1856 Last Island hurricane

1856 Last Island hurricane

Category 4 hurricane (SSHS)
Formed	sometime before August 9, 1856
Dissipated	August 12, 1856
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 150 mph (240 km/h)
Lowest pressure	934 mbar (hPa); 27.58 inHg
Fatalities	200+
Areas affected	Louisiana and southwestern Mississippi
Part of the 1856 Atlantic hurricane season

The Last Island hurricane of 1856 was an intense Atlantic hurricane that destroyed Last Island in southern Louisiana. The first tropical cyclone, first hurricane, and first major hurricane of the season, it rapidly intensified before making landfall as a Category 4 hurricane. The powerful winds and storm surge of 9–10 feet destroyed the island, which was a popular tourist resort. The cyclone killed more than 200 people. See also: Last Island, Louisiana#Resort at Last Island

According to modern estimates by NOAA, the storm probably approached Category 5 strength, and its central pressure has been estimated around 934 mbar. It tied with Hurricane Hugo as the tenth most intense hurricane to hit the mainland United States.

Meteorological history

Storm path

The cyclone was first detected in the eastern Gulf of Mexico 125 miles (200 km) west-northwest of Key West, Florida, on August 8, 1856. At the time, it was analyzed as a minimal hurricane by the Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project near Key West, but because it was already a hurricane when it was first observed, it probably had developed further east than here. It steadily advanced northwest, strengthening to the equivalent of a Category 3 hurricane. The hurricane gradually slowed prior to landfall on August 10, and it attained its estimated peak intensity of 150 mph (240 km/h). It was a tropical cyclone of small diameter, and its maximum sustained winds may have reached Category 5 status, but were unrecorded. In the early evening of August 10 the northeastern edge of the eye crossed over Last Island (Official name: Isle Dernière) before making landfall a few hours later south of New Iberia, LA. The cyclone is believed to have struck southern Louisiana at peak intensity with an approximate central pressure of 934 mbar (27.58 inHg). A ship reported a peripheral pressure of 955 mbar (28.20 inHg), so a lower pressure was based on the small size of the hurricane. It quickly weakened over land, and it diminished to a tropical storm on August 11. It dissipated over southwestern Mississippi on August 12 with fully tropical characteristics.

The storm and its aftermath

Ominous weather

On August 9, people noticed a roaring noise out in the gulf, and cattle on the island walked back and forth nervously for hours. On August 10, the weather got worse with the skies turning black, and rain coming down in torrents and huge waves coming ashore. Last Island vacationers noticed the sea churning and were mesmerized by the intensity and forms of the waves. Rev. Robert McAllister, a survivor, later wrote "Each breaker extended to the right and left as far as the eye, straining its vision, could reach... We did not know then as we did afterwards that the voice of those many waters was solemnly saying to us, 'Escape for thy life.'"

Disaster strikes

Many guests hoping to escape were counting on the scheduled arrival of the Star which provided regular service to the mainland. However, the Star was blown off course, barely escaping sailing into the open gulf, directly into the hurricane, where she would almost certainly been lost. Passenger Tom Ellis, an experienced captain in local waters, and a few other passengers noticed the ship was off course. Ellis alerted Captain Abe Smith, who corrected the course and barely making headway against the winds, managed to pull into the channel behind the hotel. The Star was swept, crashing into shore and beached on the sand, where she stayed through the storm.

Visibility during the storm was extremely limited and eyes were blasted by blowing sand until water covered the beaches. Sometime between 4:00 and 5:00 PM the storm surge occurred suddenly, with the water rising several feet in a matter of minutes. The storm surge submerged the entire island and destroyed all of the buildings. The hotel, which held many women and children on the second floor and men on the first, collapsed, crushing many and sweeping others out to sea.

Several survivors managed to make their way to the hull of the Star. By tying himself with a rope to the Star, Captain Abe Smith was able to rescue at least 40 people from the storm surge. The Star would serve as a shelter for the survivors until rescuers arrived three days later.

