http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/history/index.html
Year: 1565,
Date(s): 20, 22 or 23 (10, 12 or 13) September
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida (St. Augustine, Matanzas Inlet, Mosquito Inlet) - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore storm.
Remarks: A well known hurricane, documented by all commentators.
Sank Jean Ribault’s fleet. Led to the fall of Fort Caroline and the loss of French influence in northeast Florida. During September of 1565 both the Spanish, in St. Augustine, under Menendez, and the French, at Fort Caroline, under Ribault, were attempting to eliminate each others position in the New World. Ribault, ignoring the advice of his second in command, sailed into a building hurricane, which dashed his ships ashore between present day Matanzas Inlet and Cape Canaveral. Most likely a minimal hurricane. Millas quotes the diary of the army chaplain Francisco Lopez de Mendoza Grajales, “...a hurricane and a tempest came, and it was so great that they surely must have been lost. (He refers to several French vessels)”
Millas, Jose Carlos, Hurricanes of the Carribean and Adjacent Regions, 1492-1800, 1968,Academy of the Arts and Sciences of the Americas, Miami, Florida, Page 82.
Close . This hurricane is referred to as "San Mateo" by the Spanish. The French survivors were later massacred in the dunes near Matanzas Inlet ( which is loosely translated as slaughter ) and Fort Caroline was captured by the Spanish, thus securing north Florida for Spanish rule.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year: 1566
Date(s): 13-14 (3-4) September, possible loop on 16 (6) September
Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore storm.
Remarks: This is a previously undocumented event, and is believed to be new to the meteorological record.
Descriptions are taken from the Spanish accounts of the Jesuit expedition under Padre Pedro Martinez to Santa Helena (or Santa Elena, near present day Paris Island, S.C.) and held in the Stetson collection at the St. Augustine Historical Society.
“A hurricane which arose on the 3rd of September, and lasted 12 hours, put them in such danger that they confessed all who understood Castilian, until when, the sea subsiding, they could sail toward the coast.”
Zubillaga, Felix S. I. -- Rome, translated by E. W. Lawson, Father Pedro Martinez (1533-1566) The First Jesuit Blood in the North American Missions. Page 19. (Document held by theSt. Augustine Historical Society).
Close “On 4 September at noon, the weather cleared. It took two days for the urca to regain the sight of land. The pilot thought that a large bay that he spotted was near Santa Elena, so he moved closer to shore. That night, another storm struck which carried the ship so far out to sea that it required four days to return to the coast. ” Marotti, Frank, “Storm Winds That Fulfill His Word”: Tempests, The Jesuits and theEvangelization of Florida 1566-1572. Pages 6-7 (Document held by the St. Augustine HistoricalSociety).
Close It seems unlikely that two separate hurricanes could impact the expedition in so short a period of time or that they would survive two direct encounters with the same storm. It seems the second storm they encountered caused a prolonged period of westerly winds and may have been associated with a frontal passage. The first certainly may have been the fringes of a hurricane passing along the southeastern coast.
Summary: Will be counted as an offshore hurricane on the 13-14 (3-4) of September, for the northeast Florida and upper/lower Georgia coastal waters.
Year 1566
Date(s) 24-26 (14-16) September
Principle Affected Area(s) Upper Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s) Unknown, likely an offshore storm.
Remarks: Listed by all of the primary commentators.
The second and likely more severe hurricane of 1566 was encountered by the Jesuit Expedition on the 26th (16th) of September. Father Martinez disemBarked for the beach on the 24th (14th) of September and could not be relocated by the crew of the urca. “Those on the Urca were not a little worried, for the boat of explorers had set out after mid-day on the 14th of September and yet at nightfall it had not returned, they fired a shot to advise them, and beside, before the menace of a tempest, the pilot had decided to find a harbor. He cast off at midnight and they were driven to Cape Canaveral (28 deg. 30 min) running into an entrance where it was very difficult for them to come out, because of a contrary wind and the current of the sea.”
Zubillaga, Felix S. I. Page 20.
Close The urca was sighted off the port of St. Augustine but it did not recognize the port. Certainly this event affected the coastal waters from northeast Florida to South Carolina.
Summary: This event will be counted as an offshore hurricane for the 24-26 (modern calender) September 1566 for the northeast Florida and Georgia coastal waters.
Year: 1571
Date(s): Unknown, September or October (?)
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters. - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near St. Augustine
Remarks: Listed by Rappaport and Partagas (storm #272)
Two accounts (Marx, 1994) of several ships wrecked by a storm in 1571 or 1572. Survivors walked “30 leagues”
Marx, Robert and Marx, Jenifer, New World Shipwrecks 1492-1825, 1994, Ram PublishingCompany, P. O. Box 38649, Dallas, Texas 75238, ISBN 0-915920-84-0. Pages 225-6.
Close to the fort at St. Augustine with many of them massacred by Indians along the way. The accounts are so similar that they most likely represent the same event, and indeed, looking at translations of the original Spanish documents, that appears to be the case. A league is variously described as ranging between 2.4 and 4.6 statute miles, therefore the wrecks may have occurred anywhere from 70 to 140 statute miles ( rounded off ) from St. Augustine, and would appear to be outside this study area. A letter held by the St. Augustine Historical Society, places the year in 1571. Late in that year St. Augustine had witnessed a catastrophe; “ ‘The sea had risen because of the wind, flooding the store houses and Dwellings’ and forcing the inhabitants to sustain themselves ‘on herbs and roots’ ” Marotti, Frank, Page 19.
Close
Summary: This hurricane likely made landfall in the vicinity of St. Augustine and will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year: 1579
Date(s): September or October (?)
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida coastal waters - not counted
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore storm, if it existed.
Remarks: The principle modern commentators (Carter, Dunn and Miller, Ludlum, Millas, Rappaport and Partagas or Tannehill) make no mention or listing of this event.
Marx (1994) reports, Don Antonio Martinez Carvajal wrote to the King from Havana on November 13 (3), 1579, stating that ‘we set out for St. Augustine and by reason of a tempest one of the two frigates we had was lost...the General and the rest of the people were saved from the wreck of said frigate, whence he went by land to the fort of St. Augustine.’ ”
Marx, Robert and Marx, Jenifer, Page 226.
