History

Remembering History: Napoleon Invades Russia (24 June 1812)

The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries, 1812
Jacques-Louis David (1748–1825)
Public Domain/Wikimedia Commons

French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Russia on 24 June 1812 in retaliation for Czar Alexander I not accepting Bonaparte’s Continental System. Napoleon assembled the largest fighting force up to that time called the Grande Armee. With over 500,000 soldiers and staff, it marched into Russia seeking a quick victory. It was not to be. The Russian Army under General Mikhail Kutuzov was in retreat refusing a full-scale engagement against the powerful French. As Russia troops retreated, they burned everything leaving nothing for the French to find.

 

IV corps of the Grande Armeé in the invasion of Russia (1812)
Albrecht Adam (1786 – 1862)
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

By September, Napoleon had engaged the Russians at Battle of Borodino. The battle was indecisive but resulted in large losses on both sides. On 14 September he arrived in Moscow to find it empty as the people had evacuated. The Russian Army too had left leaving the city to Napoleon. With winter approaching, Napoleon decided to rest and use it for his winter quarters. Russian partisans though set fires in the city the next day resulting in the quarters he had selected destroyed. He waited for a month hoping for a surrender which never came. Now with winter closing in, Napoleon decided to leave. The retreat though was more difficult than they could have imagined.

Fire of Moscow (1812)
Viktor Mazurovsky (1859–1944)
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

An early winter set in making it harder on his troops and food was rationed. The Russians, it seems, had not fully retreated, and began attacking the troops in the rear. Cossacks with very sharp lances attacked ruthlessly. They made it to the Berezina River in November but found Russians waiting for them. Using makeshift bridges, Napoleon and his troops started crossing but the Russians attacked. Napoleon burned the bridges stranding over 10,000 on the other side to be captured or killed by the Russians. Napoleon, in a hurry to return to Paris, would eventually leave his troops behind. The remaining force would eventually return home but fewer than a 100,000 made it back home. The loss of over 400,000 was staggering and called into question his leadership of the French Empire.

Napoleon’s withdrawal from Russia by Adolph Northen (1828-1876)
Public Domain (via Wikimedia Commons)

 

Aftermath

The disastrous invasion of Russia has long been studied by historians and military strategists. His basic idea of invading was sound, but he underestimated how long it would take and the will of the Russians to make him pay dearly for every inch he gained. Napoleon thought it would be a quick victory, but it turned into a long painful retreat with an early winter, few food supplies, and his army being attacked by Russians. If you read accounts of those who survived, it is truly horrific the conditions they had to retreat under. Dead animals used for fuel; bodies stacked in windows for insulation. If you recall Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back scene where Han Solo rips open his now dead ride so they can crawl inside it for warmth, this happened for real here.

His defeat in Russia strengthened his enemies. Austria, Britain, Prussia, and Sweden would now ally with Russia against Napoleon. British forces under Wellington were slowly but steadily pushing the French out of Spain. While Napoleon would have some victories, two defeats hurt his reign enormously. The Battle of Vittoria in Spain on 21 June 1813 would end French domination of Spain. His brother Joseph that he had put on the throne, was forced to flee for his life. Sadly, the royal crown worn by Spanish kings was lost in the melee of the retreat and never to be found again. And in October 1813, he suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Leipzig. Paris would fall the following March forcing him into exile. He would briefly return in 1815 but be defeated again in the Battle of Waterloo

Invading Russia has not proven successful for any conquering general. You might get initial successes, as Hitler did, but it seems to always turn around against the invader. Hitler, like Napoleon, thought the campaign would be quick. Instead after their initial victories, Operation Barbarossa ran into real problems. General Franz Halder realized he had sorely underestimated how many divisions the Russians could field. And because of the long distances involved, it became very hard for Germans to hold their lines. Moscow was in at sight at one point, but they never got there due to the long expanse of territory, supply issues, and underestimating the strength of Russia. Like Napoleon, the German forces were stalled. Halder believed without a powerful lightning strike, there was little chance for success. Owing to policy and strategy differences with Hitler, he was dismissed. The damage was done and the losses substantial. The Russians would push eventually the Germans out of their country and follow them all the way back to Berlin.

Sources:

Sullivan, M. (2024b, June 20). Napoleon’s Grande Armée invades Russia. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/napoleons-grande-armee-invades-russia

Greenspan, J., & Greenspan, J. (2023, August 11). Why Napoleon’s invasion of Russia was the beginning of the end. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/napoleons-disastrous-invasion-of-russia

Knighton, A. (2017, July 15). 6 reasons why Napoleon invaded Russia. Warhistoryonline. https://www.warhistoryonline.com/napoleon/6-reasons-napoleon-invaded-russia.html

Suggested Reading

Allen, W. S. (1984). The Nazi seizure of power: The Experience of a Single German Town, 1922-1945. Franklin Watts.

De Segur, P. (2008). Defeat: Napoleon’s Russian Campaign. New York Review of Books.

Foord, E. (2022). Napoleon’s Russian campaign of 1812. Independently published.

Engelmann, B. (1986). In Hitler’s Germany: Daily Life in the Third Reich. Pantheon.

Gilbert, Martin. The Second World War: A Complete History. Macmillan, 2004.

Lieven, D. (2011). Russia against Napoleon: The True Story of the Campaigns of War and Peace. National Geographic Books.

Titanic News Channel is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Titanic

Titan Update: Investigation Ongoing Says Coast Guard

Titan (submersible)
Becky Kagan Schott, OceanGate

It has been over a year since the Titan submersible tragically sank in the North Atlantic. However, the expected report on the particulars as to how it happened is not completed according to the Associated Press. Jason Neubauer, who is the chair of the Coast Guard Marine Board of Investigation into the disaster, states the report is taking longer than expected. He notes that it is complex and ongoing. This is not as unusual as it sounds. Often investigations can take longer because of the many factors that have to be weighed and examined to determine what exactly went wrong. This happens often in airline disasters when the cause is complicated, and more than one factor is involved. “We are working closely with our domestic and international partners to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the incident,” said Neubauer.

Parallel to this story is how dives to the Titanic are being done or planned. RMS Titanic, Inc will have an upcoming dive to Titanic. No actual salvage is being planned (there was some opposition from the U.S. government on that) so it will be to collect more data on the wreck and everything around it. There have been reports of others wanting to jump back into commercial dives to Titanic. OceanGate at this time is not planning any return to Titanic for the foreseeable future. The AP reports that the company declined any comment when asked about it. A former advisor to the company, David Concannon, claims that its former president (Stockton Rush) has been vilified along with those associated with the expedition. He made an interesting statement though that many who were on the support ship Polar Prince have yet to be interviewed by the Coast Guard. That seems odd considering it is usually the case you want to get as many witness statements as you can about how things were going on.

