1692 Port Royal Earthquake

The earthquake occurred without warning on the morning of Tuesday the 7th June at 11:15a.m., and continued for less than 15 minutes, during which time it destroyed every building or other substantial structure in the Island, a total of nearly 3000. Throughout Jamaica, gaps were opened miles in length and often 20 feet wide and hundreds of yards deep while the whole of Spanish Town was destroyed.
While it was obvious from this that the earthquake was felt with disastrous effects over the whole island, it was Port Royal that suffered so calamitously in that not only were its buildings destroyed but the major portion of the land upon which it had been built sank beneath the surface of the Caribbean, causing a tidal wave which swept up the harbor for miles inland. Meanwhile mountains were levelled, and the courses of rivers changed. Many were caught beneath falling buildings to be later on devoured by dogs and crows and in all the causalities were estimated to have exceeded 2500. A multitude of the dead floated about the harbor for days, causing such intolerable stench that the dead were alike to destroy the living till at last some were sunk, others disbursed by the sea breeze, many leagues from Port Royal where they lay unburied upon the rocks and sands where they were washed up. There was looting and robberies after the event.

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