Many managed to survive by taking shelter in or behind overturned cisterns, which were large wooden cylindrical tanks reinforced with iron hoops. Some clung to the raised foundations of the cisterns and a few to trees. A dozen people survived by clinging to a large piece of rotating playground equipment atop a levee. Many floated on debris, including wall sections, logs and furniture. A sturdy wooden enclosure that held large terrapins, a regional delicacy, provided enough protection to save several individuals. Another group survived by burying their feet in the sand and holding hands. Some survivors were carried to the marshes on the mainland, although many perished from injuries or lack of food and water.

Of the approximately 400 vacationers on the island, 198 were known or presumed dead and 203 were known survivors. Dixon (2009) provides lists of survivors and the dead.

Planter society devastated

The tragedy greatly affected the planter society, which lost many prominent members. At the time of the hurricane approximately two thirds of the millionaires in the U.S. lived in Louisiana, many of those being plantation owners, especially sugar growers. The social group affected was rather close knit, many being friends, acquaintances, or related by marriage or known through business.

Several of the victims were slaves. Some of the slaves were credited with rescuing people, including several children.

The home of three of the Last Island casualties is the popular tourist attraction Shadows on the Teche Plantation where Mrs. Francis Weeks (Magill) Prewitt and her children Ida Magill and Agustin Magill lived. The children are buried on the grounds.

Ships lost and death toll at sea

Steamer Nautilus: 85

Steamer Manilla: 13

Schooner Ellen: 15

Other losses at sea: 20

Other effects

The island itself was split up into the Last Islands (Isles Dernieres). The island reportedly stayed submerged for several days before parts of it reemerged as large sandbars. Following the storm surge, the remains of the Star were the only sign that an island had ever existed there. Today, the area is utilized by pelicans and other birds.

Last Island in 1853 (prior to the hurricane)

The city of New Orleans was inundated with 13.14 inches (335 mm) of rain. Every building in the town of Abbeville, Louisiana, was destroyed. There was severe flooding throughout Plaquemines Parish.

In print

The disaster was in the national news as soon as three of survivors salvaged a small boat and sailed to the mainland for help.

In addition to the several first hand accounts, the story of Lost Island has resurfaced periodically over the years. The list below contains only a few versions:

In 1871 Harper's New Monthly carried a story about the capsizing of the steamer Nautilus and Jim Frisbee, the ship's second steward, the only survivor.

Lafcadio Hearn's Chita: A Memory of Last Island (1889) based on the Last Island hurricane of 1856, was a popular story when published; however, it either created or perpetuated several myths about the tragedy. One of the main sources of Hearn's novel was identified as the account written by Iberville Parish, Louisiana sugar planter Michael Shlatre. After publication of the Chita, Michael Shlatre's document went missing after being borrowed but never returned. The document was discovered in the Iberville Parish courthouse in Plaquemine, LA in 1936.

Bill Dixon's Last Days of Last Island was written using information from various archives in an attempt to be historically accurate. The numerous references include a newspaper article, a few books, and accounts of the survivors, many of which are quoted.

Bibliography

• Last Island, by James M. Sothern, Market$hare Enterprises, 1980.
• Last Days of Last Island, by Bill Dixon, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2009. ISBN 1-887366-88-1
• Island in a Storm: A Rising Sea, a Vanishing Coast, and a Nineteenth-Century Disaster that Warns of a Warmer World, by Abby Sallenger, Public Affairs, Perseus Book Group, NY, 2009. ISBN 1-58648-515-6, ISBN 978-1-58648-515-3

See also

• List of tropical cyclones
• List of Atlantic hurricanes

External links

• NOLA.com article about the storm
• NOAA list of intense hurricanes
• Louisiana hurricane history
• Robert McAllister's eyewitness account
• The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492–1996
• 1856 account of the Hurricane