Earthquakes.
On June 1, 1638, between the hours of 3 and 4 P. M., the weather clear and warm, and the wind westerly, all
New England was violently
shaken by an internal convulsion of the earth.
It came on with a noise like continued thunder, and the shock lasted about four minutes. The earth shook with such violence that in some places the people could not stand upright without difficulty, and many movable articles in the houses were thrown down.
The earth was unquiet for twenty days afterwards.
On Jan. 26, 1663, a heavy shock of earthquake was felt in
New England and in New York, and was particularly severe in
Canada, where it was recorded that “the doors opened and shut of themselves with a fearful clattering.
The bells rang without being touched.
The walls were split asunder.
The floors separated and fell down.
The fields put on the appearance of precipices, and the mountains seemed to be moving out of their places.”
Small rivers were dried up; some mountains appeared to be much broken and moved, and half-way between
Quebec and Tadousac two mountains were shaken down, and formed a point of land extending some distance into the
St. Lawrence.
On Oct. 29, 1727, there was a severe earthquake in
New England, lasting about two minutes. Its course seemed to be from the
Delaware River, in the southwest, to the
Kennebec, in the northeast, a distance of about 700 miles. It occurred at about twenty minutes before eleven o'clock in the morning, and the sky was serene.
Pewter and china were cast from their shelves, and stone walls and chimney-tops were shaken down.
In some places doors were burst open, and people could hardly keep their feet.
There had been an interval of fifty-seven years since the last earthquake in
New England.
On the same day the island of
Martinique, in the
West Indies, was threatened with total destruction by an earthquake which lasted eleven hours. On Nov. 18, 1755, an earthquake shock was felt from
Chesapeake Bay along the coast of
Halifax, Nova Scotia, about 800 miles; and in the interior it seems to have extended, from northwest to southeast, more than 1,000 miles.
In Boston 100 chimneys were levelled with the roofs of the houses, and 1,500 more or less shattered.
The ends of several brick buildings were thrown down with the chimneys.
The vane on the public market was thrown to the earth.
At
New Haven, Conn., the ground moved like waves of the sea; the houses shook and cracked, and many chimneys were thrown down.
It oc-
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A result of the earthquake in Charleston, August 31, 1886. |
curred at four o'clock in the morning, and lasted four and a half minutes. At the same time there was a great tidalwave in the
West Indies.
In April, the same year,
Quito, in South America, was destroyed by an earthquake; and eighteen days before the earthquake in
North America there was an awful and extensive one in
southern Europe that extended into
Africa.
The earth was violently shaken for 5,000 miles—even to
Scotland.
In eight minutes the city of
Lisbon, with 50,000 inhabitants, was swallowed up. Other cities in
Portugal and
Spain were partially destroyed.
One half of Fez, in northern
Africa, was destroyed, and more than 12,000 Arabs perished.
In the island of
Mitylene, in the
Grecian Archipelago, 2,000 houses were overthrown; and half of the island of
Madeira, 660 miles southwest from
Portugal, became a waste.
The last earthquake of consequence was on Aug. 31, 1886, when a large part of the city of
Charleston, S. C., was destroyed, with many lives.
