It is 1692 - the folks in Port Royal have no idea what is coming in less than
30 minutes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1692_Jamaica_earthquake
The 1692 Jamaica earthquake struck Port Royal, Jamaica on 7 June. A stopped pocket watch found in the harbour in 1959[2][3][4] indicated that it occurred around 11:43 a.m
Earthquake
There were three separate shocks, each with increasing intensity, culminating in the main shock.[5] The estimated size of the event was 7.5 on the moment magnitude scale.[1]
Despite reports of the town flowing into the sea, the main result of the earthquake was subsidence in the area of liquefaction. The probable triggering of the Judgement Cliff landslide during the earthquake occurred along the line of the Plantain Garden fault. Movement on this structure has been suggested as the cause of the earthquake.[6]
Landslides
The Judgement Hill landslide is a complex rock-slide slump with a volume of about 80 × 106 m3.[14] The slip surface is found within zones of clay and shale with gypsum at the base of a limestone unit. This landslide occurred shortly after the earthquake but it remains possible that heavy rain over the few days after the event was the final trigger for the slip.
Tsunami
The sea was observed to retreat by about 300 yd (270 m) at Liganeau (probably near Kingston) while at Yallahs it withdrew 1 mi (1.6 km). It returned as a 6 ft (1.8 m) high wave that swept over the land.[5] One possible cause of the tsunami is thought to be the slump and grain flow into the harbour from beneath the town itself, although the waves in the harbour may be better described as seiches and larger waves reported elsewhere, such as at Saint Ann's Bay, are explained as the result of an entirely separate submarine landslide, also triggered by the earthquake.[11]
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Love the culture, the food, the music, the people and the crystal clear warm water.
They used to have a direct flight out of LAX that only took 5.5 hours to get to Montego Bay, and they'd serve you all the Appleton rum you could drink, included with the price of a cheap economy seat. Now it is an ordeal on expensive US carriers lasting at least 12 hours, requiring a stopover in nightmarish Miami International airport. And no Appleton rum.
Wish I was there was right now, having some curried goat and salt fish. 
Let me know when you're going and we'll make a party.
areas where previous generations were caught completely unaware of a disaster headed their way. I live along the Northern Gulf Coast of the Florida Panhandle. (Yes, Matt Gaetz is my Rep. in Congress. Don’t remind me. 😢
We’ve been struck numerous times over the years by hurricanes that hit us directly and some that came close but spared us the worst. For many years we’ve had the benefit of meteorologists who gave us plenty of advance warning to prepare. They gave us time To leave if need be or stock up on food, water, batteries, necessities to help us survive until things got better after the storm moved on.
In the early 1500s the people who settled here and were trying to establish a community were wiped out (for the most part) by a hurricane that snuck in on them unaware of what was about to happen until it was too late. Disease and pestilence took their toll as well. There are records that indicate how far inland the surge of storm water came so it must have been a nightmare of epic proportions for the settlers and explorers.
We have much to be thankful for in our time, but people who can give us advance warning about disasters headed our way should go to the top of our list. I guess that is one thing about climate scientists trying to warn us of significant changes happening now that could make a difference in the future for our children and grandchildren. Sadly, many of their warnings are being minimized and ignored by the people with the power to make changes that may help, all in the name of the almighty dollar. I often wonder how they think their money and power will help them escape the consequences of their inaction. I guess think is the operative word. They’re NOT thinking.
Last edited Fri Jun 7, 2019, 07:04 PM - Edit history (1)
to go there on visits. Saw nothing much in guidebooks but things must have changed. Old Port Royal, a wild, raucous and thriving port, 'a pirate city' that was expected to become a Caribbean metropolis. Nix that in 1692. *Thanks M. for the post, I'll look for the documentary to watch.
The 1902 Mt. Pele volcano in French Martinique took out 30,000 people in minutes, except for one man in a jail cell and a child hiding in a cave. We drove by the big mountain and the town of St. Pierre below, once known as the 'Paris of the Caribbean.'
- Mount Pelee, Martinique https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Pel%C3%A9e
A diver explores underground ruins of Port Royal, Jamaica from the earthquake of 1692.
I've read a bit about the disappearance of Port Royal - being fascinated by geology and tectonics. Do you know the name of the documentary? I'd love to find it.
There's a series of 'Drain the Ocean' documentaries and I've seen a few of them. I'll find this.