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T E a, NO. ,*
Georgia ggg2£Mp&£(ii Gazette.
ST. PIERRE in Martinique, August 21, <766.
ON Thursday the 14th of this month, about ten o'clock at night,
the wind at north-weft, was let loose with so much impetuoft
ty, that in aninftant the moon turned pale, thehorrifon dar
kened j all the objeds were confounded by the blaokeft of
darkness, and robbed us of the light of heaven and earth,
.which (eemed to be composed of but one element, the winds augmented
little by little, Ihook the houses and untiled them.
~ At midnight the hurricane continued with more violence, and run round
tiverj point of the compafii ; nothing was able to relift its fury; the walls
were thrown down ; the houses fell down and buried in their rains the in
fant in the mother’s arms, the mother in those of her husband. At that
ycry inftanta dreadful noise was heard. The earth (hook, the (hakings
redoubled ; the Heavens vomited violent (breams of a mixture ol bitumen
land fulpbur all in a flame. The fury of the four elements seemed to fore
tel the.diflblution of the globe. Then it was that fear and terror feizeJ
the hearts of men, women, children, and Haves, each striving in vain to
freferve their lives by Right; but surrounded with dangers, detained
thro* fear, and believing they were come to the lait moment of their lives,
they prostrated themselves, and joined to their mournful cries, the mod
fervent prayers.
The horror of this terrible night is increased by the disaster of the sea,
the waves and the clouds are confounded together, (wallow up, split, rend,
|tyd throw on lhore all the veflels that were in the road. liv vain the la
mentable cries of the sailors are heard; no assistance could be given them,
every thing is drowned by the noife.’
At three o’clock in the morning, the winds abated little by little, end
soon after day-lightfucceeded the darkness, (hewed the remainder of the
desolate people th© dreadful picture of all the evils which they so much
dreaded. The houses, .the streets, the Tea-(hore, exposed to the (ight no
thing but wrecks and dead bodies : the trees blown down and tore up by
the roots flopped up all the roads; the rivers swelled and rolleddown denes
pf an immoderate bigness.
At five o’clock a thick cloud was perceived, which hung over the moun
fain, Pice; the vast quantity of water that it contained, caused it to fall
pad burst on that mountain, from whence it spread itfelf to the plain, re
predating an impetuous torrent of muddy waters.
At five o’clock the winds aud fras were calmed, we had then nothing else
to do but to use our care in comforting the wounded & burying the dead.
Jn die greeted violence of the hurricane, there was seen to come out of
she bofora of the earth (heafs of fire, and forthwith diflipated itfelf into the
air. Some £y that they were burnt by it. . <
There were can away, in the road of St. Pierre, 35 veflels, brigantines,
‘flpops, fchoonefs and petoaugers, of which number 28 were French, and
•y Englilh, besides twelve paflage boats.
All'the adjacent habitations are laid level with the ground; there re
mains hardly any figas of buildings, under the ruins of whfch many per
sons have beencruihed to pieces; the canes, coffee, cocoa, cotton, ba
panas, potatoes, and caffada, have all been rooted up and destroyed.
We do not know the exadt number of thole killed in this parith, but
from the dead bodies taken from under the rubbish, those found on the
fargeof thofe that are mifiing, are computed to be 90, and
the woondedabout 180. *
4Thp infiahitapteot Carbet and those of Caze Pilote have (hired the (ante
4h*et they are left deihtete of houses, ridu&ls or plantations.
(where rtoft of the inhabitants were ruined by the great fire
that happened on the 20th of May,) have not flickered themselves since
that Wtjcourge, many houses were thrown down, and raoft parts of their
pppfi have, been carried away. The buildings of the citadel M&e been ei
ther uncovered or thrown down ; among the rest a cazern of 120 feet long
trod 18 fee;t wide was carried away intirely whole several paces from the
place where it flood. Nine Engli(h veflels that were at an anchor in Fla-.
jp4Hd*-bay were drove on (hore and beat to pieces: several French fchoo
iters apd (loops are run a-ground at Found Beknard, at Savant and at
Qirriere, and it is impossible to rarfe them, and set them on flout again ;
ngrett number of paflage boats have been beat to pieces cm the keys. The
Qiipsmoored in (he bafon (or wet dock) were raoft of them endamaged,
among their number 13 of them parted their cables and run a-shore along
the conft of the quarav at the entrance of the port; but thanks to the great
•are and deligenCe of M. Daros, commander of his Majesty’s pinks the
Balance, -end the Fortune, they are moll of them got up again. We just
Sf have an account that but three of them remain, of which'one front
vre, commanded by M. Bouvier,’ runs a very great rifque not to be got
up again. The habitations of this pari(h are intirely ravaged ; the num
ber of dead, drowned and cruihed in pieces, amount to at present 40, and
about | many wounded.
\ Tho-kqH|aptin quarter fuffered less, there were but three houses blown
Otpay i. th(Mfare,only about it perfonsas well whites as blacks killed, and
aq pounded There are (till a few pieces of canes and coffee (landing,
lust nop ovifions. *
r The parilbcs or quarters of Tron an Chat, Riviere, Salee, St. Esprit,
Tw Wets, Ancet D’Arlet, Diamant, Sainte Luce, Riviere Pilote,
WEDNESDAY\
/
November 19, 1766.
