The American War of Independence had just entered a new decade and was winding down but no one was yet seeing an end to the conflict. Outside the continental land war, a larger naval “world war” was being fought by the English, French, and Spanish (the Dutch would enter the war in December) in the southwestern North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea for naval supremacy and ownership of the colonial islands. In the second half of the year, another belligerent entered the fracas against all parties: the Atlantic hurricane. When the last gale had subsided in November, more people were dead than had died on both American and English sides than during the seven years of armed combat.
In retrospect, it was called the “Great Hurricane Season of 1780” and for good reason. Centuries before we had the ability to pinpoint all tropical storms with satellite, radar and aircraft surveillance, the record shows eight strong tropical storms made landfall on the continent and across the West Indies. The human toll from these storms has been estimated in the range of 27,000, a deadly record that still stands. The single “Great Hurricane of 1780” was blamed for 22,000 of those deaths, a total only approached once since — Hurricane Mitch in 1998 which claimed 11,000–19,000 lives, mostly in catastrophic flooding and landslides related to its torrential rains.
Estimated Tracks of October 1780 Hurricanes (After David M. Ludlum, Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870, 1963)
(Note that since windspeed measurements did not exist at the time nor did the Beaufort wind force scale, it is impossible to determine if all storms actually exceeded the modern threshold winds for a hurricane or tropical storm and their fury was estimated from damage and the experience of sea captains.)
In October, three major hurricanes moving through the region over three successive weeks caused unparalled economic destruction and loss of human life. Each took over 1,000 lives. No other season has ever had more than two such deadly storms (1893 and 2005 each had two).
The season opened early with a storm that raged across St Lucia in the Windward Islands on 13 June, then struck Puerto Rico causing death and losses of property. The season took an extended hiatus until late August when two storms shared the region. One struck Louisiana on 24 August and another hit St Kitts in the Leeward Islands a day later. September was again quiet before the storms of October ravaged the islands from Barbados to Cuba and into Florida.
The storm that struck the province of Louisiana near New Orleans on 24 August was the first to strike the continent in 1780 and the second to hit New Orleans in just over a year. The early Louisiana historian Chares Gayarre noted that this more severe storm “swept over the; destroying crops, tearing down buildings, and sinking every vessel and boat afloat on the Mississippi River and on area lakes.” The Spanish Intendant Don Martin Navarro issued a public proclamation of sympathy and urged the residents not to abandon the country. Perhaps rather unsympathetically for a note of sympathy, he remarked: “all countries have their inconveniences; … I know of none which are not occasionally devastated by the fury of storms and hurricanes.” Interestingly, public opinion held that the local climate was changing….for the worse.
The next day, St Kitts took the punch of a tropical storm; but we have no details of its impact. It either dissipated shortly thereafter or turned out to sea, out of sight and mind. The atmosphere relaxed for the next month but would pounce on the islands with fury as the calendar moved into October.
The Savanna-La-Mar Hurricane
The 3 October morning dawned clear on the Island of Jamaica with a slight breeze. But not far offshore, a hurricane approached from the southern Caribbean that would soon strike the island bringing wind and storm surge that would cause incredible devastation and loss of life to the western region of the island, particularly the port city of Savanna-la-Mar.
Just after noon, the tropical serenity vanished. The island’s Governor, Colonel John Dalling described the situation in his official report to London thus: “The sky on a sudden became very much overcast, and an uncommon elevation of the sea immediately followed. Whilst the unhappy settlers at Savanna-la-Mar were observing this extraordinary Phenomenon, the sea broke suddenly in upon the town, and on its retreat swept every thing away with it, so as not to leave the smallest vestige of Man, Beast, or House behind.”
The Royal Jamaica Gazette reported: “About one P.M. the gale began from the S.E. and continued increasing with accumulated violence until four in the afternoon, when it veered to the south, and became a perfect tempest, which lasted in force until near eight; then it abated. The sea during the last period exhibited a most awful scene; the waves swelled to an amazing height, rushed with an impetuosity not to be described on the land, and in a few minutes determined the fate of all the house in the Bay.”
