["Cossack Hurricane", The Inquirer & Commercial News (Perth, WA), Friday 08 April 1898, page 9]
COSSACK HURRICANE.
FURTHER PARTICULARS.
THE TOWN IN RUINS.
Cossack, April 5.
The destruction caused by the hurricane here is indescribable. The town is bestrewn with the wreckage of boats, cargo, and the ruins of houses. The steamer Beagle is in a very nasty position, with her bow resting on the remaining portion of the concrete wall at the south end of the jetty, and the stern on the boulders forming part of the tram line. For about 30ft. of the vessel a person can walk underneath. Her port bilge is dented a great deal, and a hole is stove in her port bow. The captain. J. Lyons, reports having had a terrible experience. After sticking to the vessel through the storm he was washed overboard and sustained a severe knocking about from the floating wreckage. He succeeded, however, in reaching the land. Strenuous efforts are being made by the master and agents to get the vessel off. The schooner Harriet is jammed between the north end of the jetty wail and the beach. She has sustained slight injuries to her rudder and keel. The ketch Maggie Gollan was sunk alongside the jetty, but afterwards all the lines snapped, and the vessel was washed ashove and smashed up. She had a full cargo aboard for Condon, and her wreckage and merchandise are strewn about. The goods shed, jetty, and tram-line are deplorably damaged. The goods shed is simply a frame, with twisted portions of corrugated iron attached. The concrete floors have sunk several feet, and are lying in small sections. The steamer Croydon is on the opposite side of the creek, but might be floated off with little difficulty. Other smaller craft are washed up near the houses. The stock jetty is greatly damaged, and cannot be used until repaired. The tram-line from the jetty on the Cossack side of the creek is reduced to a lower level than the road, and the rails are separated and carried on to the Strand-road. More than a dozen houses have been partly or completely unroofed. The Customs bonded store and the landing-waiter's quarters had nearly all the iron stripped from the roof, and in places the wall, plates and masonry are loosened. The greatest sufferers from the effects of the water are the North-West Mercantile Company, the roof of whose retail stores, together with the wall plates, was lifted bodily and stripped of the iron. The water poured in on the goods, destroying more than £1,000 worth, though tarpaulins had been put over them in anticipation of the storm playing havoc with the buildings. The hardware and oilmen's warehouse was flattened, as were also the stables. The manager's cottage sustained much damage. Messrs. Galbraith aud Co., merchants, are little better off. The hurricane lifted the south-east corner off their roof, the rain damaging valuable stock, and destroying large quantities of perishable articles. The main building only is left standing. The buggies are terribly mangled, and all that is left of the assembly-room is three walls. Japtown had only the portions of two buildings left when the storm abated, but since then great activity has been shown in the re-erection of this suburb. The whole of the town is bestrewn with ruins. The damage and loss here alone are estimated at £30,000, while the tram-line between here and Roebourne will have to be rebuilt for almost the whole distance. The embankment across the marsh was levelled with the ground for a mile and a half, and the line was washed against the telegraph poles, 15 yards away. The rail approaches to the bridges have disappeared, and the Marsh-road is a thing of the past, having been in many places swept away right down to the mangroves which were put on the marsh when the old road was first formed. The first bridge has disappeared and the second is turned end for end. The new bridges erected over the deep gullies on the road to Roebourne are unapproachable, there being a 6ft. drop to some. One at Two-Mile Gully has been sunk 3ft. in the centre. Communication by telegraph between Cossack and Roebourne was restored yesterday afternoon, though the poles are lying at all angles.