One of the things that came out of the tragedy according to a separate AP story on this, was that none those tasked with responding to this emergency had the equipment needed to dive down to Titanic. Richard Garriott, who is president of the Explorer’s Club, knew all the people involved and was deeply saddened by the loss.

Garriott believes even if the Titan hadn’t imploded, the correct rescue equipment didn’t get to the site fast enough. The tragedy caught everyone from the Coast Guard to the ships on site off guard, underscoring the importance of developing detailed search and rescue plans ahead of any expedition, he said. His organization has since created a task force to help others do just that.

Katy Croff Bell, a veteran deep-sea explorer notes that the tragedy brings home the importance of following industry standards and rigorous testing. So, while the tragedy looms large over anyone thinking about such Herculean dives, the technology to do it safely is there. And as reports have indicated, there are those out there who plan to resume commercial dives to Titanic. Bell heads up a group focused on making such investigations less expensive and accessible. It will be a while before those operations are up and running, so time will tell how many will invest hard money to do this kind of operation.

Sources

Osborne, M. (2024, June 14). Titan submersible implosion: Investigation into accident taking longer than planned, Coast Guard says. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/US/titan-submersible-implosion-investigation-accident-taking-longer-planned/story?id=111132353

Whittle, P., & Ramer, H. (2024, June 17). A year after Titan submersible implosion, deep-sea explorers vow to pursue ocean’s mysteries | AP News. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/titan-implosion-submersible-titanic-05903e98b0155b9d69249b86d3df6c89

Suggested Reading

Behe, George. Fate Deals a Hand: The Slippery Fortunes of Titanic’s Professional Gamblers. History Press, 2023.

Fitch, Tad, et al. On a Sea of Glass: The Life and Loss of the RMS Titanic. 2015.

Lynch, Donald. Titanic: An Illustrated History. Hyperion, 1995.

Titanic News Channel  is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

History

Remembering History: France Surrenders to Germany (21 June 1940)

Hitler (hand on side) and German high-ranked nazis and officers staring at WWI French marshall Maréchal Foch’s memorial statue before entering the railway carriage in order to start the negotiations for the 1940 armistice at Rethondes in the Compiègne forest, France. The armistice will only be signed the next day (June 22), Hitler being absent, by General Keitel on the German side and by General Huntziger on the French side. Screenshot taken from the 1943 United States Army propaganda film Divide and Conquer (Why We Fight #3) directed by Frank Capra and partially based on news archives, animations, restaged scenes and captured propaganda material from both sides.
Public Domain

On 21 June 1940 near Compiegne and in the same railway car Germany surrendered in 1918, France officially surrendered to Nazi Germany. For Adolf Hitler and his fellow Nazi leaders, this erased the shame of 1918 and the imposition of the Versailles Treaty. Hitler sat in the same chair that Marshal Ferdinand Foch had sat in 1918 to accept the German surrender in World War I.

France at the outset of the war was considered to have the best professional army in continental Europe. Aside from trained soldiers, they had tanks and heavy artillery. And, of course, the famous Maginot Line. This was a series of fortifications near the German border meant to deter an invasion force. The hills and woods of the Ardennes were considered impenetrable in the north but there was a caveat as General Philippe Petain noted. You had to destroy the invasion force before it exited that area. France and Germany had officially been at war since 3 Sep 1939 when France, allied with England, offered support to the Polish government.

French forces briefly entered the Saar on 7 September but withdrew after meeting a very thin line of German defense on the undermanned Siegfried line. With most of its forces concentrated in Poland at the time, Germany did not have the capacity to stand up to France’s 98 divisions and tanks that were being c0mmitted. However French hesitation and wanting to avoid total war had them withdraw forces starting on 17 September and done a month later. It began a time called the Phony War where both Germany and France were armed and ready, but nothing was happening. Hitler had hoped he could make peace with England and France but that was not to be.

On 10 May 1940, Germany attacked France. German armored units made a push through the Ardennes, and then through the Somme valley to surround the allied units in Belgium. British, Belgian and French forces were pushed to the sea. British forces were evacuated at Dunkirk, which is an exciting tale of its own. During the six-week campaign Germany conquered France, Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands. German troops marched unopposed into Paris on 14 June. By 18 June with the collapse of both the French government (which had fled) and the military, negotiations began between French and German military officers.

German Troops in Paris, 14 June 1940
Photo: Heinz Fremde (1907-1987)
German Federal Archives:Bundesarchiv, Bild 101I-126-0350-26A / Fremke, Heinz / CC-BY-SA 3.0

At the meeting on 21 June, Hitler read the preamble and like Marshal Foch left to leave Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, commander-in-chief of the Wehrmacht to handle the details. There were several objectives that the Germans wanted and got. They wanted French North Africa and the French Navy out of the war. Also, they wanted to deny the British use of French territories since they could not possibly defend them. Occupied France was 3/5ths of the country which included the key ports on the French Channel and Atlantic and to the Spanish border. The Free Zone was administered by a newly formed French government in Vichy with Marshal Petain as its president.

Vichy France, as it became known, was authoritarian and reversed the policies of previous administrations. The media became tightly controlled, anti-Semitism was propagated, and labor unions put under strict controls. Vichy France kept French territories and the navy under French rather than German control. With the German army elsewhere, unoccupied France was generally free from military control. However due to its neutrality forbidden to assist nations at war with Germany. Despite it being unoccupied, Vichy had to conform to German policies including identifying foreign nationals, deporting stateless persons, and of course assisting Germans in locating and ultimately deporting French Jews to murdered in the death camps.

Map of Vichy France
Rostislav Botev

The treaty was formally concluded on 22 June 1940 and went into effect on 25 June 1940. A separate treaty between France and Italy was signed as well. Italy initially only wanted a small portion of France (about 832 square miles with the largest town being Menton). In November 1942, after Germany seized a large portion of Vichy, Italy got control over Toulon and the eastern part of Provence up to the Rhone river. Corsica and Nice were also to become Italian occupied but that did not occur. During the period of Italian occupation, Jews were relatively safe as Italian authorities declined German requests to turn over Jews to them. Once Italy deposed Mussolini and later signed an armistice with the Allies in 1943, Germans quickly moved in and rounded up all Jews they could locate. Over 3,000 would be deported.

