A Sad and Terrible RELATION Of Two Dreadful Earthquakes That happened in England and at Jamaca.   corpses lie on the ground while animals flee from a city being destroyed 
Licenced according to Order.  
Printed for P. Brooksby, J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back. 1692.   

A Sad and Terrible Relation Of Two Dreadful Earthquakes The one happening in ENGLAND, Especially at London and Cambridge, On the 8th. of September, and the other at JAMACO, In the WEST-INDIES, On the 7th. of July, 1692.  
With their Dreadful Effects; but more especially the great Damage the latter did at Port-Royal, and in divers other places of Jamaca, to the Destruction of many People and Buildings; with the Destruction of the Swan Frigate, by the Shaking and Opening of the Earth, and Inundation of Water.  
ALSO, An Account of the Defeat of the French than Landed in Jamaca, the destroying their Ships and Men, etc.  
Licenced according to Order.  
Printed for P. Brooksby. J. Deacon, J. Blare, and J. Back. 1692.   

A Sad and Terrible RELATION Of Two Dreadful Earthquakes.  
GReat and Terrible are the Wonderful Works of God in his Creation, and yet more amazing and stupendious, the Effects of them relating to the power and force he Arms the Elements withal, which demonstrates his Almightiness, and the weakness of our greatest Strength and Force; when he designs to baffle and overthrow them, even the Winds, the Sea, the Fire and the Air, are Instruments of Might in his hand, and when he raises them up, who can stand before them? The Holy Scripture tells us, The Earth trembles at his presence, and the foundations thereof are shaken; the Hills melt, and the Mountain's smoke at his touch; he dries up the Deep with his looks, and at his Rebuke the Heavens flee away, and are rolled up together like a Scroll.  
These things should strike fear and awe into the hearts of Men, and make them tremble at so great a Majesty; and amongst all these, Earthquakes are very terrible and amazing; for how can we but tremble, when we feel the Frame of the Earth shake under us, the Foundations of the Round World totter, so that we know not in the Consternation and Confusion, whither to fly for safety!  
This happens generally in Earthquakes, of which we in our Age have had many sad Instances; people have been shaken out of their Habitations, or buried in the Rubbish, some swallowed up alive in the gaping breaches of the Earth; and indeed, all Contingencies of this nature have been very fearful and amazing: England, as many Histories make mention, has not been free at sundry times from these strange Convulsions, and a trembling of it was felt near a Year ●ince, here and in Ireland at one and the same time: Naples and Lima have lately had their share, the one much shattered, and the other quite demolished: But to leave what has been a few Years past, we come now to the present lamentable Subject of this Paper.  
After what has been said relating to Earthquakes, I shall instance those that have happened very lately: and because it is nearest and most in Memory, I shall first instance that which happened in England on the 8th. of September, the which though it did not any damage as yet heard of, was very terrible and amazing, because not frequent in these parts.  
It happened after much Rain, in the former part of the Year, to be a very hot and dry Season in August and the beginning of September, and was on the day this happened, to be the first considerable Rain that had intervened, when between One and Two in the Afternoon it Raining hard, and being very Cloudy Wether, all on a sudden the Houses in London, Westminster, Wapping, Southwark, and many Miles distant, and (as we since have heard) almost throughout England, began to Rock and Dance as it were, to the great startling and amazement of the Inhabitants, some imagining the Foundations were sinking, others that they were possessed with Dizziness;, or Vertigo their heads by the unexpected motion, swimming with an unusual kind of Giddyness; Some conjectured it the sudden blowing up of Powder Mills near London; however, though the Cause was not in such a surprise presently known, yet the Stools, Chairs, Pewter, and other Household Utensils, moving, and as it were, taking an unusual Dance: The Streets were filled with people that left their Houses, some with Children in their Arms, others with Children following and crying after them; and although it gave but three Shakes, and those in about a Minute's space, yet so great was the Consternation, the people fearing a worse Effect, that their disturbance and disorder continued a long time. Some old decayed Houses were a little shattered by the Shock, but we hear not of any that totally fell: Nor had it only its effects on Land, but on the Water, the River of Thames tossing at that time, as if it had been a great Tempest, to the Admiration of those that were passing it; and a strange Murmuring in the Air was heard, as of a sudden Whirlwind; and those that came for many Miles from the adjacent parts, report, that its. Effects there were very fearful and surprising. We have a particular Account its Effects were felt at Shierness, Portsmouth▪ and many other places, but more sensibly at Cambridge, where the Colledge-Halls, and other Famous Structures of the University Rocked and Tottered exceedingly, as well as the meaner Buildings, whilst the affrighted Students and other Inhabitants, run out trembling, as in other places; though, through God's wonderful Mercy, it only Frighted, without occasioning any extraordinary Damage, as usually attends Earthquakes; for which Let us Praise and Magnify his Holy Name, since other Nations have not been so preserved, as in the following Account will more evidently appear.  
