18th Century

–20-30  Gallup. Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in…Vermont. 1815, p. 48; citing Prof. N. Smith.

 

Narrative Information

 

Prof. N. Smith: “In the summer of 1800, dysentery appeared in the east part of Hanover, and in several adjacent towns, and carried off many children and some adults, to the number of between seventy and eighty. In the former year, when Hanover was visited with the dysentery, it was confined to the College-plain,[1] so called, and between twenty and thirty died of it. In the last mentioned season it did not attack any on the College-plain. The same year it prevailed in several towns in Vermont.” (Letter of Prof. N. Smith to Dr. Gallup in Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in the State of Vermont, p. 48.)

 

Source

 

Gallup, Joseph A., M.D. Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in the State of Vermont; From its First Settlement to the year 1815, with a Consideration of their Causes, Phenomena, and Treatment. Boston: T. B. Wait & Sons, 1815. Accessed 2-7-2018 at: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/bookviewer?PID=nlm:nlmuid-2555005R-bk

 

[1] Presume this would relate to Dartmouth College.

–150-200  AP (Dean Gottehrer, Ed.). Stylebook for Alaska (2^nd Edition), 1990, p. 84.[1]

—     >100  Barefield. Paralytic shellfish poisoning. Toxic Algae (webpage). 1-10-2016.

—     >100  Bingham. “Paralytic shellfish poisoning…warning…Southeast Alaska.” 6-24-2010.

—       100  Higginson. Alaska, the Great Country, 1910, p. 150.

—     ~100  Trainer (Nat. Marine Fisheries Service). Harmful algal blooms on the U.S. west coast.

—     >100  U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. “Harmful algal blooms…” Accessed 8-25-2017.

Narrative Information

AP/Gottehrer: “July 1799. At least 115 Aleuts, possibly as many as 200, died after eating poisonous mussels at Peril Strait, north of Sitka.” (AP (Dean Gottehrer, Ed.). Stylebook for Alaska (2^nd Edition), p. 84.)

Barefield: “The worst historical account of PSP poisoning occurred in Southeast Alaska in July 1799 when more than 100 Russians and Aleuts died from eating clams and mussels gathered from Peril Straits near Sitka. The most recent cases occurred last summer [2015] when two people died in Southeast Alaska, one from eating a cockle and the other from eating a Dungeness crab, and three people became ill in Kodiak from eating butter clams. Cockles tested in Southeast Alaska last summer had a level of PSP that was 2,044 parts per million. Anything over 80 parts per million is considered unsafe for human consumption. PSP also kills sea otters, and it probably is toxic to other mammals.” (Barefield. Paralytic shellfish poisoning. Toxic Algae (webpage). 1-10-2016.)

Bingham: “There have been periodic outbreaks of PSP over the years, with the most deadly instance coming when clams and mussels gathered from Peril Straits near Sitka killed more than 100 Russians and Aleuts in 1799.”

Higginson: “Peril Strait is a dangerous reach leading in sweeping curves from Chatham Strait to Salisbury Sound. It is the watery dividing line between Chichagoff and Baranoff islands. It has two narrows, where the rapids at certain stages of the tides are most dangerous….There are several islands in Peril Strait….Between Otstoi and Pouverstoi islands is Deadman’s Reach. Here are Peril Point and Poison Cove, where Baranoff lost a hundred Aleuts by their eating of poisonous mussels in 1799. For this reason the Russians gave it the name, Pogibshi, which, interpreted, means ‘Destruction,’ instead of the ‘Pernicious’ or ‘Peril’ of the present time.” (Higginson. Alaska, the Great Country, 1910, p. 150.)

Kwong: “Of all the traditional seafoods in Southeast Alaska, none are more shrouded in myth — and genuine risk — than clams and mussels. Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) killed two people in Southeast in 2010 and dozens more have fallen ill over the recorded history of the state….

“In Southeast, between Chicagof and Baranof Islands, there’s a waterway called Peril Strait. The name doesn’t come from winds ripping through the channel, but from a shocking event that happened in 1799. ‘A Russian ship came in and the villagers had gone out and collected a bunch of clams from an area now called Poison Cove,’ explained Jeff Feldpausch, the Resource Protection Director for Sitka Tribe of Alaska.

“The incident he’s describing is the earliest documented case of PSP in the state. After eating the shellfish, 100 Aleut crew members of fur trader Alexander Baranof – died. Feldpausch added, ‘They only made it a few miles to the area that’s now called Dead Man’s Reach.’….” (Kwong, Emily (KCAW, Sitka, AK). “PSP Part 1: Tribal partnership seeks modern solution to an ancient problem,” 3-24-2015.

Trainer: “The earliest recorded PSP event on the U.S. west coast occurred in 1799, and was documented by Aleksander Baranov, the chief manager of the Russian-American trading company. A party of Aleut hunters under his command paddled to a place called Khutznov Strait, later to be called Peril Strait, where the Natives collected and ate some small, black mussels that were abundant in the area. Two minutes later about half the party experienced nausea and dryness of the throat. Two hours later, about a hundred Aleut Indian hunters had died. Some survived by eating a mixture of gunpowder, tobacco, and spirits to induce vomiting.” (Trainer. Harmful algal blooms on the U.S. west coast. Seattle, WA: NMSS, NOAA, 2002, p. 1.)

U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit: “Harmful algal blooms (HABs) have long been a threat in southeast Alaska: the first human deaths attributed to a HAB occurred near Sitka, Alaska in 1799, when an outbreak of paralytic shellfish poisoning killed over a hundred members of Alexander Baranof’s crew.[2] An HAB event occurs when nutrients and sunlight are just right and plankton species respond by multiplying especially rapidly. Submarine filter feeders such as clams, cockles, and scallops that take in the plankton can become contaminated with natural, algal-derived toxins. When people eat these shellfish, the toxins can lead to sickness, brain damage, and death.” (U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. “Harmful algal blooms — exacerbated by warming ocean temperatures.” (Website). Accessed 8-25-2017.)

Sources

Associated Press (Dean Gottehrer, Ed.). Stylebook for Alaska (2^nd Edition, Revised and Updated). Fairbanks, AK: Epicenter Press, 1990.

Barefield. Robin. Paralytic shellfish poisoning. Toxic Algae (webpage). 1-10-2016.  Accessed 8-25-2017 at: http://robinbarefield.com/tag/paralytic-shellfish-poisoning/

Bingham, Charles. “Paralytic shellfish poisoning (PSP) warning issued for Southeast Alaska.” Sitka Local Foods Network, 6-24-2010. (Citing Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC) website.) Accessed 8-25-2017 at: https://sitkalocalfoodsnetwork.org/2010/06/24/%E2%80%A2-paralytic-shellfish-poisoning-psp-warning-issued-for-southeast-alaska/

Higginson, Ella. Alaska, the Great Country. NY: Macmillan Co., 1910. Accessed 8-25-2017 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=EQeLinhUr5AC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Kwong, Emily (KCAW, Sitka, AK). “PSP Part 1: Tribal partnership seeks modern solution to an ancient problem,” 3-24-2015. Accessed 8-25-1017 at: https://www.kcaw.org/2015/03/24/psp-tribal-partnership-seeks-modern-solution-to-an-ancient-problem/

Trainer, Vera L. Harmful algal blooms on the U.S. west coast. Seattle, WA: National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA, 2002, 29 pages. Accessed 8-25-2017 at: Harmful algal blooms on the U.S. west coast

U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. “Harmful algal blooms — exacerbated by warming ocean temperatures.” (Website). Accessed 8-25-2017 at: https://toolkit.climate.gov/case-studies/alaskan-tribes-join-together-assess-harmful-algal-blooms

Wikipedia. Alexander Andreyevich Baranov. 5-28-2017 edit. Accessed 8-25-2017 at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Andreyevich_Baranov

[1] Blanchard note: Though this source notes 150-200 deaths, every other source we have consulted notes about 100.

