The Storm

The Storm relates the events of a week-long storm that hit London starting on 24 November and reaching its height on the night of 26/27 November 1703. It is known as the Great Storm of 1703, and it was described by Defoe as "The Greatest, the Longest in Duration, the widest in Extent, of all the Tempests and Storms that History gives any Account of since the Beginning of Time." During the work on this piece Defoe used other peoples personal accounts of the storm submitted to him through newspaper ads. Defoe also shared his view on the reasons of the great disaster, claiming that the destruction of the sovereign fleet, in which about one-fifth of the navy was lost, was a punishment for their poor performance against the Catholic armies of France and Spain during the first year of the War of the Spanish Succession. The Storm is a pioneering work of journalism and science reporting. It has been called the first substantial work of modern journalism, and it is the first detailed account of a hurricane in Britain.