The Great Hurricane: The story of how 22,000 souls were lost in a single tempest

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) maintains the official database of all known tropical storms and hurricanes occurring in the Atlantic basin since 1851. Known as HURDAT, this database provides an extensive temporal and spatial record of historical tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic basin, yet fails to encompass some of the deadliest tropical cyclones in history. A prime example is the year 1780 which had an estimated eight tropical cyclones, including the infamous “Great Hurricane”. As one of three deadly October hurricanes occurring that year, the 1780 Great Hurricane is regarded as the deadliest known Atlantic hurricane, killing an estimated 22,000 people across the eastern Caribbean and influencing maritime control between colonial powers during the height of the American Revolution. However, HURDAT lists Hurricane Mitch (1998), impacting primarily Central America, as the highest official record loss of life at approximately 11,000. Consequently, conclusions based on HURDAT analysis are limited by the temporal resolution of the database and other archival data may need to be employed.

This presentation will focus on the 1780 Great Hurricane within the context of both the historical tropical cyclone record as well as the social and political atmosphere of the region in 1780. While modern quantitative observations (e.g., wind speed, central pressure) used to estimate hurricane strength are unavailable, contemporary qualitative descriptions (e.g., wind intensity, structural damage) indicate that the 1780 Great Hurricane was a major hurricane, probably of Category 4 or 5 intensity on the Saffir-Simpson scale. The talk will begin with a brief overview of the 1780 Atlantic Hurricane season and the other deadly hurricanes of the season including a hurricane that destroyed Savannah-la-Mar, Jamaica and another that dispersed the Spanish fleet heading to attack Pensacola, Florida. We will then follow the Great Hurricane from its origins to its first strike on the sugar island of Barbados followed by its impacts on the remainder of the Antilles before brushing Bermuda and heading into the North Atlantic and finally meeting its demise. The talk will conclude with a brief explanation on why the cyclone was so deadly and why it is unlikely that the death toll from a single North Atlantic hurricane will ever surpass that of the Great Hurricane.