[2] Alexander Andreyevich Baranov, Russian trader and merchant. “In 1799 Baranov was promoted, appointed by the recently chartered Russian-American Company as Chief Manager, effectively the first governor of Russian America.” (Wikipedia. Alexander Andreyevich Baranov. 5-28-2017 edit.)

—  1,356  Blanchard compilation from city totals below.

Maritime                    (  >40) (June-July)

—   20  USS Delaware[1] (40 cases).  Keating 1879, 80.

—   20  USS General Greene[2] Trask 2005,  4.

— >20  U.S. Dept. of Navy. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. “General Greene.”

Maryland                   (      ?)

— ?  Baltimore.  U.S. Marine-Hospital Service. Annual Report FY 1895. 1896, p. 432.[3]

— ?  Baltimore, Cecil, Harford, Charles, Dorchester and other Counties. Cordell 1903, p. 671.[4]

— ?  Baltimore, Cecil, Harford, Charles and Dorchester counties.  Quinan 1884, p. 21.

New York                   (    76) (July-Nov)

—   76  New York City             Keating 1879, 80;[5] Sternberg 1894, 42; US MHS, 1896, 432.[6]

NYC & Philly            (1,076) Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 17 [7]: New York Times, 10-7-1888.[8]

North Carolina          (       1)

–?  New Berne.                                   Keating 1879, 80; Sternberg 1894, 43.

–1  Washington, Oct 11. Swain, Gail. “Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery, Craven County, NC.”

–?  Wilmington                                  Newport Mercury, RI. 11-26-1799, p. 3.

Pennsylvania              (1,000) (July-Nov)

—       ?  Bald Eagle Valley, central PA.  Keating 1879, 80.

—       ?  Centre County                            Keating 1879, 80.

–1,000  Philadelphia, July-Nov.              Keating 1879, 80;[9] US MHS, 1896, 432.[10]

—       ?  Mifflin County.  Quinan, J.R. Medical Annals of Baltimore from 1608-1880. 1884, p. 21.

Charleston, SC          (   239)

— 239  Keating 1879, p. 80.

— 239  Kohn. Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence… 2001, p. 62.

— 239  NYT. “Yellow Fever. Epidemics in Charleston, S.C. –Statistics from 1700.” 9-18-1871.

— 239  Ramsay. “Medical History From 1670-1808,” Ramsay’s History of SC, 1858, p. 47.

— 239  Sternberg 1908, p. 719.

— 239  US Marine-Hospital Service, 1896, p. 431.[11]

Virginia                      (      ?)

— ?  Norfolk.  Keating 1879, 80; U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Rpt. FY 1895. 1896, p. 432.[12]

Narrative Information

Cuba

“Extract of a Letter from a Gentleman in Havannah, to his Friend in Baltimore, received by the Ship Abigail, dated Havannah, April 3.

“The Havannah is at present very sickly. Sixteen Americans died of the yellow fever on the 28^th ult. One of our passengers was taken sick on the 2d day after our arrival. We can, from the mast head of vessels in this port, see Americans taken by the English and French daily, within gun shot of the Moro castle.” (Philadelphia Magazine and Review. “Domestic Intelligence.” 4-1-1799, p. 245.)

New York

“March 19….A letter from the Havana, dated the 6^th ult. [Feb], confirms the accounts we have already received of the yellow fever raging at that place. Among a number of other American vessels, there was one from New-York, with about 70 men, almost the whole of whom were taken down.” (Newport Mercury, RI. 5-14-1799, p. 2.)

“It appears by a Report of the Health Committee of New-York of the 19^th Instant [July?], that no new Case of Yellow Fever has occurred in the last 48 Hours, and that there were, at that Time, but no suspicious Cases in the Whole.”  (Newport Mercury, RI. 8-6-1799, p. 3.)

 North Carolina

Nov 26 report:  “North-Carolina has been amongst the severest Sufferers by the Yellow Fever. Wilmington, in that State, has lost nearly one Sixth of its Inhabitants. – Washington has been nearly evacuated by its Inhabitants. – At the last dates the Fever had abated.”  (Newport Mercury, RI. 11-26-1799, p. 3.)

Philadelphia

Aug 23:  Secretary of War James McHenry writes William Simmons, War Department Accountant, noting that War Department offices in Philadelphia are being relocated to Trenton, NJ, due to yellow fever then prevailing in Philadelphia, and that the Quartermaster General has instructions for providing transportation.  (Papers of the War Department 1784-1800 (A project of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and George Mason University.) “Escaping the Fever in Philadelphia.” 2012. Accessed 10-8-2013 at:

http://wardepartmentpapers.org/document.php?id=34607

South Carolina

 Ramsay: “For forty-four years after 1748, there was no epidemic attack of this disease [yellow fever], though there were occasionally in different summers a few sporadic cases of it. In the year 1792 a new era of the yellow fever commenced. It raged in Charlestown in that year, and in 1794, 1795, 1796, 1797, 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1804, and 1807. The number of deaths from it in these, its worst years, were…In 1799, 239; in 1800, 184; in 1802, 96; in 1804, 148; in 1807, 162.”

USS General Greene

La Roche on “…the origin of the disease [yellow fever] on board the U.S. frigate General Greene in 1799… The ship left Newport (R.I.) on the 3d of June, and reached the Havana on the 4h of July. The disease commenced during the passage, and extended rapidly. The crew thus affected had had, to use the language of Dr. Kollock, to whom we are indebted for an account of the occurrence,[13] no communication with any vessel at sea, nor had they touched at any place in their passage, or even had intercourse with the town, or vessels in the harbour, till after the breaking out of the disease. Other vessels in port were no more than usually sickly, and the inhabitants of the island were remarkably healthy. ‘The principle of disease,’ continues that writer, ‘seemed to have been generated on board, and to have gradually acquired virulence and activity as they approached the place of their destination.’ ‘Those who frequented the hold, and were stationed in the neighbourhood of the pumps, suffered more especially during the continuance of the disease, as they had been the first attacked by it.’….The disease was identified as yellow fever by Dr. Halliday, an experienced practitioner of the Havana, and author of a clever essay on the disease as it appeared there in 1794.”  (La Roche, Rene, M.D. Yellow Fever, Considered in its Historical, Pathological, Etiological, and Therapeutical Relations, Including A Sketch of the Disease as it has Occurred in Philadelphia from 1699-1854… (Vol. 2 of 2). Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1855, p. 425. Google digitized at:

http://books.google.com/books?id=YTrUAOOJXCAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false )