Close A powerful Indian tribe, the Ais, generally killed shipwreck survivors along the central Florida coast so it seems likely the wreck occurred fairly close to St. Augustine for the crew to survive the walk back to that city. See the “1571 or 1572" listing above.
Summary: As the date, location and characteristics of this event can not be ascertained it will not be listed as a tropical cyclone but is added to the list for historical completeness.
Year: 1589
Date(s): Mid-Sept.
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: Listed by Rappaport and Partagas (storm #276) .
Marx (1994) reports, “...the Armada and the Flota de Tierra Firme and Flota de Nueva Espana met in Havana, forming a convoy of about 100 ships, and sailed from Havana on September 9. Soon after entering the Bahama Channel the convoy was struck by a hurricane... ...While running up the Bahama Channel before the hurricane, three merchant naos also sank in 30 fathoms of water in about 30 degrees of latitude.”
Ibid., Page 227.
Close No reports of damage on land have been discovered.
Summary: As this latitude coincides with northeast Florida and the 30 fathom line is relatively close to shore, this event will be counted as an offshore hurricane for the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year:1591
Date(s): August 10, Possibly several events
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida coastal waters - not counted
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: Marx (1994) reports, “A Spanish fleet of 75 ships left Havana after spending the winter there... ...After the convoy, consisting of ships from Mexico and South America, left Havana on July 27, it was beset by many storms and no less than 29 vessels were lost, many off the coast of Florida.”
Ibid., Page 227.
Close There is no way to prove that these storms effected the northeast Florida area, but given the scope of the event it seems to be a reasonable conclusion that some effects may have occurred there.
1591 appears to have been an active year, Ludlum and Tannehill lists four storms between mid-August and mid-Sept. and Ludlum reports a landfall near Roanoke Island, NC on August 26th (16th ). Millas lists no Caribbean storms suggesting the activity was confined to storms recurving around the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Summary: Given the evidence it seems likely that one or several hurricanes passed through the offshore waters this year. Since definitive proof of this event cannot be found, it will not be counted, but is added for historical completeness.
Year: 1599
Date(s): 22 September
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near St. Augustine
Remarks: This is a previously undocumented event, and is believed to be new to the meteorological record.
This hurricane likely made landfall near and to the south of St. Augustine as the sea rose into the city. A letter, from Alonso de las Alas to the Crown (Spanish) on 12 Jan 1600 states, “On September 22 of the past year 1599 the tide came in with such a fury that the town was entirely flooded and many houses were knocked down, among them the guard-house and part of the store-house; whereby a quantity of your Majesty’s supplies was destroyed, also a part of the fort, as the waves swept way the wall and caballeros on the sea front; the said fort being made of wood, sand and flour sacks, its foundation not being strong enough to build it of stone...”
Conner, Jeanette Thurber, The Nine Old Wooden Forts of St. Augustine, Part II, FloridaHistorical Quarterly, 1925, Vol IV, Page 172.
Close
Verne E. Chatelain, in his book, The Defenses of Spanish Florida, wrote, “However, when, on September 22, 1599, a great tidal storm and flood occurred, demolishing many homes, together with the guardhouse and storehouse of San Marcos, and carrying away also a portion of the walls of the fort...”
Chatelain, Verne e., The Defenses of Spanish Florida 1565 to 1763, Carnegie Institution ofWashington Publication 511, Washington D.C., 1941, Page 54.
Close
“...A sheltering island in the harbor disappeared and most of the Indians of a nearby village were drowned. The sandbar shifted to make the inlet even more shallow. Until the time of modern dredging the harbor would be closed to any ship over a hundred tons...”
Waterbury, Jean Parker, Editor, Buker, George E., Bushnell, Amy, Dow, Robert N. Jr.,Graham, Thomas, Griffin, John W., Griffin, Patricia C., Schafer, Daniel L., Waterbury, JeanParker. The Oldest City, St. Augustine Saga of Survival, St. Augustine Historical Society, 1983,Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number: 83-50479. ISBN 0-961-2744-1-7, Page 39.
Close
Summary: As the fort was of wooden construction and most of the era houses were of wood frame construction, it is impossible to determine the intensity of this event and it will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year: 1638
Date(s): Unknown, Prior to 12 September
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near St. Augustine
Remarks: This is a previously undocumented event, and is believed to be new to the meteorological record.
Based on a letter from Governor Luis de Herruytiner to the Crown (Spanish), Stetson collection AGI 54-5-10/5- 12 Sept.1638. “Worst storm in 30 years.”
Waterbury, et al, Page 48.
Close Two hurricanes could be candidates for this event, an August 13th event which swept New England or an August 15th storm which struck St. Christopher Island in the Caribbean
Summary: Will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year: 1641
Date(s): 27 Sept
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Northeast Florida - tropical storm
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: Rappaport and Partagas (Storm #294)
Marx (1994) reports, “A convoy consisting of the Nueva Espana Flota, commanded by Captain-General Juan de Campos and the Armada de Barlovento (a squadron used for protecting returning flotas during time of war), was struck by a hurricane on September 27 in the latitude of 30 degrees north and five ships of the Flota were wrecked on the coast of Florida. Four of the five ships were merchant naos, and there were no survivors... ...Other ships in this same convoy were in such bad condition that they sank on the high seas.”
Marx, Page 230.
Close Millas identifies a storm on 24 September (plus or minus one day) in the Florida Straits and the Bahamas and apparently this is the same storm passing northeast Florida.
Summary: The beaching and total loss of the naos indicate that strong surf and high winds were occurring along the northeast Florida coast, however, no documents have been uncovered which indicate damage to the city of St. Augustine. Therefore it would appear that St Augustine was on the weaker western side of the circulation. This event will be counted as a hurricane for the northeast Florida coastal waters and a tropical storm for northeast Florida.