Aftermath

Three days after the signing of the treaty, the armistice site was destroyed on Hitler’s orders. The railway car was sent to Germany as a trophy of war. A monument depicting the French victory over the Germans was destroyed. The only thing left standing was the large statue of Marshal Foch. Hitler ordered it left there to stare out over a wasteland. The railway carriage would later be destroyed by the SS in 1945. An exact copy of the original railway car was made. French manufacturer Wagons-Lits donated a car from the same series to the Armistice Museum (in Compiegne) in 1950. Identical and was part of Foch’s private train during the 1918 signing. Remains of the original car were dug up using German POW’s. The railway car is parked beside the display of those remains.

The fall of France to Germany in 1940 demonstrated that the leaders in many European capitols had misjudged Hitler. Hitler understood early on neither the British or French would go to war over Czechoslovakia nor Austria as they wanted to avoid a general war. In this way, he understood them better than they did knowing that while many would oppose what he would do, in the end they would cave in and agree to terms. In both Britain and France, the desire to avoid total war at any cost was quite strong. The policy of appeasement flowed from this. That is why both the British and French, despite having signed peace treaties with Czechoslovakia, would betray and then force them to give into German demands. And why France, when it had the upper hand to go into Germany to stop it when it was invading Poland, made a quick march in and then left Germany. With most of the German army to the east, they could have really put Hitler into a bind.

Hitler, for his part, did misjudge their reactions to invading Poland. He assumed they would denounce it but do nothing more. Things had changed in Britain with Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement now judged a failure resulting in Churchill being brought into the government. Churchill had warned for years about Hitler. France had been a supporter of appeasement as well but wanted more British support before fully committing to war. There was also an arrogance which assumed that the British and French were better militarily than the Germans. To some degree, that is true since Germany was defeated in World War I and prior to that had been checked by the European powers. Both Britain and France, which had excellent intelligence gathering abilities, were not streamlined so a lot of important information about Germany’s intentions didn’t get up to the top right away. And France thought Germany would be deterred by the Maginot Line, which turned out not to be the case. They would use the Belgium invasion as a decoy to swing into France.

Some argue that Germany was simply lucky, but I disagree. Hitler played both the British and French knowing they would give in to avoid total war. He knew that the political left in France would never allow them to strike Germany without Britain committing to it as well. Britain was also unprepared for war having not enough planes, ships, or infantry to take them on directly. They were trying to get second-hand equipment from the United States, which so far was staying out of the conflict. And Hitler knew the British would try operations to keep Germany from controlling sea access and control resources (which was true by the way). And by the end of 1940, Hitler had achieved what the Kaiser failed to do in World War. He had conquered nearly all of Europe: Belgium, France, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway and swallowed up the small principalities in-between. Only Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Sweden were untouched but neutral. And fascist Italy was on their side as well, unlike the last war. He also had made peace with Stalin, so he did not have to worry about the Soviet Union.

The lesson, aside from the military ones, is that when a leader of another nation says that without reservation he will invade and take your country, you should take it seriously. And prepare for it. Because if you don’t, you might very well live just long enough to see his troops marching down your capitol’s streets as they celebrate their victory.

Sources

Byron, H. (2024, January 20). The French Riviera under Italian Rule during WW2 — HANNAH BYRON. HANNAH BYRON. https://www.hannahbyron.com/blog/the-french-riviera-under-italian-rule-during-ww2

Hart, B. L. (2024, June 17). Battle of France | History, summary, maps, & Combatants. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/Battle-of-France-World-War-II/The-fall-of-France-June-5-25-1940

Hughes, T. A., & Royde-Smith, J. G. (2024, June 17). World War II | Facts, summary, history, dates, combatants, & Causes. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/event/World-War-II/Italys-entry-into-the-war-and-the-French-Armistice

Sullivan, M. (2024, June 13). France signals intention to surrender to the Nazis. HISTORY. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/france-to-surrender

Videos

Smithsonian Channel. (2017, June 15). The moment France surrendered to German soldiers [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLrZi5udyIc

British Pathé. (2014, April 13). French Surrender to Hitler (1940) [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADUcjRc5p3k

Suggested Reading

Bloch, M. (1999). Strange defeat: A Statement Of Evidence Written In 1940. W. W. Norton & Company.

Churchill, W. (1948). Their finest hour. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.

Keegan, J. (2005). The Second World War. Penguin Books.

Lord, W. (2017). The Miracle of Dunkirk: The True Story of Operation Dynamo. Open Road Media.

Shirer, W. L. (2022). The collapse of the Third Republic: An Inquiry Into the Fall of France in 1940. Rosetta Books

Historical Movies or Television

Wouk, H. (2018, December). Winds of War [Special Collector’s Edition]. Paramount. This excellent six-part miniseries is based on the Herman Wouk novel of the same name. And he wrote the script for this, so it hues close to the book (but does compress or eliminate some characters or situations). Through the Henry family, we get to see the scope of the looming war approaching and their involvement in it. The acting is superb, though the actress Ali MacGraw is miscast as Natalie Jastrow. Aside from that, this is a riveting depiction of the events leading up to World War II. It is one of the best miniseries ever made, and it shows with the high production quality and attention to detail.

Titanic News Channel  is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

History, Seasons

Welcome to Summer/Summer Solstice

With the Summer Solstice today, summer officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere. Below the equator, the seasons are reversed, and it is the Winter Solstice. The June Solstice takes place between June 20-22. To determine the exact time of the Summer Solstice in your area, go to timeanddate.com.

This illustration shows how daylight falls on Earth at the seasonal points.
Image: NASA

Summer is the warmest of all the seasons with daylight hours the longest. The Summer Solstice has the longest day of sunlight. Prior to the solstice, daybreak gets earlier, and sunsets much later. While it gets warm and dry in North America (except for thunderstorms and hurricanes) and Europe, other areas particularly in Asia see tremendous amounts of rain called monsoons. Summer is usually time off for students in schools and universities. Also, many take time off from work to celebrate vacation with their family and friends. A lot of sporting events and outdoor concerts take place during this time as well. In areas of the far north, the sun never truly sets during this period (and in wintertime the sun never really rises either).

Summer field in Belgium (Hamois). The blue flower is cornflower and the red one a corn poppy.
Image credit: Luc Viatour (via Wikimedia Commons)

The Summer Solstice (or the local beginning of summer depending on custom and tradition) is celebrated in different ways. Some light bonfires, houses are decorated with festive banners, and special foods are eaten. Some go to Stonehenge and watch the sunrise of the first rays of summer. In Sweden, it is tradition to have the first strawberries of the season and the first full moon after the solstice is called the Strawberry moon. In some places, Midsummer’s Day is celebrated on 24 June preceded by Midsummer’s Eve. Since summer means then end of long and dark winters in some places of Europe, lighting torches and bonfires became a way to note it, sometimes in town squares or mountainsides.