U.S. Dept. of the Navy:  The General Greene was named after Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene of Rhode Island.  “The second General Greene was built under government contract… [at] Warren, R. I.; launched 21 January 1799; and placed under command of Captain Christopher R. Perry, The frigate sailed 2 June 1799, joining Governor Jay in convoying five merchantmen bound to Havana. Damage suffered in a heavy gale caused her to put in at Havana for repairs. Her crew was struck down with yellow fever. More than 20 perished and she returned to Newport on 27 July with 37 men in various stages of recovery. After a thorough cleaning, fumigation, and change of ballast, she departed Newport 23 September 1799 to take station at Cap Francois, San Domingo.”  (United States Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. “General Greene.” 6-17-2013 modification. Accessed 10-8-2013 at:

http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g3/general_greene-ii_.htm )

Sources

Arnebeck, Bob.  Destroying Angel:  Benjamin Rush, Yellow Fever and the Birth of Modern Medicine.  Web-published, 1999.  At:  http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/table.html

Cordell, Eugene Fauntleroy, M.D. The Medical Annals of Maryland 1799-1899 (Prepared for the Centennial of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty, Maryland Hospital). Baltimore: 1903. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=Wx8SAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Keating, J. M.  A History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis, TN:  Howard Association, 1879. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WEIJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Kohn, George Childs (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Plague and Pestilence From Ancient Times to the Present (3rd Ed.) NY: Facts On File, Inc., an imprint of Infobase Publishing, 1995, 2001, 2008. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=tzRwRmb09rgC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

La Roche, Rene, M.D. Yellow Fever, Considered in its Historical, Pathological, Etiological, and Therapeutical Relations, Including A Sketch of the Disease as it has Occurred in Philadelphia from 1699-1854… (Vol. 2 of 2). Philadelphia: Blanchard and Lea, 1855, p. 425. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=YTrUAOOJXCAC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

New York Times. “Yellow Fever. Epidemics in Charleston, S.C. – Statistics from 1700.” 9-18-1871. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0C13F938541A7493CAA81782D85F458784F9

New York Times.  “Yellow Fever Retrospect.”  October 7, 1888.  Accessed at:  http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9D03EFD81F38E033A25754C0A9669D94699FD7CF&oref=slogin

Newport Mercury, RI. 5-14-1799, p. 2. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=199387012&sterm=yellow+fever

Newport Mercury, RI. 8-6-1799, p. 3

Newport Mercury, RI. 11-26-1799, p. 3. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=200287933&sterm=yellow+fever

Papers of the War Department 1784-1800 (A project of the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and George Mason University.) “Escaping the Fever in Philadelphia.” 2012. Accessed 10-8-2013 at: http://wardepartmentpapers.org/document.php?id=34607

Philadelphia Magazine and Review. “Domestic Intelligence.” 4-1-1799, p. 245. Accessed at: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=191816492&sterm=yellow+fever

Quinan, John R., M.D. Medical Annals of Baltimore From 1608-1880, Including Events, Men and Literature. Baltimore: Press of Isaac Friedenwald, 1884. Google digitized at: http://books.google.com/books?id=xNcRAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Ramsay, David (M.D.). Ramsay’s History of South Carolina, From its First Settlement in 1670 to the Year 1808. Published by W. J. Duffie, Newberry, SC, printed in Charleston by Walker, Evans & Co., 1858. Digitized by archive.org and accessed 9-11-2016 at: https://archive.org/stream/ramsayshistorys00ramsgoog#page/n4/mode/2up

Sternberg, George M. (US Public Health Service, US Marine Hospital Service).  “Yellow Fever,” pp. 39-72 in A Reference Handbook of the Medical Sciences (Vol. 8), Albert Henry Buck, (Ed.). NY: William Wood & Co., 1894. Google digitized: http://books.google.com/books?id=Jr00AQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Swain, Gail. “Christ Episcopal Church Cemetery, Craven County, NC.” Dec 2008. Accessed 10-9-2013 at: http://craven.lostsoulsgenealogy.com/cems/christepiscopalchurchcem.htm

Trask, Benjamin H.  “The World of ‘Septic Vapours:’  Yellow Fever and United States Shipping, 1798-1905.” The Northern Mariner/Le Marin du nord, Vol. XV, No. 2, April 2005, pp. 1-18.  Accessed at:  http://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol15/tnm_15_2_1-18.pdf

United States Marine Hospital Service, Treasury Department.  Annual Report of the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service of the United States for the Fiscal Year 1895 (Document No. 1811).  Washington:  GPO, 1896.  Digitized by Google at:  http://books.google.com/books?id=aTnxAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

United States Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. “General Greene.” 6-17-2013 modification. Accessed 10-8-2013 at: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g3/general_greene-ii_.htm

United States Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. “History of USS Delaware.” 8-9-2001. Accessed 10-8-2013 at: http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/d/delaware.htm

 

 

 

[1] For background on the USS Delaware, see:  U.S. Department of the Navy, Naval History and Heritage Command. “History of USS Delaware.” 8-9-2001.

[2] In June 1799, the USS General Greene sailed from Havana.  In port, fever had consumed an unfortunate few.  The frigate left Cuba, escorting a merchant fleet.  Once underway, yellow jack continued its rampage; among the twenty deaths of the forty cases were the frigate’s surgeon and purser.  The fever was so consuming that the survivors did not keep proper mortality records.  When the General Greene returned to Newport, Rhode Island, the fever spread to some of the inhabitants, alarming the populace.”

[3] From “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Cites W. Hume, Charleston Medical Journal and Review, 1860, p. 24, and Toner.

[4] Cordell, Eugene Fauntleroy, M.D. The Medical Annals of Maryland 1799-1899 (Prepared for the Centennial of the Medical and Chirurgical Faculty, Maryland Hospital). Baltimore: 1903.

[5] “…commencing in July and ending in November, mortality 76.”

[6] “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Cites Editor, New York Journal of Medicine, 1856, p. 278 and Toner.

[7] Arnebeck writes:  “The official death toll in Philadelphia was 720, less than the 1797 epidemic. In New York the board of health counted 356 deaths.”

[8] NYT:  “In 1799 the death list in Philadelphia from yellow fever reached 1,000, and in New York 76.”

[9] “…Philadelphia, commencing in July and ending in November, with a mortality of 1,000.”

[10] “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Notes: “The disease is said to have been brought here this year by the sloop La Marie taken by the LeGange.” Cites: Bérenger-Féraud, p. 67; La Roche; Charleston Medical Journal and Review, 1852, p. 458; and Toner.

[11] “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Notes: “Contaminated by a Spanish vessel and cites: “Bérenger-Féraud, loc. Cit., p. 67; W. Hume, Ch. M. J. and Rev., 1854, p. 145; and Toner.” Hume reference is probably to William Hume, “The Yellow Fever of Charleston, Considered in its Relations to the West India Commerce,” Charleston Medical Journal and Review. Toner reference is probably to Joseph M. Toner and John M. Woodworth. Contributions to the Study of Yellow Fever. 1874.

[12] From “Table Showing Years in Which Yellow Fever has Invaded the Seaboard Cities of the United States, Etc.” Cites Virginia Medical Journal, 1857, p. 95 and Toner.

[13] La Roche footnote: An Account of the Malignant Disease which appeared in the U.S. frigate General Greene, Med. Repos., iv, 2, 3.”

–200 Alaska Shipwrecks. A Comprehensive Accounting of Alaska Shipwrecks…Losses of Life…
–200 AK Bur. Ocean Energy Mgmt., Reg., Enforce. Alaska’s Worst All Time Shipping Losses.

