THIS IS FINDON VILLAGE — www.findonvillage.com created by Valerie Martin, contains scenes from her home village of Findon, West Sussex, U.K.

THE WATERSPOUT

Copyright Valerie Martin 2004

If any inhabitants of Findon village  had braved the summit of Cissbury Ring on a windy Sunday morning on 21st August 1864  shortly after 9 a.m. they could have witnessed a rare sight approaching land from two miles out to sea.   A violent vortex.

The sea was calm with only a light breeze gusting.  It was unsettled weather but a magical moment.   Dull, blustery and thundery conditions with lightning.   The English Channel was calm with a light breeze from the N.E. 

The clouds began to revolve in a circle, some half-mile in diameter, which descended until when some 50 feet over the sea increased and united with a dense vapour arising from the water in the shape of a cone.   A full-blooded waterspout with a funnel cloud approached at a good lick from the west and veered menacingly towards Worthing's first ever constructed pier — it  had only been completed two years before.    The above scene was caught by a contemporary artist of the day.

As all of this happened, the sea became rough, great waves rolling to a centre and throwing up masses of foam.  

Ten minutes later the waterspout broke and was followed by a storm of hail.   The disturbed water flowed rapidly eastward and when off Brighton another waterspout was formed.    What a sight for anyone happening to be on a high vantage point such as Cissbury Ring.

What is a waterspout?   It is a funnel-shaped column of water and cloud that is drawn from the surface of the sea or a lake by an approaching tornado.  It was reported that this one rose to more than 100 feet in the air, before suddenly altering course and heading in the gusty wind in the direction of Shoreham.  

It faded into the misty middle distance.   According to contemporary witnesses, its strength then began to diminish and it finally dissipated several miles beyond the Brighton coastline.

In fact, I understand that some waterspouts can be much higher.    However smaller ones are more common than you would expect off the Sussex coast during the autumn.

Again, it is said that in 1865, a late September 15 ft. high waterspout could have been witnessed at around 9.30 a.m. about a mile and a half off the Worthing-Lancing boundary.   The sea was calm and it was said the heat tropical at the time.

Continue if you would like to read about a Foul Deed on Cissbury.

This is Findon Village — www.findonvillage.com is a continually growing record created by Valerie Martin exclusively for documenting life in Findon.