1804 — Sep 7-9, Hurricane, esp. areas of Savannah, GA, Charleston, SC, maritime– ~500
–~800 Thextremeweather. “Georgia major hurricane #1…Dredful Hurry-Cane of 1804.” 9-17-2011.[1]
–~500 Blanchard.[2]
–<500 Dunn and Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised Edition). 1964, p. 311.[3]
–>500 Drowning deaths along coast, not including building collapse/flying debris or maritime.[4]
–~500 NWS WFO Charleston, SC. Tropical Cyclone History for Southeast South Carolina…[5]
–>500 Rappaport/Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994. 1995, p22.[6]
— 500 Rappaport/Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994. 1995, p.22.[7]
–>500 Sandrik and Landsea (NOAA). Chronological Listing of Tropical Cyclones affecting…
–>260 Blanchard tally of locality breakouts below.
— >84 Rappaport/Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994. 1995, p22.[8]
Florida (Sep 7) ( ?)
–? St. Augustine, Sep 7. “…rising winds at St. Augustine sank 10 out of 11 ships there.”[9]
Georgia (Sep 7-8) (>217)
— >217 Blanchard tally of breakouts below.
— <70 Broughton Island, McIntosh Co. (so. of Savannah). Slaves in boat attempting mainland.[10]
— 19 Butler plantation. (Fraser, 2006, p. 44.)
— ? Cumberland Island.[11] [Hurricane made landfall in vicinity.] (Fraser, 2006, p. 42.)[12]
— ? Darien. [Landfall vicinity.][13] (Fraser, 2006, p. 42.)
–12-13 Fort Greene, Savannah. (Rubillo, p. 52.)[14]
— >100 Hutchinson’s Island and vicinity. Slaves on plantations, especially rice plantations.[15]
— ? Jekyll Island. Landfall vicinity. (Fraser, 2006, p. 42.)
— 5 Ossabaw Island, Sep 8. Brig Reward of Portsmouth, NH, grounds.[16]
— ? Saint Simons Island. [Landfall vicinity.] (Fraser, 2006, p. 42.)
— 3 Savannah. Falling houses; man, 2 children. Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, Oct 10, p. 4.[17]
— 5 Sunbury (south of Savannah). Slaves of Mr. Cubbedge; drownings/hit by flying debris.
— 2 Wilmington Island.[18] Hannah Proctor Screven, wife of rice planter, and her infant son.[19]
South Carolina (Sep 7-9) ( >13)
–4 Ashley River, Charleston vicinity. Drownings; canoe of slaves capsized. (Fraser, p. 49.)[20]
–1 Charleston. Man killed by falling chimney of William Veitch home. (Fraser, 2006. p. 49.)
–5 Daufuskie Island.[21] Drowning; slaves of Mr. Hopkins, owner of plantation on the island.[22]
–2 Georgetown, Sampit River. Slaves in canoe drown after it was upset. (Fraser, 2006, p. 52.)
–1 Sullivan’s Island. Boy. (Charleston City Gazette, 9-10-1804 in Rubillo, p. 54.)
Maritime ( >30)
— 1 Brig Consolation, SC coast. Wave knocks boat over; sailor lost before righted.[23]
— 7 Schooner Favourite capsizes off shoals of Cape Romain, SC. (Fraser, 2006, p. 50.)
—>10 Schooner Liberty lost with all aboard. (Fraser 2006, p. 41.)[24]
— 2 Schooner Patsy. Two hands — William Dabney (white) and John Planter (black).[25]
—>10 Schooner Traveller lost with all on board.
— ? Ship Columbus (full-rigged), sank at Charleston, SC.[26]
Narrative Information
Dunn and Miller, Appendix B: “Table 28 Tropical Cyclones in the South Atlantic States — Carolinas and Georgia.” ….
“1804 Sept. 7 Ga., S.C. [Area] Extreme [Intensity] More than 500 drowned.” P. 311.
Fraser: “A Major Hurricane, 1804…. [p. 38.]
“The first great storm of the new century crashed into Antigua, St. Kitts, and St. Bartholomew on the morning of September 3. It raged for over twenty-fur hours. At St. Kitts every ship in the harbor (about a hundred) was ‘entirely lost.’….Wreckage of vessels littered the beaches of the Windward Islands.