Narrative Information

AK BOEM: “1799…Native bidarkas…sixty boats…Lost in storm…Hinchinbrook Entrance … 200 lost.” (Alaska Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. Alaska’s Worst All Time Shipping Losses.)

Alaska Shipwrecks: “BIDARKAS (60) (1799) One of the worst disasters in Alaskan waters occurred in 1799 when sixty bidarkas were caught in a sudden storm off of Cape Hinchinbrook and 200 men were lost.

“Mapping and Location: South Central Alaska 60 20 N 146 50 W

“Source: Shipwrecks of the Alaskan Shelf and Shore (1992).”

Sources

Alaska Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement. Alaska’s Worst All Time Shipping Losses. Accessed 7-18-2011 at: http://www.alaska.boemre.gov/ref/ships/

Alaskashipwreck.com. Alaska Shipwrecks. A Comprehensive Accounting of Alaska Shipwrecks and Losses of Life in Alaskan Waters. Accessed 10-31-2021 at: https://alaskashipwreck.com/shipwrecks-a-z/alaska-shipwrecks-b/

—       >200  Blanchard figure.[1]

–Hundreds. Flexner and Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History. 2008, p. 104.

 

—         >25  Maritime component.[2]

 

Narrative Information

 

Flexner and Flexner: “1798: New England Blizzard. High winds and driving snow lasting from November 17 to 21 buried houses in New England under great snowdrifts. Hundreds of people died.” (Flexner and Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History. 2008, p. 104.)

 

Ludlum: “After a rainy November 19^th, ‘at night it began to snow and continued through the 20^th, a violent gale, snow fell on the earth when not frozen, a foot deep,’ Noah Webster related in his diary at New Haven. His thermometer went down to +12° on the morning of the 22d, also an extreme figure for the commencement of the last week in November.[3]

 

“Farther north along the coast the storm raged even more savagely. At Salem a mixture of rain and snow, then sleet and snow fell from the 19^th to the 21^st, piling up a total of 10 inches.[4] But inland and northward it was all snow. Many town histories of southeastern New Hampshire and southern Maine described this storm as exceptional. Joseph Philbrook of Weare, New Hampshire, entered in his diary: ‘Nov. 19, 1798–snow fell for three days, in the whole about three feet deep, a tremendous storm.’[5] At York, Maine, Jeremiah Weare, Jr. mentioned a five-day snowfall from the 17^th to 21^st: ‘the snow is near 3 feet deep on a level.’[6] This snow was destined to remain all winter….

 

“The November storm also struck hard at sea, taking a human toll that would not be equaled for 100 years until the tragedies attending another November blow, the Portland Storm of 1898.[7] Many vessels were wrecked on the shores of Cape Cod as cemetery tombstones will testify. At least seven vessels went to pieces on that sandy promontory with the loss of all aboard, and the bodies of 25 sailors later were taken from bilged ships and buried ashore.”[8] (Ludlum. “The Long Winter of 1798-99,” pp. 74-75 in Early American Winters, 1604-1820.)

 

National Weather Service: “Nov 21, 1798. A four day storm was in progress in the north-eastern US. The storm dropped a foot of snow on New York City and New Haven, and as much
as three feet in Maine and New Hampshire. The snowstorm ushered in a long and severe winter, in some places the ground remained covered with snow until the following May.” (NWS. Weather trivia for November (webpage). Accessed 10-22-2017.)

 

Sources

 

Flexner, Doris and Stuart Berg Flexner. A Pessimist’s Guide to History: An Irresistible Compendium of Catastrophes, Barbarities, Massacres, and Mayhem – From 14 Billion Years Ago to 2007. New York: Harper Collins, 2008.

 

Ludlum, David M. Early American Winters 1604-1820. Boston: American Meteorological Society, 1966.

 

National Weather Service, NOAA. Weather trivia for November (webpage). Accessed 10-22-2017 at: https://www.weather.gov/ddc/novtrivia

[1] We do not know how many hundreds; thus we assume that, if accurate, there must have been at least 200 deaths.

[2] Ludlum notes 25 bodies pulled from wrecked ships at Cape Cod alone, while also noting that “at least seven vessels went to pieces” there. It seems probable that other vessels were lost elsewhere.

[3] Cites Noah Webster, Notes, 1, p. 488.

[4] Cites: Edward A. Holyoke. A meteorological journal for the year 1786 to the year 1829, inclusive. Enoch Hale, ed. Mem. Amer. Acad. Arts & Science. (Boston), ns. 1, (1833), 107.

[5] Cites: Diary of Joseph Philbrook. William Little, History of Weare, Lowell, Mass., S. W. Huse & Co., 1888, 370.

[6] Cites: Diary of Jeremiah Weare, Jr. C. E. Banks. History of York, Maine, 181.

[7] We show a range of 450-500 deaths for the Nov 26-27 Portland Gale, including loss of the SS Portland.

[8] Cites: Edward R. Snow. A pilgrim returns to Cape Cod. Boston, The Yankee Publishing Co., 1946, 122; Salem Gaz., 30 Nov 1798.

–139-141  Blanchard tally of locality breakouts.[1]

Breakout by locality, where noted.

–10-12  Bethel, Windsor County. Sep-Oct. Gallup. Epidemic Diseases in Vermont, p. 46.

—   ~30  Norwich, Windsor County. Late summer and autumn. Gallup. Vermont Epidemics, p. 45

—     17  Pomfret, Windsor Co., Sep-Oct. Gallup. Vermont Epidemic Diseases, p.45, citing Ware.

—     50  Salem and Sandgate area, late July start. Gallup. Epidemic Diseases in Vermont, p. 46.[2]

—     32  Shays’ Settlement, Egg Mountain, July-Sep. Butz. Shays’ Settlement in Vermont, 150.[3]

—       ?  Other places. Late July beginning. Gallup. Epidemic Diseases in Vermont, p. 46.[4]

 

Narrative Information

 

Butz: “Another gravesite, known as the Shays’ Settlement Cemetery,[5] is…rumored to be on Egg Mountain. This site is mentioned in a history of the town of Sandgate[6] written by Hugh Graham ….It is referenced as being the place where the settlers were buried who died due to the ‘Black Death’ that may have caused the settlement to be abandoned. There may have been three epidemics that ravaged the settlement. The first took place sometime in 1787, possibly when the Regulators[7] were just arriving on Egg Mountain. The second hit in July, August and September 1798, as evidenced by church records in Sandgate that record thirty-two deaths, thirty of which were children who lived at the settlement. Although the locals called it the black death or black sickness, it was most likely either typhus or dysentery. An outbreak of dysentery had a severe effect of the town of Sandgate in 1798.”[8] (Butz. Shays’ Settlement in Vermont: A Story of Revolt and Archaeology, p. 150.)

 

Gallup: “1798, The most prevailing diseases of this year were typhus fever, and dysentery. They were both severe in some places and neighbourhoods, whilst others were more exempt….

 

“There was something of a drought in the months of July, August, and September, which are the principal dysenteric months. But dysentery as often prevails without drought. By letter from Dr. Ware, of Pomfret, ‘seventeen adults died of dysentery in September and October…

 

“During the latter part of summer and autumn, of this year, if my information is correct, the dysentery proved very fatal at Norwich, on the banks of Ompompanoosuc river; about thirty died….