Additional reports described a mighty wave, the storm surge, that rose out of the raging sea and swept across the coast a mile inland, engulfing all the buildings in the seaport. With the debris of shattered homes and businesses, the surge carried two ships and a schooner that were deposited among the mango trees. By nightfall, the town was obliterated along with everything to either side along a 30-40 miles (50 to 65 km) wide path. This included all structures in the surrounding parishes of Westmoreland, Hanover, and some parts of St James and St Elizabeth parishes. The landscape had been completely altered. Trees and other plants were blown down and flattened with surrounding mountains and valleys denuded. Rivers flowed through newly cut channels and flooding covered the cane fields. The storm continued across the island, damaging Lucea and Montego Bay severely. In the former town, the hurricane leveled all but two houses. The latter suffered “general ruin and destruction.”
The death toll here likely approached 1000 souls. But more may have perished in the aftermath from storm-related damage and disease. The storm’s destruction of the local agriculture eliminated much of the food crops, leading to famine and starvation, particularly among the slave population. Because of the war, no food could be brought in from nearby colonies. Thousands of slaves reportedly starved to death in the following months.
After battering Jamaica, the storm headed north across east-central Cuba, through the Bahamas east of Nassau and then into the Atlantic. On the 5th, it caught a British fleet under Admiral Joshua Rowley about 500 miles east of present day Daytona Beach. The fleet suffered damage to sails and masts; several ships lost their mainmast. (This same fleet would be hit by the next storm a few days later.) The hurricane then moved northward and caught another British patrol fleet on the 6th and 7th. Several ships (HMS Terrible, Cyclops, Triumph, and Guadaloupe) experienced sufficient damage that they had to put into port for repairs.
At the time, this storm stood as the sixth deadliest Atlantic hurricane in the historical record, its death toll on the islands has been estimated in the range of 1100, but before the month was out, it would fall two notches. It now ranks 35th on the list of deadliest Atlantic hurricanes.
The Great Hurricane of 1780
In the “Great Hurricane Season of 1780,” one storm earned the title of the “Great Hurricane of 1780.” This storm arguably could be considered the “Great Hurricane” in all Atlantic hurricane history. Its deadly rampage through the eastern islands of the Caribbean/West Indies left an estimated 27,500 direct fatalities. The deadliest hurricane by far until Hurricane Mitch in 1998 came “close” in 1998 (over 11,000–19,000 attributed fatalities). In fact, The Great Hurricane’s death toll alone exceeds the Atlantic hurricane total fatalities in any other decade.
The Great Hurricane of 1780, also known as the “Hurricane San Calixto II”, formed somewhere in the Atlantic southeast of Barbados, the easternmost island in the Lesser Antilles, prior to 11 October. Conjecture by hurricane specialists suggest it developed near the Cape Verde Islands in early October. If CNN had existed during this time, the horrors of the Savanna-la-Mar would have still been ringing in people‘s ears when an intrepid reporter would have stood on the Barbadian beach announcing the arrival of a mighty hurricane that may have rated as a Category 5. (Details on the hurricane's track and strength are based on historic accounts since the official Atlantic hurricane database begins in 1851.) Nevertheless, the fact is that the hurricane struck Barbados with winds estimated from damage accounts to have exceeded 320 km/h (200 mph).
One survivor William Senhouse described the scene wherein “the very tone or sound of the wind was wound up to a pitch almost bordering upon a whistle; rain fell like a deluge, which added great weight to the wind and when driven in our faces felt like hail or small shot; the thunder and lighting was tremendous and incessant.”
A letter from Major General Vaughan, military commander of the Leeward Islands, reported the storm raged over Barbados for nearly 48 hours without intermission (suggesting the eye did not pass over the island). He noted: “It is impossible for me to attempt a description of the storm; suffice it to say, that few families have escaped the general ruin, and I do not believe that 10 houses are saved in the whole island.” Vaughan was not an eyewitness but received a report from Major General James Cunningham, governor of the island.
Cunningham described the night preceding the hurricane, 9 October, as “remarkably calm, but the sky surprisingly red and fiery.” Rain fell during the night and by late morning of the 10th the wind and rain had increased greatly. By 6 PM, “the wind had torn up and blown down many trees, and foreboded a most violent tempest.” At Government House, he and the family retreated to the cellar just before midnight because the wind had “forced its way into every part, and torn off most of the roof.”
