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Accounts of Jamaica's hurricanes over
the centuries
Before the Europeans came . . .
Clearly hurricanes have affected
Caribbean islands for thousands of years, but information on these storms which occurred before recorded history is bound
to be limited.
In
The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996, Edward N. Rappaport and Jose Fernandez-Partagas write:
'The legacies of Atlantic tropical cyclones span many cultures and thousands of years. Early evidence of these
storms predates extant weather records. Geologists believe that layers of sediment at the bottom of a lake in Alabama were
brought there from the nearby Gulf of Mexico by storm surges associated with intense hurricanes that occurred as much as 3,000
years ago. Similarly, sediment cores from the Florida west coast indicate exceptional freshwater floods during strong hurricanes
more than a thousand years ago.'
Jamaica would have suffered similar impacts. In a cryptic comment in
The West Indies ,(1987), David Watts writes,
'Hurricanes appear to have brought about a terminal decline in at least one of the pre-Arawak Indian cultures [the
Redware culture] of Jamaica (Wilcox, 1985)’.
Unfortunately there seems to be no entry for Wilcox, 1985,
in his list of references; I will have to make greater efforts to find this source, which so far eludes me.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Sadly, while researching these matters, I discovered
that David Watts, who was Professor of Geography at the University of Hull, suffered a severe stroke and died on November
13, 2003. His work, The West Indies, Patterns of Development, Culture and Environmental Change, since 1492
(Cambridge, 1987) is an invaluable resource for students of the history and geography of the West Indies, and
will ensure that his memory lives on among them.
Dr Watts' widow has presented a full set of The Journal of Biogeography, which he founded, to the Department of Geography and Geology, UWI, Mona; it will be housed in the Science Library on
the campus.
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The 16th century
1597
'Sixteenth century Jamaica had no meteorological warnings
that a storm born in the Leewards was headed for the island. The first sign of impending disaster came during the previous
day when an ominous stillness filled the atmosphere and not a leaf stirred on the trees. The morning sun was reported to have
changed to an awesome orange hue in the late afternoon, while several hours previously storm winds began to stir, mounting
in intensity as time progressed until black clouds darkened the heavens with heavy rains driven by the fury of the storm.
Gusting up to one hundred miles an hour, the hurricane swept through the streets of Santiago de la Vega, driving the rain
with such force that it entered every crevice, lifted roofs from their supports, and hurled them miles away, while walls collapsed
like paper. The storm’s [counter-]clockwise action struck the town first from the
south [north?]; then, after the eye’s lull of fifteen minutes, struck it with the same fury from a northerly [southerly?] direction
- four hours of merciless battering. The capital was in worse condition than Shirley [Sir Anthony - an English
pirate] had left it the previous year, and Villalobos [Abbot of Jamaica] was a much humbled prophet as he stood before his
church on the morning of 2 August 1597 and viewed its ruined walls and gaping roof, then walked over to the Dominican monastery
leveled to the ground. He recalled the words he wrote to Philip II, [Nov 1582], “Hurricanes
there used to be, but by the grace of God, they have ceased.” '
History
of the Catholic Church in Jamaica, Francis J. Osborne, S.J., 1988 pp 60-1
However, I think Fr. Osborne has the wind directions etc the wrong way around in the highlighted sentence.
See http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/D3.html
'... when a low pressure starts to form north of the equator,
the surface winds will flow inward trying to fill in the low and will be deflected to the right and a counter-clockwise rotation
will be initiated. The opposite (a deflection to the left and a clockwise rotation) will occur south of the equator.'
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The 17th century
During the period from their capture of
Jamaica in 1655 to 1689, 34 years, the English apparently experienced no hurricanes (cf 1951 to 1988 when no hurricane hit
Jamaica head-on). The impression may even have developed that Jamaica did not experience hurricanes, unlike the islands of
the lesser Antilles; this was a very early period in the study and knowledge of tropical cyclones.
1689 Maxwell Hall mentions
this storm, but suggests that it was probably not very severe, since reference to it was dropped in later Jamaica Almanacs.
1690 August 7, Bybrook Plantation: because a great hurricane
had blown down "all our planton walk we was like to starve the negroes" provisions proving so dear. They managed to subsist
on "a sort of Corne that grows here." All of the growing canes on every plantation in the vicinity had been flattened by the
storm.
John Austin quoted in No Peace Beyond the Line, Carl
and Roberta Bridenbaugh, 1972.
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The 18th century
1712 The hurricane of August 28 is described as 'the first great hurricane experienced by the English in Jamaica', but no
accounts of it appear to have survived; I will have to check that out!
1722 '. . . a violent hurricane, which happened on the 28th of August,
1722. It began at eight in the morning, and lasted fourteen hours ; during which, the rain was incessant, and the storm veered
all round the compass. In Kingston most of the buildings were thrown down, or much shattered. The very day preceding it was
perfectly calm; but so great a swell at sea, that the waves broke over the breast-work at Port Royal and laid all the streets
under water. The fort suffered very much; several of the guns were dismounted, and some washed into the sea. The church and
row of houses in the East part of the town were so battered, that there remained very little appearance of a building.