 

“The dysentery, this season, began in Sandgate and Salem, the latter part of July. It was very mortal in that region this year, as well as in other places. About fifty died in those places. Dysentery was very severe this year, in September and October in Bethel, especially in a particular neighbourhood. I believe ten or twelve died in this neighbourhood after a short term of sickness. About eighty had it in the town.” (Gallup. Epidemic Diseases in Vermont. 1815 pp. 45-46.)

 

Sources

 

Butz. Shays’ Settlement in Vermont: A Story of Revolt and Archaeology. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2017. Google preview accessed 2-9-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=QTEvDwAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Gallup, Joseph A., M.D. Sketches of Epidemic Diseases in the State of Vermont; From its First Settlement to the year 1815, with a Consideration of their Causes, Phenomena, and Treatment. Boston: T. B. Wait & Sons, 1815. Accessed 2-7-2018 at: https://collections.nlm.nih.gov/bookviewer?PID=nlm:nlmuid-2555005R-bk

 

 

 

[1] We show, in the description headline, at least or more than (>) in that Gallup notes dysentery was “very mortal” in Sandgate, Salem, and in “other places” not noted. We thus assume some mortality elsewhere.

[2] Gallup writes that dysentery was “very mortal in that region [Sandgate and Salem] this year, as well as in other places. About fifty died in those places.” This statement is ambiguous. Our interpretation is that the number fifty does not refer to the “other places” mentioned. It could be read as fifty deaths in Sandgate and in Salem combined. The “in that region” statement throws us off in that today’s Salem is not in the region of Sandgate. Perhaps there was another Salem at the time near Sandgate. In any event we choose to read this as stating that there were fifty deaths in “Sandgate and Salem the latter part of July.”

[3] Butz writes: “The second [epidemic] hit in July, August and September 1798 [1^st was in 1787], as evidenced by church records in Sandgate that recorded thirty-two deaths, thirty of which were children who lived at the settlement. Although the locals called it the black death or black sickness, it was most likely either typhus or dysentery. An outbreak of dysentery had a severe effect on the town of Sandgate in 1798.” [Blanchard: there were deaths in Shays’ Settlement which we know about because they were noted in church records in Sandgate, over the next mountain ridge. There were also deaths in Sandgate, noted by both Gallup and Butz.]

[4] We do not know from Gallup what these “other places” were or the mortality, but we assume there was some.

[5] The Shays’ Settlement Project website (archaeological study) notes: Shay’s Settlement was “a fortified 18^th century settlement located in the mountains near the New York/Vermont border. The settlement was founded by Captain Daniel Shays and his fellow refugees after they fled from Massachusetts following the uprising he lead in 1787.”

[6] Egg Mountain is part of a ridge extending down to the southwest into New York. To get to Sandgate one would need to go down the mountain to the southeast, through the valley floor and stream and then up, over, and down another mountain ridge to get to Sandgate near the stream at the bottom of this ridge.

[7] A name the rebels gave to themselves.

[8] It seems clear that “Black Death” (probably dysentery), was experienced in both the Shays’ Settlement, and in the town of Sandgate, a mountain ridge away in a valley.

1798 — Yellow Fever Epidemic, esp. East Coast port cities, esp. Philly and NYC –~10,000

–10,000 Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14
— 6,623 Blanchard tally based on numbers below.

Connecticut ( 81)
— 81 New London Aug 25-Oct 28 Arnebeck 1999; Augustin 1909, 451; Keating 1879, 80.
— 81 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.

Delaware ( 255)
— 255 Wilmington Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80.
— 250 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.

Maryland ( 200)
— 200 Baltimore Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80.

Massachusetts ( 145)
— 200 Boston U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.
— 145 “ Childs 1886, 61.

New Hampshire ( 100)
— 100 Portsmouth Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80.
— 100 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.

New Jersey ( 6)
— 6 Port Elizabeth Keating 1879, 80.

New York (2,086)
–2,086 NYC. Barrett 1863; Childs 1886, 61; Heaton 1946, 74; Putnam 1851, 605 ;
Simonds 1902, 83; Wikipedia.
–2,080 “ Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80; US MHS, 1896, 431.

Pennsylvania (3,695)
— 50 Chester Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80.
— 50 “ U.S. Marine-Hosp. Svc. Annual Report…FY 1895. 1896, p. 431.
–3,645 Philadelphia Augustin 1909, 51; Childs 1886, 61; Simonds 1902, 83.
–3,645 “ Willsey, Lewis. “Philadelphia,” Harper’s Book of Facts. 1895, 626
–3,500 “ Arnebeck 1999, Ch. 14; Keating 1879, 80; US MHS, 1896, 431.
–3,056 “ Barrett 1863.

Narrative Information
New-York:

Heaton: “In the early summer of 1798, yellow fever again appeared in New York and raged with such violence as to be known as the great epidemic. The usual panic seized the people who at that time were preparing for an anticipated war with France. They soon faced an enemy more terrible than any foreign nation. “Upon the approach of this awful disorder,” wrote James Hardie, “the bustle we are making for self-defense was suddenly suspended; the warlike looks, which our citizens had assumed, changed into those of dismay; the fortifications in a great measure neglected; the military associations discontinued.”

“The inhabitants are flying in every direction wrote William Dunlap in his diary. Those doing business in the neighborhood of the East River removed their offices to Broadway which was deemed more healthy; the Custom House in Mill Street and the insurance office in Water Street were established for the time in the Tontine Tavern on Broadway. A carpenter on Warren Street was kept busy day and night making cheap coffins of plain pine boards. He would send two boys out with a light hand wagon on which three or four coffins were carried, to sell them in the streets. Stopping at the street corners the boys would cry, “Coffins! Coffins of all sizes!” Still most people could not afford the four dollars asked for a coffin. Every night the dead cart carried corpses to be thrown into the pits of Potter’s Field, which was then located on the site of the present Washington Square.

“Bellevue was reopened on June 12th, with Dr. Isaac S. Douglass in charge. The health officer, Dr. Richard Bayley, asked Dr. Alexander Anderson to find additional medical assistance. Dr. Anderson himself accepted the position at a salary of three pounds -a day. On August 31, he was rowed to Bellevue where he found twenty patients. Four died in the course of the day and fourteen more were admitted. On the eighth of September, Anderson’s brother died of the plague and on the tenth his father was stricken. Anderson turned over his work at Bellevue to Dr. Douglass and hastened to look after his father. On the twelfth, his father died and the next day Anderson was horrified to find his wife ghastly and emaciated, sick with yellow fever. Now within a few days his wife, mother and daughter died. The grief stricken Anderson spent several months as physician to the poor and looking after his sick friends, almost all of whom he lost. Terribly depressed he gave up the practice of medicine forever.

“At Bellevue, Dr. Douglass himself contracted the disease which he attributed to having visited friends in New York, in that part of the city where yellow fever was raging. He reported that there were no cases of infection among the sixteen nurses and other attendants at the hospital.

“Nevertheless, Bellevue was considered by people at large as the house of death. Convalescent patients were crowded in with the sick and dying. The Common Council, therefore, ordered the erection of two new buildings, each sixty by twenty feet, one of which was two stories in height. These structures were completed in eight days. Because of dread of the disease only the most hardened characters could be induced to enter Bellevue as attendants or nurses, but strenuous efforts were made to obtain nurses of good character and finally the “former improper persons” were dismissed and the hospital “began to be viewed by many of the afflicted as a place where they stood a greater chance of recovery than anywhere else.”

