On This date 1692

[Red Dog]

Jun 7 1692

At 11:43am, a catastrophic earthquake strikes Port Royal, Jamaica, then known as "the richest and wickedest city in the world." Buildings are shaken apart and ships in harbor hurled onto busy streets. In just three minutes, the temblor takes out 70% of the population, killing 1,600 and seriously injuring 3,000 others.

[sirhenrymorgan]

I was in Port Royal on the day before the anniversary this year. Creepy! Actually, there was a series of three quakes in the space of two minutes. More than likely, it was a pre-shock, followed by the another pre-shock, then the main earthquake. Each was more powerful than the previous. The epicenter was in the Blue Mountains and the quake liquified the 66 acres almost instantly. In essence, the buildings simply sank into the water, many not even damaged by the quake itself. Think of it like quicksand. For years the buildings still stuck out of the water. Today you can still see the foundations, floors and even some artifacts there in about 7 to 20 feet of water. Three children were found in the ruins in the 80s by archeology teams and reburied at the church next to Lewis Galdy. Galdy escaped the earthquake when one of the shocks spit him back out. However, you're not allowed to dive the sunken city.

Besides the tremendous death toll, some people were swallowed up by the ground, falling into fissures that opened up with the first or second quake and then closed up again. Many died buried up to their waists or necks in the ground. The best guess for the time of the earthquake was 11:43 a.m. Two watches were discovered that matched that time when they stopped.

Some buildings are still in town, even after the earthquake, numerous hurricanes and fires. Fort Charles dates to that time, as does Morgan's Line and the Old Gaol.

There is a good tour at http://piratesofthecoast.com/shipslog/pr-s...scrapbook1.html

A pirate festival is in the works for May 2007.

-- Sir Henry

[Calico James Flint]

Sir Henry Morgan, thanks for that info, I'm gonna have to look into this more! I'm a geology student, and historical siesmic events are my favorite!

Thanks for the link. That's some MASSIVE liquefaction by the sound of it. In the 40s or 50s Japan experienced large scale liquefaction in Kobe, and many of the buildings were very heavily designed to stand up to large quakes. A row of apartment buildings withstood the earthquake and then tumbled into each other like dominoes due to liquefaction. Impressively scary to say the least...

Calico James

[kass]

Really?!! In Kobe?? Kobe is just not exactly what you'd consider an earthquake hot spot. They usually ignore the possibility entirely down there while Tokyo is obsessed with it.

[sirhenrymorgan]

Port Royal is basically sand on top of limestone. The quake's waves bounced off the bedrock in the harbor and then back up to Port Royal. It's similar to what happened in the Marina District during the San Francisco quake in the 80s. What is most amazing visiting there is the rebuild that has gone on since the earthquake. While the harbor side never re-silted, the opposite side has added a lot of real estate to the area. If you look at the satellite shot on that page the fort was originally right up on the water. Amazing what nature can do.

It's one of my favorite places to go - you can just feel the history. Since we were there two days before the quake anniversary, we came back with photos that were just filled with orbs, even though there were no lights around to cast artifacts onto the lenses. And three different cameras recorded them in the exact same places. A lot of disturbed souls there.

Here's a photo:

I would give anything to dive the site but the locals are very respectful of the area since it is a graveyard on the level of the World Trade Center. The photos we saw of the area underwater has to be one of the greatest unexplored cities. There has only been three major dives on the site since the 50s.

One of the interesting things we learned is that when the museum opened at Fort Charles the government asked the kids to dig up artifacts. If they donated something to the museum, they got their name listed as the donor. Smart folks there!

Sir Henry

[blackjohn]

Jun 7 1692

Is that Old Style? If so, then we'd have to add... 12 days?

Not that many people care about these sorts of things.

[sirhenrymorgan]

I apologize for an error. It was 33 acres that were liquified which was 66% of the city at the time. Not 66 acres.

-- Sir Henry

[kass]

Jun 7 1692

Is that Old Style? If so, then we'd have to add... 12 days?

Not that many people care about these sorts of things.

Wow! Good point, John. And what parts of the world were "old style" and what weren't? And when did it stop? It was the Catholic countries that lopped off the extra days.

Damn! Another research project!

[Dorian Lasseter]

Well, here's a link to a calandar site... 1692

http://www.hf.rim.or.jp/~kaji/cal/cal.cgi?1692

Which would be the old calandar... Gregorian I think?

So on this calandar, June 7th is a Saturday...

[blackjohn]

In England at the time it would be the Julian calendar. Most (all?) of the Catholic countries had converted. Eastern Europe wouldn't convert until the 19th C. (There was some battle in the Napoleon Wars where the Russian allies showed up late because no one had thought about them still being OS0.)

