About two A.M. the wind shifted suddenly to the northward, from which point for about half-an-hour, its fury was tremendous; the government-house, built on stone piers, was blown away from them to a distance of nine feet; the sea rose ten feet and a half, by measurement afterwards, above the usual high-water mark.  H.M.S.  Pelorus, having parted her cables, was driven on shore, and thrown over on her beam ends, on the north-east point of the settlement, where heeling over 82 degrees, her starboard side was buried nine feet in the mud, leaving the keel three feet clear of the ground.**

At daylight the barometer rose slowly to 29.90, the gale moderated, and the sea went down so fast, that between seven and eight we were able to send a boat to the assistance of the Pelorus:  after eight the breeze continued to blow strong from the northward for two days, with heavy rain.

The occurrence of such a hurricane must be very rare, as the natives were as much astonished as ourselves, and came to beg for shelter:  they have no name for it, and no tradition of anything of the sort having happened before:  the state in which the very extensive fences at Raffles Bay were in shortly before, must prove that the trees had never been blown down in the way they were on the 25th of November, since that settlement was abandoned in 1829.

The extent of the hurricane must have been very limited:  at Coepang a strong gale from the south-west was experienced, and also between Java and Timor on the 26th, but the wind did not change.  Even 18 miles north, at Vashon Head, the change of wind must have been greater though equal in force.  There the first trees fell with the wind from West-South-West; a few fell when the wind was east, and most when the wind was north-west.  The Malays have an idea that every fifth year the monsoon is stronger than usual, but can give no reason for thinking so.  According to them this monsoon ought to have been a strong one.

(**Footnote.  The Pelorus was dug out of the mud, and once more got afloat towards the middle of February following.  This immense undertaking was accomplished by the indefatigable exertion and mechanical skill of her commander, Captain Kuper, C.B., assisted by Captain Stanley.  J.L.S.))

Course of the storm.

The bad weather in the Victoria then would appear to have been caused by the proximity of the southern edge of this storm as it passed to the westward.  The fact of the time when the weather was the worst, having been the same at Port Essington, and in the Victoria; and of the French discovery ships meeting it in Torres Strait first, shows the westerly course of the storm.  Its northern edge did not reach Coepang, but a strong gale from the south-west on the 26th showed that it was passing.  Most probably it took a more southerly course before reaching Timor.*

(Footnote.  We were informed at Timor that hurricanes were never felt there, but occur once in four or five years to the southward of it.  It may be added that a vessel lost her top-masts in the Port Essington hurricane, near Sandalwood Island, and that to the southward of Java hurricanes occur frequently.)