Sources

Summer Solstice 2024: When is the first day of summer? (2024, June 17). Almanac.com. https://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-summer-summer-solstice

June Solstice: the Longest (and Shortest) Day. (n.d.). https://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/june-solstice.html

Wikipedia contributors. (2024, June 3). Summer. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Summer

History, Holidays

Today is Juneteenth (US)

Juneteenth Emancipation Day Celebration, June 19, 1900, Texas.
Original source: The Portal to Texas History Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in Confederate states. Most African Americans would not learn of this act until after the areas they lived in were liberated by Union troops. On 19 June 1865, Union troops entered Galveston, Texas (Texas was a Confederate state during the war) and learned that they were freed. Celebrations began with prayers, feasts, and dance. The following year it would take place throughout Texas on the same date becoming an annual tradition  and holiday in 1980. The celebration would spread to other states and sometimes recognized as a state holiday as well. As a result of its importance to African Americans and to the United States as well, the U.S. Congress made it a national holiday in 2021 with President Biden signing the resolution of Congress, It formally began as a holiday on Monday, 20 June 2022. Per federal law, since June 19th fell on a Sunday this year, it was celebrated the following Monday as a national holiday. The formal name of the holiday is Juneteenth National Independence Day.

Lyrics to Battle Cry of Freedom

Yes, we’ll rally round the flag, boys, we’ll rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom,
We will rally from the hillside, we’ll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

We are springing to the call with a million freemen more,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we’ll fill our vacant ranks of our brothers gone before,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

We will welcome to our numbers the loyal, true, and brave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And although he may be poor, he shall never be a slave,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

So we’re springing to the call from the East and from the West,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!
And we’ll hurl the rebel crew from the land we love best,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

The Union forever! Hurrah, boys, hurrah!
Down with the traitor, up with the star;
While we rally round the flag, boys, rally once again,
Shouting the battle cry of freedom!

Composed and lyrics by George Frederick Root in 1862.

Sources

Nix, E., & Nix, E. (2024, June 11). What is Juneteenth? HISTORY. https://www.history.com/news/what-is-juneteenth

Juneteenth. (2024, June 14). National Archives. https://www.archives.gov/news/topics/juneteenth

Historic Ships, History

Remembering the Tragic Sinking of the General Slocum (15 June 1904)

On 15 June 1904 the General Slocum was taking members of St. Mark’s Evangelical Church to its annual picnic. Sadly, most would perish when the ship caught fire making it the worst maritime disaster in New York City and for a time the United States until Titanic sank in 1912.

General Slocum, date and author unknown.
Image:Public Domain (National Archives)

The PS General Slocum was built in Brooklyn, New York in 1891. She was designed as a sidewheel passenger steamboat to ferry passengers to locations on the East River. Named for the famous Civil War general (and New York Congressman), Henry Warner Slocum, the ship conveyed the image of reliability. With three decks-main, promenade and hurricane-and with the capacity to hold up to 2,500 passengers, the ship was very popular especially with groups that were holding major events and needed a ship to convey them.

The Slocum was owned by the Knickerbocker Steamship Company and had been captained for many years by William H. Van Schaick with a total crew of 22 aboard. It had several mishaps before the 1904 disaster. After launching in 1891, she ran aground in Rockaway and tugboats had to pull her free. 1894 saw a number of accidents from running into a sandbar, running aground, and colliding with a tugboat that had caused serious damage. In 1902, the ship ran aground and was stuck there overnight forcing the passengers to camp out on the ship for the night.

By 1904, the Slocum had been superseded by other more modern ships but was still popular for excursion travel around New York City. St. Mark’s Evangelical Church in Little Germany district (Kleindeutschland) of New York had used the Slocum for its annual picnic for the past 17 years. The annual picnic was to celebrate the end of the Sunday School year. Teachers, mothers, and children attended this event. Since it was held during the weekday, most fathers were at work. Pastor George Haas had chartered the ship for $350. On 15 June 1904, the group of 1,358 of mostly women and children boarded the ship at the Third Street Pier. The Slocum would take them up the East River and then through Long Island Sound to its destination of Locust Grove, in Eaton’s Neck, Long Island where the picnic would be held.

The ship departed at 9:30 am and everything seemed to be going well. Nearly all the passengers, mostly women and children, were dressed up for the event. There was a band playing music and food for the trip was served by those attending the picnic. By 10 am the Slocum had made her way up to the passage of Hell Gate, between Ward’s Island and Queens. It was around this time a fire broke out in the Lamp Room. The Lamp Room (the third compartment from the bow under the main deck) as the name indicates, was used to store lamps and its oil. Rags with oil on them were around and packing straw was also in the room as well from the boxes of glasses the group had brought with them for the trip. No one can say for certain how the fire was started, but most likely caused by a discarded cigarette or match. The fire was soon noticed by crew who attempted to put it out using the emergency water hoses. Unfortunately, they were old and leaked so little water could be applied. It would be learned later that the company that sold them to Knickerbocker had used materials that were quite thin and cheap.

The captain was first notified by a child but dismissed it. He was officially told 10 minutes later but by now the fire was ablaze and passengers were now getting frightened. The ship was equipped with lifeboats, but they could not be released. They were held in place by wire and in many cases were covered with paint making it impossible to release them. People were getting frantic now. Life preservers were available but were so old that the cork inside had disintegrated into dust. And the dust absorbed water. In some of them were bits of metal put in by the manufacturer to make them weigh the same as ones with cork. Mothers watched in agony as the children they had put life preservers on sink and drown in the water. Also, few knew how to swim at the time as well so could not swim to safety. Adding more to this situation were that at the time people wore wool clothing even in summertime. So even if they could swim, it was very difficult with the heaviness of the wool weighing you down.

Captain Van Schaick initially ordered the ship full ahead as the nearest area of land had oil storage. He would change his mind a few minutes later and order the ship beached on North Brother Island. He would remain on the Hurricane deck until the last moments of the ship forced him to jump overboard into shallow water. The ship had been completely engulfed by the time she was beached-a mere 20 minutes after the fire had been discovered, Fortunately North Brother Island was a quarantine island and there were both doctors and nurses to assist those that had gotten ashore. Several vessels nearby had come to assist those they found in the water and responsible for saving 300 lives.