One survivor William Senhouse described the scene wherein “the very tone or sound of the wind was wound up to a pitch almost bordering upon a whistle; rain fell like a deluge, which added great weight to the wind and when driven in our faces felt like hail or small shot; the thunder and lighting was tremendous and incessant.”
When Cunningham and family finally emerged, they witnessed “the terrible devastation that presented itself on all sides; not a building standing; the trees, if not torn up by their roots, deprived of their leaves and branches;…” Many trees were stripped of their bark.
Another survivor John Poyer described the scene as one of total destruction: “far as the eye could reach one general scene of devastation presented itself to the sight.” The government house, whose walls were three feet thick, was destroyed along with the armory. Wind and wave relocated a 12-pound cannon 140 yards.
Upon viewing the devastation on Barbados, Admiral George Rodney lamented in his diary: “The whole face of the country appears an entire ruin, and the most beautiful island in the world have the appearance of a country laid waste by fire, and sword, and appears to the imagination more dreadful than it is possible for me to find words to express.“
Rodney in a letter to Lady Rodney later that year remarked: “The strongest buildings and the whole of the houses, most of which were stone, and remarkable for their solidity, gave way to the fury of the wind, and were torn up to their foundations; all the forts destroyed, and many of the heavy cannon carried upwards of a hundred feet from the forts. Had I not been an eyewitness, nothing could have induced me to have believed it.”
The logbook of HMS Albemarle, a British frigate, which stood in the harbor at the commencement of the storm and departed with all other vessels around 4 pm, reported strong gales from the north-northeast. Just after midnight on the 11th, its logbook entry read: “still blowing very hard, a hurricane of wind with constant, heavy rain.” The entries suggest damaging winds were sustained for at least 24 hours.
Loss of life on Barbados has been estimated to exceed 4500 with property losses over 1.3 million pounds.
The Great Hurricane next brought its fury to the island of St Vincent, 100 miles (160 km) due west. At Kings Town, only 14 of 600 homes still stood and these sustained heavy damage. On St Eustatius, the storm surge left great losses including seven ships run aground with all hands perishing including the 50-gun HMS Experiment. The storm’s reach extended southward to Granada and southwestward to Tobago, both islands reporting great devastation on shore and to shipping. A Dutch fleet of nineteen laden vessels was “stranded and beat to pieces.”
The island of St Lucia, about 90 miles (145 km) northwest of Barbados, lay in the dangerous front right quadrant of the advancing hurricane, the area where winds combine with the storm’s forward motion to produce the highest winds and surge. From later analysis, it appears the hurricane crossed the island’s center on the late afternoon of the 11th. When the winds rose between 3 and 5 PM, they drove those vessels which had remained at anchor against each other with “astonishing force.” Gales continued to blow over St Lucia for 24 hours leaving all military barracks and huts blown down.
British Admiral Rodney had made the bold decision in September to split his fleet, sending part of it to the West Indies. During October, he was commanding part of that fleet in the waters off New York, away from the paths of the two hurricanes. When he returned to St Lucia, he found eight of his twelve warships a total loss and most of their crews drowned. Among the loses off the island of St. Lucia were the HMS Beaver's Prize, HMS Cornwall, and HMS Vengeance.
Next in line to be raked by the storm’s rampage across the Lesser Antilles was the French colony on Martinique, directly north of St Lucia. The estimated human toll here was 9000 with 1000 of those dying in the harbor area of St Pierre, and another 4000 soldiers and seamen on French Navy vessels at sea. The French Minister of Marine reported that 150 homes and buildings were instantly swallowed by the storm surge estimated at 25 ft (7.6 m) that moved the larger structures from their foundations. In Fort Royal over 1500 structures were blown or knocked down including the governor’s house, the legislative building, a cathedral, and the new hospital of Notre Dame, “the most convenient and elegant in the West Indies.” Most of the estimated 1600 patients along with hospital staff lost their lives in its collapse.
The hurricane next hit Dominica at 1 pm on the 11th. By 11 PM, the waves were so high that houses along the shore were carried away. Before the storm moved off, almost everything in Roseau had been destroyed. The storm then passed between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola on the 15th, making landfall in Santo Domingo, the present-day Dominican Republic, in the province of Samaná. Severe damage also occurred in the eastern region of Santo Domingo. Heavy damage was reported in southern Puerto Rico, primarily in Cabo Rojo and Lajas.
