Apocalypse 1692: Empire, Slavery, and the Great Port Royal Earthquake

by Ben Hughes

Built on sugar, slaves, and piracy, Jamaica’s Port Royal was the jewel in England’s quest for Empire until a devastating earthquake sank the city beneath the sea  

A haven for pirates and the center of the New World’s frenzied trade in slaves and sugar, Port Royal, Jamaica, was a notorious cutthroat settlement where enormous fortunes were gained for the fledgling English empire. But on June 7, 1692, it all came to a catastrophic end. Drawing on research carried out in Europe, the Caribbean, and the United States, Apocalypse 1692: Empire, Slavery, and the Great Port Royal Earthquake by Ben Hughes opens in a post–Glorious Revolution London where two Jamaica-bound voyages are due to depart. A seventy-strong fleet will escort the Earl of Inchiquin, the newly appointed governor, to his residence at Port Royal, while the Hannah , a slaver belonging to the Royal African Company, will sail south to pick up human cargo in West Africa before setting out across the Atlantic on the infamous Middle Passage. Utilizing little-known first-hand accounts and other primary sources, Apocalypse 1692 intertwines several related the slave rebellion that led to the establishment of the first permanent free black communities in the New World; the raids launched between English Jamaica and Spanish Santo Domingo; and the bloody repulse of a full-blown French invasion of the island in an attempt to drive the English from the Caribbean. The book also features the most comprehensive account yet written of the massive earthquake and tsunami which struck Jamaica in 1692, resulting in the deaths of thousands, and sank a third of the city beneath the sea. From the misery of everyday life in the sugar plantations, to the ostentation and double-dealings of the plantocracy; from the adventures of former-pirates-turned-treasure-hunters to the debauchery of Port Royal, Apocalypse 1692 exposes the lives of the individuals who made late seventeenth-century Jamaica the most financially successful, brutal, and scandalously corrupt of all of England’s nascent American colonies. 

Genres: History, Nonfiction

288 pages, Hardcover

Published November 20, 2017

Reviews

[Nathan Albright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes in order to write a book about something, you need to make the issue a bigger one and complicate it so that there is enough material to fill up a book. I have occasionally noted in my own research efforts that sometimes one needs to make a problem larger to understand it fully, as sometimes problems are distorted by viewing them in too narrow of a scope. It seems likely that the author has something similar in mind here. Here the author wishes to point out the horrors of the Port Royal Earthquake in 1692, which destroyed what was then the capital of Jamaica and also demonstrates the immense suffering that resulted from slavery and piracy and imperialism, and that also shows the English in a negative light. This book demonstrates a great many of the mixed motives that writers have to deal with when it comes to examining their own work. This is a book that is sadly all too full of mixed motives, where the author's evident desire to make some people look bad, and his lack of ability to appreciate divine providence or take religious discussions seriously makes this book a little less enjoyable and worthwhile than it would otherwise have been.

This particular book is an average-sized book at about 200 pages or so. It begins with a list of illustrations, chronology, maps, and a prologue. After that the author discusses the West Indian fleet and its business interests involved in slaving as well as privateering and its guarding duty (1). This leads to a discussion of the heat and wickedness of Port Royal, an overcrowded city built on a sand spit on the other side of Kingston harbor from the modern capital of Jamaica (2). After that there is a discussion of the importance of the slave trade to Jamaica's wealth (3) as well as a look at plantation slavery in the New World (4) and the people who were profiting at it at the end of the 17th century in Jamaica. There is a discussion about the troubled relationship between planters and maroons who sought to be free from the domination of planter elites but found diplomacy necessary to secure their own fragile freedom (5). After that there is a discussion of the decline and fall of the Earl of Inchiquin into death, but a profitable one for his family (6). Finally, the author talks about the earthquake itself at long last (6) and its aftermath in barbarous conflict between the English and French (7), after which there is an epilogue, notes, bibliography, acknowledgements, and index.

The experiences of Jamaica during 1692 reveal at least some of the difficulties that result from natural disasters in the imperial perspective. We have problems of engineering, where the failure to learn the right construction principles lead to a great deal of suffering, and where property speculation sometimes goes haywire. Likewise, the book reveals the sort of lack of fellow spirit that various imperial nations had with each other. The dangers that the British were suffering and the losses that game to their capital encouraged the French to try to invade the island, thinking that the British were greatly weakened, only to be beaten off at considerable loss to themselves. Yet the fall of Port Royal, if it signified the fall of the freewheeling piratical culture of early Jamaica, was more notable in what it did not do, and that is change the destiny of Jamaica from its trajectory towards an island based on the sugar crop and slavery to work the cane fields, and wealthy landowners to profit from that labor and control political power for the foreseeable future. Perhaps the author would have wanted that to be different, but this book is still an arresting look at the context of a natural disaster.

