The winter of 1739/40 was marked by a frost of extreme severity which continued unabated for three months. Virtually all trade along the east coast came to a standstill and there was widespread distress among the poor. The coal industry, already disrupted by bad weather during the summer and autumn, was now crippled by the prolonged frost. According to the Newcastle Courant of 26 January, coal in Newcastle had for some time past been ‘as scarce as money’, and had not Alderman Ridley given away small coals to all who fetched them, ‘great numbers of poor families in Sandgate and in other places must have starved from excessive cold’. The City Corporation gave money for distribution among the needy and several wealthy individuals made donations for that purpose, but these welcome initiatives could have but limited impact. The keelmen would normally have started work at the beginning of February but were unable to do so on account of the frozen state of the Tyne. On 11 February the Grand Allies employed about two hundred men to cut a channel, over a mile long, from their staithes which enabled some keels to get under way, but attempts to open other parts of the river in this manner were abandoned when two men were drowned. Soon ice-floes blocked the channel already made thus halting coal shipments until the end of the month. Further disruption to trade followed when persistent gales in April prevented the colliers reaching the Tyne, and the problem was compounded by war against Spain which brought danger to shipping from privateers and the risk, especially to seamen, of impressment into the navy. While these circumstances were impeding trade and so reducing the earnings of keelmen and other workers, they were faced with rising prices of grain and other foodstuffs. Continuous rain in August and September 1739 had damaged the crops both before and after reaping, and farmers had to thresh earlier than usual to provide fodder for their cattle during the long frost. By the end of March local supplies were nearing exhaustion, and prospects for the next harvest were not good as the frost was followed by drought. ‘To the great oppression of the poor’, speculators throughout the land bought up large quantities of any grain they could obtain for export to lucrative markets overseas.