Port Royal was a small port at the mouth of Kingston Harbour, built on loose sand. In the seventeenth century it was a base for privateers and pirates, with taverns, gambling houses and brothels. It was called “the wickedest city on Earth”, a phrase Wikipedia notes lacks a citation, so it is best read as reputation rather than measured fact.
The Horror
On June 7, 1692, an earthquake struck the town. The time of about 11:43 in the morning is inferred from a pocket watch found stopped at that hour, and rests on that one object, although the article says it matches contemporary accounts. The earthquake is estimated at magnitude 7.5. There were three shocks of increasing strength, ending in the main shock.
Port Royal stood on loose sand, which liquefied. The popular image is of a town flowing into the sea, but the main effect was subsidence: about two thirds of the town, roughly 13 hectares, sank almost at once. The sea drew back and returned as a wave of about 1.8 metres, though some of the harbour waves may have been seiches rather than a true tsunami. HMS Swann was reportedly carried over rooftops, and more than twenty moored ships capsized.
About 2,000 people died in the earthquake and waves. About 3,000 more died in the following days from injuries and disease, which gives a total near 5,000. Death figures vary by source. A landslide at Judgement Cliff killed 19, although its exact date is uncertain. Survivors looted, and some bodies were robbed.
The Modern Relic
The government moved to Spanish Town, and fire in 1703 and a hurricane in 1722 did more damage. Trade shifted to Kingston and Port Royal was largely abandoned by the late eighteenth century. Fort Charles survived the earthquake. Forts James and Carlisle sank, and Fort Rupert became open water.
The watch was made in the Netherlands around 1686 by the French maker Blondel. It was recovered during underwater archaeology led by Edwin Link in 1959, according to the earthquake article, although the Port Royal article places it in the 1960s. Where it is kept today is unconfirmed. Texas A&M’s Nautical Archaeology Program investigated the sunken town from 1981 for ten years, and in 2025 the site was inscribed by UNESCO as The Archaeological Ensemble of 17th Century Port Royal.
Today Port Royal is a small town at the end of the Palisadoes. Visitors can see the Giddy House, a tilted artillery store, and the remains of the Naval Hospital. The sunken streets are underwater.