[Ivi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read about Jamaican (and Caribbean) British colonial history. It focuses particularly on a few years before and after the 1692 earthquake, covering everything from slave to goods trade, privateering, pirating, the geopolitical effect of European conflicts on Jamaica (wars with the Dutch, French, Spanish) etc.
For anyone who’s been to Port Royal, or is interested in colonial history from that period, this would be a brilliant read.

[Cindy Vallar · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anyone with even the briefest knowledge of pirate history knows about Port Royal – the “wickedest city” in the world during the 17th century. Yet this is just a small part of its tempestuous history. Originally a Spanish possession, Jamaica fell to the English in 1655. In the early years, Port Royal became a haven for pirates and privateers, the only ones who could protect the island and its residents from the likes of Spain and France. As time passed, the sugar planters gained prominence and power sufficient to turn away the scoundrels and make Port Royal a place where respectable men and women settled, worked, and socialized. This prosperity, however, came at a price – the enslavement of thousands – and it is into this world that readers step when they enter Port Royal with the newly appointed governor, William O’Brien, the Earl of Inchiquin, in 1689.

When this short-tempered Irishman entered Port Royal, the pirates were long gone. Nor would he have suffered their presence for long; he had lost an eye while a captive of Algerine pirates, who finally exchanged him for a £70,000 ransom. The city was comprised of more than 2,000 structures, stone forts, and a number of streets, while on the outskirts of town were the sugar plantations. Port Royal’s population numbered 6,500, nearly 4,000 of which were white; the rest were mostly African slaves.

Although the opening chapters include a brief summary of Port Royal’s pirate history and her most famous buccaneer turned lieutenant-governor, Sir Henry Morgan, Apocalypse 1692 is predominantly a story of slavery, rebellion, and the cataclysmic events of earthquake, flood, and disease that began the slow demise of the wealthiest mercantile center in the New World. Hughes also includes information on the French invasion of the island in 1694 and the city’s decline to the small fishing village that it is today.

Using quotations from period documents and contemporary accounts, Hughes vividly and accurately recreates Port Royal and Jamaican life in the 17th century. He further enhances the experience with a chronology of events in early Jamaican history, illustrations, maps, and chapter notes, and includes a bibliography and index to assist readers in locating additional information or finding specific references within the text. Apocalypse 1692 is a worthy addition to any collection focusing on Jamaican history, slavery, and colonial life in the second half of the 1600s.

[M. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I would recommend this book for Golden Age of Piracy enthusiasts, historical game designers, and those who are interested in the history of the slave trade. Hughes packs this book with details about the history, society, politics, culture, and economy of Jamaica at this time, yet presents it all in a way that is accessible to non-specialists. In addition to discussing what the major colonial powers were doing at the time, Hughes talks about the indigenous Caribe, Taino, and Arawak peoples as well as the "Maroons", escaped slaves who formed their own communities that became strong enough to resist the colonial authorities.

[Steve Majerus-Collins · Rating 3 out of 5]

On one level, Ben Hughes' Apocalypse 1692 reminds me of a college paper padded with a lot of stuff that's ancillary to the topic at hand: the great earthquake that wiped out Port Royal, Jamaica. The earthquake stuff, by the way, is fascinating. But I learned a lot more from Hughes' extended dive into the Caribbean slave trade, the origins and events in early Jamaica and the glimpse he provided of the region's imperial scheming and warring. Is it a great book? No. But it's an interesting one that's written well. There's a keen mind pulling its pieces together. I'll look for other work from Hughes.

[Paul McBride · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fascinating fact filled book, but it is primarily about The slavery business as practiced by the British during the 1600's, the trade and trade routes from Africa to the Caribbean, with the American colonies, and back to England.
It document the horrendous living conditions on the slave ships and on the plantations. It also catalogues the multitude of alliances and betrayals between England, France, Spain, and the Dutch.
Sadly based on the title you would think it would be about the earthquake in Port Royal Jamaica. While this is covered it is not until the very end of the book.

[James Heath · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned much that I didn't know, had clarified some that I knew only something of, and got overloaded with names and dates and surmise. When the earthquake finally arrived, its description and detail were almost worth the effort. I bought the book because of a review in the Wall Street Journal. The reviewer liked Apocalypse 1692 more than I.

[Ashra · Rating 5 out of 5]

GREAT book for me specifically!

I picked this up to help me write about my pirates in my pirate story who visit Port Royal, Jamaica in 1700, 8 years after the catastrophic tsunami/earthquake. Gave me lots of good lore and imagery to work with. Also the deep dive on slavery... heartbreaking.

This was super well researched and it helped me a lot!!

[Edward L.]

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