73 (Aug 17-18) –3,507

lornajarrettblanchard August 18, 1899

Compiled by B. Wayne Blanchard, Jan 2010; modified Jan 2020, for website: Deadliest American Disasters and Large-Loss-Of-Life Events. https://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

— 3,507 Blanchard U.S. tally of NC (~73) and Puerto Rico (3433)

— 3,500 Davies. Inside the Hurricane: Face to Face with Nature’s Deadliest Storms. 2000, 247.

–~3,477 Blanchard tally based on FL, NC and PR breakouts below.

— 3,433 Harmswaystormstories.com. San Ciriaco August 16-18, 1899. Accessed 1-3-2020.

North Carolina ( ~74)

— 74 Blanchard tally of sea-related losses noted by Barnes, Stick, and Garriott.

— 58 Blanchard tally of maritime losses noted by Stick in Graveyard of the Atlantic.

–>50 Stick. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, pp. 163-168.

— 44 Barnes. North Carolina’s Hurricane History (Third Edition). 2001, pp. 52 and 55.

— 14 Swan Island fishermen drowned. (p. 52)

–>30 “…at least thirty lives were lost in…shipwrecks.” (p. 55.)[1]

— 25 Barnes. North Carolina’s Hurricane History (Third Edition). 2001, p. 304.

Breakouts (74):

— 8 Barkentine Albert Schultz, Baltimore for Savannah, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, p. 168.

— 8 Brig Henry B. Cleaves, Haiti for Stamford CT, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, p. 168.

— 5 Schooner Aaron Reppard grounds on Cape Hatteras reef Aug 16.[2]

–Captain Osker Wessel; tried to swim to shore and drowned.

–Passenger Cummings; fell from rigging, leg caught in rope, slammed against mast.

–Sailor Tony Nelson; thrown from rigging to deck and washed overboard.

–Two of five crew flung from foremast into the breakers; the others reaching shore.

–1 Gulf Shore. Body of cook from wrecked Aaron Reppard found, Aug 19.[3]

— 8 Schooner Chas. M. Patterson, Philadelphia for Savannah, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, 168.

— 7 Schooner Elwood H. Smith, NYC for Jacksonville, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, p. 168.

— 5 Schooner General E. L. F. Hardcastle foundered in Pamlico Sound; all of crew lost.[4]

— 9 Schooner John C. Haynes, Tampa for Baltimore, lost off NC coast. Stick 1952, p. 168.

— 2 Schooner Lydia Willis, sunk near mouth of Ocracoke Inlet; two of six washed overboard.[5]

— 7 Schooner M. B. Millen, New London, CT for Brunswick, GA, lost off NC coast.[6]

— 1 Steamship Agnes, off Hatteras beach; all lost, but no number; body of cook washed ashore.[7]

–14 Swan Island area, drownings. From group of 20 fishermen. Barnes. NC Hurricane History.

Notations of lives lost, but the recovered bodies could well have been from one of listed vessels.

— 1 Cape Hatteras. Body of man found on beach, Aug 25. North Carolina Shipwrecks.

— 1 Creeds Hill, Aug 21. Body of man found washed up onto the shore. NC Shipwrecks.

— 1 Durants shore. Body found on shore, Aug 18, with name Agnes on nearby plank.[8]

— 1 Gulf Shore. Body of man found washed on onshore Aug 23. North Carolina Shipwrecks.

–35 “Newspaper accounts concluded that at least 35 lives were lost in…shipwrecks.”[9]

Puerto Rico (3,433)

— 3,433 NOAA, NHC and CPHC. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996.

— 3,433 Rappaport and Fernandez-Partagas. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones…, 1993.

— 3,433 Univ. of Rhode Island. “1899 San Ciriaco Hurricane.” Hurricanes: Science and Society.

–~3,400 Library of Congress. “Hurricane San Ciriaco.” 6-22-2011.

— 3,369 Landsea, Christopher and Jose Fernandez Partagas. Year 1899.

–2,569 Drownings

— 800 Hurricane winds

— 3,369 NOAA. Hurricane No. 59, “1899 Aug. 8-9 San Ciriaco.” Accessed 1-3-2020.

–>3,000 Carolina Country. “Remembering the San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899.” August 2014.

–>3,000 Schwartz. “The Hurricane of San Ciriaco.” Hispanic Amer. Hist. Rev., 72/3, 1992, 304.