As it reached the vicinity of Turks Island in the southeastern Bahamas, the Great Hurricane turned out to the open Atlantic. There it encountered Admiral Rowley’s ships limping back from their earlier storm encounter. As the storm moved past Bermuda on the 17th-18th, it still had enough force to cast fifty vessels ashore.
The estimated death toll was 4,500 in Barbados, 9,000 in Martinique and 4,500 in St. Eustatius. The total fatality estimate from this storm has been pegged at over 27,500 people, but given the total destruction of many of the islands it struck, the impact probably was higher. It still rates as the all-time deadliest hurricane in the Atlantic Basin. Its historic impact was heightened by its impacts on the naval fleets encountered along its path during this critical time in North American history.
Solano’s Hurricane
The third important hurricane of October 1780 arose in the western Caribbean south of Cuba near Jamaica on 15 October. It became known as “Solano’s Hurricane” after the commander of a 64-vessel Spanish war fleet, Admiral José Solano. This hurricane caught the Spanish armada on its way from Havana, Cuba to Pensacola, Florida, there to capture the capital of British West Florida. The fleet transported an army of 4000 under the command of Bernardo de Galvez, the commander of New Orleans (and for whom Galveston, Texas is named).
The hurricane clipped extreme western Cuba on its way northward to the American Gulf Coast heading toward Apalachicola. According to logs and dispatches from the fleet’s flagship San Juan, hard squalls hit the fleet on the night of the 17th. At daybreak on the 18th, the situation was characterized by heavy clouds, rain, winds and high seas. These conditions continued for the next two days. On the evening of the 20th, the San Juan’s tiller broke as the ship sustained heavy squall damage. By 4 am the next morning, the vessel was pitching violently and lost all her masts and bowsprit. High seas prevented needed repairs, though the crew had been able to clear some damage.
The storm scattered the Spanish fleet across the Gulf of Mexico, extensively damaged and sustaining a large loss of life. Casualties numbered around 2000, and the invasion force was stymied by the storm. As a result, when the remaining fleet reassembled in Havana in late November, the invasion was called off.
Whether the storm struck the Gulf coast with hurricane force is unknown. However, recent tree ring analysis indicates the storm may have crossed near Valdosta, Georgia. It presumably crossed into the southern American territory and there dissipated into a tropical depression.
The Rest of 1780
Not long after Solano’s Hurricane, one final October storm arose, first striking Barbados and then St Lucia on 23 October before heading out into the Atlantic toward Bermuda. It caused little damage and resulting on only a few fatalities.
The final reported storm of the season came in mid-November, and it may not have been a tropical storm nor a hurricane. Again, Admiral Rodney’s fleet encountered a tempest, this one off the water along the Atlantic Seaboard where Rodney watched the ports. A day out of Sandy Hook, New Jersey, his fleet encountered a violent gale on the 17th that lasted 48 hours. All ships in the fleet separated from Rodney’s flagship HMS Sandwich, which he took out into the open ocean. Not until two weeks later did he contact another of his command, and he did so south of the Tropic of Cancer.
The 1780 Great Hurricane season has remained the deadliest on record for over two hundred and thirty years with over 29,000 fatalities directly attributed to the storms. It is unlikely we will see such a death toll again in the Atlantic basin.
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Upon viewing the devastation on Barbados, Admiral George Rodney lamented in his diary: “The whole face of the country appears an entire ruin, and the most beautiful island in the world have the appearance of a country laid waste by fire, and sword, and appears to the imagination more dreadful than it is possible for me to find words to express.“
The third important hurricane of October 1780 arose in the western Caribbean south of Cuba near Jamaica on 15 October. It became known as “Solano’s Hurricane” after the commander of a 64-vessel Spanish war fleet, Admiral José Solano. This hurricane caught the Spanish armada on its way from Havana, Cuba to Pensacola, Florida, there to capture the capital of British West Florida. The fleet transported an army of 4000 under the command of Bernardo de Galvez, the commander of New Orleans (and for whom Galveston, Texas is named).