Either in the ordinary course of events by the continual beating of the clapper, or through a flaw in the metal, or through its fall at the time of the earthquake or at some other time, the bell was cracked; but after its recovery the crack was stayed by a drill hole, and the bell is said to have been hung in the new church which had been built at Port Royal in 1725. In 1855, as the crack had extended in two directions and rendered the bell useless, the “whitewash and plaster” churchwardens of the day sold it for old metal. During the administration of Sir John Peter Grant it was pointed out to the Government that it was lying in an old curiosity shop in Kingston, in imminent danger of being melted down; and it was purchased by the Government and deposited at the Ordnance Wharf, whence it found its way to the Institute of Jamaica. It is 2 feet 1¾ inch in height and 6 feet 7 inches in circumference at the base. Round the edge runs the following inscription: _Ihesv Maria et Verbum Caro Factum Est et Abita_. In the Vulgate, the 14th verse of the 1st chapter of St. John’s Epistle commences thus: “_Et Verbum caro factum est, et habitavit in nobis_.” The bell also bears a cross made of a series of stars, and two small designs in relief placed in duplicate on opposite sides, representing the one the Virgin and Child, and the other, a saint, probably St. George or St. Michael. The bell, in the opinion of an expert to whom a photograph was sent, is certainly Spanish; the cross and letter are from fifteenth-century moulds, but the small designs are later, probably sixteenth century. In casting, old moulds were frequently used. The cross is decidedly Spanish. In September 1692, the Council wrote home, “Port Royal which was our chief stay and where we could muster two thousand effective men is, since the earthquake, reduced to about two hundred men.” The old plan of Port Royal which was reproduced on page 442 of the “West India Committee Circular” of September 23, 1913, was formerly in the Dockyard there, having been presented to that office by Commodore the Hon. W. J. Ward, in August 1880. It was handed over to the Institute of Jamaica by the last commodore after the dockyard was given up. It is obviously a copy of an older plan in the Colonial Secretary’s office. In mistake it is stated on it that the original plan was surveyed in June 1857. It should have been 1827. The wording on the original plan is as follows: “A general plan of the town, forts and fortifications, etc., of Port Royal, performed by an order from His Grace William, Duke of Manchester, Captain-General and Governor-in-Chief of His Majesty’s Island of Jamaica and the territories thereon depending in America, Chancellor and Vice-Admiral of the same. Surveyed in June 1827 by Philip A. Morris, Crown Surveyor.”