It is a good thing when casual remarks appearing on unexpected places in the archives are brought into the light of publication. As it is impossible to search for them in an organised way, such a publication can enable you to find it anyhow. It is even better, when such a remark is placed in its context. The small article by Frans Roelvink about an "unusual water movement in Breda" ("Een ongewone waterbeweging") in Engelbrecht van Nassau 19 (2000) 22 - 23 is a good example of a contexted find from the archives.

In this small article I will add some more to the "watermovement" of 1755. In Hage nrs 43 t/m 48, december 1985/86, is published the diary of some farmers ("Dagboek van enkele Bekenaren"). This book with notices covers the period 1690 - 1825. It is a very particular document about the live of the farmers in the village Beek near Breda in the Netherlands. Between all those notices we find on folio 63v also a remark about the earthquake in Lisbon in 1755:

int iaer 1755
isser een swaer aertbeving gewe(st)
gewist in de stat van Lissebon
huijsen en kercken ingestort en
me(e)st de(e)l van de stat vergaen
de aertbeevingh hebbe wij hier
ock gevoelt me(e)st aen de water-
stroomen maer Godt lof, niet veel
beschadight

In translation:

In the year 1755
there was a big earthquake
in the town of Lisbon
houses and churches tumbled down and
the biggest part of the town was destroyed.
We felt the earthquake here also
mostly by the water-
streams but praise the Lord there was not much
damage overhere

At the time that this diary was published, we didn't know how to interprete this text. It was clear that the writer, a farmer from Beek, was well informed about the disaster in Lisbon. But was "We felt the earthquake here also, mostly by the waterstreams" really true, or did he just copy it from another source? With the account of strong watermovement in the harbour of Breda and the breaking of ships mooring cables there as published by Roelvink, we now have an indication that the farmers remark can be true up to a certain extend. There is not much water in the village Beek, although the village is named after small brook. That brook will not have shown much watermovement. We think therefore that the watermovement was seen in the river Mark at about 5 kilometers distance of Beek, probably at the ferry of Nieuw Veer or ... in the harbour of Breda along the same river. Our Beek farmer or his wive may have heard the story from the ferryman, or as it was told on the market in Breda that was frequented by the Beek farmers. That market must also be the source of the interpretation: this was the earthquake of Lisbon.