Year: 1674
Date(s): On, or about, 19 August
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near St. Augustine
Remarks: This is a previously undocumented event, and is believed to be new to the meteorological record.
Known as “The Great Storm of 1674 dealt a serious blow to the town and the old fort when the waves pounding at the rotting walls, brought the guns crashing down."
Waterbury, et. al; Page 58.
Close . A letter from the Sergeant Major and Royal Officials to the Crown (Spanish) on 15 October 1674 note that Arch Bishop Calderon arrived from Havana four days after a severe hurricane and “A hurricane hit the coast uniting the sea with the city, ruining half of the houses and flooding the streets and ruining the crops” Royal Officials to Spanish Crown, 15 October 1674, Stetson Collection AGI-1-35/17
Close . Arch-Bishop Calderon arrived in St. Augustine on 23 August 1674.
Summary: Will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year: 1707
Date(s): 30 Sept
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near St. Augustine
Remarks: This is a previously undocumented event, and is believed to be new to the meteorological record.
A letter from Gov. Corcoles to Crown (Spanish), held By St. Augustine Historical Soc. Stetson Papers, pp 4. Reports a hurricane lasting 24 hours beginning on 30 September. City was completely inundated, most of the houses destroyed. The inundation of the city suggest either a hurricane making direct landfall near or to the south of St. Augustine. Most of the houses of the city are reported as destroyed by the winds and storm surge. It rained for 24 hours, likely a “Dora” type landfall. Due to the destruction of the town of St. Augustine by English forces in 1704, it is difficult to ascertain the magnitude of the system because of an incomplete understanding of the structural characteristics of the remaining buildings.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year: 1752
Date(s): 14-15 September
Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia - hurricane
Upper Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Lower Georgia - tropical storm
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near Charleston, South Carolina
Remarks: Likely a major hurricane which passed just offshore of the Georgia coast.
Ludlum reports, “incredible damage was done to the trees...”
Ludlum, David M., Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870. Page 46.
Close Bullard (1996) describes damage by this storm to Fort William at the south end of Cumberland Island, “Farther along on Cumberland Island, adjacent to Spanish-held Florida, they found Fort St. Andrews at the north end abandoned and in ruins. Fort William with its lonely detachment- six solders and their corporal- stood at the south end. Damaged by the 1752 hurricane, it too, suffered neglect and, as Bryan noted, was ‘In a ruinous Condition.’ ” Bullard, Mary R, and Wood, Virginia Steele, Journal of a Visit to the Georgia Islands of
St. Catherines, Green, Ossabaw, Sapelo, St. Simons, Jekyll, and Cumberland, with Comments on
the Florida Islands of Amelia, Talbot, and St George, in 1753, MERCER UNIVERSITY PRESSIn Association with the Georgia Historical Society. Page 14.
Close The storm was described as being “extreme” in the Charleston area. Note: this storm impacted the Charleston area on the day of the transition between the Julian and Gregorian Calendars.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a hurricane for upper Georgia, an offshore hurricane for the upper and lower Georgia coastal waters. The damage to the fort on Cumberland Island is likely due to surf and lower Georgia likely only experienced tropical storm conditions. No Florida information is available.
Year: 1753
Date(s): 24-25 August
Principle Affected Area(s): Lower Georgia coastal waters - tropical storm
Lower Georgia - tropical storm
Northeast Florida coastal waters - tropical storm
Northeast Florida - tropical storm
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: This is a previously undocumented event, and is believed to be new to the meteorological record.
Bullard (1996) reports, “Here came on a violent storm of Wind at NE and Rain which came on the Night before, but now with greater violence, which prevented our going over the sound to Amelia...”
Ibid., Page 29.
Close . “This afternoon we set away from Fort William homeward, the bad Weather continuing, and at Night a terrible storm came on. we came to an anchor, and lay all night, hoping to cross Cumberland Sound in the Morning, but the Weather continued. our poor Men Suffer’d very much...” Ibid., Page 32.
Close Later the rain ceased, however the wind remained “very hard” and the seas across Cumberland Sound are described as “great.” The expedition in fact turned back never reaching Amelia Island. This may be a tropical storm or a minimal hurricane offshore of the area. Wedges (or as they are known in the study area “northeasters”) are not unheard of in August, but the description of a “terrible storm” is not characteristic of typical northeaster conditions. Tannehill lists a hurricane at Charleston on September 15th but no listing is made of this event.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a (very questionable) tropical storm for Lower Georgia, Northeast Florida and the Lower Georgia and Northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year:1756
Date(s):Unknown
Principle Affected Area(s): Georgia - not counted
Landfall Point(s):Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: Listed by Tannehill.
Possibly a tropical storm or minimal hurricane. Apparently, not a significant event for coastal Georgia. 1756 had several Carribean landfalls, with a storm moving over the Caymans on October 1st and just east of Havana on the 2nd and 3rd being a strong candidate for this event.
Summary: As no reliable information can be obtained on this storm it will not be counted as a tropical cyclone, but is included for the historical completeness of this chronology.
Year:1757
Date(s): September, 22-23.
Principle Affected Area(s): Florida and Georgia coasts - not counted
Landfall Point(s):Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: Listed by Ludlum and Tannehill, no further information is available.
Summary: As the characteristics of this event cannot be ascertained it will not be counted as a tropical cyclone but is added to the list for historical completeness.
Year: 1758
Date(s): 23 August
Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): South Carolina
Remarks: Listed by Carter but not identified by the other principle commentators.
Affected the South Carolina coast and likely the Georgia coastal waters. Mock (2001) has identified a South Carolina landfall on this date, so it appears reasonable that a tropical cyclone traversed the coastal waters. Apparently, not a significant event for coastal Georgia.
Summary: This storm will be counted as an offshore hurricane for the upper Georgia and lower Georgia coastal waters.
Year:1763
Date(s): Late October
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - not counted
Northeast Florida coastal waters - not counted
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event
Remarks: Singer (1992) reports, “Charming Sally (schooner) and two French sloops - One of the sloops wrecked at St. Augustine and the other two vessels a few miles down the coast from St. Augustine...”
