Type C - Threatened the areaj path near Rhode Island 

 coast (Scare). 



In addition to the above hiirricanes, there have been 31 other 

 severe storms, not necessarily of tropical origin, that caused 

 considerable damages^ (see Table A-2). 



Of the 63 hurricanes listed in Table A-1, 12 are of type 

 "A", 13 of type "B", and 38 of type "C". Thirty-nine of the 

 63 hurricanes have been recorded in the twentieth centiory as 

 compared to 2l|. in the 266 years between 1635 and 1900. However, 

 this does not necessarily indicate a greater trend in hurricane 

 activity, but rather a lack of records and information prior to 

 1900. It will be noted that 9 of the 2U early hurricanes caused 

 severe damages in Rhode Island while only three of the 39 recent 

 hurricanes can be considered as causing severe damages. 



A-3. DESCRIPTION 



A brief description of type "A" and "B" hurricanes experienced 

 in the Narragansett Bay area, as reported in newspaper accounts, 

 or obtained from other records, are given below. 



a. 15 August 1635 « Quoting from "History of Plymouth Planta- 

 tion, 1620-16117," by William Bradford. 



"This year the Jh or l5 of August (being Saturday) 

 was such a mighty storm of \ilnd and rain, as none 

 living in these parts either English or Indian, ever 

 saw, being like (for the time it continued) to those 

 Hauricanes and Tuffons tiiat writers make mention of 

 in the Indies. It began in the morning, a little 

 before day, and grew not by degrees, but came with 

 violence in the beginning, to the great amazement 

 of many. It blew down sundry (211) houses, and 

 uncovered others; divers vessels were lost at sea, 

 and many more in danger. It caused the sea to swell 

 (to the southward of thi-s place) above 20 feet, right 

 up and down, and made many of the Indians to climb 

 into trees for their safety; it took off the board 

 roof of a house which belonged to this plantation 

 at Manamet, and floated it to another place, the 

 posts still standing in the ground; and if it had 

 continued long without the shifting of the wind, 

 it is like it would have drowned some part of the 

 country. It blew down many hundred thousands of 

 trees, turning up the stronger by the roots, and 



A-2 