“Fueled by warm waters, the massive hurricane moved west-northwest. It crossed the western end of Puerto Rico, sinking numerous vessels there, swept by Turks Island,[27] and brushed the southeast Bahamas on September 4…. [p. 39]
“The tropical cyclone gained strength and curved toward the American coastline. High winds lashed St. Augustine, Florida, on September 6-7, leaving afloat only one of the ten vessels in the harbor…..
“After crippling and sinking dozens of vessels far offshore, the hurricane closed over those sailing near the mainland. On that storm Friday [Sep 8]….some leagues north of Tybee Island, between Charleston and Kiawah Island…the Liberty…was caught in the full fury of the hurricane. With rigging, sails, mast, and spars torn away, the vessel finally capsized. Driven keel up into the breakers of Kiawah Island, the sloop was destroyed. To those who found the wreckage and salvaged the contents, it was ‘a painful certainty’ that everyone aboard perished.[28]…. [pp. 40-41.]
“The crashing sea inundated most of Jekyll Island…. [p. 43.]
“Broughton Island was a small, low-lying island, about six miles long and two miles at its widest point, developed by Henry Laurens for rice growing….The Altamaha River separated Broughton Island from General’s Island on the north. Buttermilk Sound separated it on the south from Little St. Simons Island. About three-quarters of Broughton Island was marshland, with its eastern end exposed to Altamaha Sound and the sea beyond. An embankment encircled the rice fields that were intersected by ditches. A broad and deep canal with a small bridge separated the rice fields from the plantation house and slave quarters at the western end of the island. This was also the site of a solidly constructed rice barn that was to be used as a refuge in the event of a storm…. [pp. 43-44.]
“….the overseer [of slaves] [was instructed] to move the slaves into the rice barn at the first indication of a storm. For unknown reasons the overseer hesitated…By the time efforts were made to get the slaves to safety, ocean waves driven by hurricane winds had breached the embankment built to keep saltwater out of the rice fields. These now flooded. The wide canal spilled over its banks….Terrified, the men, women, and children tried to cross the now turbulent and boiling waters of the canal in rice flats. More than seventy drowned. Swept out to sea, their bodies were never recovered….
“During the hurricane, slaves…perished. Major Butler lost nineteen slaves by drowning. On St. Catherines Island, two slaves owned by Mr. Owens drowned…. [p. 44.]
“Winds sent waves racing up the Savannah River, capsizing vessels in the harbor and sending others smashing into the wharves from one end of the city’s bluff to the other. The ship Mary slammed into the wharf opposite Fort Wayne. The revenue cutter Thomas Jefferson landed on Hunter and Minis’s Wharf, the ship General Jackson collided with McCradie’s Wharf, the sloop Liberty sank off Howard’s Wharf, and the brig Minerva came ashore at the Coffee House Wharf.[29] When vessels broke apart, their rigging and hulls knocked away planking on the wharves, leaving pilings exposed. On Williamson and Morel’s Wharf, the brig Hiram was impaled on the pilings. Some vessels were tossed so high onto the wharves that it appeared they ‘were built there.’ Other ships, sloops, and brigs sank at wharfside. Dozens of smaller creek and river craft littered the area below Savannah’s bluff. The fish market, poultry market, and stores of merchants along the wharves collapsed into a shambles of wood and tabby that tumbled into the river….After seventeen hours, the hurricane…passed.”[30] (Fraser, Walter J. Jr. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. 2006.)
Ludlum: “The Great Gale of 1804 in Georgia and Carolina.
“Of the three major hurricanes in 1804 which generated in the West Indies after September 1st, two aimed severe blows at the American mainland. At St. Kitts ‘the worst hurricane since 1772’ struck on 3 September, and then next day moved west-northwestward to rake the western end of Puerto Rico where many vessels were sunk.[31] The storm was reported in the south-eastern Bahamas on the 4th when Turks Island, always a check-point for American-bound hurricanes, had damaging winds.[32]
“In approaching the American coastline, the hurricane had already commenced to recurved to the northward while striking a glancing blow at the north Florida coast. St. Augustine experienced a very severe northeast gale on the 6-7th, the tide rose to an uncommon height, and only nine vessels in the harbor rode it out, though ‘the town received no very serious damage.’[33] The hurricane also lashed at the Nassau area in the Bahamas on the 6th.