“On September 3rd, an attempt was made to allay the growing alarm. The few cases of diseases which had occurred were considered due to effluvia from the sewer or from spoiled provisions which had not been shipped due to the French preying on our commerce with the West Indies. “There was no very unusual mortality for the season.” On September 6th, it was noted with approval that the authorities at Albany agreed that the epidemic was due to local causes and engendered among themselves: “no sentiment about importation. The gentlemen of the medical profession have indeed done themselves an honor on this occasion.” The Common Council appointed a standing committee on September 10, for the duration of the crisis to aid the health commissioner and authorized to take measures for the relief of the sick and indigent, to direct as many physicians as necessary to attend the indigent sick, and to make the necessary arrangement with respect to the admission of the sick at Bellevue Hospital. On September 24th, the city watchman were doubled, because so many people had fled the city. Sextons were criticized for not digging graves deeper and porters for passing too close to the houses when carrying the dead through the street.

During the great epidemic, 2,086 people died of the yellow fever in New York City. From September 25 to December 23, donations of food, clothing and medicine poured in from the Hudson Valley, Jersey and Connecticut for the victims of yellow fever. More than five hundred families were supplied with food from these contributions.” (Heaton. “Yellow Fever in New York City.” BMLA, Apr 1946, 34/2, pp. 73-74.)

NYT: “Probably there was never more suffering in this city [NYC] than in the yellow fever of 1798. From 29th July to 29th November, 2,086 died, and at that time the city contained about 55,000 inhabitants.

“Its very first victim was an old merchant, named Melancton Smith, who was taken sick in his store in Front Street, near Coenties Slip. His death was followed by several of his neighbors being taken ill… Almost at the same time it broke out in Cliff street and Burling Slip, Ryder street, and Eden alley, at Golden Hill street (since John.)

“It raged greatly in Eden alley and Ryder street, where not a family escaped it: and it terminated fatally to one or more members except in two houses….

“At that time there was a prospect of a foreign war, and everybody was engaged in making preparation. Companies were being formed, batteries were being erected, subscriptions were being raised for the purpose of building vessels of war to protect our commerce, when the yellow fever broke out.

“At once all the war views were suspended. Speedy death was the only prospect. Parents were deprived of their children, husbands of their wives, wives made widows in a few hours, and from happy independence made beggars. Infants cried for dead parents. Whole families were cut off. Half of the houses were empty, and the frightened occupants fled to the country….” (Barrett 1863)

“The Summer of 1798 was known for many years afterward as ‘the dreadful yellow fever year.’ The plague was so virulent well-to-do not only made their exodus, but the neighboring farmers, the principal source of food supply, refused to come to town, and so famine threatened. There was, however, an energetic and brave relief committee, and it made the following appeal through the newspapers, which proved of much avail:

We entreat our fellow-citizens of the surrounding country not to withhold from the markets the usual supplies of poultry and small meats, as well as other articles so essentially necessary to both sick and well in this distressed season.

“Two thousand and eighty-six lives were taken by this visitation and at this time the population of the city was not more than 40,000. Business was almost entirely suspended; the schools and churches were closed. Washington Square, which had been purchased by the Corporation in 1796 as a pauper burial place, became also the hasty grave for many of the rich and the distinguished.

“After the epidemic had lessened, a great public meeting was held to inquire into the causes of the pestilence. It was generally agreed that the water supply of the town was insufficient, and for the most part impure. It consisted mainly of brackish wells – the one source of which every one boasted being the famous ‘tea pump,’ drawing on a deep and seemingly inexhaustible spring at the corner of Chatham and Roosevelt Streets. In accordance with the sense of this meeting, the Bronx River was surveyed, but the Corporation finally refused to vote the $1,000,000 required to utilize its stream.

“The home of the disease this year was along the East River front, it having started at Coenties Slip.” (New York Times, “Epidemics in New-York,” February 16, 1896)

Elsewhere: From October 7, 1888 New York Times article on the Yellow Fever: “In this country the most terrible visitation of the last century was in 1798, when the mortality from yellow fever in Philadelphia was 3,500, in New York 2,080, in Baltimore 200, in Wilmington, Del., 225, in Portsmouth, N.H., 100, in New London, Conn., 81, and in Chester, Penn., 50. In this year also, on the island of San Domingo, out of 25,000 troops the incredible number of 21,199 fell before the dread destroyer.”

Sources

Arnebeck, Bob. A Short History of Yellow Fever in the US. 1-30-2008 update. Accessed at: http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/history.html

Arnebeck, Bob. Destroying Angel: Benjamin Rush, Yellow Fever and the Birth of Modern Medicine. Web-published, 1999. At: http://www.geocities.com/bobarnebeck/table.html

Arnebeck, Bob. “Yellow Fever in New York City, 1791-1799.” A paper presented at the 26th Conference on New York State History, June 9-11,2005, Syracuse, NY. Accessed 10-9-2013 at: http://bobarnebeck.com/yfinnyc.html

Augustin, George. History of Yellow Fever. New Orleans: Published for the Author by Search & Pfaff Ltd., 1909; General Books reprint, Memphis, TN, 2010. 1909 copy digitized at: http://archive.org/stream/historyofyellowf00auguuoft#page/n4/mode/1up

Barrett, Walter. The Old Merchants of New York City. “Yellow Fever of 1798.” 1863. Accessed at: http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Newspaper/Disasters/YellowFever.html

Childs, Emery E. A History of the United States In Chronological Order From the Discovery of America in 1492 to the Year 1885. NY: Baker & Taylor, 1886. Google digitized. Accessed 9-4-2017: http://books.google.com/books?id=XLYbAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Harper’s Book of Facts. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Digitized by Google. Accessed at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ

Heaton, Claude Edwin, MD. “Yellow Fever in New York City.” Bulletin Medical Library Association, April 1946, Vol. 34, No. 2, pp. 67-78. Accessed 11-23-2010 at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC194570/

Keating, J. M. A History of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1878 in Memphis, Tenn. Memphis, TN: Howard Association, 1879. Google preview accessed 3-16-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=WEIJAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

New York Times. “Epidemics in New York.” 2-16-1896, p. 1. Accessed 4-1-2018 at: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9C01EEDF123EE333A25755C1A9649C94679ED7CF

Putnam, G. P. (Ed.). The World’s Progress: A Dictionary of Dates. NY: G. P. Putnam, 1851. Digitized by Google: http://books.google.com/books?id=qz9HAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

Simonds, W. E. (Editor). The American Date Book. Kama Publishing Co., 1902, 211 pages. Google digital preview accessed 9-8-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=JuiSjvd5owAC

United States Marine-Hospital Service, Treasury Department. Annual Report of the Supervising Surgeon-General of the Marine-Hospital Service of the United States for the Fiscal Year 1895 (Document No. 1811). Washington, DC: GPO, 1896. Google preview accessed 3-16-2018 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=aTnxAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false

Willsey, Joseph H. (Compiler), Charlton T. Lewis (Editor). Harper’s Book of Facts: A Classified History of the World. New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1895. Accessed 9-4-2017 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=UcwGAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false

–11 Fraser. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. 2006, pp. 33-34.
–11 The Gazette, Philadelphia. “Gazette Marine List. Port of Philadelphia.” 12-7-1797, p. 3.