Singer, Steven D., Shipwrecks of Florida, A Comprehensive Listing, Pineapple Press, Inc..P.O. Drawer 16008, Southside Station, Sarasota, Florida 34239, 1992, ISBN 1-56164-006-9,Page 168.
Close Possibly a “local northeaster”.
Summary: As the characteristics of this event can not be ascertained it will not be counted as a tropical cyclone but is added to the list for historical completeness.
Year: 1769
Date(s): 30 August
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - not counted
Northeast Florida coastal waters - not counted
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: All of the principle commentators list a hurricane along the Florida east coast on 30 August. No other information is available on this event. A reference could not be found to it in the archives in St. Augustine. It is almost certain that a significant event as late as this would have found its way into the historical archives.
Summary: As the characteristics of this event can not be ascertained it will not be counted as a tropical cyclone but is added to the list for completeness. This may be the same event as indicated in the following listing.
Year:1769
Date(s): 25 September; 28-29 September (?)
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near St. Augustine (?)
Remarks: Not previously listed by any commentator. It is believed to be the same storm as 28-29 September at Charleston.
From Gov. James Grant to Lord Hillsborough (English Period), held by the St. Augustine Historical Soc., Ref CO 5-551, “-EmBarkation should be avoided in September if possible, for in these Southern Latitudes we have always very Stormy Weather about the time of the Equinox - the 25th of September last there was a the hardest Gale I ever saw in any part of the world, it really may be called a hurricane- the Transports which were in great danger are refitting in Charles Town- the Schooners with the 21st Regiment on Board are in sight...”.
‘The Stormy Weather of September has hurt our planters exceedingly, and will prevent their sending home any thing near the Produce I expected- Georgia and the two Carolinas have suffered much from the same cause.”
Letter from, Gov. James Stetson to Lord Hillsbourgh, 6 Nov 1769, Reference CO 5-551.
Close .
Marx (1994) indicates that the British merchant snow (a type of vessel) Ledbuy “was driven onshore near Cape Florida by a violent gale of wind on September 29...”
Marx, Page 243.
Close but that event may have occurred in October ( See below ). Ludlum lists a hurricane in Charleston on the 28th and 29th of September and that may be the same storm. Clearly, there was a hurricane in the area in late September 1769.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year: 1769
Date(s): 29 October
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near present day Miami, possibly moving offshore
Remarks: All of the principle commentators list a hurricane along the Florida east coast on 29 October.
Romans wrote, “I have never heard of much mischief in the vernal equinox and if a hurricane was ever known in this Peninsula, it was on the 29th of October 1769, when there was a terrible gust between lat. 29:10 and 29:50, which blew many trees down, and drove the snow Ledbury a shore, where she remained dry on a key, now distinguished by her name, but heretofore considered as a part of what was improperly called by the name Key Largo.”
Romans, Bernard, A concise natural history of East and West Florida, New York, 1776, Page4.
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Summary: This is a confusing report, the latitude referenced corresponds well within the southern edge of the study area, however the references to Key Largo are confusing. The date is also suspicious occurring exactly one month following the previous report. Most likely this storm made landfall over southwest Florida and was passing offshore south of northeast Florida, on an east-northeast track. Millas does not report any 1769 storms in the Caribbean, and it seems unlikely the storm passed over Cuba. The authors cannot ascribe a high level of confidence to this being a northeast Florida event but a coastal waters event seems likely.
Year: 1780
Date(s): 14-19 October
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida coastal waters - not counted
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: Apparently the series of legendary October hurricanes were making their presence felt along the northeast Florida coast. It is possible the strongest of the three, the 11-18 October “Great Hurricane”, may have come closer to the Florida peninsula than previously thought. Mr. Josiah Smith made the following report from St. Augustine, “Thursday 19th October. The weather as mentioned on Saturday, growing worse, by Sunday evening it came on to Rain and blow excessive hard, and till the evening of yesterday was a mere Gale at about N. N. E. by which means the Sea came in very heavily upon the front of the Town and raised the Tide several feet higher than common, and which ran through some of the Lanes up to the Second Street, above 150 feet from the bay...”
South Carolina Historical Quarterly, Volume XXXIII, 1932, Josiah Smith Diary, Page 24.
Close Severe erosion occurred with this event.
It is possible the “Great Hurricane” came closer to the coast than previously realized and the pressure gradient may have been very tight along the coast. This report could also be attributed to “Solano’s Storm” in the later portion of the period.
Summary: This storm will not be counted as a hurricane, but it may be that the fringes of one, or more, of the series of “Great Hurricanes” influenced the study area.
Year: 1781
Date(s): August 10th
Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia - not counted
Upper Georgia coastal waters - not counted
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: Ludlum was the primary source for this event. The wind direction at both Charleston and Wilmington, North Carolina indicate the storm must have moved along some portion of the Georgia coast.
Ludlum, Page 50.
Close
Summary: As the characteristics of this event can not be ascertained it will not be counted as a tropical cyclone for the study area but is added to the list for historical completeness.
Year:1794
Date(s): Between 1-8 October
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, Possibly moving overland from SW Florida
Remarks: This is a previously undocumented event, and is believed to be new to the meteorological record.
Jacksonville historian JimWard refers to damage done to the Quesada Battery (presently the Mayport Naval Station) caused by a hurricane. Pedro Diaz Berrio, the chief military engineer for the province reported the parapets had been blown away and the structure was undermined by the early October hurricane. The Military Post at San Vicente Ferrer (St. Johns Bluff) suffered significant erosion and the cemetery was eroded away exposing the skeletons based on a letter dated 9 October. From the dates of the letters contained in the East Florida Papers, it appears this storm must have been an early October event.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year:1797
Date(s): 15-16 October
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Upper Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
Remarks: Marx (1994) states, “A number of American vessels were cast away on the east coast of Florida during a hurricane on October 15 or 16. Some were also lost in the Bahamas.”
Marx, Page 246.
