2-889-260 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Whirlwind at Exeter, [in Devon], 1850. Depiction of '...an extraordinary phenomenon, witnessed by...Mr. Webber, landlord of the Port Royal Inn...Mr. Webber states that...his attention was arrested by a loud rushing sound...he saw large stones, dust, &c. taken up as in a whirlwind...This revolving column gradually drew towards a small punt afloat in the adjacent river, and moored to a post by the bank; the boat was then lifted as high in the air as the painter [mooring rope] would allow, and was held there by the force of the wind, spinning round like a top...The column then seemed to have expended its strength, and fell, so to speak, in water, with the noise of a ton weight, dashing and stirring up the bed of the river with foam...What renders this occurrence the more remarkable is, that at the time scarcely a breath of wind was stirring, and the sky was nearly cloudless'. From "Illustrated London News", 1850.