A Low Rumbling Sound . . . Haiku, The Destruction of Port Royal, and a forgotten chapter in the founding of the New World *****

A low rumbling sound, . . .
Massive earthquake! Seismic wave!
Port Royal . . . destroyed.

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Today is the 327th anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that destroyed Port Royal, Jamaica, on 7 June 1692.

Though few today realize it, or have even heard of it, Port Royal was at the time the most important of the English colonies in the New World. It had roughly the same population as Boston, but several times the ship traffic, and was of far greater strategic importance.

Indeed, the history of the New World as a whole, and the founding of what later became the United States specifically, was changed forever on the fateful day when Oliver Cromwell, acting on orders from the King, attempted to capture the heavily fortified Spanish colony of Cuba, but failed badly.

Rather than return to England empty-handed, which could well have cost him his life, Cromwell set his sights on capturing nearby Jamaica, which the Spanish considered of far less importance, as no gold or precious jewels had been discovered there.

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Big mistake. Huge.

At this time, in the mid-17th century, the Caribbean was widely known as the "Spanish Main," because the Spanish armada was considered to be virtually unbeatable, and thus they ruled the seas.

Cuba and Jamaica were only two among a large number of Spanish colonies dotting the region.

Which is why, when Cromwell attacked Jamaica in 1655, and the small Spanish population quickly abandoned the island, escaping to the north, they effectively passed control of the Caribbean Sea to the English without even realizing that they had done so.

It was the beginning of the end for Spanish rule over the region, and the beginnings of well over a century of global dominance of the British Navy.

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Port Royal itself, at the time a terminal barrier island at the end of a long sandspit, enclosed what would turn out to be the seventh largest natural harbor in the world. This afforded more than enough room to house the entire British Naval Fleet and much more.

Even more important, on the landward side of the island, the water was protected, and yet deep enough right next to the island to "haul out" large ships, which was the process of pushing a ship over on one side, then the other, in order to laboriously remove barnacles and other borers from the wooden hull.

Of even greater strategic significance, Jamaica's Blue Mountains afforded full 360-degree views of the surrounding waters, which is to say nearly all of the central Caribbean, allowing spotters to see which ships were traveling through the region, and alert the Navy and the town below.

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The British quickly ringed the harbor with six forts, and filled in the deep channel between the island and the sandspit leading to the mainland, sinking several decommissioned vessels, and using soldiers to dump rocks and boulders from the mainland to connect the two.

They quickly began preying upon Spanish treasure and merchant ships, and such "prizes" of all enemy flags, using their own naval vessels.

They also employed pirates, commissioning many as "privateers," which meant that they were pirates for the king, and thus operating legally under British law, with most of the spoils going to the crown.

Captain Sir Charles Morgan, in fact, though he has been commonly depicted as a pirate, was in fact a privateer operating under the auspices of the British crown. He was later made Lieutenant Governor of Jamaica.

In this way, Port Royal quickly became one of the wealthiest cities in the world, simultaneously strangling the flow of wealth to the Spanish crown, thus changing the balance of power throughout Europe.

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Earthquakes and other acts of nature were not uncommon in Jamaica. The filled-in channel between Port Royal and the Palisados, the local name for the sandspit, was washed out a few years later by violent storms, and had to be rebuilt.

In 1688, a large earthquake caused several buildings next to the wharf to literally topple over onto some of the ships in harbor, prompting the wife of a local minister to predict that Port Royal, then widely known as "the wickedest city," would be destroyed by God for its many sins.

And its sins were rampant; as in addition to being a haven for pirates and privateers (though not as openly as years before, after there was some effort to crack down), Port Royal was known for quite literally having a church, a tavern, and a brothel on every corner.

The permanent population at the time appears to have been between 2,000 - 3,000, but often swelled to between 6,500 - 8,000, depending upon the number of ships in harbor at any given time.

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On 7 June 1692, at roughly 11:43 AM local time (according to a stopped pocket watch found underwater centuries later), the earth let loose, liquefaction from the earthquake caused three- and four-story brick buildings to sink straight down into the sand, and then the tsunami came and swept everything from its path.

According to estimates at the time, approximately 2,000 to 2 500 people were killed immediately, with another 4,000 to 6,000 people dying in the coming weeks from injuries and disease.

The HMS Swan, then in port, was thrust up and over some of the buildings in town, losing its iron cannons overboard in the process. It quickly became a much-needed sanctuary for survivors.

The earthquake even thrust bodies from the local burial ground in the Palisados to the surface, so they were floating amongst the more recent victims, no doubt adding to the general horror of the situation.

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For now I'll leave it at that, but there is so much more to this story, which has gripped me for decades.

For those who are aware of my long-unfinished novel, this is the time period and place in which it is set, in the period just prior to, and immediately following, the earthquake and tsunami that destroyed Port Royal.

I first came upon the story through a joint production of the BBC and Nova, both sources I had previously trusted, only to discover that the most fantastic parts of their story had actually been completely debunked back in 1692, in the sources they listed as having been used in preparation of their production.

So, evidently, they listed a bunch of sources that they never actually consulted, or else they simply ignored what they had to say.

Ah, well.

In the end, though I've yet to make it to Jamaica, the story has always captivated me, not least because so many aspects are still entirely relevant today.

So @katrinaariel, if you're curious about my pirate novel, here you go. This ^^^ is the background to the story.

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Obviously I'm still posting via my Android phone, when possible, as my Macbook Pro has decided not to allow me to do much of anything of late. I have a couple of posts virtually ready to send that it flatly refuses to send.

Hopefully I'll have a new laptop soon. It will NOT be a Mac.

In the meantime, thanks to everyone here for your forbearance, and hopefully I'll be able to edit and correct the post shortly, and add requisite photos.

At this point, I don't seem to even have a way to delete the photo of our Muscovy duck and her turkey poults, so that's just how it goes.

Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!

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