Victims of the General Slocum washed ashore at North Brother Island
15 June 1904
Possible source: Gustav Scholer (1851 – 1928)
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Most however did not make it off the Slocum. An estimated 1021 would die according to a government report and of that only 2 were crew (though some sources put the figure lower). Sadly, many who died were children though sometimes parents or members of the extended family also perished. Some victims were never identified because there was no one living to do so. The funeral procession of the dead was witnessed by many, and the small coffins caused many to cry. One notable incident was a man accompanied by his wife carrying a small coffin under his arms. He could not afford a funeral wagon and so was walking to the cemetery. Fortunately, a man delivering flowers offered him a ride. Captain Van Schaick was injured in an eye and lost its use as result of the tragedy.

The city was aghast at what had happened. In supposedly one of the great cities of the world, a ship burned within its sight. A floating horror of fire and people frantically trying to escape facing either the flames or drowning. Newspapers carried headlines of the many funeral processions that occurred. Everyone wanted answers and President Roosevelt ordered a commission to investigate what had happened on the Slocum. And what the commission found was startling. Nothing had been done to maintain and replace as needed the safety equipment. The report found the fire hoses were made of cheap linen and full of kinks (and of course leaked). And of course, how the life preservers had failed as well along with the lifeboats that could not be accessed. Also, they found no safety drill had been done in over a year. Captain Van Schaick was found responsible as master of the Slocum and sentenced to 10 years in jail for failing to maintain the safety equipment. Since the captain bore the brunt of the blame, the Knickerbocker Steamship Company paid only a small fine though it was learned they had falsified safety records.
Later Van Schaick would be paroled and pardoned by President Taft in 1912 since many believed the company was at fault.

Aftermath

As a result of the tragedy, a reorganization of who was responsible for inspecting ships and tighter safety regulations would result. Today that is handled by the U.S. Coast Guard. The community of Little Germany in Manhattan was severely affected with the loss of so many in the tragedy. It brought the community together and St. Mark’s would continue to serve its community. Little Germany had grown and flourished from the 1840’s but by the end of the 19th century had already started to contract. The once solidly German area began to diminish and in many ways the tragedy of the General Slocum hastened it. Many began to resettle in Brooklyn. A new wave of immigrants was coming in from Italy and Eastern Europe. It would become eventually the Lower East Side forever changing the character with areas where Italian, Russian, and Yiddish would now be heard.

St. Mark’s Evangelical Church would never recover from the 1904 loss as most of its congregation were dead. While the parish would continue elsewhere, the church would become a synagogue (and still is to this day) in 1940. The building itself is listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. In 1946 the parish of St. Mark’s merged with the Zion Church in Yorkville in 1946 to become Zion St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.

General Slocum Memorial Tompkins Square Park, Manhattan, New York City
Image:Public Domain (Wikipedia)

In 1906 a marble memorial fountain, which stands to this day, was erected in Tompkins Square Park in Manhattan by the Sympathy Society of German Ladies. There is also another memorial in the Lutheran All Faiths Cemetery in Middle Village, Queens where many graves of the victims are to be found. The last survivor died in 2004.

The General Slocum was salvaged and turned into a barge renamed Maryland. Continuing its history of mishaps as before, it sank in the South River in 1909 and in 1911 while in the Atlantic off the coast of New Jersey. No one died in the 1911 sinking.

The movie Manhattan Melodrama (1934), which stars a young Clark Gable, has as its opening moments the events of the General Slocum which sets in motion the lives of the two characters the movie depicts. Not a bad movie for its time and worth looking at if you have the opportunity.

A memorial plaque placed near the former church of St. Mark’s on the centennial of disaster states:

This is the site of the former St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (1857–1940) a mostly German immigrant parish. On Wednesday, June 15, 1904, the church chartered the excursion steamer, GENERAL SLOCUM, to take the members on the 17th annual Sunday school picnic. The steamer sailed up the East River, with some 1400 passengers aboard, when it entered the infamous Hell Gate passage, caught fire and was beached and sank on North Brother Island. It is estimated 1200 people lost their lives, mostly woman and children, dying within yards of the Bronx shore.

The GENERAL SLOCUM had been certified by the U.S. Steam boat Inspection Service to safely carry 2500 passengers five weeks before the disaster. An investigation after the fire and sinking found the lifeboats were wired and glued with paint to the deck, life jackets fell apart with age, fire hoses burst under water pressure, and the crew never had a fire drill. Until the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, the Slocum disaster had been the largest fire fatality in New York City’s history.

Dedicated Sunday, June 13, 2004, by the Steam Centennial Committee.
The Maritime Industry Museum
SUNY-Maritime College, Fort Schulyer, The Bronx, NY

Sources

History.com Editors. (2020, June 12). Fire on Riverboat leaves more than 1,000 dead. History.com. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/river-excursion-ends-in-tragedy

The General Slocum Disaster of June 15, 1904 | The New York Public Library. (2011, June 13). The New York Public Library. https://www.nypl.org/blog/2011/06/13/great-slocum-disaster-june-15-1904

General Slocum | National Underwater and Marine Agency. (n.d.). https://numa.net/expeditions/general-slocum/

Wikipedia contributors. “PS General Slocum.” Wikipedia, Aug. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PS_General_Slocum. Accessed 11 June 2024

Wikipedia contributors. “Little Germany, Manhattan.” Wikipedia, Aug. 2023, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Germany,_Manhattan. Accessed 11 June 2024

Zion-St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. (n.d.). http://www.zionstmarks.org/ourhistory.htm

Videos

Fascinating Horror. (2023, August 8). The General Slocum | a short documentary | Fascinating horror [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38NfsPVC6m8. Also available on Rumble: https://rumble.com/v3kq60p-the-general-slocum-fascinating-horror.html

Hank Linhart. (2017, June 13). Fearful visitation, The Steamship Fire of the General Slocum,1904 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU1QzU8tCnk

The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered. (2017, June 15). New York’s worst maritime disaster, the General Slocum [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGlLwtqhUKE. Also available on Rumble: https://rumble.com/v2nsnrq-new-yorks-worst-maritime-disaster-the-general-slocum.html

Suggested Reading

Editors, C. R. C. R. (2015). The sinking of the General Slocum: The History of New York City’s Deadliest Maritime Disaster. CreateSpace.

Eggleston, M. A. (2021). Fire on the water: the General Slocum disaster. Independently Published.

O’Donnell, E. (2004). Ship ablaze: The Tragedy of the Steamboat General Slocum. Crown.

