I SUPPOSE that there are very few people who read this story that have
not heard of the great hurricane of 1814, for I take it that very
few will read what I have written who are not in some way related or
connected with Tom Granger, and all such have heard him tell of it
again and again. Nevertheless, as I have ink and paper before me, and
as the itch of writing is upon me, I will tell it once more for the
benefit of those who come hereafter, and who have not heard of it from
Tom’s own mouth.
This hurricane reached over a zone stretching in breadth from Florida
to the Greater Antilles. It was felt more heavily in the northern part
than anywhere else; so that Tom and Jack passed through the worst of
it. One hundred and eight vessels were wrecked in the harbors and on
the coast of this region during the progress of the hurricane, and the
death-list was known to reach as high as one hundred and six. The crops
suffered severely, and over seven hundred houses were destroyed.
A few years ago, while I was spending a couple of weeks at Atlantic
City with my wife and two of my grandchildren, I met a Mr. Fitzgerald.
He was a lad living at Nassau at the time of this hurricane, and he
not only remembered it well, but his father, who was a gentleman much
interested in scientific matters, had kept careful data and memoranda
relating to it.
Mr. Fitzgerald was a very bright and intelligent old gentleman at the
time that I met him, and I was much interested in talking the matter
over with him, and comparing notes regarding it. The storm was severe
enough with Tom and Jack, but it must have been terrible indeed in a
place where there were so many lives to be lost and so much property to
be destroyed as in Nassau. He told me that the storm began with them
about ten o’clock in the night of the fourth of March, and blew with
great violence until half-past ten o’clock in the morning of the fifth.
The barometer at that time stood at 27.06 inches, which was the lowest
that his father had ever seen it. From that time the storm subsided,
and the torrents of rain began to cease, though the wind continued to
blow with violence until four o’clock in the afternoon. But all the
great loss of life and property happened in the space of twelve hours,
and while the hurricane was at its height.
The storm began at an earlier hour with Jack and Tom than it did at
Nassau, according to Mr. Fitzgerald’s account of it. I know, however,
that it came on the fourth of March, because that is the day before
Tom’s birthday, which comes on the fifth; therefore I am accurate in
regard to my dates, even if Mr. Fitzgerald had not corroborated the
account that I have always given of it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account