“The low-lying coastal plantations of Georgia and the thriving seaport of Savannah, which had not been hit by a great hurricane since 1752, lay in the direct path of the whirling winds as the whole mass turned more and more to the north….
“The wind at Savannah, coming from the northeast at first, but later varying occasionally to the north, raged for 17 hours. The tide surged over the sand bars, into the bays, up the rivers, and over the wharves — over everything that was less than 10 feet above sea level. So powerful was the gale, the Georgia Republican reported that the rain had a saline taste from being mixed with sea spray, and sand picked up by the gale was blown into the upper stories of houses as high as 30 feet above ground level.[34] ….
“David Ramsay, who made a particular study of this storm, states that the gale was not felt north of Wilmington [NC], but he appears to have been in error on this point. The extent of the gale inland may be judged from reports that trees were blown down as far as 100 miles from the sea coast. Near the entrance to Cape Fear River a brig, the Wilmington Packet, was cast away on Bald Point during the height of the blow after striking Frying Pan Shoals in ‘the gale of the 8th.’[35]
“Little information is at hand about the storm from North Carolina to New England. At Norfolk the wind was east-northeast on the 7-8th with a shift to east on the afternoon of the 8th, and to east-southeast early on the 9th.[36] If these winds are an accurate portrayal of conditions at Norfolk, it would appear that the storm center moved west of that place.
“Southeastern New England had a severe blow on the 11-12th of September. Several ships were sunk in Boston harbor, while at Salem the steeple of the new South Church of Mr. Hopkins was demolished by the high wind on the afternoon of the 11th.[37] Whether this was a separate tropical storm or part of the Georgia-Carolina Gale of the 7th is an open question….” (Ludlum, David M. Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870. Boston: American Met. Society, 1963, pp. 53-55.) [Blanchard note: Ludlum does not provide an estimate of lives lost.]
Rappaport and Partagas: “[No.] 57. Georgia, SC, NC 7-9 Sep 1804 >500, 500, >84.”
Rubillo: “….This storm originated in the West Indies, devastated St. Kitts, sunk many vessels as it crossed the western end of Puerto Rico, passed to the southeast of the Bahamas and took aim at the southeastern coast. It savaged the plantations of the Georgia coast and the city of Savannah….Fort Greene at the entrance to the Savannah River was leveled, ‘all buildings destroyed, and thirteen lives lost. Muskets were scattered all over the island. Cases of canister shot were carried from one hundred to two hundred feet, and a bar of lead of 300 pounds was likewise removed to a considerable distance. A cannon weighing 4,900 pounds is said to have been carried thirty to forty feet from its position.’
“Nearby Broughton Island was totally flooded. ‘[U]pwards of seventy negroes, the property of William Brailsford, were drowned by the oversetting of a boat in which they attempted to escape from the island to the main.’…. [p. 52.]
“As the storm progressed up the South Carolina coast, its eye struck at Beaufort. The town and surrounding area was left in ruins. All of the dwellings on Bay Point were washed away. Crops were destroyed as a five-foot tidal surge swept across the cotton fields. The causeway that had been built during the previous seven years was washed away in just a few minutes, leaving none of it on the mainland side and only about half on the island side….”[38] (Rubillo, p. 53.)
Sandrik and Landsea:
“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 rose 10′ 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.”
“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….
“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.” (Sandrik and Landsea)
Weather Prediction Center, NOAA: “September 8, 1804 (Antigua-Charleston Storm): This system was first spotted near the Northern Leeward Islands on the 3rd and moved west-northwest, to very near the Florida coast. It then moved inland near Charleston with disastrous consequences, before moving northeast along the coast of the Atlantic Seaboard.” (WPC, NCEP, NOAA. “Early Nineteenth Century [Hurricanes].” Accessed 8-16-2017.)
