THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF PORT ROYAL. 783 



the island put together, for scarcely a planter's house or sugar- 

 works withstood the shock anywhere. • Not one house remained 

 standing in the village of Passage Fort, one only in the Liguanea, 

 and none in Spanish Town but a few low and substantial struct- 

 ures that had been built by the Spaniards. From the Saltpond 

 Hill, opposite Port Royal, water rushed out from some twenty or 

 thirty openings, twenty feet above the sea-level, and continued 

 running abundantly for two days. Vast land-slips stripped the 

 mountain-sides of their forest, and left bald and bare scarps sev- 

 eral miles in extent. Rivers were choked up and driven into new 

 channels, and the entire appearance of the Blue Mountain Range 

 was changed. 



As far as Port Royal was concerned, the earthquake had re- 

 duced it to a cay of about the same dimensions as it presented in 

 1635 when Colonel Jackson visited Jamaica, and the work of fifty- 

 seven years had been undone in one or two minutes. Although 

 Port Royal is now again connected with the Palisades, the process 

 of silting up does not appear to have proceeded so rapidly after 

 the earthquake as it did before. In 1698 there was still a navi- 

 gable channel over the ruins, for on the 8th of November of that 

 year a committee of the House of Assembly reported : " That it is 

 necessary to have a close fort of about sixteen guns erected upon 

 the easternmost part of Port Royal, where the old church and 

 King's House stood, which will not only secure the passage which 

 the late dreadful earthquake made on that part of the town, but 

 very much annoy any ship that may break into the harbour." 

 As late as 1783 — that is, ninety-one years after the earthquake — 

 Port Royal is referred to in official documents as a " cay." 



Sixty years ago the ruins of the submerged town were said to 

 have been plainly visible in calm weather, and at the present day 

 irregular masses of masonry can be discerned near the conical red 

 buoy which marks the spot where the church stood. The popular 

 belief, derived from the works of old authors, such as Martin's 

 British Colonies, was that incalculable wealth was to be found 

 among the ruins ; for, according to these writers, " the wharves 

 were laden with the richest merchandise, and the markets and 

 stores displayed the glittering spoils of Mexico and Peru," at the 

 time that the earthquake occurred. This, no doubt, was only 

 meant for fine writing, as we know very well that the wealth and 

 glory of Port Royal had departed some fifteen years before the 

 catastrophe ; but it served to inflame the public imagination, and 

 in 1861 an American diver requested aid from the Government 

 to explore the remains of the old city, offering to divide the treas- 

 ure he might find. One trial was allowed him. He stated, on 

 coming to the surface, that he had entered what was apparently 

 a blacksmith's shop, and that he had found the remains of a fort. 



