A. D. 1780. 667 



As being connected with Captain Cook's lafl: voyage, I have deferred 

 till now the meniion of two attempts to find a paflage from Baffin's bay 

 to the weflward. The firfl: was conduced by Lieutenant Pickerfgill in 

 the armed brig Lion during the fummer of 1776 ; and the fecond was 

 undertaken by Lieutenant Young in the fame veffel in the following 

 fummer: and the obje6l of both was to endeavour to penetrate to the 

 Pacific ocean, in hopes to meet with Cook coming from it. It is al- 

 mofl: needlefs to add, that neither of thefe voyages produced any dif- 

 covery. 



0(ftober 3'' — It pleafed God to vifit the fugar colonies with one of the 

 moft tremendous hurricanes that had ever afflided the Weft-Indies. In 

 Jamaica it attacked the leeward (or weftern) end of the ifland in con- 

 junction with an earthquake and an inundation of the fea, which with 

 one fudden fweep carried away the whole town of Savanna-la-mar (a 

 place of confiderable trade) fo completely, that fcarcely a veftige of a 

 building was to be feen after the retreat of the water *. In the whole 

 of the two weftern parifhes of Weftmoreland and Hanover, and in the 

 adjacent parts of S'. James's and S^ Elizabeth's, very few houfes, trees, 

 or plants of any kind, were left ftanding. Many white people and 

 negroes, and vaft numbers of cattle, perifhed, and thofe who furvived 

 were deftitute of ftielter, clothing, and food. General Bailing, governor 

 of the ifland, as foon as he knew of the defolation, aftembled the mer- 

 chants of Kingfton, who, with a generofity worthy of the charaders of 

 Britons and Weft-Indians, immediately fent a fupply of neceflliries, to 

 the value of /^io,ooo to the relief of the unhappy fufferers. In the 

 parifti of Weftmoreland, which comprehends Savanna-la-mar, the dam- 

 age was computed by a committee, appointed for that purpofe, to 

 amount to/^950,000 Jamaica currency (^^678,571 : 8 : 7 fterlingf.) 



Odober io"'-ii"' In Barbados the hurricane deftroyed almoft every 



houfe in Bridgetown, which was juft recovering from the effects of two 

 dreadful fires, and alfo moft of the houfes in the fmaller towns and on 

 the plantations all-over the ifland. All the fruits of the earth of every 

 kind were deftroyed. Nearly one half of the cattle, 2,033 Aaves, and a 

 great number of white people and free people of colour, were killed. 

 The whole, damage done to the property in the ifl:md was ftated ac 

 ;(^I,320,564 : 15:0 fterling. The ftiips at anchor fortunately got out 

 to fea. One good confequencc refulting from this calamity was, that 



* It may be nccclTan- to obfcrvc, to tliofc who publifticd his Hlllory of the Wcft-Indics (1793):' 



have never fceii any lioufcs but fiich as are built Savanna-la-mar was fo far recovered as to contain 



with ftoiic or brick, that the town was built en- from 60 to 70 houfes. 



tirely of wood ; fo that the houfes were as liable f The fufferers of Jamaica and Barbados alfo. 



to be floated oil from the ground on which they got fome relief from parliament in the enfuing 



ftood by an inundation, as vefTels lying aground are year, as will be obferved in its place. 



hy the flowing of tlie tide. — When Mr. Edwarda 



4 r 2, 