Close According to a letter from the East Florida Papers, Bundle 165, dated 17 October 1797, a frigate bound for Hamburg was grounded north of the St. Augustine Bar. Ludlum lists a hurricane striking Charleston on the 19th and 20th, and this is likely the same event. This storm was not listed by Millas, so Ludlum’s scenario of this storm moving across Cuba seems unlikely.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida, Upper Georgia and Lower Georgia coastal waters.
Year:1804
Date(s): 7-8 September
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - major hurricane
Upper Georgia - major hurricane
Upper Georgia coastal waters - major hurricane
Lower Georgia - major hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - major hurricane
Landfall Point(s): St. Simons Island
Remarks: “Great Gale of 1804”, sometimes called “the Antigua-Charleston Hurricane of 1804".
Aaron Burr noted in a correspondence that St. Simons Island was flooded with water 7' above normal and described the eye transiting his location. The tide rose10' above MSL on the Savannah waterfront, approximately 60 miles north of landfall, and in the same area Gunboat #1 was driven 7 miles over marshes finally coming to rest in a cornfield on Whitemarsh Island. The storm was severe at Dungeness, on Cumberland Island, and the severely flooded Pablo Creek (currently the intracoastal waterway) inhibiting Aaron Burr’s travel to St. Augustine on the 10th . More than 500 persons drowned.
The Spanish Quasada Battery, at the mouth of the St. Johns River, was destroyed by the storm surge and had to be rebuilt. Dunn and Miller list this storm as, “Minimal for land areas and intense offshore for the northeast Florida coast on the 7th ”, yet Marx (1994) describes eight ships being sunk in St. Augustine harbor “during a fierce northeast gale”
Ibid., Page 247.
Close . Based on the above accounts and the Marx report, clearly the damage in northeast Florida was greater than previous commentators accounted for and this storm was more significant in northeast Florida than indicated in past studies.
It seems reasonable that the storm moved on a northwest course just offshore finally making landfall at St. Simons Island and Darien. Apparently, the track was close to, but west of, the 27 August 1893 event.
Summary: This storm will be counted as, a hurricane for northeast Florida and a major hurricane for Upper Georgia, Lower Georgia, the Northeast Florida coastal waters, Upper Georgia coastal waters and Lower Georgia coastal waters.
Year:1804
Date(s): 4 October
Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia coast - not counted.
Landfall Point(s): Near Savannah?
Remarks: listed by Tannehill, not reported by Ludlum or Dunn and Miller. Possibly a tropical storm or minimal hurricane.
Summary: As no reliable information can be obtained on this storm it will not be counted as a hurricane, but is included for the historical completeness of this chronology.
Year:1806
Date(s): 15 Sept
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): South of St. Augustine.
Remarks: Listed by Ludlum. Tannehill lists a hurricane passing through Dominica and Puerto Rico on the 9th through the 11th of September The Storm is not listed in Hispaniola but Marx (1994) indicates a hurricane in the Bahamas on the 13th of Sept, which wrecked the Polly and Speedwell
Ibid., Page 327.
Close and Ludlum reports that “...On September 13 a more severe gale threw down the houses and tore up the trees by the roots.” Ludlum, Page 56.
Close . On the 15th the Isaac was wrecked on Great Inagua Island Marx, Page 327.
Close .
“Another Gale - Capt Bunker, from East Florida, informs us that a most destructive gale was experienced on the Florida coast on the 15th of September: St. Augustine had suffered considerably, several houses were blown down, the vessels in port driven on shore, and the pier entirely demolished. Capt. Bunker lost his vessel on Cape Romain in the Sept gale of 1804, but thinks this gale far exceeded that in severity. A great number of vessels have been driven on the Florida shore...”
Charleston Courier, Thursday, October 2, 1806.
Close
Summary: It appears this storm moved north of Hispaniola through the Bahamas then most likely making landfall along the Florida east coast. The severity of the storm at St. Augustine and the Bahamas suggests it may have been a major hurricane. This storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year:1811
Date(s): 4-5 October
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Lower Georgia - hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near St. Augustine
Remarks: Identified by Ludlum, not listed by Tannehill nor Dunn and Miller.
One of the more significant hurricanes in northeast Florida. Destroyed a portion of the storehouse at the San Vicente Ferrer fortifications on the St. Johns River. In St. Augustine Captain General Marques de Someruelos reported, “a strong storm accompanying a furious hurricane...destroyed the houses in this city, especially those on Marine Street [along the bay, added by author]. Those that remain are in a deplorable state... In the plaza and streets there were boats and canoes carrying the sad and miserable, fleeing ...in fear of death, looking for a safe house to save their lives.”
St. Augustine Record, “The Compass”, Thursday, September 8, 1988, Page 9. Article by Ms.Susan Parker.
Close Several destroyed homes were not rebuilt until 1822.
Apparently this storm made landfall near or slightly south of St. Augustine and was felt into southeast Georgia as evidenced by the following: “Loss of Gun-Boat No 2. The U. S. Gun-Boat, No. 2 (schooner rigged) under the command of Mr. Lippincott, of the Navy, sailed from this port on the 9th ult bound for St. Marys. On Friday morning, 4th inst. They made Cumberland Island, but being unable to procure a pilot, they, at night, stood off, weather very bad and a high sea. - On Saturday morning, the wind increasing to a heavy gale from the N. N. E., the vessel was hove to under a trey sail, with her head to the eastward; about 11 a.m. The gale increasing, took in the trey sail, and in about five minutes after a heavy sea broke onboard, which hove the boat on her beam ends - they immediately attempted to cut away the mast, but that part of the crew which was below, in their alarm, forced open the hatches, which had been secured in the early gales and the Gun-Boat instantly filled and went down. Several of the crew attempted to save themselves from instant death by clinging to the floating sweeps, spars &c. But one only of their numbers escaped to tell the mournful tale; all the rest, after struggling awhile in the waves, shared the fate of those who went down with the vessel. The man saved is named John Tier, and what is very remarkable, he was one of the men saved from the wreck of Gun-Boat No. 157, lost on Charleston Bar on the 17th of May last. This man was picked up the next day, after having been 29 hours upon an oar, by Capt. Gould, of the schr. Dolly, of Rhode Island, and landed at Amelia Island...”