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History

Captain Bligh and Others Arrive Safely After 4,000 Mile Trek (14 June 1789)

Bligh and other officers and crew put adrift by HMS Bounty mutineers on 29 April 1789.
Painting: Robert Dodd (1748-1815)
Public Domain (National Maritime Museum, London, UK)

On 14 June 1789 Lieutenant William Bligh of British Royal Navy who formerly commanded HMS Bounty and eighteen others arrived at Timor in the East Indies after nearly a 4,000-mile trek in a small boat. Bligh and the others were put on the boat back on 28 April after Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian and others led a mutiny on the Bounty. The ship was tasked with transporting Tahitian breadfruit saplings to the British Caribbean colonies. The Bounty arrived for a five-month layover in 1789. During that time many of the crew lived ashore and formed relationships with the locals. This caused a serious issue for discipline and Bligh began handing out harsh discipline and criticism of the crew.

When Bligh and his other supporters were put into the boat, they had 25 gallons of water, 150 pounds of bread, 30 pounds of pork, six quarts of rum, and six bottles of wine. They were not expected to survive but through Bligh’s exceptional navigation skills and careful rationing of the supplies, they made and survived the ordeal. For the mutineers, life was not as it was hoped. Some of the crew decided to stay in Tahiti despite the possibility of British capture. Christian and six others including some Tahitian men and women ultimately settled on Pitcairn Island about 1,000 miles east of Tahiti.

Aftermath

After returning to England, the HMS Pandora was dispatched to Tahiti in April 1790. 14 of the mutineers were captured but failed to find Christian or his party, On the return voyage Pandora ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef resulting in 31 crew dead and 3 of the mutineers as well. After a court martial in 1792, four were acquitted, three pardoned, and two were hung. The fate of Fletcher Christian was not determined until 1808. An American ship drawn by a fire visited Pitcairn. Only one mutineer, John Adams, was still alive. The Bounty had been scuttled and all of the other mutineers (including Christian) had been killed either by each other or by the Tahitians. He was not arrested and today many of the descendants still live on Pitcairn, which is a British Overseas Territory

Rear Admiral William Bligh by Alexander Huey, 1814
National Library of Australia
Public Domain (US via Wikimedia Commons)

HMS Bounty was not a ship of the line, but a small commercial vessel purchased by the Royal Navy for the botanical mission. As such command of a vessel of this kind would fall to a senior lieutenant. Bligh was selected because he had served under James Cook in his third and final voyage (1776–1780). After that voyage, like many officers of that time, he was put on half-pay as the American war was over. He commanded a commercial vessel before being given command of HMS Bounty. After the court martial in 1792, the general opinion of Bligh was negative both in the Royal Navy and by the public. And the fact that those who survived confirmed some of the cruel and possibly paranoid actions also fed into a negative opinion of him. He would be put on half-pay and wait a long time for his next appointment in 1797 where he commanded HMS Director at the Battle of Camperdown (October 1797). He would next command the HMS Glatton in Battle of Copenhagen (March 1801) and be praised by Lord Nelson for his actions. While in command of the HMS Warrior he was court-martialed for use of bad language to his officers and officially reprimanded in 1805. In 1806 he was sent as Governor to New South Wales in Australia

His style of leadership was a firm disciplinarian which made him ill-suited to the position where you had to deal with wealthy and important landowners on one hand, and powerful officials on the other. He managed to anger both with his confrontational style. He did face a serious problem in that some of these wealthy landowners and crown officials were engaged in private trading. His attempt to shut them down was met with the Rum Rebellion in 1808. On 26 Jan 1808, Major George Johnson of the Royal Marines led 400 soldiers of the New South Wales Corp to Government House in Sydney and arrested Bligh. Bligh was placed on HMS Porpoise where he would remain until January 1810. Bligh tried and failed to get the British authorities in Hobart to support him in retaking New South Wales. Bligh would be allowed to leave in 1810 and eventually returned to England for Major Johnson’s court martial. The trial court sentenced him to be dismissed from the Royal Marines, a very mild sentence considering what he had done. He would return to Australia without his officer’s commission but his wealth from the private trade deals were more than sufficient for him to live a comfortable life.

As the Royal Navy promoted on seniority and patronage rather than by merit, Bligh would be promoted to rear admiral in 1810 and in 1814 admiral of the blue. He would never hold command again even during the height of the Napoleonic War when commands were available. He would design the North Bull Wall on the River Liffey in Dublin. He also mapped Dublin Bay. Bligh died on 7 Dec 1817 at the age of 63. He was buried at the family plot in St. Mary’s, Lambeth though now the church is now the Garden Museum. His tomb is topped with a breadfruit.

Sources and Further Reading

“Mutiny on the HMS Bounty.” HISTORY, 26 Apr. 2024, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mutiny-on-the-hms-bounty.

Tomes, Luke. “Bligh, Breadfruit and Betrayal: The True Story Behind the Mutiny on the Bounty.” History Hit, www.historyhit.com/mutiny-bounty.

“Mutiny on the Bounty.” Royal Museums Greenwich, www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/mutiny-on-bounty.

Books

Alexander, Caroline. The Bounty: The True Story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. Penguin, 2004.

Nordhoff, Charles, and James Norman Hall. Mutiny on the Bounty. Back Bay Books, 1989.

FitzSimons, Peter. Mutiny on the Bounty: A Saga of Sex, Sedition, Mayhem and Mutiny, and Survival Against Extraordinary Odds. 2020.

The Mutiny on the Bounty: Texts From Captain Bligh, Sir John Barrow, and Amelia Rosalind Young. Bybliotech, 2017.

Movies

Mutiny on the Bounty. Directed by Frank Lloyd, MGM, 1935. This excellent movie stars Clark Gable as Fletcher Christian and Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh. The movie comes from a time when epic swashbuckling action movies filled the screen. The acting is top rate, and the action will not leave you disappointed. Perhaps not historical as some would like, but a great movie to watch.

Mutiny on the Bounty. Directed by Lewis Milestone, Arcola Pictures, 1962. This 1962 movie in stunning color features Marlon Brando as Christian and Trevor Howard as Bligh. They filmed some scenes in French Polynesia giving the mostly fictional account a good telling. The film gets mostly positive reviews though some think Brando’s performance was not as good as it could have been. There were a lot of problems in filming, the change of directors, Marlon Brando causing some issues and so forth. Still worth taking a look at considering the lush scenes the movie has, along with some good acting as well. It certainly shows the changed times from 1935 when some things were not mentioned or referenced.