Newspapers
Sep 10 on Charleston: “Charleston, September 10. “Gale of Wind in the Harbour of Charleston. On Friday night last [Sep 7], about 11 o’clock, a dreadful gale of wind came on in this harbour, & continued to blow with the most extreme violence until Sunday morning [Sep 9], one o’clock; the wind was first at north east, in the course of Saturday morning it changed to east, and in the afternoon to southeast. It is impossible at this time for us to describe accurately the destruction caused by this gale; the whole of the wharves from Gadsden’s on Cooper river, to the extent of South Bay, have received very considerable damage, the heads and sides of most of them are washed away. Of the vessels in the harbour, but three or four have escaped without injury, several are totally lost and many more are much damaged.
“At seven o’clock on Saturday morning, the period of low water, the tide was as high as it generally is at spring-tides; it appeared that during the preceding ebb but little water had left the rivers; at twelve o’clock it was from two to three feet higher than it had been seen for many years, and made a complete breach over the wharves and drove many small vessels on them, where they now lie. On General Gadsden’s wharf several stores were washed or blown down, and their contents of rice and cotton much damaged and some lost.
“On South Bay, the whole of the bulwark made against the water is in ruins and the house of Mr. William Veitch, built on made ground was washed down — the new street made to continue East Bay to White Point is greatly damaged, the sea made breaches through it in many places. On Blake’s wharf, a brick building occupied as a scale and counting house, was beat down by the bow sprit of the ship Lydia.
“In the city no other damage is done than many houses which were covered with slate, are in part unroofed, and most of the trees in the streets and many fences are blown down….
“A negro man was killed by the fall of Mr. Veitch’s chimney on South Bay, this is the only life lost in the city, that we have heard of. Most of the families residing in South Bay, left their dwellings in the course of Saturday, expecting that if the gale continued it would be unsafe to remain in them.
“Many of the coasting craft and wood boats, are drove ashore on the marshes nad in the heads of the docks, and are much injured.
“This gale was more violent and of much longer continuance that the one which took place in 1783, from the description given of the hurricane in 1752, we believe that to have been the most dreadful, though it is to be feared that the loss of property is now much greater than at any former period.” (Maryland Herald and Hager’s-Town Weekly Advertiser. “Gale of Wind in the Harbour of Charleston,” 10-3-1804, p. 2.)
Sep 12 on Savannah: “Savannah, (G).) Sept. 12. On Saturday last [Sep 8] we experienced one of the severest gales of wind, that has happened within the recollection of our oldest inhabitants. In fact, few…among us, can recollect ever to have seen any thing, the effects of which was so destructive, as has been the late hurricane. The storm commenced on Friday night [Sep 7], with a degree of violence by no means unusual or alarming. On Saturday morning it had in some measure abated; but about 9 o’clock its violence increased until four or five o’clock, when it appeared to have gotten to its height, and continued to rage with dreadful fury until about ten o’clock, when it began to subside; during the early part of the day the wind was from the north; but at bout the middle, and during the latter part of the day, was shifting almost continually from N. to N.E.
“Confined as the inhabitants were to their houses, & unaccustomed to such scenes, the imagination wandered uncontrolled over the most highly coloured pictures of destruction and devastation, and fancy presented to the mind’s eye the most horrid and awful consequences. But when the morning came, and the storm had so far subsided as to suffer the inhabitants to look about them, it was found that busy fancy ever apt to exaggerate, had formed but an imperfect picture of the dreadful scene of havoc and destruction. The trees in every part of the city were prostrated. The chimneys of a great many houses were blown down, and several houses themselves. The steeple of the Presbyterian meeting, and part of the walls of the Episcopal church were blown down. The wharves from one end of the city to the other were torn up, and almost every store which was erected at any distance from the foot of the bluff, was either totally destroyed or much torn to pieces, as to spoil every thing contained within them. Every vessel in the harbour was thrown upon the wharves, except such as were totally destroyed, and large ships are laying on some of the highest wharves. There was no passing from one wharf to another; lumber, cotton, tobacco, hogsheads of rum, sugar, and in fact every article of domestic and foreign produce, were strewed from one end to the other of them.
