blown down, it engulfed an English
fleet anchored before St. Lucia, and then ravaged the whole of that
island, where 6,000 persons were buried beneath the ruins. From thence
it traveled to Martinique, overtook a French transport fleet and sunk
40 ships conveying 4,000 soldiers. The vessels _disappeared_."

Such is the laconic language in which the governor reported the
disaster. Farther north, Santo Domingo, St. Vincent, St. Eustatius,
and Puerto Rico were devastated, and most of the vessels that were
sailing in the track of the cyclone were lost with all on board.
Beyond Puerto Rico the tempest turned northeast toward Bermuda, and
though its violence gradually decreased, it nevertheless sunk several
English vessels. This hurricane was quite as destructive inland. Nine
thousand persons perished in Martinique, and 1,000 in St. Pierre,
where not a single house was left standing, for the sea rose to a
height of 25 feet, and 150 houses that were built along the shore were
engulfed. At Port Royal the cathedral, 7 churches, and 1,400 houses
were blown down; 1,600 sick and wounded were buried beneath the ruins
of the hospital. At St. Eustatius, 7 vessels were dashed to pieces on
the rocks, and of the 19 which lifted their anchors and went out to
sea, only 1 returned. At St. Lucia the strongest buildings were torn
up from their foundations, a cannon was hurled a distance of more than
30 yards, and men as well as animals were lifted off their feet and
carried several yards. The sea rose so high that it destroyed the fort
and drove a vessel against the hospital with such force as to stave in
the walls of that building. Of the 600 houses at Kingston, on the
island of St. Vincent, 14 alone remained intact, and the French
frigate Junon was lost. Alarming consequences were feared from the
number of dead bodies which lay uninterred, and the quantity of fish
the sea threw up, but these alarms soon subsided...."

"The aboriginal inhabitants," says Abbad, "foresaw these catastrophes
two or three days in advance. They were sure of their approach when
they perceived a hazy atmosphere, the red aspect of the sun, a dull,
rumbling, subterranean sound, the stars shining through a kind of mist
which made them look larger, the nor'west horizon heavily clouded, a
strong-smelling emanation from the sea, a heavy swell with calm
weather, and sudden changes of the wind from east to west." The
Spanish settlers also learned to foretell the approach o