Port Royal: Shaky Morals, Shaky Ground

ENDNOTES

Natural disasters have historically presented a threat to human life and civilization and have often altered the course of nations and cultures. Famous examples include the volcanic eruption in Pompeii, which claimed two thousand lives and left a whole city fossilized in ash, and more recently the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami, which caused 20,000 deaths and a nuclear disaster requiring the evacuation of 154,000 people. Humans have attempted to adapt and protect themselves from such disasters as best they can but these “Acts of God,” to use an insurance term, have altered the course of world history. One such event during the Atlantic trade era was the earthquake that destroyed much of Port Royal, Jamacia in 1692.

“A correct draught of the harbours of Port Royal and Kingston, with the keys and shoals adjacent &c. from a late accurate survey, by Mr. Richd Jones, engineer,” (1756), Wikimedia Commons.

Present-day Jamaica is the home to the small port city of Port Royal, located at the end of a long spit protecting an important deep-water harbor. In the 1600s, Jamaica, along with other Caribbean islands, was making a name for itself, emerging as a key location for producing cane sugar, one of the most profitable commodities of the Atlantic world. Islands such as Jamacia and Hispaniola emerged as points of conflict between many European nations as a result of this trade. When the British failed to take Hispaniola from the Spanish, they sailed to the Spanish colony of Jamaica instead.1 In 1655 the British successfully invaded Jamaica, and quickly began constructing a fort on the island’s spit. This spit, known as the Palisadoes, is an eighteen-mile-long stretch of sand that reaches out into the Caribbean, forming a cay

around Jamaica’s present-day capital city of Kingston. This spit offered the British a strategic advantage in that any attack on their city would have to come through the channel created by the Palisadoes.2 They called this fortification Fort Cromwell (later Fort Charles); other fortifications were added around the cay in the next twenty years to protect Port Royal. The cay provided the unique ability to be able to bring large ships right into the harbor. In many ports on islands like Jamacia, the water became shallow well before the actual coast. This resulted in having to row to shore on smaller boats, leaving cargo vulnerable on ships anchored at a distance from shore. However, the cay surrounding Port Royal meant that the interior harbor was deep enough along the coast for large ships to moor.

Port Royal circa 1690 prior to the 1692 Earthquake, by P. Dunn, P. Jamaica Port Royal. Fair use.

Port Royal grew to be a key part of the Atlantic trade world, claiming the title as the most influential British-controlled port. Port Royal produced few of its own goods. The port instead quickly became known as a hub for trading. However, the main contributor to the economy was contraband.3 At the time the British established Port Royal, piracy was a thriving industry in the Caribbean. As the Spanish tried to declare a monopoly on the trade in the area, the Spanish became more frequent targets of piracy and Port Royal, with its sheltered harbor, became somewhat of a safe haven for all forms of freebooting activities.4 Much of this could have been due to British privateers who were actively attacking Spanish ships. If privateers were able to overtake the Spanish fleets, they were able to travel to Port Royal, a British Port, where they were able to seek protection under the British crown. By 1689 nearly fifty percent of the 4000 inhabitants of Port Royal were taking part in the officially sanctioned privateering.5

“A draught of the harbours of Port Royal and Kingston in Jamaica with the fortifications correctly laid down, also all the keys and shoals adjacent,” (1782), Wikimedia Commons.

Even after the British stopped sponsoring privateering, Port Royal remained a haven for pirates. Piracy was so common that the port began to be considered ‘the wickedest city on earth’. Along with piracy, Port Royal became seen as a haven for “alcohol, money, and sex.”6 Historians believe that roughly one-quarter of the infrastructure in Port Royal housed bars and brothels.7 Because of the illicit nature of the activities that dominated Port Royal’s economy, it is nearly impossible to estimate the amount of wealth and cash flow in the city. Vast fortunes came from Spanish ships; due to the way it was appropriated, we will never be able to know just how much Spanish wealth traveled through Port Royal. Riches also came from the transatlantic slave trade, as well as logwood and sugar trading. Although the exact amount of wealth that flowed through the city is unknown, there is no doubt that it was a city of great wealth at its height in the 1600s. Port Royal maintained its status as a sort of haven for those who otherwise would be displaced due to laws and economics. By the last decade of the seventeenth century, Port Royal included Fort James as well as Fort Charles and was home to roughly 6,500 individuals. Out of this population, nearly one-third were African slaves who had been transported via the Atlantic slave trade.8

On Saturday, June 7, 1692, Port Royal was hit with a devastating earthquake. E. Heath, a priest living in Port Royal, recorded his account of the earthquake: he “found the ground rolling and moving under my feet.”9 The earthquake was catastrophic. Heath wrote that he believed that it was sent as a judgment from God to punish pirates, prostitutes, and thieves for their actions.10 The earthquake itself lasted for less than fifteen minutes but its effects were felt for centuries to come. Because of the topography of Port Royal, the earthquake hit it extremely hard. The

ground on the spit was mainly sand, and the foundations of the buildings were susceptible to shifting with the sand. The earthquake caused liquefication to occur, with the ground swallowing up everything on the surface. The British, being relatively new to the Caribbean, did not view earthquakes as a significant threat. With modern technology, today we are able to understand Jamacia’s location on the Caribbean tectonic plate, and that because of the fault lines, the Island is especially vulnerable to earthquakes. The earthquake destroyed thirty of the original fifty acres on which Port Royal was situated. All the infrastructure constructed on the sandy spit was compromised. The biggest concern for the population was the thirty acres that were now completely underwater. The exact number of casualties is difficult to assess although it is thought that over 2500 lives were lost.

The earthquake of 1692 in many ways changed the Caribbean and subsequently the trade in the area. The pirate haven that had offered protection to so many was now sitting on the bottom of the ocean floor. It opened the eyes of the Europeans to the natural threats that plagued the area. However, despite the extensive damage wrought by the earthquake, Port Royal remained a key player in the region’s trade. Today you can go and visit the sunken remains of what was once such a lively part of this transatlantic globalization. Surrounded by modern infrastructure, the ocean has in many ways preserved a piece of the 1600s Atlantic world on its floors.

“Port Royal earthquake 1692 by Jan Luyken and Pieter van der Aa,” Wikimedia Commons.

Fiona Kroontje

International Studies major (International Political Economy track)