“We have heard but of three deaths in the city, a man and two children, who were killed by the falling of houses, but humanity shudders in attempting to describe the sufferings of the people on Hutchinson’s island and other rice plantations in the vicinity of this place. All the buildings upon these places, almost without exception were swept away in the general destruction, and many lives were lost among the negroes and overseers with their families. The loss of negroes from the different plantations is computed to exceed one hundred. Mr. Campbell, Mr. Oliver, Mr. Young, Mr. Procter, Mr. Smith, Mr. Telfair, and Mr. Wards, are among the number who suffered most considerably by the loss of negroes.
“Fort Green, on Cockspur island, is entirely destroyed, and most of the men drowned; the officers were fortunately in town and a few of the privates….” (Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Savannah, (G.) Sept. 12.” 10-10-1804, p. 4.)
Sep 14 on Fort Greene at Savannah: “Savannah, (Georgia) Sept. 14. We have since our last (for this account see our last page of this week) obtained a more particular account respecting the fate of the soldiers who were at for Greene. From the accounts they give of their situation, it is truly distressing. About 10 o’clock on Saturday morning, the water had covered the whole surface of Cockspur island — The soldiers, three of their wives, with two of their children, and a son of capt. Nicholl, ascended in the house as the water rose; but this was so extremely rapid, that it was with difficulty they were enabled to get on the roof of the house. Here they continued for some time, and the wind blowing so high that it was as much as they could do to keep in this situation; add to this, the incessant fall of rain, prevented them from seeing twenty yards in any direction; about one o’clock, P.M. the house gave way, and every person on the roof floated with it; not long after the roof parted, and they were all separated, some seized hold of part of the roof, others got plank or scantling, which were afloat from a vessel that had previously gone to pieces below them, loaded with lumber; and in this situation those who were saved (eight in number) drifted on Wilmington island, after having remained 7 hours in the water — during the time they were in the water, the lumber to which they held sometimes would be carried out of the water some distance by the violence of the wind, and some were very much bruised by pieces falling on them, being previously raised in this way. The survivors suppose that some of their comrades were killed by blows from pieces of lumber — one of the soldiers by the name of Lacy, was drowned in attempting to save the live of captain Nicholl’s son, another was saved by drifting on the top of a tree, and came in twenty four hours after the rest.
“Lieutenant Platt, commanding officer of the fort, with five of his men, were saved by a fortunate accident. Finding it absolutely necessary to have fresh water, he went with his boat and hands to procure some, on Friday morning, when he came high enough up the river to obtain it, the gale increased so much from N.E. and a strong flood tide, that he was obliged to come to this city, and after that it was impossible for him to return; many of the soldiers who escaped are very much bruised and wounded by nails [?unclear], splinters, &c.
“The men who were lost, were
Reuben Armstrong, Corporal.
William Crafts, Musician.
Daniel Lacy, Private
Thomas Moore, Private,
John Glynn, Private
Samuel M. Williams, Private
James S. Nicholl, son of capt. Nicholl.
(Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Savannah, (Georgia) Sept. 14.” 10-10-1804, p. 2.)
Sep 17 on St. Augustine, FL: “Charleston (S.C.) Sept. 17. Captain Franklin, who arrived on Saturday from St. Augustine, informs that the gale was very severe at that place — the tide rose to an uncommon height — of nine vessels that were in the harbor, one only (the schooner St. Trinidad) rode out the storm — some of those that went on shore, however, had been got off, and it was expected that most of them would be saved. The town had received no very serious damage.” (Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Charleston (S.C.) Sept. 17.” 10-10-1804, p. 2.)
Sep 18 on Beaufort, SC: “Captain Bythwood, from Beaufort (S.C.) furnishes the disagreeable intelligence of the damage sustained at and adjacent to that place by the late storm. The Port Republic Bridge company have suffered a very severe loss; almost the whole of their labour for seven years, and at a great expense, they have beheld swept away in the short space of a few hours : all the causeway on the mainside, and about half of that on the side on the island, has been destroyed. A number of chimneys in the town were blown down; and Mrs. Agnew has suffered a very considerable loss in her out houses, &c.
“All the small bridges, causeways, &c. adjacent to Beaufort, have been swept away, and the roads rendered quite impassable.
