2-798-524 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Town and harbour of Havannah, 1844. Ships at the port of Havana: 'Havannah, the capital of the island of Cuba, and the whole of its northern and southern shores, have just been the scene of a dire calamity, by which the prospects of the sugar crop are rendered infinitely worse than before...the most terrific hurricane that was ever experienced in the island...accompanied by a violent deluge of rain, mixed with spray from the sea. Houses were thrown down, and trees rooted up; several small towns and villages...are said to present little more than heaps of ruins. The accounts from the estates announce the most serious injury; whole fields of cane appear as if fire had passed over them...It is difficult as yet to form an estimate of the vast amount of property destroyed, or of the probable influence of the calamity on the quantity of sugar next season..'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol V.