Marin, Sainte Anne and Vauclir, all fltuated.to the (outhward, preserved
■ their honfes (very few of them were blown down, but moll of the tops of
them wer.- blown away, and their ptoviiions-de.ftroycd) we may fay, with
certainty, thatrhen- is none of any kind whatever left upon the iflani; and
the sugar made is left, 18 (loops as well French as Englilh, that were at
those quarters, were drove a (hore, of which 6ve were knocked to pieces,
and the other; were got ff without much damage. The moll patt ofthete
quarters were intirely ravaged by the hurricane in 1756.
At Fort Robert and at Francois the wind wds felt with more violence,
the towns and houses of those two quarters are in the fame condition a*
thole of Fort Royal and Lemantin. The King’s cuflom-houfe Hoop, two
French and one Englilh (loops, met with no misfortune whatever, ... . -
At Gros Morne all the coffee planters are reduced to the mod dreadful
every thing there is destroyed. Their foil worn out, and barren,
is no m6re susceptible of productions, they have no other remedy but what
providence suggests to them.
Trinity quarter is to be numbered among those whose fate is the mod
deplorable, nothing ha refilled the fury of the hurricane. Half of the
town was blown down, and the tops of the houses of the other half were
•blownaway. The carpenter’s Work of the church, remarkable foiits so
lidity, was loofeneJ from the Walls, and carried in pieces very far from
its ground. Thehoufe in the front, those of the inhabitants of all kinds,
as well as the plantations, all was turned upside down, thrown down and
destroyed; 17 or 18 veflels that were in the road, of which number one
was an European, were drove a-(hore, without expectation or any hope
of thrfr being got off again; it is in this quartej’ where the hurricane fee .Ti
ed determined to fatisfy its rage. It is computed among blacks and whites
to have had 180 killed* and mere than 240 wounded. It is here thatna
ture trembles at the fight of a mother cruihed to death between her two
infants, which were found among the rubbilh, deeping by the fide of
their dead mother, who (HU held them by the hand.’ It 11 here that#ten
derfon was afflicted with the fight of his father, a refpeflablfe old mao,
cruihed to death before his eyes, without haying* it in his power to give
him the lead afliftance. Finally, it is here Where the mother, the (oa, the
husband, and the daughter, were seen to fink under the weight Os an
house. Oh Tender Son lOh Unhappy Spou/e l thy mother, tby wife,
thy daughter, all of them are dear to thee; thou hearest from one
fide the mournful and groans of thy chen ihed spouse, on the ci
ther fide those of thy dying* daughter,’ within thv arms closely locked up
the corpfeof her that gaVe thee thy being'; and thourliveff? Oh Nature!
Oh Delliny l . v
We cannot pass over h*re in filenee the horn a oily of the generous Rose,
a Bourdeaux Captain, who was at that titne fellingjiis cargq at the town
of Trinity. Notwithstanding that his (hip was drove on'(hore, he took no
advantage of this general calamity: He has fold his flour for the fame
price as he did the day before ft happened,’ find his’ eVeh distributed it to
those who flood mod in nqed of it. 1 (halt be too happy, find he, if I cai
thereby teftify the ftncerc interest which I take to the misfortunes?*?this
colony., This proceeding fpiVlted the inhabitants, who in crowds went
to the (ea-fide to get his veffcl off, which they did with very liule damage.
The quarters of St. Marie, Marigot, Grand Ance, Baste Pointe, Ma
couba, and Le Precbeor, are in the fame desolate condition; the letters
which wc receive from thence Would dhfW’ tears from the mod hardened
hearts. Not one Angle church was left Banding, the houses, manufado
ries, canes; sugars in calks, Roves, or in pots, Aitahas, coflbe, cocoa,
cotton, caffada, trees, eveh those thaf bid defiance ever since dm fettle
men tof the colony, all ismingled in a con fu don upon the ground.? Those
fields so fertile, so fmilidg, now offer to out fight but a ferier of horror*.
The veffcj* that were in these latitudes ,haye pcriflied and loft their ef
feAs;* one (ingle cabin-boy escaped the of the floods, the-waves and
the wimh hove him and trailfported him altve very far on (hore; it is com
puted that the number of the dead are i?aip. tjiii place, and as many
wounded. ‘ ‘*• r , . if . K
The General was that day at’Robert, and the Tntendantat Caz© Pilote,
where’ they run all theTifques of the hurricane: their paternal bowels
could not bear the fight of £0 mhnV misfortunes. -They retomed the next
day to St. Pierte, where tMy.p'ublifhed an ordioance,permitting the im r
portation of foreigb flour'andbilfcifit, either to be imported by him (elf, or
• by the French who Would be witling tt> undartake to do it. ’
-Wy— ..mm.mm
N4 ’ Atroqfi’ ff. , .. y,
Tt yfOST of the proprietors or the tie w PruffiapEaft-India company am
IYI Hamburghers, and the (hips will |afce : tner departure from Ham-,
burgh for China, and return to Hamburgh again to unload. Each (bip
of this company, hisfaid, isjto pay, on it! retoirp from China, ri*-
dollars to the king. Two only are to go the firft year, but they are to
fail together. * ‘ *
Copenhagen, August 10.. The confunimotion oKthe mamagt of th#
Princess Louisa, with Prince Charles of Hefle-Caflel, hath been declared
at court to-day with the iifual ceremonies. The military department in
partly changed, and the Prince of Hcfle is appointed Prcfidcat of thn
New Direftory oi War.