Charleston Courier, Monday, October 21, 1811.
Close 10 Officers and Passengers and 25 seamen perished in this wreck.. The coast of East Florida was reported to be strewn with wrecks. “Two or Three houses were blown down...” Charleston Courier, Monday, October 12, 1811.
Close at St Marys.
Summary: Based on the damage at St Augustine, St Marys and wreck of the Gunboat, this storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida, the northeast Florida coastal waters, Lower Georgia, and the lower Georgia coastal waters.
Year:1812
Date(s): 1-5 October
Principle Affected Area(s): Lower Georgia - hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Unknown
Remarks: Listed as a major hurricane in Georgia by Dunn and Miller, not listed by Ludlum or Tannehill. Patrick (1954) reports, “On October 1 a wind of near hurricane force prevented the men from fording the St. Johns, but they crossed the river a few days later and spurred their horses forward”
Patrick, Rembert W., Florida Fiasco, Rampant Rebels on the Georgia-Florida Border 1810-1815, 1954, University of Georgia Press, Athens, Page 204-5.
Close . The storm apparently was stationary or preformed a loop as the expedition again reported hurricane conditions on the 5th. If not for the dates of the letters describing this event it would be tempting to list this as a confused report from the previous year’s event. Clearly, northeast Florida was struck by hurricane conditions on the same date in subsequent years! This appears to be the same storm listed by Carter.
Summary: No definitive information to support major intensity can be found, and it is possible it has become confused with the 16 September 1813 event. This storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida. Lower Georgia, the northeast Florida coastal waters and the Lower Georgia coastal waters.
Year:1813
Date(s): 27 August
Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Upper Georgia - tropical storm
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): South Carolina
Remarks: Listed by all commentators. A description of this event at Charleston and the Bahamas appears in The Niles Weekly Register -Saturday, September 11, 1813, Page 32. Carter lists for Georgia, “A severe hurricane in the Charleston area had some effect in Georgia.”
Carter, Horace S., Georgia Tropical Cyclones and Their Effect on the State, 1970. ESSATechnical Memorandum EDSTM 14, Page 13.
Close Apparently, not a significant event for land areas.
Summary: This storm will be counted as an offshore hurricane for the coastal waters on its approach from the Bahamas to Charleston and a tropical storm for upper Georgia
Year:1813
Date(s):16-17 September
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Lower Georgia - major hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - major hurricane
Upper Georgia - hurricane
Upper Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Cumberland Island, Amelia Island and St. Marys
Remarks: Identified By Ludlum, not listed by Tannehill or Dunn and Miller.
Bullard (1986) prints portions of three letters describing this storm. Three letters by Mr. Phineas Miller Nightingale, on Cumberland Island, Dr. William Baldwin, on Amelia Island and Commodore Hugh Campbell, ALL describe the passage of the eye over their locations and with good correlation in respect to the timing of the events. The U.S. gunboats protecting St. Marys were sunk or scattered. 20 sailors on Gunboat 164 drowned along with 2 more on a Revenue Cutter and at Stallings 28 persons were reported to have perished. The descriptions of damage, storm surge, and wind direction from make it clear that a major hurricane made landfall along the St. Marys River and proceeded some distance inland. The storm was felt along the upper Georgia coast.
From the letter by Commodore Hugh Campbell to the Secretary of the Navy, “The Saucy Jack privateer, of Charleston, lying ready to sail, is now lying high and dry on a marsh that must be at least 5 feet above the level of low tide. She draws 14 feet, seven feet being the common rise.”
Letter by Commodore Hugh G. Campbell to the Secretary of the Navy, 18 Sept. 1813,Reprinted in The Niles Weekly Register - Events of the War, Volume V, Page 119.
Close This would indicate a storm surge of at least 19 feet above Mean Low Water (MLW). Modern storm surge modeling indicates that a minimum of a category three, to possibly a category four storm, is necessary to generate that level of surge in the vicinity of St. Marys.
This is possibly the same storm which Tannehill lists in the Leeward Islands on 7-8 September 1813. 1813 was an extremely active year in the North Atlantic basin.
Summary: Based on storm tides at St Marys and reports from St Simons Island, this storm will be counted as a major hurricane for Lower Georgia and the adjacent coastal waters, and as a hurricane for Upper Georgia, the Upper Georgia coastal waters, Northeast Florida, and the Northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year:1817
Date(s):7-8 August
Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia - tropical storm
Lower Georgia - tropical storm
(Extreme) northeast Florida - tropical storm
Landfall Point(s): Apalachee Bay or Cedar Key (?)
Remarks: Identified by Ludlum and Carter.
The storm may be traced from newspaper accounts into the Mid-Atlantic States and Canada. Severe fresh water flooding (a “freshet”) occurred in the Baltimore area. Reports of the disruption of overland communications across coastal Georgia are also evident. The Savannah Republican, August 19, 1817 edition reports, “The late southeast gale [at Savannah, added by author] was very severe at Amelia [Island, added by author] and St. Mary’s on Thursday night last - most of the vessels in the later port were driven onshore, trees in the town torn up by the roots and much other damage sustained.”
Savannah Republican and Savannah Evening Register, Tuesday Evening August 19, 1817.
Close Marx (1994) does not list any wrecks which might be associated with it, however the Savannah Republican lists several.
An exact landfall point can not be ascertained. Based on wind directions , the level of fresh water flooding and the locations of the primary damage, it seems likely that this was a hurricane progressing northward. The storm likely made landfall somewhere in the Apalachee Bay or the north Florida areas and proceeded north just inland through the mid-Atlantic states to Canada.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a tropical storm for northeast Florida, Upper Georgia and Lower Georgia. The damage at St Marys suggest that it may have been of hurricane intensity there.
Year: 1819
Date(s): Unknown
Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia - not counted
Landfall Point(s): Unknown
Remarks: Reported by Georgia historian, Buddy Sullivan in his book, “Early Days on the Georgia Tidewater, The Story of McIntosh County and Sapelo, quotes Coulter’s book on Thomas Spaulding. “...a storm in 1819 caused considerable damage in Darien and other parts of McIntosh County, including Sapelo...”