Wiki stuff...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Style_and...New_Style_dates

[kass]

Gregorian is the new calendar -- instituted by Pope Gregory.

Julian is the old calendar, based on the one in use by Julius Cesear I believe...

[sirhenrymorgan]

June 7 in 1692 in Jamaica at least was a Wednesday... I double checked in a couple of my Port Royal books from the island itself.

The Gregorian one that Dorian linked to said it was supposed to be a Saturday.

Confused now?

-- Sir Henry

[Rumba Rue]

It's one of my favorite places to go - you can just feel the history. Since we were there two days before the quake anniversary, we came back with photos that were just filled with orbs, even though there were no lights around to cast artifacts onto the lenses. And three different cameras recorded them in the exact same places. A lot of disturbed souls there.

Here's a photo:

That's the most amazing photograph of orbs I have ever seen! Awesome!

[Dorian Lasseter]

June 7 in 1692 in Jamaica at least was a Wednesday... I double checked in a couple of my Port Royal books from the island itself.

The Gregorian one that Dorian linked to said it was supposed to be a Saturday.

Confused now?

-- Sir Henry

Yep, confused as I thought the canendar I had was the older one...

Blast!!!

Curses!!!!

Foiled again!!!

[The Doctor]

Orbs, orbs, orbs... Aye, impressive enough, yet I still ascribe to the notion that they're potential spiritual energy, not actual spirit persons. After all this time, one would hope that the majority of souls have moved on. Given the nature of how they passed, however, it's understandable that many of them haven't fully crossed over, hence the orbs.

Where am I going with all this? I'd have to feel the space to really make a judgement, and perhaps even reach out to the spirits there. Orbs simply mean that the potential for contact is higher than normal.

I'll shut up now, and got back to me rum....

[Rumba Rue]

I too would love to go there and see for myself.

[Red Dog]

It's one of my "Dream" vacations. Diving in Jamaica. Catalina's getting boring, I also want to hit the coast in North Carolina.

Well..... maybe someday, (sigh)

[Red Dog]

Sir Henry,

Off topic, but that photo is very intriging. You should submit it to the TAPS web site.

http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/

It's a pretty neat site too, if your into the paranormal.

Cheers Mate

[Calico James Flint]

Really?!! In Kobe?? Kobe is just not exactly what you'd consider an earthquake hot spot. They usually ignore the possibility entirely down there while Tokyo is obsessed with it.

yeah, I'm pretty sure that it was Kobe. This site also shows some effects of building damage in the 1990's to what looks like buildings in the Kobe region (it appears to me that the entire page is earthquake damage in the region, but I haven't read it in detail) and there is some toppling that looks due to liquefaction on it also:

http://www.seismo.unr.edu/ftp/pub/louie/cl...fects-kobe.html

[kass]

Wow. Surprising! Because the 1995 Kobe quake caught them entirely off-guard. Tokyo residents are used to quakes. But in the Kansai (Kobe-Osaka-Kyoto), they rarely get more than something that feels like a large truck driving past.

But you're the expert!

[JoshuaRed]

Mad Jack's orb theory is pretty spot on, imo. I've been doing paranormal investigations for a few years, been in some pretty creepy places, seen some creepy things including a full blown "lady in white" that I never would have believed except that I saw it for myself.

However it's been my experience that thick clusters of orbs like this indicate dust more than anything, or moisture in the air. Being anywhere near a large body of water, or something like a muggy tropical night can be a big culprit too.

The TAPS forums are a fun place. Pretty cool. But if you want a more laid back gig check out ghostvillage.com. You'll get some pretty good feedback there too on your pics.

[Red Dog]

I'm sorry, could you please explain "liquefaction" in the context it being used here.

Conjecture:

I think you mean that the ground was shaken in such a way that it took on the characteristics of liquid, allowing objects to sink straight down rather than topple.

[Red Dog]

Mad Jack's orb theory is pretty spot on, imo. I've been doing paranormal investigations for a few years, been in some pretty creepy places, seen some creepy things including a full blown "lady in white" that I never would have believed except that I saw it for myself.

However it's been my experience that thick clusters of orbs like this indicate dust more than anything, or moisture in the air. Being anywhere near a large body of water, or something like a muggy tropical night can be a big culprit too.

The TAPS forums are a fun place. Pretty cool. But if you want a more laid back gig check out ghostvillage.com. You'll get some pretty good feedback there too on your pics.

I've just taken some pictures at the Irvine Regional Park with the same effect. A good breeze was blowing at the time and this one peticular pictue showed many of the qualities that this pic showed. Still ,cool though.