# Great Hurricane of 1780 (1780)

URL: https://allhistories.com/saint-vincent-and-the-grenadines/timeline/1780-great-hurricane-of-1780
Location: Kingstown, Saint Vincent
Themes: main-event

The hurricane season of 1780 was one of the most destructive in Caribbean history. In the middle of October an extremely powerful storm crossed the Lesser Antilles while the region was crowded with British and French warships and garrisons fighting the American war. The Great Hurricane struck Barbados around 10 October, killing thousands, and then swept across Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia and Martinique. In Saint Vincent, then under French occupation, it destroyed 584 of the 600 houses in Kingstown, along with estates, sugar works and crops across the island. A contemporary official in Guadeloupe wrote that Grenada, Saint Vincent, Saint Lucia and Martinique had "suffered more than any person can conceive". Warships of both navies were wrecked or dismasted, and many sailors drowned. With an estimated death toll of more than 20,000 across the Caribbean, the storm remains the deadliest Atlantic hurricane known. For Saint Vincent it brought ruin to an economy already disrupted by war and occupation, with famine and disease following among the enslaved population. Recovery took years and was only beginning when the island returned to British rule in 1783–1784. At this point in the timeline (October 1780), the King of France was Louis XVI (16 June 1779 – 1 January 1784); the French Governor of Saint Vincent was Antoine Dumontet (1779 – December 1780); the Paramount Chief of the Black Caribs (Garifuna) of Saint Vincent was Joseph Chatoyer (c. 1768 – 14 March 1795).

## Why it matters
The 1780 hurricane was the most destructive natural disaster in eighteenth-century Saint Vincent.

Ruler at the Time: [Louis XVI](https://allhistories.com/saint-vincent-and-the-grenadines/rulers/louis-xvi)

French Governor of Saint Vincent: Antoine Dumontet
Paramount Chief of the Black Caribs (Garifuna) of Saint Vincent: Joseph Chatoyer

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Great Hurricane of 1780](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Hurricane_of_1780)
- [Wikipedia — 1780 Atlantic hurricane season](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1780_Atlantic_hurricane_season)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Great Hurricane of 1780](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Great+Hurricane+of+1780)
- [Wikipedia — British Conquest And The Carib Wars (period overview)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Carib_War)