Sullivan, Buddy. Early Days on the Georgia Tidewater: the story of McIntosh County andSapelo, 1990, The Darien News, Darien, Georgia, ISBN 0-9625808-0-5, Page 124.
Close The Savannah Republican reported a hail storm with crop damage in August, which is believed to be to be the storm referred to. No other information is available on this event.
Summary: As the characteristics of this event can not be ascertained it will not be counted as a tropical cyclone but is added to the list for completeness.
Year:1824
Date(s): 14-15 September
Principle Affected Area(s): Upper Georgia - major hurricane
Upper Georgia coastal waters - major hurricane
Lower Georgia - major hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - major hurricane
Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - major hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near Darien and St. Simons Island;
The eye moved directly over the town of Darien, Ga.
Remarks: Center probably skirted north of Caribbean islands and along the outer Bahamas. Exceeded 1804 storm in flooding and damage. St. Simons Island completely overflowed. 83 persons killed on this island. (not listed in Georgia by Dunn and Miller and is only indicated as being “Along the Georgia coast” by Tannehill. Well documented by Ludlum.
William Page had 245 acres under cultivation on St. Simons Island and it was reported that this hurricane did extensive damage to his holdings on that island. “...as the sea dashed around them with all...[its] fury...until it had leveled to the earth the hospital, storehouse...cotton and corn-house, with many out buildings, crushing their carriage, carts and wagons, drowning their cattle an[d] other stock and spreading wild confusion...”
Robert Durfee’s Journal and Recollections of Newport, Rhode Island, Freetown,Massachusetts, New York City & Long Island, Jamaica & Cuba, West Indies & Saint SimonsIsland, Georgia ca. 1785-1810. Edited by Virginia Steele Wood, 1990, NOTES, Page 101.
Close John Couper’s losses were estimated to be between 50 and 60 thousand dollars. Thomas Spaulding of Sapelo island reported, a wall of water six feet high sweeping across the island and losses of 40 to 50 thousand dollars. The lighthouse on the south end of Sapelo was destroyed, with the sea running from 6 to 8 feet inside the structure. The beacons on Wolfs Island were likewise destroyed. The keeper of the Wolf’s Island beacon reports the door “Stove in, the sea breaking from 10 to 12 feet, which destroyed the whole of the oil.” Sullivan, Buddy. Early Days on the Georgia Tidewater: the story of McIntosh County andSapelo, Page 127.
Close
William Carnochan’s Sugar Mill and rum distillery near Darien (at the Thicket) was destroyed and never rebuilt. “The islands on the coast were all under water. On the mainland at Carnochan’s flat, where Mr. [Richard L.] Morris and Mr. [T.P.] Pease now reside, at the Hudson place, and at Colonel Harrison’s (a continuation of the same flat ground) the tide rose over ten feet above the surface.”
Ibid, Page 210.
Close
The eye passed directly over the town of Darien, “The wind was first from the north and east. It blew with the greatest violence between eleven and twelve o’clock at night, after which it suddenly ceased. For half an hour it was nearly calm. Then it shifted to the west, and for some hours it blew more fiercely than ever. Under this change of direction the water fell rapidly, and many captives in trees and homes were permitted to come down and out.”
Ibid., Page 156.
Close The Savannah Georgian, of 25 September 1824, reported, “The storm at Darien, and its neighborhood. Exceed that of 1804, both in violence and destruction.” This is confirmed by reports from the Darien Gazette over the next two weeks. The beaches of Cumberland Island, near the St Johns bar and at St Augustine were covered with wreckage.
Summary: Storm Tide values support major status and based on the storm’s track from the Bahamas to Darien, will list as a major hurricane for Upper Georgia, Lower Georgia, and all of the coastal waters and as a hurricane along the northeast Florida coast.
Year:1825
Date(s): 2-3 June
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - tropical storm
Upper Georgia - tropical storm
Lower Georgia - tropical storm
Landfall Point(s): Apalachee Bay or near Cedar Key (?)
Remarks: Ludlum’s, “Early June Hurricane of 1825". Ludlum details the observations at St Augustine, “With wind out of the east, rain commenced on the morning of Thursday, 2 June, with a shift later in the day to the southeast-by-south. No mention was made of any excessive wind speeds. By next morning the wind had backed into the northeast with the rain continuing until 1400. The wind behavior would place the storm center as first approaching from the south or southwest, but finally passing to the east on the morning of the 3rd.”
Ludlum, Page 118.
Close The authors can’t dispute Ludlum’s analysis of this storm but based on the lack of damage, it would appear it was below hurricane strength in the study area.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a Tropical Storm for northeast Florida and Upper and Lower Georgia.
Year:1825
Date(s): 2 October
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Near and south of St. Augustine
Remarks: Not previously listed by any commentator for this area. This is likely the same storm listed by Tannehill over Cienfuegos, Cuba on the 1st of October..
The East Florida Herald reported, “On Sunday the 2nd inst. the city was visited by a gale of wind which raised the waters in the harbor about 4 feet above high water mark, and caused a swell which did considerable injury to some of the houses which were within its influence; The weather had worn a threatening aspect for several days, and about daybreak it blew with considerable violence from the E.N.E. from which time the gale increased until nine o”clock, when the wind shifted to S. E. and terminated in that quarter about midday. Four schooners were forced ashore above high water mark, one of which stove in an outbuilding attached to Mr. Andersons house. One stone building was demolished by having the part next to the river undermined and thrown down, and material injury was done to other houses, by having their foundations exposed to the actions of the sea. The market house which stood in an open and exposed situation was thrown down - and unfortunately too, for many of those who had not disposed of their orange crops, a great portion of them were shaken from the trees, and many fences prostrated; we have not yet learnt how far this gale has extended but we presume that the Planters on the sea coast for some distance must have had considerable injury done to the Cotton Crops.”
East Florida Herald, St. Augustine, Tuesday Evening, Oct. 4, 1825.