The Bounty.  Directed by Roger Donaldson, Dino De Laurentiis Company, 1984. This updated telling of the famous mutiny is told via flashbacks as Bligh is giving testimony in his court martial. Anthony Hopkins plays Bligh while Mel Gibson is Christian. Previous movies have shown Bligh as an outright tyrant, which was not entirely the case. However he did seem to get more strict as time went on during the voyage and in Tahiti. So this movie tries to show both sides and seems to do it well for the most part. While it gets positive reviews, some think Gibson was too bland. However it is more realistic in showing what it was like to be on a ship back then. And how Tahiti would seem like a paradise when the women walked around topless, which was something no European was used to at all.

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Titanic

James Cameron Says Titan Sinking Broke All The Rules; Alleged Titan Transcript Deemed A Fraud

Titan (submersible)
Becky Kagan Schott, OceanGate

James Cameron (famed director of Titanic) stated at a recent appearance on a news show about the Titan submersible tragedy that they (OceanGate) broke all the rules. He went on further to say that the submersible should not have been carrying passengers. As the first anniversary of the sinking approaches, Cameron opined that there is a lot of mystery surrounding the investigation. Cameron claims he offered to be part of the investigative community for the U.S. Coast Guard, but they turned it down.

“I think they want to do things their way and frankly I think they’ve kind of got egg on their face and they don’t want outside opinions. That’s just my interpretation.”

Cameron also criticized the media circus that erupted over the tragedy saying that they fueled unwarranted hope that they would be alive. And they knew the location of the submersible and had no readily available means to dive to it. He accuses the Coast Guard of withholding information to the families of those who perished. And that they knew from naval intelligence that an implosion had occurred.

“They just didn’t disclose. They were informed by naval intelligence that an implosion event was tracked to the co-ordinate of the Titanic wreck site.”

Cameron does believe charges are appropriate but the main person responsible, OceanGate CEO Rush Stockton, perished in the tragedy.

Cameron indicates that he will build a submersible to go down to Titanic. He was a friend of Paul-Henri Nargeolet,who perished in the tragedy, and wants to honor his friend and show that it can be safely done.

Source

Brennan, A. (2024, June 9). Titanic director’s take on OceanGate tragedy. News. https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/tv/current-affairs/james-cameron-explains-his-theories-behind-oceangate-submersible-tragedy/news-story/364889e3f1a83cd46fcec877f80a004e

==

Log Purported To Be From Titan Submersible Deemed A Fraud

A supposed transcript distributed via YouTube and TikTok not long after the Titan submersible tragedy in June 2023 claimed to be the log from the doomed expedition has deemed a fraud. While many did put disclaimers as to its authenticity, Snopes marked it as “unconfirmed.” Now it has been deemed a fake

“I’m confident it’s a false transcript,” Jason Neubauer, a retired U.S. Coast Guard captain who now chairs the Marine Board of Investigation, told The New York Times. “It was made up.”

The transcript appears to make it sound like those in the submersible knew what was happening. However, the actual transcript (never made public) does not match up with it casting further doubt it was authentic. The men had no idea that Titan was about to implode. So far no one has been identified as the author of the transcript.

Source

Braine, T. (2024, June 11). Detailed log of Titan submersible’s descent to Titanic wreckage deemed fake. New York Daily News. https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/06/10/detailed-log-of-titan-submersibles-descent-to-titanic-wreckage-deemed-fake/

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History

Fascinating History: Ben Franklin’s Famous Electricity Experiment (10 June 1752)

Photograph of painting depicting Franklin’s famous kite and key experiment. Circa 1911.
Artist: Charles E. Mills (American, 1856-1956)
U.S. Library of Congress, Digital Id#cph 3b42841

On 10 Jun 1752 Benjamin Franklin conducted an experiment on electricity that has become both famous and legendary. Electricity was already understood by this time, and many were studying static electricity. What Franklin was studying was the connection between lightning and electricity. Originally, he wanted to do the experiment on a church spire but decided using a kite would be better. As a thunderstorm began to develop over Philadelphia, he and his son William headed out to a field with a kite to conduct the experiment.

The Experiment

Contrary to popular belief, the experiment itself was conducted without lightning striking the kite. According to the Franklin Institute, he constructed a kite and attached a wire at the top to act as a lightning rod. The bottom of the kite used hemp string, which when wetted with rain, would be an excellent conductor for an electrical charge. And then he attached silk string that he would hold the kite from the doorway of a shed. With his son’s help, they got the kite aloft and just waited to see what would happen during the storm.

Then just as they were about to give up, Franklin noticed the loose strands of hemp were standing erect. Moving his finger near the metal key they had attached; he felt the electricity. He and his son using a Leyden jar collected the static electricity they would discharge later. It was a significant achievement and added more to the study of understanding and using electricity. He wrote of the experiment to the Pennsylvania Gazette (19 October 1752) and how to recreate it. Also, he was not the first to do this type of experiment. One had been done a month earlier in France by Thomas-François Dalibard. A year later Georg Wilhelm Richmann attempted to do the same thing in St. Petersburg. Unfortunately, he was struck by ball lightning, which is very rare and to this day baffles scientists and died.

Aftermath

Franklin went on to invent the lightning rod, which over time became widespread in use for homes and buildings. The electrical charge from a lightning strike would pass harmlessly through the rod and cables keeping it safely away from any conductive material. Airplanes utilize them as well since they often have to fly near or around storms where lightning is present. Ships use them as well and the charge is dispersed into the water. Franklin would receive the Copley Award from the Royal Society for his experiments.

Needless to say, many doubt the experiment happened but one has to bear in mind whether the doubters read his own words of how it was done or simply accepted the common fable he stood outside in the rain waiting for lightning. Mythbusters actually tried to do the second one, which is to have lightning strike the kite. And they found it would likely be fatal to do that and that if Franklin really did do it, he was very lucky to have survived. What happened to Richmann is often cited to show how fatal it could be as well. Except Richmann was struck by ball lightning, a very rare occurrence that is not wholly understood. And Franklin was clear lightning never struck the kite and that what he was trying to do was see if lightning generated electricity in the air, which it did. Others either misread or, for reasons of their own perhaps in jest, said Franklin stood out in the rain and flew a kite to get struck by lightning. And it got into the public consciousness where it became considered true after a while. It is not the first, and likely not the last, where an event gets retold and later key facts get lost and the wrong story takes hold instead.

Sources

Ameyers. “Benjamin Franklin and the Kite Experiment.” The Franklin Institute, 19 Oct. 2023, fi.edu/en/science-and-education/benjamin-franklin/kite-key-experiment.

