The first boat to arrive from Swatow since the disaster, the 1.0.8. Kwongsang, reached Shanghai on Wednesday evening. She had en board passengers who had been through the frightful experience which the port underwent, these including three from the str. Choysang which is now regarded as a total loss. From inquiries made there can be no doubt that the disaster is perhaps the greatest on record on the China coast, for although the total of dead cannot be confirmed, Swatow has undoubtedly been reduced to ruins and the people there, both foreign and Chinese, are living under the most awful conditions, lacking both food and shelter.
The story related by those arriving on the Kwongsang is that after distinct warnings of its approach the typhoon started about eight o'clock" on Wednesday night (a week past). The centre passed over the port about two o'clock the following morning, and the lowest barometer reading ever recorded there was registered, namely 27.54. At this time there was a calm of about three-quarters of an hour, and then the wind which had originally blown from the N.E. came away from the S.W., and with it a form of tide) wave. This is explained by the fact that in the centre of the typhoon a vortex is formed, the water is heaped up, and then driven forward with irresistible force. Against this ships which were in what would normally be considered sheltered positions were powerless. The C.N.S. Shantung and the LOS Tungshing parted their anchors when this occurred, and were carried a good mile from the fairway, only bringing up when underneath the cliffs at that point of the shore. This gives perhaps the hest idea of the strength and size of the wave, for at the place where they are now lying and for some distance before there is nothing but soft mud with only three or four feet of water covering it If they are ever to be got out of their present positions it will only be by dredge ing a channel fo them from the fairway.
The I.C.S. Choysang, which was anchored in Clipper Roads, parted her cables and was blown for a distance of five miles, finally landing between' two islands—little more than rocks~100 yards apart. Here she lies a total loss, although happily there was no loss of life aboard, The Shantung has two or three holes in her hull, while the sternpost of the Tungshing has been carried away. The only boat which suffered no damage was the Lok-sang. It may be mentioned that Messrs, Jardine, Matheson & Co.'s motor boat was carried about five miles inshore. Another steamer, apparently an ex-German boat, the Huaming, was also driven up high and dry by the force of water and wind.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.