Narrative Information

Fraser: “A month later [after the General Nichols went down on September 8] another storm came out of the West Indies, turned northwest, and tracked along the Florida and Georgia coasts. The storm enveloped Captain Christopher Lee and the schooner Flying Fish off Florida. Lee ordered close-reefed sails. Several days later in shipping lanes off Georgia, latitude 31⁰ north, longitude 69⁰ west, the schooner encountered a more severe storm. It upset the Flying Fist so quickly that seven of the seventeen crewmen and passengers drowned before they were able to get out of the schooner’s cabin. The survivors somehow climbed onto the upturned hull. At daylight some swam beneath the vessel to the submerged masthead, cut away the rigging and mainmast, and the schooner righted. But the sailing craft had shipped so much water that it was nearly awash in the sea. Spars were lashed across the forecastle in an attempt to steer the wreck. Within a week one of the passengers aboard, and shortly afterward a heavy sea washed off two oth4r passengers and a crewmember. Now only Captain Lee, the mate, three sailors and the cook remained aboard the slowly sinking hulk. After nearly two weeks adrift, Captain Carsten Meyers of the Deraurhafft, out of Hamburg, Germany, sighted the wreckage of the Flying Fish. As mariners are obliged to do, Captain Meyers came about to see if anyone was alive. He found six men clinging to life and what was left of the Flying Fish. Meyers rescued them and Savannahians soon knew of this disaster. Again Savannah was lucky. The hurricane remained just off the Georgia coast.

Sandrik and Landsea:
“Year: 1797
“Date (s): 15-16 October
“Principle Affected Area(s): Northeast Florida – hurricane
Northeast Florida coastal waters – hurricane
Upper Georgia coastal waters – hurricane
Lower Georgia coastal waters – hurricane
“Landfall Point(s): Unknown, likely an offshore event.
“Remarks: Marx (1944) states, ‘A number of American vessels were cast
away on the east coast of Florida during a hurricane on October 15
or 16. Some were also lost in the Bahamas.’ According to a letter
from the East Florida Papers, Bundle 165, dated 17 October 1797,
a frigate bound for Hamburg was grounded north of the St.
Augustine Bar.

Summary: This storm will be counted as a hurricane for northeast Florida, Upper Georgia and Lower Georgia waters.”

Newspaper

Dec 8, Philadelphia Gazette: “The sch. Flying Fish, Lee, from hence to Germany, left the Capes Oct. 20th, under convoy of the Hind of 20 guns. Three days after, in a gale of wind, lost the convoy – 18th at 2 A.M. Lat. 31, long. 69, was upset in a squall: out of 17 persons onboard, 7 were drowned in the Cabin, the remainder got on the bottom. Next morning the vessel righted, but the hatches under water – 31st one of the passengers died on the wreck – 7th Nov. one sailor and two passengers were washed off – 9th Nov. The brig Derdaurhaufft, Meyers, from Hamburgh [sic] for Charleston, fell in with the wreck, and took off the captain, mate, and 3 hands and the cook the only persons saved.” (Gazette of the United States and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser. “Gazette Marine List. Port of Philadelphia.” 12-7-1797, p. 3.)

Source

Fraser, Walter J. Jr. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2006. Google preview accessed 8-16-2017: https://books.google.com/books?id=4iDbukwvWL0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Lowcountry+Hurricanes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj60M2Tgd3VAhXH54MKHfaeC_QQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Lowcountry%20Hurricanes&f=false

Gazette of the United States and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser (The Gazette) “Gazette Marine List. Port of Philadelphia.” 12-7-1797, p. 3. Accessed 12-9-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/philadelphia-gazette-of-united-states-and-philadelphia-daily-advertiser-dec-08-1797-p-3/

Sandrik, Al (National Weather Service) and Christopher W. Landsea (NOAA Hurricane Research Division). Chronological Listing of Tropical Cyclones affecting North Florida and Coastal Georgia 1565-1899. Jacksonville and Miami, FL: NOAA, May 2003 update. Accessed 12-9-2022 at: https://www.weather.gov/media/jax/pdf/Tropical_Cyclones_affecting_North_Florida_and_Coastal_Georgia_1565-1899.pdf

–134 Fraser. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. 2006, p.33.
–122 slaves “men, women, and children…chained…below decks…” went down with ship.
— 12 Yawl with Cpt. Morrison, six whites, and five blacks never seen again.
–132 Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, GA. “Savannah, Sept. 15.” 9-15-1797, p.3.
–122 slave “cargo” going down with the ship.
— 10 Yawl with Cpt. Morrison, Mr. Morris, five whites and three blacks.

Narrative Information

Fraser: “The summer of 1797 was a busy one for topical storms. One in particular was of interest to Savannah merchants trading in slaves. On September 8 the armed New Providence ship General Nichols, bound for the port of Savannah with a cargo of more than 150 slaves, encountered a ‘heavy gale’ off the upper Florida and lower Georgia coasts. Because of the violence and suddenness of the storm, Captain Michael Morrison was unable to save the ship. The General Nichols ‘foundered’ almost immediately.

“The crew barely had time to launch ‘the long boat and yawl’ but not time enough to save the slaves. The ship ‘went down with 122’ men, women, and children, who remained chained together below decks. Five whites and thirty-five ‘negroes’ jumped into the longboat. Captain Morrison, six whites, and five blacks scrambled aboard the yawl. In the turbulent sea, the yawl ‘parted company…immediately with the long boat.’ Those aboard the longboat survived in the storm-swept ocean for twenty-four hours without food or drink before picked up by the schooner Exuma, which sailed into the Savannah River with the survivors on September 12. Apparently the occupants of the yawl never reached land. ”

Johnson: “….Furthermore, in September 1797 the British armed ship General Nichols of Granada with twenty-four gun mounting evidently developed mechanical problems…” (p. 165, Google Snippet view.) [We do not know if this is a coincidence or a reference to the storm-sunk ship.]

Newspaper

Sep 15, Columbian Museum: “Savannah, Sept. 15.

“On the 12th inst. [current month] arrived at Cockspur, the Schooner Exuma, Capt. Daniel Callaghan, from New Providence. The 9th inst. in lat. 29, 39, long. 79, 42, picked up the long boat of the armed Ship General Nichols, Capt. Michael Morrison, belonging to Grenada. The General Nichols, left New-Providence on the 2d inst. with Negroes, supposed for this port, and in a heavy gale of wind, on the 8th, foundered. The long boat and yawl, had hardly time to get from her, when she went down with 122 of the cargo. In the long boat were saved 5 whites and 35 negroes, and when they got along side the Exuma, had nothing to eat or drink. The yawl (having sails), with the Captain, Mr. Peter Morris, supercargo, five other whites and three negroes, parted company with the other boat, immediately after leaving the ship, and has not yet been heard of. It is hoped from the favorable weather a few days past, that they may have made some port to the southward.” (Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, Savannah, GA. “Savannah, Sept. 15.” 9-15-1797, p. 3.)

