Isaac's Storm - Erik Larson [111]
22 “Paul diction sunk”: Whitnah, 26.
23 These nocturnal sessions: Frankenfield, 6.
24 Often recruits told each other: von Herrmann, 4.
25 One lieutenant deliberately: Geddings, 9.
26 Another officer, seeking: Ibid., 3.
27 One morning a recruit: Ibid., 11.
The Storm: Monday, August 27, 1900
Here, and in subsequent chapters, I relied on an unpublished report by Jose Fernandez-Partagas, a late-twentieth-century meteorologist who re-created for the National Hurricane Center the tracks of many historical hurricanes, among them the Galveston hurricane. He was a meticulous researcher given to long hours in the library of the University of Miami, where he died on August 25, 1997, in his favorite couch. He had no money, no family, no friends—only hurricanes. The hurricane center claimed his body, had him cremated, and on August 31, 1998, launched his ashes through the drop-port of a P-3 Orion hurricane-hunter into the heart of Hurricane Danielle. His remains entered the atmosphere at 28 N, 74.2 W, about three hundred miles due east of Daytona Beach.
All references to the storm’s latitude and longitude in this chapter and subsequent chapters come from page 108 in Fernandez-Partagas’s report.
1 The first formal sighting: Fernandez-Partagas, 96, note 1.
Fort Myer: What Isaac Knew
1 He read how men caught: No one can know precisely what Isaac read at Fort Myer, but it is reasonable to conclude that he studied storms in great depth, since in his time storms were the “meteors” of the greatest interest. For horseflies, see Rosser, The Law of Storms, 40; for stranded deer, see Ludlum, 61; for levitated cannon, Ludlum, 62, 70. In Barbados in 1831 a hurricane carried a 150-pound piece of lead over 1,800 feet, and a 400-pound piece 1,680 feet. McDonough, 7. McDonough found also that the Barbados storm caused a strange change in ambient light. “While this storm was passing over the West Indies … objects which were of a whitish color appeared to be of light blue, so marked as to attract the attention of all the inhabitants.” McDonough, 8.
2 Thomas Jefferson kept: Hughes, 26. George Washington also kept a weather diary, Hughes tells us, and made his last entry the day before his death.
3 Samuel Rodman Jr.: Ibid., 31–32.
4 The first “scientific”: definition Frisinger, 5.
5 The first person to show: Ibid., 47.
6 Aristotle proved: Ibid., 67.
7 With the sobriety: Ibid., 32.
8 Columbus set off: Morison, 198; Ludlum, 1–3.
9 “The weather was”: Morison, 201.
10 Columbus and his captains: Ludlum, 1; Douglas, 47.
11 Columbus had at least: Morison, 584–93.
12 “The storm was terrible”: Ludlum, 6.
13 Only one ship: Morison, 590.
14 In 1638, Galileo: Frisinger, 67.
15 The meteorological significance: Ibid., 68.
16 To get any observable effect: Ibid., 68–69.
17 The term barometer: Ibid., 72.
18 Isaac considered him: Cline, “Century,” 3.
19 The Reserve put in: Snow, 1–17; Douglas, 132–35.
20 In 1627, a very brave: Lockhart, 37.
21 It was Edmund Halley: Frisinger, 123–25.
22 In 1735, George Hadley: Ibid., 125–28.
23 A century later: Lockhart, 37; Watson, 28; Trefil, 96–104.
24 Isaac, in his 1891 talk: Cline, “Address.”
25 “Who can attempt”: Thomas, 164. Thomas reproduces Archer’s full account on 154–69. See also Reid, 296–303. For detailed accounts of the three hurricanes, see Reid, Douglas, and Ludlum. For official death toll, see Rappaport and Fernandez-Partagas, “Deadliest.”
26 The second hurricane: Ludlum, 69–72; Reid, 340–65.
27 “The most beautiful island”: Ludlum, 69.
28 The storm lurched: Reid, 345.
29 The third hurrican: Douglas, 173; Ludlum, 72–73.
30 Together the three: Douglas, 173.
31 The first captain: Friendly, 146.
32 On September 3, 1821: Ludlum, 81; for complete account, see 81–86. Also, Douglas, 221–26; Rosser, W. H., 9–17. For an account of the long-burning feud between Redfield and James Espy, “The Storm King,” see Laskin, 138–40.
33 It was Piddington: Douglas, 224.
34 “The unfortunate inhabitants”: Tannehill, 31.
35 “I had studied”: Cline, “Century,” 25–26.
36 Piddington,