Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-19
THE D|SAsERJ0F 1880
Interesting Account Of Previ-
GUS Visitation ct Martinique.
TOLD IN o4D LETTERS
LOSS OF LIFE TEEN ESTIMATED
AT 1900.
Earthquake Followed by Hurricane
Shipping in the Harbor
Jared Badly.
TOLD IN 0ID LETTERS

Is found in an old English work published
in London in 1871 by q Mr. Fowler. Arti-
cles from the st. Peter Martinique Gazette
and letters from residents Of the West
Indies to friends in Europe are compiled
loosely. The author In his preface says:
philosophers have thought that these phe-
nomena are In some degree generated by
accumulated blasts Of wind from the vast
lakes in North America about the au-
tumnal equinox
The following Is from the St. Peters
Gazette of October 10, 1880: There is not
a corner Of this deplorable spot which Is
notA stamped with deSoluation: the sullen
wave still murmurs on our shore, and we
think we hear the cry Of the wretches
whom it has drowned We must remem-
Der that on the evening OF the 10th the
fleet of ffty-one sail, which had left Coro-
qua, safely cast anchor in our roads, ex-
cept few which had lost the opportunity
Of the tide. The atmosphere loaded with
vapors, the moon all pale and rejecting an
ominous light, seemed to forebode some
sinister event At midnight the winds veer-
ed to east-northeast and began to blow
high, and, continuing equally violent, drove
from our roads some vessels Of the fleet
on the morning of the 18th, and soon after
all the rest had the same fate.
First Shock Of Earthquake.
"About midnight we felt the first shock
Of earthquake; the winds passed success
lively from east-southeast to south and
west and varied with such rapidity that
they seemed blowing from every point Of
the compass. The wind blew with con-
tinual violence till half an hour after in
the morning, when 1t abated and we began
to respire and the first rays Of the dawn
showed us our losses. We had now in our
roads only one brigantine. one goelette,
one boat and three vessels Of the fleet
The ship called the Young Dauphin was
wrecked on the shore toward the middle
of the night. She had lost only two men,
who had jumped overheard intending to
swim to the shore. All the rest were saved
at break of day. after having been long
time af1oat on the different pieces Of the
wreck. A goeiette bound for France
thousand pieces Out of twenty men only
nine were saved. At half an hour after 6
in the morning the three ships Of the feet
which were still at anchor, being at the
point Of driving by the prodigious swell,
cut their cables and gave themselves up
without fail. to the mercy of the winds
and waves.
Some who had firmness enough to stand
on the beach saw them at great distance
run foul of one another and sink. The sea
had thrown down sixtythree houses in the
galley quarter, two houses in that OF the
fort itself, the gurlners' quarter and a
Twenty seven houses IN the street Of the
dauphin, etc. Every building, or rather
all the streets from the shore of st.
Peters down to Fort Royal, are entirely
frigates, the Ceres and Inconstante, have
taken from the English. that which carried
400 boucauds of cod has persisted, men and
merchandise. on the Point Des Negres, and
the other has not been since seen.
THE news from the country served only
to aggregate the former. Suffice it to say
that crops of every kind and victuals are
all swept away or destroyed. We find
wrecks all along the shore and we hear
that the inhabitants of Dominica are as
wretched as we. Monday last We heard
the most affecting news from St. Lucia
during forty-eight hours the wind blew
there with such violence that the island is
perfect desert"
Another Version of Disaster.
October II. $780, a merchant Of Marti-
nique wrote a letter to a friend at The
Hague in which he said: ION the 18th we
saw four ships founder in Fort Royal bay
and could not save a soul. Every other
ship was blown out Of the roads and many
must, of course, be lost. All the ships were
blown off the island that were bringing
troops and provisions, and we are in dread
for the lives Of more than 5000 soldiers and
seamen they have on board. In the noble
town of st. Pierre every house is down, and
to my certain knowledge more than 1000
persons persisted. At Fort Royal town, the
cathedral. the seven churches and other
noble and religious edifices, the governors
house, the record office, senate house.
prisons, hospitals, barracks, storehouses Of
government and merchants and upward Of
l 400 other houses were blown down, and
an incredible number of persons lost their
lives. The new Hospital De Notre Dame,
the most convenient and elegant in the
West Indies in which were upward Of LOCO
sick and wounded patients, belonging to the
fleet and army, was blown down. and the
greatest part of them, with the matrons,
nurses, attendants, etc, buried In the ruins.
| Every store office in the dockyards is blown
down and filled with ruins. The sick house
| of the shipwrights. etc, belonging to the
yard shared the fate of that of Notre
Dame, and about 100 persisted. By the re-
| port of the day, the number supposed to
| have persisted upon the island, including
negroes, is 5000
The Devastation Inland.
| A later letter was written by this same
| merchant November 8, 1880 He says: Il
| sent you by the last packet as good an &C
count of the loss our island sustained by
| the late dreadful hurricane as could then
be obtained. In addition to that meian-
| choly account l am to inform you that to
windward for near twelve miles in length
| there is not plantation standing. The
sugar grounds are covered with sand Of a
|
| Shells above two miles from the beach, in
| some places about q foot thick. The ground
cannot be worked again for three years to
come at least. Mons. lie Caude's plantation,
on which he had 900 nsgroes. and many
| of them were good workitten and artists, as
joiners, carpenters,~ miif#rights. etc, ex-
| elusive of their domesties and family, we
| thought had been saved from the fury of
the gale by lying in a Valley. but, to our
great surprise, found the whole washed
away, and fear evsfy sohl is lost Madame
lie Caude was fotfnd dead between two
rocks, quite naked. and is buried. At the
east end of the isIandh was situated the
| convent Of the St.nEspTft, in which were
boarded and educated not only the daugh-
tiers of the principal inhabitants of this is
land but also of oifr OTTER West India Is
lands and. indeeda sey1fal from Europe
AT the timo CT its being destroyed there
were In it about hinetyasix young ladies'
| some OF whom were near twenty years OF
| age These also, with the whole of the con-
vent, persisted. URwardgof eighty of their
bodies have been found and buried Church
| duties are performed twice every day in
| the tort for the souls of those killed by
the tempest The number of soldiers and
ofhcers exclusive of those in the hospital
who are missing and supposed to have per.
fshed, are, regulars two colonies, one
major, four captains. seven lieutenants
three ensigns. two staff, sixteen sergeants