Source

Columbian Museum and Savannah Advertiser, Savannah, GA. “Savannah, Sept. 15.” 9-15-1797, p. 3. Accessed 12-8-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/savannah-columbian-museum-and-savannah-advertiser-sep-15-1797-p-3/

Fraser, Walter J. Jr. Lowcountry Hurricanes: Three Centuries of Storms at Sea and Ashore. Athens and London: University of Georgia Press, 2006. Google preview accessed 8-16-2017: https://books.google.com/books?id=4iDbukwvWL0C&printsec=frontcover&dq=Lowcountry+Hurricanes&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj60M2Tgd3VAhXH54MKHfaeC_QQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=Lowcountry%20Hurricanes&f=false

Johnson, Whittington Bernard. Negro Laboring Classes in Early America, 1750-1820. University of Georgia press, 1970. Accessed 12-8-2022 at: https://www.google.com/search?q=ship+%22general+nichols%22+1797&client=firefox-b-1-d&source=lnms&tbm=bks&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiajJjotuv7AhW0NlkFHWLfDaA4ChD8BSgBegQIARAL&biw=1123&bih=772&dpr=0.98

–~163  Blanchard tally based on State and locality breakouts below.

 

Massachusetts            (~139) 

–~100  Nantucket Island (2000 cases). Webster. A Brief History of Epidemic… 1799, p. 327.

—      8  Sutton. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849. p. 430-31.

–1  Elenor Hicks, age 4, Oct 15. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  John Hicks, age 6, Oct 21. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  Mary Hicks, age 21, Oct 31. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  Polly Hicks, Sep. (buried in same grave as sister Sally, also dysentery death), p. 430.

–1  Sally Hicks, Sep. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  Sarah Hicks, age 25, Nov 1. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 430.

–1  Child of Samuel Hicks, age 2. Sep. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 431.

–1  Child of Samuel Hicks, age 4. Sep. Vital Records of Sutton Massachusetts, p. 431.

—    30  Westport (of 79 cases). Webster. A Brief History of Epidemic…Diseases. 1799, p. 327.

—      1  Weymouth. Oct 18. Daughter of Laban Pratt. Vital Records of Weymouth, MA, II. p. 323.

 

New Hampshire         (   24)

–24  Hanover. Dollar/Witters. “That Bourne From Whence…” Dartmouth Med., Fall 2014, 36-41.

 

Narrative Information

 

Caulfield: “During 1797 Hanover, New Hampshire, had its first attack, and many Rhode Island towns were stricken.”[1]

 

Dollar: “At the turn of the 19^th century, Hanover, like much of the world, was vulnerable to devastating outbreaks of dysentery. Nathan Smith, the founder of the medical school, and others at Dartmouth were among those who tried to understand.” [p. 36]

 

“In the fall of 1796, not long after proposing the creation of a medical school at Dartmouth, Nathan Smith left the small town of Hanover, N.H., and set sail for the British Isles. In Edinburgh, a center of medical education at the time, Smith intended to increase his medical knowledge… Smith happened to be absent from Hanover in the summer of 1797, when an outbreak of dysentery swept through the town. ‘The dysentery prevailed in this parish & was fatal to 24 persons in 12 weeks,’ noted William Dewey in his records of deaths in Hanover that summer. ‘Twice within 3 weeks we carried into our Meetinghouse & from there to the Graveyard three deceased individuals at the same time…’ [p. 37]

 

“In the 18th- and 19th-century U.S., dysentery was common among civilian populations… including the outbreak in Hanover in the summer of 1797. Some of the leading families in Hanover were affected by the epidemic, with the greatest impact falling on their young children, many of whom are buried in the Dartmouth College cemetery. The infant son of Jedediah Baldwin, one of New England’s most prominent clockmakers and silversmiths, died on the same

day as a 21-year-old Dartmouth College student named John Merrill. These are two of the three alluded to in William Dewey’s account of multiple burials. The infant son of Benjamin Gilbert, a local attorney, died on September 1. Josiah Green, whose Main Street dry goods and grocery stores was patronized by many, including Nathan Smith, lost two children: Ira, age 11, and Josiah Jr., age 2. Abel Holden, a friend and fellow Masonic Lodge member of Eleazar Wheelock, lost two children on August 28. Eighteen-month-old Samuel Curtis, the son of town selectman Colonel David Curtis, died on September 11.

 

“No Hanover family was more affected than that of Isaac and Amelia Leavitt Bissell. Isaac was the son of Israel Bissell, a patriot post rider who, according to legend, may have ridden from Watertown, Mass., to Connecticut on April 19, 1775—the day of Paul Revere’s famous ride—to

bring news of the British attack. The Bissells had 13 children between 1777 and 1796. Four of them died within two weeks of each other in the 1797 epidemic, and all were buried in the Dartmouth cemetery…. [p. 38]

 

“We have been able to partially reconstruct a map of Hanover in 1797 and have found that the Bissell, Gilbert, and Baldwin families all lived within one block of each other on the current Main and Lebanon Streets. Jedidiah Baldwin’s silversmith store was next to the Gilbert residence. All of these were located close to the only water well in Hanover at the time, which was on the site of the present Reed Hall. Josiah Green’s grocery and dry goods store was also located on Main Street, though we could not determine its exact location. It seems reasonable to speculate that a common source of contamination of this well or perhaps of shared sanitary facilities might have been the source of this 1797 epidemic….” [pp. 38-39] (Dollar and Witters. “That Bourne From Whence No Traveller Returns.” Dartmouth Medicine, Fall 2014, pp. 36-41.)

 

Webster: “In this year [1797] also prevailed at Westport in the same state,[2] and on Nantucket island, a very malignant epidemic dysentery. At Westport died 30 patients of 79 who were seized. On Nantucket the disease was less mortal; about 100 died out of 2000 patients. On examination, it was found that under the house of the family first seized, there were some barrels of putrid filth, and other nauseous matter….” (Webster, Noah. A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases… 1799, p. 317.)

 

Sources

 

Caulfield, Ernest. “Some Common Diseases of Colonial Children.” Transactions of the Colonial Society of Massachusetts, Vol. 35, April 1942, pp. 4-65. Accessed 1-17-2018 at: https://www.colonialsociety.org/node/865

 

Dollar, Emily, and Lee A. Witters, MD. “That Bourne From Whence No Traveller Returns.” Dartmouth Medicine, Fall 2014, pp. 36-41. Accessed 2-9-2018 at: http://dartmed.dartmouth.edu/fall14/pdf/dysentery.pdf

 

Vital Records of Sutton, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849. Worcester, MA: Franklin P. Rice, 1907. Google preview accessed 2-9-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=nX50wTdXBaEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Vital Records of Weymouth Massachusetts to the Year 1850, Vol. II — Marriages and Deaths. Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Google preview accessed 2-9-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=0M-IErK57a4C&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

Webster, Noah. A Brief History of Epidemic and Pestilential Diseases; with the Principal Phenomena of the Physical World which Precede and Accompany Them, and Observations Deduced From the Facts Stated (Vol. 1 of 2). Hartford, CT: Hudson & Goodwin, 1799. Google preview accessed 2-9-2018 at: https://books.google.com/books?id=uen8dansteEC&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

[1] In footnote 202, cites: Medical Repository, I, 241 Webster, Pestilential Diseases, I, 327.

[2] Had last mentioned Rhode Island, but Westport is, today at least, down the coast in Massachusetts.