Close
1825 appeared to be a significant year for hurricane activity with the early June hurricane. The “Santa Ana” hurricane of 26 July in Puerto Rico and this event.
Summary: Will list as a hurricane for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year:1830
Date(s):15-16 August
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - tropical storm
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Upper Georgia - tropical storm
Upper Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Lower Georgia - tropical storm
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): South Carolina
Remarks: Identified by Carter and Davis in Jacksonville, Mapped by Tannehill. A storm moved northward off the Georgia coast and entered South Carolina near Charleston. Ludlum reports, “...the storm was ‘very severe’ when abreast of St. Augustine, Florida, where the weather observer at Fort Marion recorded ‘a violent gale’ from the northeast on the 15th with rain and a temperature close to 80.
From the Revenue Cutter South Carolina stationed in St. Andrews Sound (near Brunswick in southeastern Georgia), the captain reported that the wind commenced to blow strong from the northeast about 2000 on Sunday evening, the 15th, remaining high until 0200 when a shift to southwest occurred. The gale raged through early morning until 0800 when it commenced to abate. The hour of wind shift at 0200 can be taken as the approximate time the center was abreast of the southeastern Georgia point.”
Ludlum, Page 121.
Close
Summary: This storm will be counted as an offshore hurricane for the coastal waters and as a tropical storm for the coast.
Year:1831
Date(s):10 June
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - tropical storm
Lower Georgia - tropical storm
Landfall Point(s):Unknown, possibly Apalachee Bay
Remarks: Identified by all sources. Described as a “Violent Gale”
Ibid., Page 194.
Close at St. Augustine. Dunn and Miller listed this event as a probable west coast storm and given the normal climatology this appears reasonable.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a tropical storm for northeast Florida and the lower Georgia coast.
Year:1835
Date(s):Early August
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - tropical storm
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, possible offshore tropical storm
Remarks: The East Florida Herald, in St. Augustine reported, “We have just had a heavy blow for several days, out of the north and east, attended with rain, but to my surprise the thermometer was undisturbed by it. Such a gale in the north must have changed it many degrees”
East Florida Herald, St. Augustine, 17 Sept. 1835, reprinted from a letter written on 10August 1835 and printed in the Albany Evening Journal.
Close .
Summary: This storm will be counted as a tropical storm for northeast Florida.
Year:1835
Date(s): 14 September (October ?)
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida (Mosquito Inlet, St. Augustine) - not counted
Landfall Point(s): Unknown, overland from Tampa Bay?
Remarks: Identified by Ludlum. Not identified by the other principle commentators.
The history of the Mosquito Inlet (now Ponce Inlet) Lighthouse indicates that a hurricane struck in October, washing away the keeper’s quarters and undermining the foundations of the lighthouse enough to cause it to lean. Keeper Williams and his family abandoned the area and moved back to his father’s plantation. A review of the East Florida Herald, leads one to believe that an October date is not likely, but the “violent” gales associated with a hurricane striking south Florida on the 14th September extended up to the lighthouse’s location through the 17th. This storm may have recurved in the Gulf and exited the coast near St. Augustine.
Summary: As the characteristics and location of this event can not be ascertained it will not be counted as a tropical cyclone in the study area, but is added for historical completeness.
Year:1837
Date(s): 1-2 Aug
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - tropical storm
Northeast Florida coastal waters - tropical storm
Landfall Point(s):Well south of St. Augustine
Remarks: Center apparently passed well to the south of St. Augustine. The wind at Fort Marion shifted from northeast to Southeast with “showers and heavy rain all day.”
Ludlum, Page 125.
Close , indicating the center passed to the south of that location. Jacksonville experienced a hard gale on the 1st and 2nd. The Jacksonville Courier Identifies this as the storm which blew down two warehouses near the river, Ludlum mistakenly attributes this to the 6 August storm. The Courier, Jacksonville, Florida, 3 August 1837. Interestingly enough this paper has notbeen micro-filmed, but three copies remain in existence in the Jacksonville Main PublicLibrary’s “Florida Room”, August the 3rd, 10th and 17th of 1837, just the three necessary toreconstruct the events around Jacksonville.
Close Several vessels were grounded or damaged by this storm.
The authors believe this storm actually entered the Florida east coast south of Jupiter Inlet and crossed over the peninsula to enter the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. It is possible that this storm may have lingered the Gulf between the 3rd and 6th and made a second landfall along the Florida panhandle on August 7th. It is also possible that this storm may have interacted with the next hurricane which struck the region on the 6th of August, but this is simply unprovable at this time. It seems probable that north Florida only experienced the fringe effects of this storm and likely not above tropical storm force winds.
Summary: This storm will be counted as a tropical storm for northeast Florida and the northeast Florida coastal waters.
Year:1837
Date(s): 6 Aug
Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida - hurricane
Lower Georgia - hurricane
Upper Georgia - hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters - hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Upper Georgia coastal waters - hurricane
Landfall Point(s): Between southern Amelia Island and St. Augustine
Remarks: The eye of this hurricane may have passed across modern day Duval County. The wind at St. Augustine suddenly shifted from the northeast to northwest around 11 am on the 6th. The Courier, in Jacksonville, reported that a wharf was "carried away" and the violence of the storm "awakened serious fears for some of the houses on the river"
The Courier, Jacksonville, Florida, 10 August 1837.
Close . The winds there shifted from northeast to southeast indicating the center passed south of downtown. A severe tidal inundation took place in St. Marys, “The tide rose in our streets from 4 to 6 feet, and many houses were deserted - their tenets leaving in boats...” Savannah Republican, Monday, August 14, 1837.
Close . From the East Florida Herald, “the gale of the 6th was as severe as that in 1813 and has done as much injury to the place...” East Florida Herald, St. Augustine, Saturday, August 12, 1837.
Close [As previously noted the 1813 storm was likely a major hurricane at that location]. The road from Pablo Creek to the North River [about the route of the present day intracoastal waterway] was obstructed by the many downed trees.
At Darien, “During the last week we have been visited by a storm which has not been equaled since that of the year 1824. The win
Histroy of Southeast hurricane since 1560's
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