The Great Bahamian Hurricanes of 1899 and 1932: The Story of Two of the Greatest and Deadliest Hurricanes to Impact the Bahamas

by Wayne Neely

Overview

Hurricanes have long been a fact of life in the Bahamas. With extensive exposed coastlines jutting out of the Atlantic and uniquely flat lands and shallow coastal waters, these islands had seen many tempests before there was a Bahamas as we know it today.

Hurricanes have shaped the islands’ landscape and, in a sense, their people as well. In the history of the Bahamas—often considered a patriarchal society in which the hurricanes traditionally bore the names not of women, but of the islands they devastated-- the storms have impacted all aspects of everyday life. A growing number of studies covering many aspects of hurricanes have examined their social impacts. Even so, the historical ramifi cati ons of the hurricanes of the Bahamas and of the wider realm of the Caribbean have rarely been approached.

The Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1899 and the Great Abaco Hurricane of 1932 hold special places in the archives of Bahamian history. These hurricanes were two of the worst natural disasters the country had experienced at the time, and even to this day these storms are considered among the top ten most destructive Bahamian storms of all time. These two notable and very destructive Bahamian hurricanes resulted in the deaths of over 334 Bahamians in 1899 and 18 in 1932. Learn why as author Wayne Neely explores the breadth and depth of each disaster—not only how they impacted the society at the time, but how they impacted the progression of history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781475925548
Publisher:	iUniverse, Incorporated
Publication date:	06/11/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	290
File size:	3 MB

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The Great Bahamian Hurricanes of 1899 and 1932

The Story of Two of the Greatest and Deadliest Hurricanes to Impact the Bahamas

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By Wayne Neely

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Wayne Neely
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4759-2553-1

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Chapter One

Fundamentals of a Hurricane

Tropical cyclones are the broad class of all low-pressure systems that form in the tropics and have a closed wind circulation with sustained winds of at least 39 mph. When sustained winds reach 74 mph, the storm is classified according to its geographical location:

1. Hurricane (the North Atlantic Ocean, the Northeast Pacific Ocean east of the International Dateline or the South Pacific Ocean east of 160E);

2. Typhoon (the Northwest Pacific Ocean west of the International Dateline);

3. Severe Tropical Cyclone (the Southwest Pacific Ocean west of 160E or Southeast Indian Ocean east of 90E);

4. Severe Cyclonic Storm (the Southwest Indian Ocean).

For the ease of describing these intense tropical cyclones I will simply refer to them as hurricanes, unless there's a specific geographical focus. Once winds in a closed tropical low-pressure system reach 39 mph, the system is named either a tropical storm or tropical cyclone depending upon its location. Then, a name is assigned according to WMO's international naming conventions. These names are drawn from the Region IV naming list for the North Atlantic. Names are used to help focus attention to particular storms, especially when several storms are occurring at the same time. The names also provide easy recognition for the past historical and destructive hurricanes. Storms that are especially deadly or destructive have their names retired. Evolving from a tropical wave, through a tropical depression, to a tropical storm and finally a hurricane, tropical cyclones often capture our attention not only because of their power but also because of their wide-ranging societal, economic and physical impacts.

What distinguishes hurricanes from other types of low-pressure or another storm system is that hurricanes are 'warm-core' systems. This means that the entire storm system is compose of warm air. Middle-latitude low-pressure systems often have cold and warm sectors separated by weather fronts. Most hurricanes form over warm tropical oceans during the summer and early fall months. Peak hurricane season is usually about two months after the summer solstice. Hurricane season extends far beyond the warmest months of the year because ocean waters warm more slowly and retain their heat longer than either air or land. Scientists now realize that hurricanes are most likely to form and intensify when ocean water temperatures are at least 80°F.

Tropical cyclones are systems of large, rotating thunderstorms that form over warm tropical waters where the winds and the seas are conducive to the development and growth of these storms. There is nothing like the hurricane in the atmosphere. Even seen by remote sensors on satellites thousands of miles above earth, the uniqueness of these powerful, tightly coiled storms is clear. Hurricanes are not the largest storm systems on earth, nor the most violent—but they combine those qualities as no other phenomenon does, as if they were designed to be powerful engines of death and destruction. Due to the effects of the earth's rotation, these storms rotate in a counter clockwise direction in the northern hemisphere, and rotate clockwise in the southern hemisphere. They are found in all areas of the tropical regions of the world with the exception of the southern Atlantic Ocean (although there was a case where a tropical cyclone called Cyclone Catarina formed there in 2005 but this was a rare exception to the rule). These tropical cyclones are called hurricanes in the North Atlantic once they exceed the seventy-four-mile-per-hour threshold.