In short, above half the town was laid in ruins ; and the houses and plantations in all parts of the island suffered considerable
damage, except in St. Jago, where the Spanish buildings stood the shock unhurt. Very few of the inhabitants lost their lives;
but in the harbour it proved more fatal. Out of thirty-six merchant-ships and sloops, only ten were to be seen after the storm;
and of these one half were irreparably damaged. The Falkland, Swallow, and Weymouth men of war, and the sloop Happy, lost
all their masts and boats; the other part of the squadron, consisting of the Lancaster, Mermaid, and Adventure, were
luckily at sea, and escaped. The naval store-house was blown down; and most of the powder in the magazines damaged. The Rio
Cobre was obstructed for several miles about the Caymana’s, and lost its usual channel, by the prodigious abundance
of trees and rubbish which the wind and inundation had thrown into it; so that the passage from St. Jago to Kingston by land
became interrupted for some time; and the assembly were obliged to pass an act for clearing it. It was computed, that four
hundred persons lost their lives in the harbour, among which were two hundred Negroe slaves on board a Guiney ship, which
foundered at her anchors.'
History of Jamaica, Edward Long, 1774, Vol. II, p 145
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1726 October
22: A hurricane swept the east end of the island, lasting three hours and a half. It blew down many houses in Kingston,
Spanish Town and Port Royal, and sank or wrecked fifty ships.
1744 '. . . in the year 1744,
when another furious hurricane arose at six in the evening on the 20th of October, and continued till six the following morning.
A new fort, begun at Mosquito Point, was entirely razed; many houses were blown down in the towns and other parts of the island
; and all the wharfs at Port Royal, Kingston, Passage Fort, and Old Harbour, were destroyed, and most of the goods swept away.
The inhabitants of Port Royal expected every moment to be swallowed up by an inundation, the streets being all laid several
feet under water; but, their wall withstood the shock, and saved them from utter ruin. Their dangerous situation may be imagined;
for the wind, setting the whole time from the South, drove the surge full against this part of the town, and with such fury,
that immense loads of stone and sand were poured over the wall. Sir Chaloner Ogle, who then had the command on this station,
was fortunately at sea, with the major part of the fleet; but there were nine men of war and ninety-six merchant ships in
the harbour, one hundred and four of which were stranded, wrecked, or foundered; so that only Rippon rode it out with the
loss of her masts; and a great number mariners were drowned. Thus has this unhappy town undergone, in the space of fifty-two
years, a sad succession of extraordinary disasters, by earthquake, tempest, fire, and inundation. In its present humbled
condition, it has three streets, two or three lanes, and about two hundred houses.'
History
of Jamaica, Edward Long, 1774, Vol. II, p 146
It was reported that an earthquake shock occurred
during the hurricane, but this is a phenomenon which needs further research. It was also recorded that 'a pestilence' followed
the hurricane, causing a greater number of deaths.
1751 September
2 A storm is recorded in the Jamaica Almanac
1772 A hurricane 'which happened on the 31st of August , 1772, was particularly destructive
to them [Windward Islands]; this dreadful tempest, which seems not to have gone further South than 15 degrees N. lat. fell
on all the Caribbee islands, in their
turn, from that degree of latitude, and passing along by Porto Rico, Hispaniola, and the South side of Cuba, swept across
the mouth of the Gulph of Mexico, quite into the Bay of Honduras, in a course of near 700 leagues, or upwards; for its place of origination is unknown.
Jamaica,
being fortunately screened by the islands of Hispaniola and Cuba, which intercepted the main stream of wind, escaped without any material damage; the inhabitants thought the
weather a little tempestuous, but were not alarmed at it; the wind was chiefly felt on the North side of the island; but, in
most other parts, they had deluges of rain, which flooded the rivers to an
incredible height, tore up several bridges, and drowned a good many cattle, sheep, and some Negroes.
A gentleman, who was at this time passenger in a small vessel bound through the Gulph of Florida,
for North America, gave the following account.
They
had just left the West end of the island, on the 31st of August, but could then perceive no appearance of approaching bad
weather. The wind indeed got round to the Westward, and continued in that quarter, blowing moderately, for three days. They
supposed themselves off the Cuba shore, in the afternoon of September the 3d, and were then quite becalmed. On a sudden the
wind came on violently from
the North, and blew very hard till midnight. About half an hour afterwards it ceased at once, and a perfect calm ensued, which lasted only a few minutes; when a contrary wind
as suddenly began from the South; and, by its opposition to the range of the waves, raised a most terrible sea. At one o’clock
this wind increased to a tremendous
height, and continued, without the smallest abatement of its fury, till, two: from this time it abated but very little
till noon, when it hauled
round to the Eastward, and there settled into a moderate gale, which brought them clear weather again. The progress of this storm from the Northward, round
by the West and South, to the usual quarter of the trade-wind, agrees with, and corroborates what has been before-mentioned
in general, allowing for some small variations which may happen
in places differently situated.
