Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1899-02-16
Saint Narg'b Beacon
Sunk Into The Sea.

cathedral sunk and where the spire
still reaches up nearly to the sur
face.
The traveller who visits the capt.
tai Of Jamaica should pray for clear
weather, without wind. When the
water Of the harbor is ruffled by
tfeezes, the hidden CITY lie obscured
from view. But on q cloudless,
still day. when the surface of the
sea is perfectly smooth, the ruins
of the phantom city may be plainly
seen in the depth of the transparent
water.
The spire of the old cathedral is
the most prominent object. In the
clear water you can see the fishes
iazily swimming in and out among
the ruined turrets. more suggestive
Of owls and bats than Of the finny
inhabitants of the sea. Occasion
ally glimpses of the ruins of other
bnildings--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
lie the bones of 1900 women and
children, carried dowL into the sea
with their homes on that awful
June day in 1892. An earthquake
suddenly and without warning
smote the profigate city of Port
Royal, which slid into the sea.
The waters opened and swallowed
it up, and there beneath the silent
waves was hidden the wickedness
and debauchery of a community
described by historians as being al
most without parallel.
The survivors said it was the ven-
geance of God end likened it to the
destruction of Sodom and Gomor-
rah. And in very truth the history
OF the city seems to show the I'm.
ceasing wrath of Divine power.
From the richest city Of its time it
has dwindled into insignificance,
until now it Is a most wretched
place, used only s q naval station.
Disaster after disaster has oyerta-
ken it.
After the earthquake the town
was rebuilt, only to be completely
destroyed by fire in 1903. On Au-
gust %. 1722, it was swept into the
sea by a hurricane. It was once
more reconstructed. bat again, in
1915. it was reduced to ashes, and
as recently as 1880 it was visited by
another hurricane. Every disaster
was attended by great loss of life.
The city of Port Royal was orr
ginally built upon a narrow strip of
land extending out into the sea,
which accounts for its strange dis
appearance at the time of the earth
quake. Like the house Of the fool
ish man Of Biblical lore, which was
builded upon the sand, it literally
slid into the water when the earth.
quake shock came.
Previous to that fatefui 9TH day
of June, 1892, Port Royal had been
known as "the 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 lit
tie either in its government or its
customs of British morality. We
are told that it was q place of luxu-
rious debauchery, that in their ex-
cesses the colonists rivaled the pro-
fiigates of ancient Rome.
Buccaneering and piracy were
recognized industries. The treas
ure ships Of Spain were legitimate
prey. The riches of Mexico and
Peru were levied upon, and the peo-
pie of Jamaica were literally rolling
in wealth and splendor. Vice and
debauchery held sway. Bacchan-
alien revels which might put to
Shane the dwellers in the orient
were Of nightly occurrence. There
wss no virtue.
And like the crack of doom came
the earthquake. The thunder of
the elements sounded in the ears of
the needless jewellers. The earth
opened in great assures and closed
again like the jaws Of a mighty trap,
aud in closing it gripped many of
its victims in the middle, leaving
their hands above ground. Then
came the awful sliding, grinding
noise as the city, build upon it's
foundation OF sand, sank into the
caressing embrace Of the sea, which
forever closed upon it's wickedness