“So high did the tide rise, as to overflow the cotton plantations in many places to the depth of four or five feet; and it is the general estimation that cotton enough will not be preserved for seed.
“All the dwelling houses at Bay Point were swept away by the … [word unclear] of the tide and wind excepting that of Captain John Jenkins, the standing of which was, fortunately, the means of preserving the lives of all the negroes at that place; the white inhabitants took to an open boat, and after being … [word unclear] in this state thro’ the night, they were fortunate enough to get safely on shore in the morning.
“Of three vessels which were lying at Beaufort two went on shore….Fortunately no lives have been lost….” (Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “September 18.” 10-10-1804, p. 2.)
Sources
Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Charleston (S.C.) Sept. 17.” 10-10-1804, p. 2. Accessed 8-19-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/adams-centinel-oct-10-1804-p-2/?tag
Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Savannah, (G.) Sept. 12.” 10-10-1804, p. 4. Accessed 8-16-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/gettysburg-adams-centinel-oct-10-1804-p-4/?tag
Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Savannah, (Georgia) Sept. 14.” 10-10-1804, p. 2. Accessed 8-19-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/adams-centinel-oct-10-1804-p-2/?tag
Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “September 18.” 10-10-1804, p. 2. Accessed 8-19-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/adams-centinel-oct-10-1804-p-2/?tag
Dunn, Gordon E. and Banner I. Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes (Revised Edition). Baton Rouge LA: Louisiana State University Press, 1964, 377 pages.
Fraser, Walter J. Jr. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2006.
Ludlum, David M. Early American Hurricanes 1492-1870 (The History of American Weather). Boston, MA: American Meteorological Society, 1963. Digitized by The University of Texas; accessed 8-19-2017 at: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=txu.059173023379471;view=1up;seq=9
Maryland Herald and Hager’s-Town Weekly Advertiser. “Gale of Wind in the Harbour of Charleston,” 10-3-1804, p. 2. Accessed 8-16-2017 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/hagerstown-maryland-herald-and-hagerstown-weekly-advertiser-oct-03-1804-p-2/
National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office, Charleston, SC. Tropical Cyclone History for Southeast South Carolina and Norther Portions of Southeast Georgia. Charleston, SC: NWS WFO, NOAA, US Dept. of Commerce, updated 12-22-2016. Accessed 8-17-2017 at: https://www.weather.gov/chs/TChistory
Rappaport, Edward N. and Jose Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1994 (NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS NHC-47). Coral Gables, FL: National Hurricane Center, National Weather Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, January 1995, 42 pages. Accessed 8-16-2017 at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-NHC-1995-47.pdf
Rubillo, Tom. Hurricane Destruction in South Carolina: Hell and High Water. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2006.
Sandrik, Al (Senior Forecaster NOAA, NWS, Southern Region, Jacksonville) and Landsea, Christopher W. (NOAA/Hurricane Research Division, Miami). Chronological Listing of Tropical Cyclones affecting North Florida and Coastal Georgia 1565-1899. May 2003 update. Accessed 8-17-2017 at: http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/history/
Thextremeweather.com (Bryan C. Schoonard and “HurricaneJunky” [no name provided]). “Georgia major hurricane #1: The Dredful Hurry-Cane of 1804.” 9-17-2011. Accessed 8-17-2017 at: http://www.thextremeweather.com/the-blogs/georgia-major-hurricane-1-the-dredful-hurry-cane-of-1804.html
Weather Prediction Center, National Centers for Environmental Prediction, National Weather Service, NOAA, U.S. Dept. of Commerce. “Early Nineteenth Century [Hurricanes].” Accessed 8-16-2017 at: http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/research/roth/vaerly19hur.htm
Wikipedia. “List of shipwrecks in 1804….7 September.” Accessed 8-20-2017 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_shipwrecks_in_1804#September
[1] “At least 500, (And this is a minimum figure) died on land drowning from the surge in Georgia nd South Carolina during the hurricane of 1804. About 90% of these deaths were slaves. This does not include more than 30 people who died in Savannah and Charleston from flying debris and falling chimneys, and it does not include at least 200 deaths in ships offshore in the Charleston and Savannah shipping lanes. So the death toll in GA/SC was ~800 people. I do not have the figures for how many died in the Leeward Islands and Puerto Rico. Numerous ships east of the Bahamas disappeared as well.”
