West Coast Times, Issue 4491, 15th December, 1883 p5
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TIDAL WAVE ON THE IRISH COAST.(abridged)
The following is an extract from a communication from Kilkee, County Clare, giving an account of a vast tidal wave which occurred there on the 20th September. The writer says:-
“One of the most splendid scenes I ever witnessed occurred here last Thursday. The day was magnificent, the sunshine as hot as June, not a breath of air in motion, and the bay as still and smooth as a sheet of glass. My daughter and I were sitting on a favorite nook at the ampitheatre, reading, at two o’clock. Shortly after we heard a noise of breakers, and looking out saw the Atlantic in sudden and wild commotion, the waves rushing in with terrific fury, so that we had to run inwards on the land, where we and other parlies had a full view of the majestic phenomenon.
The sea, that a few minutes before was a beautiful emerald green, was suddenly changed into a winter scene of snowy hue. The basin of the ampitheatre was filled with foam, volumes of spray rose 50ft over Duggerna, and swept with fearful velocity over St. George’s Head, 100 ft high, drenching several visitors on the top. The scene at this moment was fearfully grand, the wide expanse of ocean and bay looking like a vast sheet of snow in majestic upheaval.
I have never witnessed during equinoctial gales, or even in the great storm here last October, so magnificent a display of the Creator’s power in the watery element, as this — the most extraordinary feature of the case without a passing breeze.
This continued for half an hour, and the sea was again restored to its previous stillness”.