In the Northern Hemisphere, these storms are called hurricanes, a term that echoes colonial Spanish and Caribbean Indian words for evil spirits and big winds created by their gods. The word 'hurricane' has its origins in the names given to the storm gods by various tribes of local Indians within this region. Here in the Bahamas, it is certain that the Lucayan Indians who were the first people to inhabit the land we now call the Bahamas experienced the high winds, rough seas and heavy rains of these storms. Unfortunately they left no written accounts of their experiences with these storms. According to the edited abstracts taken from Spanish Priest Bartholomew de Las Casas he said that these Indians believed that the islands of the Bahamas were comprised of one giant complete landmass but had been separated by the howling winds and rough seas of the hurricane.

When the Europeans first attempted to establish permanent settlements in the Caribbean, they quickly learned about these storms when it destroyed their first built settlements in the New World on the island of Hispaniola. In the Bahamas, Christopher Columbus was lucky enough to not have encountered any storms on his first voyage, but in 1499 Vicente Yañez Pinzón captain of Columbus's ship 'the Niña' lost two ships in the fleet in the Exuma Cays due to a hurricane. Furthermore, she was the only ship to survive the famous 1495 hurricane, battered but safely returning to Spain in 1496. In 1495, Christopher Columbus encountered a hurricane near Hispaniola and it was the earliest hurricane reported by Christopher Columbus, who also encountered a tropical storm on one of his voyages to the New World. He later declared that "nothing but the service of God and the extension of the monarchy" would induce him to expose himself to such dangers from hurricanes ever again.

Fortunately, here in the Caribbean, as time passed and these European settlers learned more about their new homeland, they experienced these storms so regularly that they became accustomed to them. Eventually, they began calling them 'equinoctial storms,' as the storms normally hit in the weeks around the period of the fall equinox, which in the Northern Hemisphere occurs in late September. Now thanks in part to over four hundred years of observations and advances in technology, we now know that hurricanes can strike at any time between June and November. The peak of the season in the Bahamas is on the 11th of September of each year, and August and September are the most active months for hurricanes to strike any part of the Bahamas. These storms are products of the tropical oceans and atmosphere: powered by heat from the sea, steered by the easterly trades and temperate westerlies, and driven by their own fierce energy. Around their tranquil core called the eyewall, winds blow with lethal velocity and the ocean develops an inundating surge. In addition, as they move ashore, tornadoes may descend from the advancing bands of the surrounding thunderstorms. Hurricanes, as poorly understood as they are today, seem to have two main benefits—first, they are a major source of rain for many tropical and subtropical land areas and second, they are responsible for redistribution heat from the equator to the poles which allow us as humans to live and survive on an otherwise very volatile planet.

A hurricane represents the most advanced stage of a tropical cyclone. A cyclone refers to those types of storms having low atmospheric pressure at the center and cyclonic or rotating wind circulation. Thus a tropical cyclone is a low pressure storm system that originates in tropical (or less often subtropical) areas. The tropics are defined as that area of the earth which lies between the Tropic of Cancer, 23.5 degrees north of the equator, and the Tropic of Capricorn, 23.5 degrees south of the equator. Hurricanes vary greatly in size, intensity, behavior and path, but they have enough characteristics in common that some generalizations can be made. A hurricane can be visualized as an organized system of thunderstorm-type clouds generally assembled into spiral bands, called rainbands. Much of the rain generated by a hurricane occurs within these spiraling bands of clouds, with rainfall between the bands generally being much less intense or even absent. Thunder and lightning are not always present, but when occurring will generally be found within those rainbands and the eyewall. There are generally from one to seven bands in a hurricane, with each band commonly 50 miles long. This accounts for the average diameter of the major area covered by a hurricane being roughly 100 miles, although diameters have ranged from less than 100 miles to over 500 miles. Tropical storm-force winds (39 to 73 miles per hour) may occur at a distance from the center of the storm that is several times the diameter of the major cloudy portion of the hurricane.

