The Courier. (Genoa, Nev.) 1899-1904, 1900-02-16
A Sunken City.

In the beautiful harbor of Kingston,
Jamaica, few fathoms under water,
sleeps the sunken city of Port Royal,
which was destroyed by an earthquake
in 1902. On a cloudless, still day,
when the surface of the sea is perfect
ly smooth, the ruins of the phantom
city may be plainly seen in the depths
of the transparent water.
The spire of the old cathedral is the
most prominent object. In the clear
water you can see the fishes lazily
swimming in and out among the ruined
turrets, more suggestive of owls and
bats than of the fnny inhabitants of
the sea. Occasionally glimpses can be
had of the ruins of other 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 three thousand men,
women and children, carried down in
to the sea with their homes on that
awful June day in 1892. An earth
quake, suddenly and without warning,
smote the profligate 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 almost without parallel.
After the earthquake the town was
rebuilt, only to be completely destroy
ed by fire in 1903. On August %, 1922,
it was swept into the sea by hrrri-
cane. 1t was once more reconstructed,
but 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 original
ly built upon a narrow strip of land
extending out into the sea, which ac-
counts for its strange disappearance at
the time of the earthquake Like the
house of the foolishman of Biblical
lore, which was builded upon the sand,
it literally slid into the water when
the earthquake shock came.
Previous to that fateful 7th day of
June, 1892, Port Royal had been known
as ''the finest town in the West Indies.
and the richest spot in the world.u 1t
was, as it now is, British colony, but
there was little either in its govern
ment or its customs of British morality.
We are told that it was a place of lux
urious debauehery; that in their ex-
cesses the colonists rivaled the prof
ligates of ancient Rome.
Buccaneering and piracy were rec
ognised industries. The treasure ships
of Spain were legitimate prey. The
riches of Mexico and Peru were levied
upon, and the people of Jamaica were
literally rolling in wealth and splend-
or. Vice and debauchery held sway,
Bacchanalian revels which might put
to shame the dwellers in the Orient
were of nightly occurrence. There
was no virtue.
And like the crack of doom came the
earthquake. The thunder of the ele-
ments sounded in the ears OF the heed
less revelers. The earth opened in
great fissures, and closed again like
the jaws of a mighty trap. And in
closing it gripped many of its victims
in the middle, leaving their hands
above ground. Then came the awful
Siding, grinding noise of the city,
built upon its foundations of sand,
sank into the caressing embrace of the
sea, which forever closed upon its
wiekedness and will forever keep its
dread secrets.
The shock came close on to midday.
The air was hot and sultry. The sky
was without a cloud. A great stiffness
seemed to hover over the city, and
then, without warning, the earth trem-
bled. Men and women left their houses
and ran into the streets, only TO meet
d cath in the bowels of earth or in the
hidden recesses of the Exchange.