The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-01-11
The Great hurricane ia the
West Indies.

BY the arrival of the steamer Sacramento, the
ST. papers have the following detailed account of
the awful devastation. OccasiOned By the hurri-
cane of October 29th, at the island Of st. Thorn
a.. from the Panama Star and Herald, Of NOycm-
Der 10th:
The Royal Mail steamship SoLcHi, arrived mt As
pinwall on tho 10Th inst, bringing mails and pas
sengcrs. She brings also intelligence of n fearful
hurricane which occurred ut st. Thomas on the
9th of October. The l. W. /. 4 r. ;. ;. Com
pany's fine new steamer COiOmbicn was lost, to-
gether with the ROYAL Mail steamships Rhone,
We, ConIrav and DerIrenf, the two former with
great loss of life. The total number of vessels
lost and disabled IL stated To he seyenty-nine, and
the total loss of life Is six hundred. The destruc-
ton of property on shore has been very great.
EXTRACT FROM LOG OF "soLENT."
Arrived at Peters Island Mt $50 \. ". Doth
Oct, a gale blowing from North; AT twenty min
utcs past one wind shifted To ;. ;. T., blowing Il
hurricane; lost foremast during same, bowsprit
also: hurricane llsted till 800 p. NJ. then cleared
saw Royal Mail steamer COHirdy ashore at Rhode
Island, forcmast and boats gone on the Both. saw
Royal Mail steamer RhOns ON Salt Island. total
loes. 100 lives lost, % saved; returned to st.
Thomas on the 3lst; found Royal Mail steamer
Wye total wreck, G5 souls lost out of sc; ROYAL
Mail steamer DeT7rsnt ashore 1t 81. Thomas har-
bOr, also % vessels sunk, including the West In
da and Pacific Steamship COmIany's steamer Co
OHLSaH. near dOcshead three earthquakes ut 1t.
Thomas; half OF town under water when SoLHt
left.
To the foregoing the Star adds the following,
from correspondence and exchanges:
At III $. NJ, ON the 10Th, barometer stood ut so
10, mt 1880 O'Clock il had fallen To- - 90, nj
which time IL commenced to blow fc4irfUlly from
northwest until 1890, when there was n lull for
about fifteen minutes during which the mercury
ru-c % $3.50; at the expiration of the lull the
wind came with such force from the southeast rs
to sweep everything before il, and ~ continued
with unparalleled violence until ! =. NJ, when it
moderated somewhat, but blew heavily until
about . p. NJ, after which there wis a perfect
calm There - not n dwelling house in the island
tAat ha- not suffered, and many have no roofs left.
The email hDuses VI the poor are leyclcd Ia the
ground. Over 500 persons arc already buried,
and God only knows how many more arc killed,
wOundcd and MANNED. The light house Is total
Is demolished. together with the gas works. gasl-
meter, etc. The printing Office of tine Tfdenda.
was unrOoicd and rendered 50 unseryiceablc that
tLcy could not print u list of the vessels lost, for
tie use of Lloyds. \ great part of the dam
age done To the town was Occasioncd by the earth
quake, which threw down the houses, while the
wind swept the debriS into the g%ullics, and the
town, being built On n hill side the consequence
was, that dams were formed which prevented the
natural direction of the water dow. Here the
rain speedily collected i'm large bodies, and thence
burst forth III irresistible torrents and swept over
and inundated II great portion of the town, fear
fully increasing the general wreck and damage.
The inundatiOn WAS thus OccasiOned by rain, and
not. n has been stated, by overflow Of the sea.
Some thirty or forty wrecks Cucumber the harb0r,
AMI 80 great Is the damage done TO IT,, that :, j.
believed IL can never again be valuable for COM
mercial purposes. In other words the harbOr il
ruined. IL IL also stated that owing to- the i'm
mense amount of animal mattcr-human remains
and domestic animals-lying amid the ruins. and
rOtting IN the tropical heat, the stencil through
out the town was intolcrable, and the prevailing
opinion II that the next yisitation-which Is in
evitable-wil be an Epidemic. The whole effect
will h. IN utterly min fbe leland npI al,rn.r IL j
populate il. Ii Is calculated that over five hun
drcd persons are drowned alone. Not u soul was
saved from some vessels. The steamer We lost
fifty-thTcc persons; the RhOHe, at Peters Island,
lOst about one hundred and fifty souls; the Cana
gEey seventeen; only one was saved from the
IHOOr: the ship ChaS. !SPragle and nearly every
vessel in the harbOr reported some drowned.
The steamer Colombian sunk with eight thousand
packages of dry goods; and all the merchants suf-
fer by rain on their goods, through rooficss houses.
The total loss of life on shore and in the harbor
il certainly not less than seven hundred. Up
ward of eighty vessels were sunk or dismantled,
and n large number of smaller craft DESTROYED.
There is not n lighter left in the harbor, and all
the wiaryes and piers are broken up. The gale
lasted about fours hours, and DESTROYED, at the
least calculation, upward of 50, 600, 900 worth of
property ON shore alone. Of the value of the
vessels DESTROYED we have no estimate.
The Jamaica Cleaner of the 9th says:
Nearly every vessel in the harbor ut the time of
Ilt tNtlpIlt rIuk OF WI urltcl 1NNOr NJ ]
wharves. lighter or tug were left in the port.
The steamer Colombian WIS driven upon the
'.Gridiron,' by which the crew escaped, and the
ship British Empire shortly after went ON top of
her. They were both destroyed. Three other
vessels were on the floating dock, and went To
pieces.
IL was prOyidcntial that the passengers and
mails which left Aspinwall ON the Odd ut for st.
Thomas for the steamship RhoHe were not trans
icTrcd On that ship, and hence were saved. The
RhoHe had u few West India passengers on board,
only two Of whom were saved.
The DOlro arrived ut ~. Thomas on the Both
Of October, and took the homcward bound pas
scngcrs on the Sd inst.
The earthquake i said to have caused great
destruction IN the Island OF ST. John, TUrtOla and
Others, but no particulars have been received.
Then follows n list OF the vessels lost and
wrecked, making n grand total OF Is steamers and
O. sailing vessels. OF these 5 steamers and ~
sailing vessels were British; d sailing vessels,
American; = steamers and . sailing vessels,
French; 3 sailing vessels, German; 3 steamers and
ing yc--els, Danish; q sailing vessels, Dutch; /
Norwegian vessel ashore; 5 sailing vessels, ycne-
zuclan. /
VINO - SITE?-GOd has never created n mind
yet that can safely challenge combat with the ap-
petite Of drink. Earth has NO ambition that il
not e~ngulfed, no hope which il not blasted, no tie
which Is not broken, no sanctuary which is not
invaded, no friend, no kinsman, wife or child,
that j. not forgotten; no fiber OF human agony
which i not wTung. Minds of common mold will
get through life without excess, while those gifted
with CvuI-liEe .Yyrarz IN. .tufff.n With xr.aEue-a ]