The Daily Herald

The late gale was very severe in the neighborhood of Norfolk, Va. It commenced blowing, says the Norfolk Beacon, about noon on Wednesday, with frightful violence, and continued up to the time of the papers being put to press on Thursday morning. The wind was from the North-west.

From the Beacon of Thursday.

The tide rose fearfully over the wharves, and the spray as it broke from the waves on the stone abutments of Granby street, reached the height of twenty feet. Much timber was swept from the wharves, and boats were used to convey passengers over parts of the town which were never before touched with a keel. It is the opinion of some, and we confess it is our own, that the tide never seemed so formidable as it did yesterday; it is true, however, that in some places it did not get as high as in 1831. Neither of the bay boats left yesterday, and the Old Dominion also remained at the wharf. Serious apprehensions are felt for the safety of the fleet of small vessels, nearly 100 of which were at anchor in the district. We have heard of several accidents on this side and at Gosport, but we refrain from recording them until authentic information can be obtained.

The Portsmouth ferry boat got ashore early yesterday, but was afterwards got off, and the Southern mail had not been conveyed to Norfolk at the writing of this paragraph.

The view from Town Point was grand. The waves never rolled more freely, or wore their crest of foam more beautifully than was then seen in our harbor. The Macedonian lay at her anchorage as calm as a summer morning, and was a striking figure in the scene. The height of the spray from the waves, as they dashed against the pier of the Naval Hospital, could not be less than thirty feet.

U. S. Ship Pennsylvania.—Letters received from Norfolk this morning state the U. S. ship Pennsylvania dragged her anchors during the late gale, and went ashore opposite the Navy Yard, where she now lies high and dry.—Com. Adv. of Saturday evening.

It is supposed she will be got off without much difficulty.