The History of Jamaica, Edward Long, 1774, Vol III p 620-1
1780s
The decade of the 1780s was probably the most active hurricane decade in Jamaica's
recorded history. Between February 1780 and October 1786 Jamaica was hit by six hurricanes.
Click here for accounts of these hurricanes.
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The 19th century
1874
Sunday, November 1: A hurricane hit the
island in the afternoon; winds were around 90 mph, and the hurricane would be considered Catagory 2.
Severe damage to property and crops was
reported from St Catherine, St Thomas Ye Vale, St Dorothy, Clarendon, Manchester, St Elizabeth, Westmoreland, St Ann and Metcalfe. "Desolation
is spread over many districts."
Ships and wharves were damaged or destroyed in Kingston and other ports,
especially St Ann's Bay, Port Maria and Port Morant. Damage in Kingston was estimated at £20,000. Deaths
were reported, but no total number so far found.
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1879
New York Times,
1879 October 25
DAMAGE BY STORMS IN JAMAICA.
KINGSTON, Jamaica, Oct, 16. - Severe rains fell
in this island on Saturday, Oct. 11, and continued with little interruption until Tuesday, Oct. 14, doing serious injury to
property in Kingston, St. Andrew, and the Port Royal Mountains. About 13 lives were lost in Kingston, while horses, mules,
sheep, goats, huge trees and timbers, bridges, houses, and sacks of coffee and plantain trees were swept out to sea. Great
distress prevails among the poor. The telegraph land lines have been thrown down, and direct communication with many districts
entirely stopped. No accounts have been received in Kingston from any of the other parishes. Business has been almost
entirely suspended in consequence.
New York Times,
1879 November 7
THE FLOODS IN JAMAICA.
GREAT DAMAGE TO THE ROADS - NEARLY 100 LIVES
LOST
Kingston, Jamaica, Oct. 3O, - The floods have subsided and the rains ceased, but they have
done an immense amount of damage to the roads of the country, which it will take months to repair. Nearly 100 lives have been
lost by the floods, chiefly at the east end of the island. The coffee crop has suffered heavily by the rain.
London Times, 1879 November
8
Upon October 10, 1879, a deluge fell
upon the island of Jamaica, and drowned one hundred of the inhabitants. A flood that slid out from this island was surfaced
with jungles - tangles of mahogany logs, trees, and bushes; brambled with the horns of goats and cattle; hung with a moss
of the fleece of sheep. Incoming vessels ploughed furrows, as if in a passing cultivation of one of the rankest luxuriences
that ever vegetated upon an ocean. Passengers looked at tangles of trees and bodies, as if at picture puzzles. In foliage,
they saw faces.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
This was a tropical storm with winds around 50 mph, and it never developed into a hurricane.
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A catagory 1 hurricane passed to
the south of Jamaica in early August, but I have found no references to this event so far.
A disastrous hurricane hit Jamaica during
the night of August 18-19.
'KINGSTON, Aug. 19. - A disastrous hurricane passed over this island last night Thousands of people are houseless.
Crops, fruit trees, and farm produce generally were destroyed. Huge trees were uprooted and churches demolished. The
barracks in this city were destroyed. Three wharves are gone, and eight large and thirty-two small vessels are wrecked in
the harbor. Famine is imminent, and help is required for the starving thousands.'
Click
here for more information on this hurricane.
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1899 Jamaica was hit by a
hurricane and then a ferocious tropical storm in quick succession in late October and early November.
Although newspaper accounts, both in Jamaica and abroad, clearly referred to two
impacts, the maps only showed the earlier hurricane; it took some persistent searching to locate recently updated maps which
showed the second storm.
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The 20th century
Predicting hurricanes
was still unreliable in 1914!
Jamaica Times, 1914 January 10, p 17
'When Will the Next Hurricane
Come?
Our attention has been drawn to this very curious coincidence. We had a hurricane in 1903 and the next in 1912. If the four individual figures making up these years are
added together they come to the number thirteen - the number of such unlucky portent.
The next year, the figures of which will bring the same result, is 1921 and that is seven years away. One is almost
tempted to prophesy that these are to be the seven fat years, and then the hurricane will come.'
In the
following months and years
Jamaica was hit by -
1914
Aug 5 WWI broke out (worse than hurricanes and earthquakes!)
1915 Aug 12-3 hurricane
Sept 25-6 storm
1916 Aug 15-6 hurricane
1917 Sept 23 hurricane
So much for that!
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The 21st century
For reports on our 2004 visitor, Ivan, you can check newspapers online.
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