,46 JAMAICA, 



petual fund for keeping it in repair. They had, fome time before, 

 prohibited the carrying away any itones or fand from the cayes and 

 fhoals which lay in the channel, with a view to the like precaution; 

 which was fufficiently juflified in the year 1744, when another 

 furious iiurricane aroie at llx in the evening on the 20th of October, 

 and continued till fix th.e following morning, A new fort, begun 

 at Mofquito Point, was entirely razed; many houfes were blown 

 down in tlic towns and other parts of the ifland ; and all the wharfs 

 at Port Royal, Kingllon, Paflage Fort, and Old Harbour, were 

 deilroyed, and moft of the goods fwept away. The inhabitants of 

 Port Roval expeilled evcr\' moment to be fwaJlowed up by an inun- 

 dation, the flreets being all laid fcvcral feet under water ; but, hap- 

 pily, their wall withflood the ftock, and ikved them from utter 

 ruin.. Their dangerous lituation may be imagined ; for the wind, 

 fetting the whole time from the Soutli, drove the furge full againfb 

 this part of the town, and with llich fury, that immenfe loads of 

 ftone and fand were poured over the wall. Sir Chaloner Ogle, 

 who then had tlie command on this flation, was fortunately at fea, 

 with the major part of the fleet ; but there were nine men of war 

 and ninety-frx merchant fliips in the harbour, one hundred and four 

 of which were flranded, wrecked, of foundered ; fo that only the 

 Rippon rode It out with the lofs of her mads; and a great number 

 of mariners were drowned. Thus has this unhappy town under- 

 gone, in the fpace of fifty-two years, a fad fucceffion of extraor- 

 dinary dilafters, by earthquake, tempefl, fire, and inundation. 

 In its prefent humbled condition, it has three flreets, two or tliree 

 lanes, and about two hundred hcwjfes. The fortification, called 

 Fort Charles, Hands-on a low fpot at the entrance or mouth of the 

 harbour, and is defended by one hundred and twenty-fix guns. 

 The breaft-work, or line, is alfo formed to guard the channel in 

 coming ii>, as well as to prevent any accels by the Palifadoe or 

 land-fide ; fo that it is now compleatly fortified. Within the fort 

 is a fmall powder-magazine, and a houfe for the commanding 

 officer. The barracks are capable of receiving upwards of three 

 hundred men, exclufive of their officers; and here is a hofpital for 

 their fick. In 1734, when Sir Chaloner Ogle commanded the 

 fouadron here, a large piece of £round was taken in at the Noith- 

 2 " Eafl 