[2] Ours is not an estimate, but an acceptance of approximately 500 deaths noted by sources noted herein. We do not know the original source for 500 deaths. Additionally, we do not know if the original estimate included just sea surge drowning deaths onshore, or whether it also included wind-related deaths onshore or maritime deaths in surrounding waters. Thus, we do not feel comfortable accepting thextremeweather.com estimate of approximately 800 deaths (sea surge drownings onshore in GA and SC, wind-related trauma deaths in GA and SC, and maritime deaths in GA and SC vicinity waters).
[3] Writes: “More than 500 drowned.”
[4] Fraser 2006, p. 52: “It is estimated that along the coast more than five hundred people drowned — that does not include those who died because of falling or flying debris or the deaths at sea. The loss of life among the Lowcountry slave population perhaps accounted for as many as 90 percent of all deaths at sea and ashore.”
[5] “Strong hurricane skirted the GA and SC coasts. Produced considerable wind damage, severe storm surge flooding (about 3 feet higher than the storm in 1752) and around 500 deaths.”
[6] Cites: Dunn and Miller. Atlantic Hurricanes. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1976, 377 pages; Stevenson, J. D. History of Tropical Cyclones and North Carolina. National Weather Svc., Wilmington, NC, 1989.
[7] Cites: Chapman, D. J. Our Southern Summer Storm. National Weather Service Office, Norfolk, Virginia.
[8] Cites: Ludlum, D. M. Early American Hurricanes, 1492-1870. Boston: American Meteorological Society, 1963.
[9] Thextremeweather.com. “Georgia major hurricane #1: The Dredful Hurry-Cane of 1804.” 9-17-2011. Fraser writes “only one of the ten vessels in the harbor” was left afloat. (p. 40.) Neither source mentions loss of life.
[10] Fraser (page 44) writes that “Terrified…men, women, and children tried to cross the now turbulent and boiling waters of the canal [on Broughton Island] in rice flats. More than seventy drowned. Swept out to sea, their bodies were never recovered.”
[11] Cumberland Island is just off the coast of GA and is just north of St. Mary’s River, which marks FL/GA border.
[12] “After nightfall that evening and for the next twenty-four hours, the massive tropical cyclone lashed coastal Georgia and South Carolina, apparently making almost simultaneous landfalls at Cumberland, Jekyll, and St. Simons islands, Darien, and Beaufort.” [Cumberland is to the south of Jekyll which is south of Saint Simons.]
[13] Darien is north of Brunswick and Jekyll Island and just south of Sapelo Island.
[14] Thirteen deaths is from Rubillo. A newspaper article writes that “Fort Green, on Cockspur island, is entirely destroyed, and most of the men drowned; the officers were fortunately in town and a few of the privates.” (Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Savannah, (G.) Sept. 12.” 10-10-1804, p. 4.) The Fraser account appears to indicate 12 deaths, but not without some ambiguity: “The twenty-one people in the structure [where soldiers, wives, children and four washerwomen had sought refuge] began moving to the second floor of the blockhouse as water poured into the fort’s interior. When water continued to rise, they climbed onto the roof, only to be blinded by wind-driven rain and sea spray. Down below, powerful waves moved a forty-eight-hundred-pound cannon more than thirty feet. Around 1:00 p.m. the blockhouse collapsed. The roof drifted away with its passengers, a flotilla of terrified men, women, and children. Waves quickly pounded the roof to pieces. Some held to portions of the roof; others grabbed planks and scantling from a vessel that had broken up on the shoals off Cockspur Island. About half were swept out to sea. Seven clung to bits of flotation and eventually washed ashore on Wilmington Island. Another survived when he drifted into a treetop on the island. Rolling and crashing swells sucked others under the waves to their deaths. Seven enlisted men perished; other soldiers were injured but survived. Of the wives and children, it is known that only Mrs. Abimael Nicoll was accounted for. When Private Daniel Lacy attempted to save Mrs. Nicoll’s youngest son, Charles, both drowned. (Cites: Charleston Courier, 9-10-1804; Lattimore, “Destruction of Fort Greene,” p. 2-7.