One of the most distinctive features shared by nearly all hurricanes is the eye. This central portion of the storm varies greatly in size among hurricanes, with some only 3 miles in diameter and others extending to well over 38 miles across. The average eye is about 15 to 20 miles in diameter. The winds in the eye are greatly reduced, often blowing only 15 miles per hour, and the sky may be nearly rain and cloud free. Many people who have been in the eye of a hurricane tell of finding clear blue skies above them as the eye passed over. The eye is also where the lowest atmospheric pressure and highest temperatures of the storm occur and in many cases birds are frequently trapped in the eye, often found in large numbers clinging in desperation to the rigging of ships. They are blown into the eye and trapped there as the storm intensifies, then cannot escape through the violent winds which surround the eye. As a matter of fact, several bird species have entered the United States especially Florida in this manner from the Bahamas and other Caribbean countries, including the Black Anis from Haiti, the Bahamas Honeycreeper, the Bahamas Shallow, the Cuban Cliff Swallow, several West Indian Doves and Pigeons, and most recently the Cattle Egret from the Antilles.

The eye is completely surrounded by the most intense portion of the hurricane, the eyewall. The clouds that compose this imposing feature of the storm reach heights of over 50,000 feet. The eyewall consist of very intense cumulonimbus clouds and within these clouds contains massive amounts of water vapour brought into this area by the rainbands which are forced upwards, converting the water vapour into water and in the process releasing a tremendous amount of heat. This process helps to produce the high winds and the torrential rainfall found within the hurricane. The strongest winds and the heaviest rainfall are often found within or near the eyewall. Many persons have been fooled as the eye passes them into thinking that the storm is over, individuals venture out, only to be surprised as the other side of the eyewall approaches, bringing winds of equal destruction but now blowing from the opposite direction. Together, the eye and eyewall represents the heart of a hurricane.

For a tropical disturbance to develop into a hurricane, there must be several environmental factors that must be present, and they must interact in rather specific ways. This interaction is most likely to occur in late summer/early fall, which is the main reason for the higher incidence hurricanes forming during this time. The official hurricane season for the Bahamas is June 1st, to November 30th of each year. September is especially significant, since more hurricanes have hit the Bahamas during this month than any other month and as stated before, the peak of the hurricane season in the North Atlantic is September 11th of each year. As previously mentioned, a hurricane represents the ultimate stage of a tropical cyclone. The different stages of tropical cyclone development can be described in a number of ways. The classification scheme most commonly used in this region recognizes four stages, based on form and intensity. The stages of the tropical cyclone are:

1. Tropical disturbance: no strong winds (this stage is actually a precursor to a tropical cyclone).

2. Tropical depression: some rotary circulation at the surface and sustained winds speed of less than 39 miles per hour.

3. Tropical storm: distinct rotary circulation with highest sustained wind speed of 39 to 73 miles per hour.

4. Hurricane: very pronounced rotary circulation with sustained winds of 74 miles per hour or greater.

Several factors account for this particular seasonality. Hurricanes nearly always develop from low-pressure disturbances within the trade-wind belt, the area from approximately 30 degrees north latitude to within five degrees of the equator which experiences consistent winds blowing from east to west. Several mechanisms are known to produce areas of low pressure in the trades, and these mechanisms are most prevalent during the summer and early fall. If the Bermuda or subtropical high pressure system is particularly weak and displaced south of this normal position, a condition quite common in early summer and fall, a region of low pressure may be introduced into the trade-winds belt. For example, higher-latitude low pressure systems can more easily penetrate into the tropics when the Bermuda high is displaced southward. The southern end of such systems may become trapped in the trades and provide the seeds of a hurricane.

Another mechanism generating low-pressure disturbances in the trades involves a low-pressure belt called the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which is located near the equator. In the summer, most frequently during the month of August, the ITCZ is at its northernmost location, about 12 degrees north latitude. A rotating low-pressure system forming where the ITCZ meets the trades can become a westward-migrating system in the trades. When this happens the conditions are favorable for the necessary rotation of the newly formed low-pressure system to be achieved.