—. “Benjamin Franklin Flies Kite During Thunderstorm.” HISTORY, 6 June 2024, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/franklin-flies-kite-during-thunderstorm.

Ben Franklin’s Contribution to Our Understanding of Electricity. www.ushistory.org/franklin//science/electricity.htm.

Suggested Reading

Brands, H. W. The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin. Anchor, 2002.

The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin: The Original 1793 Edition. Independently published, 2022.

Franklin, Benjamin. Benjamin Franklin’s Book of Virtues. Books of American Wisdom, 2016.

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History

Forgotten History: Infamous Port Royal Sinks Into Sea Taking 3,000 Lives (7 June 1692

In the tale of Atlantis related by Plato, the island sinks into the sea. While today nearly all historians and archaeologists consider Atlantis a myth, there is one story that true and that is the sinking of Port Royal into the Caribbean Sea on 7 June 1692.

Pre-1692 Port Royal Illustration
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Port Royal was located in southeast Jamaica on the peninsula of Kingston Harbor. It was founded in 1494 by the Spanish though the area where Port Royal was located was of little interest to them. Jamaica was an important island strategically for them since it was located inside the major trade routes. The Spanish primarily used the island for sugar cane and would remain under Spanish control until the British seized it in 1655.

The British added houses, shops, warehouses, and two forts into the area that would be called later Port Royal (it was originally called Cagway). Port Royal would be the unofficial capital of Jamaica (though Spanish town was the official capital under the 19th century when Kingston was made the capital. Privateering found a convenient home in Port Royal. With its easy access to the Spanish Main, privateers carrying Letters of Marque (a document issued by the government authorizing the private person to raid ships of their enemies) could easily attack and bring back their spoils to sold for profit. It also had a large and well protected harbor for the privateers to return to and get ships repaired. Many well-known buccaneers of the period used Port Royal as their base of operations. Between the British Royal Navy and these privateers, the Spanish were on the defense. Additionally, it made it difficult for them to resupply their colonies or ship items home. Thus Spanish, with trade interrupted by ships captured by privateers, were forced to buy their supplies from merchants who got their them from privateers. It was a system called Forced Trade.

Port Royal became a city tied to the fortunes of the privateers as they raided Spanish ships and towns. They privateers received a great deal of money from bringing the items back to Port Royal where merchants would buy them. From all accounts, just about everyone in Port Royal benefited in one way or another from the privateers. Port Royal became a fast-growing city reaching up to 6,500 people at its height making it one of the largest cities in the Caribbean. It also acquired a reputation for its gaudy display of wealth and the large numbers of privateers that lived there. It became widely known as a place of loose morals as well. There were numerous taverns (one for every 10 people), prostitution was widely in use, and money was spent freely causing many of the privateers to go broke. There were also goldsmiths and merchants of all kinds to sold or bought products from the privateers. The city ran out of room due to the increased population, so they had to fill in areas and build on it or build structures above the water (sort of like Venice).  While there were some advice buildings should be built with wood and build them low, many opted to build with bricks not realizing they were not building on bedrock but sand.

By 1692, the need for privateers had diminished for the British with the Treaty of Madrid in 1670 ended their need to raid Spanish ships and cities. Henry Morgan, one of the famous and celebrated privateers of the era, would end up serving in the Jamaican government and even its governor at times. Privateers would still use Port Royal, but they had to be sure never to attack British ships. Morgan could no longer issue Letters of Marque but the French needed them, so they would sail for France against, you guessed it, the Spanish. Morgan received a payment for each Letter of Marque that was signed. It did cause problems for Morgan since some said he was helping the French against the Spanish. France though had become a major threat to the British. Morgan was replaced as governor (he only held the position when the person appointed was away or vacant). During his times as governor he increased defenses of the island from the French. But the accusations (falsely made it seems) would doom him and he would be out of power (except for a brief period) and died in 1684.

Changing attitudes also occurred as well. While many privateers had done service for the realm, pirates were a threat to everyone. And many people in Port Royal had tired of the drunkenness and other things that had given the city quite a sordid reputation. Anti-piracy laws enacted in 1687 turned Port Royal into a place where pirates were executed rather than tolerated. Ships called there and many sailors spent their money in taverns and other places, but pirates were now executed when caught or imprisoned. Then on 7 June 1692 around 11:43 a.m., everything would change. Three massive earthquakes hit Jamaica but was hardest on Port Royal. Buildings built over the water or filled in areas collapsed. Also, the peninsula was mostly sand and soil liquefaction occurred collapsing buildings as they sank. Then to make matters even worse, the tsunami created by the earthquakes struck putting half of Port Royal under water. Nearby Spanish Town was destroyed, and landslides claimed victims as well inland.

Over 3,000 people were killed outright by the earthquakes and tsunami. Many more died later from the looting, from injuries, and from diseases. The wicked pirate city as it was called was gone. While parts of it still remained, it was never rebuilt (subsequent attempts ran into real difficulties) and Kingston became more important as a result. Today there is an effort to restore a small part of it for tourist and also to make it a world heritage site. A large floating pier for cruise ships has been built but much more needs to be done according to news reports. A lot of study by geologists, historians, oceanographers and others of the remains under the sea is being done to understand how it happened. Port Royal, once the haven for pirates, has become known as the city that sank. Many actually were happy to see it suffer its fate from some writings of that time.

Map showing shoreline changes caused by the 1692 Port Royal earthquake
Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Sources

Ugc. “Sunken Pirate City at Port Royal.” Atlas Obscura, 3 June 2024, www.atlasobscura.com/places/sunken-pirate-stronghold-at-port-royal.

“Port Royal | Jamaica, Map, History, and Earthquake.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 4 June 2024, www.britannica.com/place/Port-Royal-Jamaica.

“Letter of Marque | Definition and Examples.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 14 Nov. 2017, www.britannica.com/topic/letter-of-marque.

 “Earthquake Destroys Jamaican Town.” HISTORY, 6 June 2024, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/earthquake-destroys-jamaican-pirate-haven.

Vallar, Cindy. Pirates and Privateers: The History of Maritime Piracy – Pirate Havens Port Royal. www.cindyvallar.com/havens4.html.

“Port Royal.” Wikipedia, 3 June 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Royal.

Documentaries & Films

The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered. “Pirates and the Earthquake That Destroyed Port Royal.” YouTube, 7 June 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=EypOHCv2JsY.

NTIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WILD. “Best Documentary History of Port Royal Underwater Cities.” YouTube, 22 Jan. 2017, www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1VLUevIWIs.

 

 

 

 

 

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Titanic, historic ship, and general history news.