Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi Hurricane, Sept 1860 - Mobile & Point Clear

The Daily Picayune
Tuesday afternoon edition, September 18, 1860

The Late Gale at Mobile
Further Particulars of the Disaster
The Mobile Mercury, of Monday morning, comes to us with still further particulars of the late disastrous storm in that city and vicinity. It says:

We have been placed in possession of the approximate loss of some of the companies, but reserve remark for further inquiry. We have heard the aggregate loss estimated at half a million. We think the true mark somewhere between a quarter and a half million.

Men were at work all day yesterday picking up cotton and taking it out of the water. We saw a hundred bales that had been rafted together yesterday evening, and hauled into the slip at the city warehouse, which men were busy taking out. Some, of course, has been carried entirely away.

A gentleman has just handed us the following statement:
Amount of cotton burned in Goodman’s warehouse, Sept. 15, 1860, less amount saved in damaged state viz:
Planter’s cotton ……………………..3,110
Ship marked ………… .............+.55
3,165
Less amt saved in damaged state…….-.365
Total Loss……………………2,820

The hull of the old Ambassador, used by M. Warring as a salt boat, sunk at the foot of Government street, with 4,000 sacks of salt.

Five steamboats are totally lost, except what may be saved of their machinery and other movable articles of value. Yesterday being Sunday, it was difficult for reporters to find men in their places to get any information, of any sort, concerning the flood, and consequently we know not how far these losses are covered by insurance.

Capt. Geo. Blakesley went down the bay yesterday morning in the Swan, returning yesterday evening. He reports all right down there. The ship Dicksey had come inside Sand Island Friday evening, and not having been seen since, is believed to have put to sea again.

The masts of a small schooner are seen sticking up out of the water a little down the river from Dauphin, as seen by our reporter. Upon inquiry, we were told she belonged to New Orleans, and had nothing aboard of much value. She went down in the height of the gale yesterday. No one lost. We learn at a later hour, that she is the water boat Globe.

The principal wharves all along the front are more or less injured. The upheaving of the waves had raised them in places, and the piles are said to have been drawn up by its force, giving their surface an equal appearance. Their coverings of plank have been displaced in some places, as also the sills upon which they were laid.

Water street, below Government, is completely chocked up with logs, drift wood and the broken up wharves along that part of the front. In one place, an oyster boat was carried and lodged in the centre of that street.

The Gale at Point Clear
By the arrival of the Crescent last evening, we had news from Point Clear. The water rose up to the sills of the main building at Point Clear, and flowed under the house. The whole south wharf was carried away, leaving not a wreck behind. The only place left for landing is at Battle’s wharf.

The second cook of the hotel, with two companions, got a sailboat on Friday night, and just before starting, bought a bottle of whiskey, saying that, as there was a fresh breeze, he was going to see how quick time could be made around the stake and back. Not one of the crew, not any vestige of the boat, has been seen or heard of since.

Continued