Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1899-05-11

For Two Centuries the stately City Has
slumbered Beneath the Blue Caribbean,
Yet Even Now In Calm weather Her
Submerged Buildings May Be Seen.
Under The clear blue waters Of the Car
ibbean sea sleeps the sunkcn city of Port
Royal, and lazily rocking on the waves is
n red buoy which marks tho spot where
the old citys cathedral sank and where
the spire still reaches up nearly TO tho
surface.
The traveller who visits the capital Of
Jamaica should pray for clear weather,
without wind. When the water Of the
hMbor is rufied by breezcs, the hidden
city is obscurod from view. But on
cloudless still day, when the surface Of
the sea is perfectly smooth, the ruin, If
the phantom city may bo plainly seen in
the depths Of the Transparent water
The spire of the old cathedral is the
most prominent object In the clear wa
ter you can see the fishes lazily swimming
in and out among the ruined turrc;-.
more suggestive Of owls and bats than Of
the finny inhabitants Of the sea. Occa-
sionally gimpscs can be had of the ruin,
of other buildings buildings which for
more than two centuries have kept their
CHASTITY secrets and will keep them until
the end of time
Down there in that peaceful depth lilo
the bones Of 5000 men, women and chill
dren, carried down into the sen with their
homes on that awful June day in 1882.
An earthquake suddenly and without
warning smotc the protiigatc city Of Port
Royal, which slid into the sea. The wa
ters opened and swallowed it up, and there
beneath the silent waves was hidden the
wickcdncss and dchnuchery of a coinmu-
nifty described by historians al being almost
without parallel
The survivors said il was the vengeance
Of God and likened it to the destruction OK
SOdom and tiOmorrah. And in very truth
the history of the city seems to show the
unccasing wrath OF Divine power. From
the "ichest city Of its time it has dwinded
into inSgnflcance, until now it is a moss
wrctchcd place, used only as - naval sta
tion. Disaster after disaster has overtak-
en- il.
After the earthquake the town was re-
| built only to be completely destroyed by
fire in 1903. On Aug %. 1922, it was
swept into the sea by hurricane. II was
once more reconstructed, but again, in
1873 it was reduced to ashes, and as re
Gently as 1850 it wa, visited by another
hurricane. Every disaster was attended
by great loss of life.
The city Of Port Royal was originally
built upon narrow strip of land extend
ing ont into the sea, which accounts for
Its strange disappearance at the time Of
the earthquake. Like the house Of the
foolish man of Biblical lore, which was
buildcd upon the sand. il literally slid in
to the water when the earthquake shock
came.
Previous to that fateful 18th day OF
June, 1862, Port Royal had been known
as tho finest town in the West Indies
and the richest spot in the world " 1t
was, as it now is a British colony, but
there was little either in its governments
or its customs of British morality. We
are told that it was place of luxurious
| debauchery, that in their excuses the col
| onists rivaled tho prohigates of ancient
/ Rome.
/ Buccancering and piracy were rccor-
/ nized industries. The treasure ships Of
Spain were legitimate prey. The riches
of Mexico and Peru We're levied upon, and
I the people of Jamaica We're literally roll
ing in wealth and splendor. Vice and de
/ bHuchory held sway. Bacchanalian revels
which might put TO shame the jewellers in
the orient were Of nightly occurrence.
/ There was no virtue
And like the crack Of doom came the
/ earthquake. The thunder of the elements
! sounded in the ears of the needless reVel-
/ ers. The earth opened in great assures
and closed again like the jaws of a mighty
trap, and in closing il grippcd many Of
its victims in tho middle, leaving their
hands above ground Then came the aw
full sliding, grinding noise as the city,
built upon its foundation of sand, sank
into the caressinG embrace of the sea,
which forever closed upon its wickcdness
and will forever keep it- dread secrets.
! The shock came close on 10 midday.
The air was hot and sultry The sky was
without "a cloId. ~ great stiffness seemed
to hover over the city, and then, without
warning the earth tremhlcd Men and
women left thcir houses and ran into the
streets, only to meet death in the bowels
Of the earth cr IN the hidden recessea OF
/ the sea
In his annals of Jamaica, published
in 1928, Rev. George Wilson Bridges
quotes from letter written by one of the
survivors, rector, two or three days after
the disaster, which is in part a. follows:
After | had been at church reading,
which did every day since was rector
Of this place, to keep up some show of re-
ligiOn, and was gone 10 a place hard by the
church where the merchants meet and
where the president of the council was,
who came into my company and engaged
me to take glass Of wormwood wine as
a whct before dinner, he being my very
good friend, -taid with him, upon which
he lighted - pipe of tobacco, before that
was out found the ground rolling and
moving undcc my feet, upon which | said
unto him, Lord sir, what * thar: He
replied, being . very grave man: 1t Is an
earthquake lie not raid it will soon
! be over.
Despite the presidents assurance, he
Disappeared and was never heard of again.
Continuing. the rector wrote: Il made
toward Morgan : fort, because I thought
to be there sccurest from falling houses,
but rs was going | SAW the earth open
and swallow UP IL multitude of people,
and the sea mounting in upon them over
the fortihcatlcns Moreover. the large
and famous bUrying ground was de
| stroyed and the sea washed away the car
cusses The harbur was covered with dead
bodies, floating up and down, New
lork Herald.