— >500 Ponce, “mostly from drowning.” P. 305.

Montserrat ( ~100)

~100 Daily Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica. “The Recent Cyclone. US Storm Bulletin.” 8-28-1899, 10.

Dominican Republic ( ?)

Narrative Information

LOC: “On August 8, 1899, Puerto Rico experienced one of the most destructive hurricanes in history. It rained for 28 days straight and the winds reached speeds of 100 miles per hour. The loss of life and property damage were immense. Approximately 3,400 people died in the floods and thousands were left without shelter, food, or work.

“The most devastating effect of San Ciriaco was the destruction of the farmlands, especially in the mountains where the coffee plantations were located. San Ciriaco aggravated the social and economic situation of Puerto Rico at the time and had serious repercussions in the years that followed.” (Library of Congress. “Hurricane San Ciriaco.” 6-22-2011.)

Rappaport: Footnote “m” in Rappaport and Fernandez-Partagas: “Garriott (1900) and Alexander (1902) indicate thousands of additional deaths in Puerto Rico due to subsequent starvation. Stick (1952) and Chapman indicate at least 50 deaths in shipwrecks along coastal Carolina. Barnes (1995) has at least 30 along the coast of North Carolina and 14 inland in that state.”

URI: “Hurricane San Ciriaco was an intense, long-lived Cape Verde-type hurricane that appeared east of the island of Martinique on 7 August (the system was first detected on 3 August as a tropical storm by a ship west-southwest of Cape Verde, however it was not identified on US Weather Bureau reports until 7 August). Moving at a speed of 27 km/h (17 mph), the storm crossed directly over the island of Guadeloupe on the afternoon of 7 August and passed 80 to 120 km (50 to 75 mi) to the south of St. Kitts. Here wind speeds of (192 km/h) 120 mph were recorded, making the storm at least a Category 3 hurricane on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.

“The hurricane strengthened as it passed through the islands, reaching a peak intensity with 240 km/h (150 mph) winds and a central pressure of 930 mb near the island of Montserrat. Continuing on its west-northwest track, the hurricane made landfall on southeastern Puerto Rico early on 8 August with 224 km/h (140 mph) winds. After moving off of Puerto Rico, the hurricane then skimmed the northeast coast of the Dominican Republic on 9 August as a Category 3 hurricane. The hurricane continued to move at a slow forward speed of less than 16 km/h (10 mph), passing through the Bahamas and taking a turn for the north. On 13 August, the hurricane’s center was proximal to Jupiter, Florida. Traveled almost parallel to the U.S. coast over the next few days, before turning west-northwest to come ashore on North Carolina’s lower Outer Banks near Diamond City on 17 August as a Category 3 hurricane with winds gusting to (224 km/h) 140 mph. The storm drifted over this area for two days before turning eastward and exiting the U.S. coast as a weakened Category 1 hurricane on 19 August. After leaving the United States, the hurricane moved eastward over the open Atlantic until it became extratropical on 22 August. The remnants of the storm managed to reorganize over open water and redevelop into a tropical storm on 26 August after turning to the north. As the storm was drifting, it again turned eastward and again strengthened into a hurricane while moving through the Azores on 3 September. The born-again hurricane was short lived, as it dissipated the next day moving northeastward.

“The hurricane’s impact in Puerto Rico would prove to be one of the largest losses of life in relation to a hurricane in the history of the Atlantic basin. Overall, the island would be swamped by 28 days of rain. The official death toll from the storm in Puerto Rico was 3,433, with millions of dollars in crop damage. The U.S. mid-Atlantic coast, especially the Outer Banks of North Carolina, was also significantly impacted by this hurricane. Almost all of the houses in Diamond City and Shackleford, NC, were lost to storm surge, which was as high as 3 m (10 ft) in places. The hurricane also destroyed all fishing equipment in these towns, and as a result, the residents abandoned these establishments and searched to start over elsewhere.” (University of Rhode Island. “1899 San Ciriaco Hurricane.” Hurricanes: Science and Society. 2010-2011.)

Stick on NC Coast: “….So intense were the winds and so high the tides accompanying San Ciriaco that it was impossible for lifesavers to maintain their patrols, with the result that most of the vessels wrecked on the coast were not reached – were not even discovered – until the morning of the eighteenth, when the winds had begun to subside.” (p. 164.)

