“Extract of a letter...”

Date

5-27-1812

Newspaper

Alexandria Herald

Page and Column

Page 3, Column 2 and 3

Newspaper Location

Alexandria, Virginia

Serial Number

1177

Abstract

Article that notes damage of March 26, 1812 earthquake at the province of Coro and at Maracaybo where the depth there was decreased by 2 feet. Notes that Carracas was destroyed. Laguria was covered by landslides. Capo Blanco and Maicasi were covered by the ocean

Transcript

Extract of a letter from a Spanish gentleman at Coro, dated 13th April, 1812. The dispensations of God to man, are beyond human comprehension; who can doubt the existence of a ruling providence? The events which lately occurred at Caraccas, are beyond conception. On Holy Thursday, the anniversary of the revolution, at about 5 o'clock in the afternoon, an Earthquake was experienced throughout Terra Firma, which, doubt, was the severest and of longer duration, of any I ever remember in the different parts of the globe I have visited. But that part of the province of Coro, which remains faithful to their king, has not suffered the least injury; the only effect produced at Maracaybo, by this horrible convulsion of nature, was the decrease of nearly 2 feet of the depth of water on the bar. Caraccas is entirely destroyed; the few houses that have remained are mere uninhabitable ruins. The troops perished in their barracks; the number of the dead is not exactly known, but it is very considerable. Laguayra was covered by the mountains which hung over it. Out of 60 sick in the hospital of that place, only one man was saved; he was a royalist condemned to death, on account of his resistence at Valentia; he made his escape, and has since arrived at Curasao. Cape Blanco and Maicasi, have entirely disappeared from the surface of the earth, and their former scites are now covered by the sea. This wonderful change occasioned the capture to leeward, of an American schooner, which was bound to Laguayra, having on board some French passengers and two emissaries of Napoleon. The captain did not know the coast of Laguayra, or Porto Cabello, which is entirely changed and was captured by one of our cruisers off Cumasco, and brought into the roads of Vela; the Frenchmen have been imprisoned; among them there is a clergyman, who formerly had been here asking charity for some religious community, and another a known agent of Napoleon, of whom the governor here was already apprised and had orders to arrest. At Porto Cabello, about 30 houses have been totally swalled up, and of the remainder, only two houses are habitable, the one belonging to Mr. Herrera and the other to Mr. Lianos, both royalists, the one residing in Coro, the other in Porto Rico. The fortifications are a mass of ruins. From Baquisimeto we learn, that out of seven churches, only one remains, and the city is entirely ruined. Our troops under the command of captain Monteverde of the royal navy, are marching for that city, after having conquered Caroca, in the interior, which did not suffer by the earthquake. St. Felipe, St. Carlos, Valles de Arsqua, and Santa Rosa, have all suffered more or less. Our general Migares, is gone to Porto Rico, with col. Carabano, to hold a council of war; he has left here in his absence, brigadier gen. Cagigal. I know not what has occasioned the activity which is observed in our small army under the command of Monteverde, a Canarian, Cagigal had been at Porto Rico, and the gen. proceeded to that island immediately on his return.

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