years'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.