A little while after midnight came a strange sound from over the sea. High above in the air a strange, faint, hollow booming sound began. Then without warning the tempest broke with a rapidity which seemed unbelieveable at the time. Even afterwards it is now impossible to realize how quickly the whole aspect of nature at once became convulsed.

The waves rose in growing fury, each one higher than the one before. In a very few minutes the recently smooth sea was like a roaring and devouring monster. White-topped waves beat madly on the beach sands and rushed up the cliff sides. Other waves broke over the piers, and their spume blew over the lanterns of the lighthouses at the end of either pier of Whitby Harbour.

The wind roared like thunder, and blew with such force that even strong men had difficulty staying on their feet, while some men held grimly on to the pier's iron pillars. It was necessary to clear all the spectators from the pier, or the fatalities of the night would have been many times greater.