[15] “The loss of negroes from the different plantations is computed to exceed one hundred.” (Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Savannah, (G.) Sept. 12.” 10-10-1804, p. 4.) [Blanchard note: Hutchinson Island is between Little Black River and Savannah River, opposite Savannah.] Fraser (2006, p. 47) writes: “Around 9:00 a.m. on September 8, winds from the north then northeast swept low-lying Hutchinson Island. Tides seven to ten feet higher than usual rushed in, submerging rice fields and carrying away buildings on the plantations of such prominent families as the Campbells, Olivers, Youngs, Proctors, Smiths, Telfairs, and Wards. Lives were lost. The Oshams, caretakers of one plantation, drowned. Upwards of one hundred slaves perished because no leader emerged to save them.” Cites: Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, 9-12-1803; Georgia Republican and State Intelligencer, 9-14-1804; Charleston Courier, 9-15-1804 and 9-19-1804.
[16] “On Saturday night [Sep 8] in the gale, the brig Reward, of Portsmouth, captain Plummer, from Jamaica bound to Portsmouth (N.H.) went ashore on Osabaw island, cargo rum and molasses. Capt. P. Henry French, supercargo, Joseph Jones, Winthop Read and Andrew, a Dutch boy, were lost, the mate and one of the hands has arrived in town.” (Adams Centinel, Gettysburg, PA. “Savannah, (G.) Sept. 12.” 10-10-1804, p. 4.) [Blanchard note: a “supercargo” is a representative of a ship’s owner on board merchant ship.]
[17] Fraser (2006, p. 47) writes that the ten-year-old son and three-year-old daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson, who had a house on the bay, died in a back room when a chimney collapsed. Fraser next notes that in a nearby house a Captain Webb died when a chimney fell into his house. Cites: Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, 9-12-1803; Georgia Republican and State Intelligencer, 9-14-1804; Charleston Courier, 9-15-1804 and 9-19-1804.
[18] Near coastal SC border between Wilmington River to southwest and Bull River to the northeast.
[19] Fraser 2006, p. 46.
[20] Cites Charleston Courier, September 10-12, 1804.
[21] A sea island between Hilton Head Island, SC, and Savannah, GA.
[22] Fraser 2006, p. 48. Cites Charleston Courier, 9-22-1804.
[23] Fraser 2006, p. 51.
[24] Crew size/complement not noted, thus we guess at something on the order of ten or more.
[25] Fraser, at page 41, writes that the “Schooner Patsy, out of Norfolk, bound for St. Marys, battled fierce east-northeast winds fifty miles off Charleston until it was knocked over. Huge waves swept away two hands, William Dabney, ‘a white man,’ and John Planter, a black man. Surprisingly the schooner righted itself.”
[26] Wikipedia. List of shipwrecks in 1804. “7 September.”
[27] Turks and Caicos Islands are to northwest of Puerto Rico and southeast of The Bahamas.
[28] Cites: Charleston Courier, Sep 28, 1804; Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, Oct 7, 1804.
[29] Cites: Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, 9-12-1803; Georgia Republican and State Intelligencer, 9-14-1804; Charleston Courier, 9-15-1804 and 9-19-1804.
[30] Ibid.
[31] Cites: “Poulson’s Amer. Adv. (Phila.), 13 Oct 1804; N.Y. Post, 22 Oct 1804.”
[32] Cites: “S. L. Mitchill. Some Particulars of a Terrible Hurricane. Medical Repository (New York). 8, 354-365.”
[33] Cites: “Charleston, 17 Sept, Amer. Adv., 1 Oct 1804.”
[34] Cites: “Georgia Republican in Amer. Adv., 13 Oct 1804.”
[35] Cites: “Wilmington Gaz. In Amer. Adv., 6 Oct 1804.”
[36] Cites: “Public Ledger (Norfolk), 18 Sept 1804.”
[37] Cites: “Boston Weekly Magazine, 15 Sept 1804; William Bentley. Diary. 3, 110.”
[38] Cites: Davis, Matthew L. (ed.). Memoirs of Aaron Burr, quoted in Ludlum, Early American Hurricanes, p. 54.