(Stick, David. Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast.)

Sources

Barnes, Jay. Florida’s Hurricane History. Chapel Hill & London: University of North Carolina Press, 1998.

Barnes, Jay. North Carolina’s Hurricane History (Third Edition). Chapel Hill and London: University of North Carolina Press, 2001.

Carolina Country. “Remembering the San Ciriaco Hurricane of 1899.” August 2014. Accessed 1-3-2010 at: https://www.carolinacountry.com/carolina-stories/remembering-the-san-ciriaco-hurricane-of-1899

Daily Gleaner, Kingston, Jamaica. “The Recent Cyclone. United States Storm Bulletin.” 8-28-1899, p. 10. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/kingston-daily-gleaner-aug-28-1899-p-10/

Daily Press, Newport News, VA. “Worst in Seventy-Five Years.” 8-30-1899, p. 1. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/newport-news-daily-press-aug-30-1899-p-1/

Davies, Pete. Inside the Hurricane: Face to Face with Nature’s Deadliest Storms. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 2000.

Garriott, E. B. “Forecasts and Warnings.” Monthly Weather Review, Vol. XXVII, No. 8, August 1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/mwr_pdf/1899.pdf

Harmswaystormstories.com. San Ciriaco August 16-18, 1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.harmswaystormstories.com/san-ciriaco-1899

Ho, Francis P. NOAA Technical Memorandum NWS HYDDRO-43: Extreme Hurricanes in the Nineteenth Century. Silver Spring, MD: Office of Hydrology, NOAA, March 1989. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/7224

Landsea, Christopher and Jose Fernandez Partagas. Year 1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/Landsea/Partagas/1898-1900/1899_1.pdf

Library of Congress. “Hurricane San Ciriaco.” 6-22-2011. Accessed 11-24-2012 at: http://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/sanciriaco.html

New York Times. “Hundreds Dead In Hurricane; Destruction in Path of the West Indian Storm. Ponce A Total Wreck…May Be 300 Killed…” 8-11-1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.nytimes.com/1899/08/11/archives/hundreds-dead-in-hurricane-destruction-in-path-of-the-west-indian.html

New York Times. “West Indian Hurricane Carried Death and Destruction to Several Islands. Great Havoc in Puerto Rico.” 8-10-1899. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1899/08/10/100447432.pdf

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration). Hurricane No. 59, “1899 Aug. 8-9 San Ciriaco.” Accessed 1-3-2020 at: https://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/data_sub/perez_21_34.pdf

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996. Accessed 1-3-2010 at: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdeadlyapp1.shtml?

North Carolina Shipwrecks. “San Ciriaco Hurricane ~ August 1899. 3-28-2011. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: http://northcarolinashipwrecks.blogspot.com/2012/03/san-ciriaco-hurricane-august-1899.html

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 8-20-2017 at: http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pdf/NWS-NHC-1995-47.pdf

Schwartz, Stuart B. “The Hurricane of San Ciriaco: Disaster, Politics, and Society in Puerto Rico, 1899-1901.” Hispanic American Historical Review, Vol. 72, No. 3, 1992, Duke University Press. Accessed 1-3-2020 at: http://latinamericanstudies.org/puertorico/hurricane.pdf

Stick, David. Graveyard of the Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1952.

University of Rhode Island. “1899 San Ciriaco Hurricane.” Hurricanes: Science and Society. 2010-2011. Accessed 11-24-2012: http://www.hurricanescience.org/history/storms/pre1900s/1899/

[1] Cites newspaper reports of the time and notes “the real number of deaths was probably much higher.”

[2] Stick, David. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, p. 163.

[3] North Carolina Shipwrecks. “San Ciriaco Hurricane ~ August 1899. 3-28-2011.

[4] Stick, David. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, p. 165.

[5] Stick, David. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, p. 164.

[6] Stick, David. Graveyard of Atlantic: Shipwrecks of the North Carolina Coast. 1952, p. 168.

[7] Garriott, E. B. “Forecasts and Warnings.” Monthly Weather Review, Vol. XXVII, No. 8, August 1899.

[8] North Carolina Shipwrecks. “San Ciriaco Hurricane ~ August 1899. 3-28-2011.

[9] North Carolina Shipwrecks. “San Ciriaco Hurricane ~ August 1899. 3-28-2011. Goes on to note: “…the real number of deaths was probably much higher.” Notes the names of