Another extremely common type of low-pressure disturbance is an easterly wave. This is not an oceanic wave, but an atmospheric low-pressure feature, embedded in the trade winds belt, that moves east to west. The eastern portions of these waves are often very cloudy with heavy rain showers. These systems are nearly always present in abundant numbers during the hurricane season in the North Atlantic. The African continent, especially the very southern edge of the Sahara Desert, is the dominant source for easterly waves in the Atlantic during the peak of the hurricane season. In fact, it is a bit ironic that one of the driest places on earth is the birthplace for storms that have produced some of the greatest rainfall records on earth. These easterly waves in any given year often number somewhere between 50 to 70 (but can be as high as 80) per year, and are very common during May through November. Hurricanes that develop in this manner are called Cape Verde-type hurricanes.

After a hurricane develops, a tremendous amount of energy is released. A moderate hurricane is capable of taking up from the ocean approximately 15 million tons of water vapour per minute from the ocean through the process of evaporation. The amount of energy release into the atmosphere by the transformation of this vapour back into liquid by the hurricane is the major driving force of the hurricane, and a true driving force it is. An average hurricane will release in 24 hours the energy equivalent to one-half million Nagasaki-type atomic bombs or 400 20-megaton hydrogen (fusion) bombs. This energy, if converted to electricity, would satisfy the electrical needs of the United States for more than six months. This transformation of tremendous amounts of energy is why tropical cyclones are called 'heat engines.' One of the most important requirements for the growth and development of a hurricane is the need for warm oceanic waters of 80°F or higher to supply the system with a continuing supply of warm and moisture rich air to allow the system to develop and strengthen.

In the North Atlantic, there are four different types of hurricanes that influence us in some way or the other. Each is uniquely different and has unique and different characteristics that are found in that type of hurricane alone in terms of formation and strength. The first is the Cape Verde Type hurricane which as its name suggests originates off the African Coast in the vicinity of the Cape Verde Islands. Initially it moves in a westerly direction and then in a west-northwest to a northwesterly direction as it makes its way through the Caribbean, Central America, the Bahamas and the United States. Both of these hurricanes in 1899 and 1932 were regarded as Cape Verde Storms. The Cape Verde Islands is an archipelago about 400 miles off the West African Coast and are volcanic in nature. It was colonized by Portugal in the fifteenth century and became an independent country in 1975. At one point in their history, these islands served as an outpost station for the movement of African slaves on the 'Middle Passage' to the Americas. This type of hurricane forms over the Atlantic mainly during the early to mid-part of the season, June through mid-September months when the easterly waves are the most dominant weather features in the Caribbean region. This type of hurricane tend to produce the strongest hurricanes in this category because of the great distance they have in traversing the warm waters of the Atlantic before they get to any landmass giving them the time and the opportunity to strengthen before hitting some landmass in the Caribbean, North or Central America.

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Excerpted from The Great Bahamian Hurricanes of 1899 and 1932 by Wayne Neely Copyright © 2012 by Wayne Neely. Excerpted by permission of iUniverse, Inc.. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents

Contents

PREFACE....................ix
FOREWORD....................xvii
INTRODUCTION....................xxi
CHAPTER ONE Fundamentals of a Hurricane....................1
CHAPTER TWO The History behind the word 'Hurricane' and other Tropical Cyclone Names....................18
CHAPTER THREE The Naming of Hurricanes....................51
CHAPTER FOUR The Classification of Hurricanes....................71
CHAPTER FIVE The Sisal Industry of the Bahamas during the Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1899....................85
CHAPTER SIX The Bootlegging Industry in the Bahamas during the Great Abaco Hurricane of 1932....................99
CHAPTER SEVEN The Sponging Industry during the Great Bahamian Hurricanes of 1899 and 1932....................112
CHAPTER EIGHT The Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1899 Impact on the islands of the Bahamas....................130
CHAPTER NINE The Great Abaco Hurricane of 1932's Impact on the Islands of the Bahamas....................155
CHAPTER TEN Damages Sustained To Ships After The Great Bahamas Hurricane Of 1899....................175
CHAPTER ELEVEN Terrence Keogh's two accounts of the Great Abaco Hurricane of 1932....................184
CHAPTER TWELVE Personal Recollections of the Great Bahamas Hurricane of 1899 and the Great Abaco Hurricane of 1932 Impact on the Bahamas....................202
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Hurricane Preparedness....................222
CONCLUSION....................229
SOURCES....................235
WEATHER DEFINITIONS....................251