Few, we believe, there are in England, but have heard of the Famous Island of Jamaco, taken by the English from the Spaniards, in their Expedition to the West-Indies, 1653. an Island then very Fruitful, but since more plentifully improved, but more especially it has been noted for the Terrible Earthquake lately happening there: some signs of an Earthquake appeared by the paleness of the Sun at setting, dullness of the stars in the Night, thickness and grossness of the Air, the unusual murmuring of the Winds, and huge swelling of the Sea; the which on the 7th. of July about Noon, broke out by the Harbour side in Port-Royal, and did great Damage upon the Island, throwing down there many Houses, but on the Harbour divers of the Houses sunk down, from three to five Fathom, in a very short space, computed at no more than a Minute: And what was yet more fearful, in the Streets next the Wharf, the Ground opened, with fearful Gaping, out of which issued such abundance of Water, that divers of the Inhabitants were drowned in the Flood, which came out like a mighty Deluge, the Breach being very wide and deep: The other part of the Town that escaped the Water, was very much shattered, so that the people were forced to fly from them, some being much Wounded by the falling Ruins, and some are supposed to have perished in them; but those who had lost their Habitations and escaped, were taken care of by order of the Magistrates, who took great care for their safety and subsistence.  
The Swan Frigate that was Careening on the Wharf, and not able to get off, was driven in among the ruined Buildings, and Stones of the Works where she was, beaten to pieces, and the trembling of the Earth continued for a long time; the Sea seemed to Swell more than usual, and boil up, as being extraordinarily Agitated.  
During this Disorder in the Island, it happened that divers French Vessels came in to the Northward, and Landed about Three Hundred Men, doing some little Damage: whereupon their Majesty's Ship the Guernsey, being a Man of War, and some Sloops, took a Compass to come in with them, and fell so successfully upon them, that having battered the French Vessels a while, they set them on Fire, and so warily plied those on the Land, that they were all cut off, except Eighteen that got off in a Shallop and narrowly escaped the fury of our Men, who in this Action got some considerable Booty: So that as our people suffered by the Earthquake, against which there is no contending, or at least preventing, in humane power or possibility, the French bore a part in this, or a more shameful Misfortune, by being overthrown with a small number, when they had, no doubt, promised themselves great things from this attempt, as being at great Charge to enterprise it; and indeed, it happened at such a time as might have promised them better success than they met withal; So leaving them to their deserved Fate, we come to make some Remarks upon the Earthquake.  
The extraordinary Fury that did this Execution, we find was so sudden and unexpected, that divers people more than did, must have perished in the Waters, and the Ruins of the tottering Houses, that could not presently be known who they were; for by the report of several that were Spectators of their lamentable Misfortune, the blowing up was so swift, as if it had been a Train of Powder laid under some mighty Pile of Buildings; yet they thought in that combustible Confusion, they heard the Cry of the miferable people that perished; but as soon as the Terr●r and Consternation was over, all diligence and care was used to save and secure those that had got off, and the people every where shown their extraordinary Charity towards them, and commiserated their sufferings; and the Enemy, as you have heard, who came to make advantage and insult over their Miseries in this great Calamity, not only lost his expectation, but was utterly Routed; so that these distressed people in the midst of danger, found Mercy and Deliverance.  
These kind of Earthquakes are in themselves very Terrible, and are occasioned by an Exhalation of Hot and Cold that is enclosed in the Caves of the Earth, struggling there to find passage and break forth, and forces out violently when it comes into so narrow a passage that it cannot find wideness enough to breathe, being more violent in shaking the Earth, sometimes rending and cleaving it, at other times casting up Earth a great height into the Air, and sometimes it causeth it to sink to great depths, as in the present case.  
FINIS.