Port Royal · Jamaica

The Wickedest City
on Earth

Gold, rum, pirates - and the morning the sea took it all back.

1655

The English Take the Harbour

Cromwell's fleet seizes Jamaica. A sand spit at the harbour's mouth becomes a fort, then a town, then a magnet for every privateer in the Caribbean.

6,500 souls at its peak1 in 4 buildings a tavernHenry Morgan sailed from here

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A question before you sail on

Who seized Jamaica for England in 1655?

June 7, 1692 · 11:43 AM

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June 7, 1692. A merchant morning like any other. Keep scrolling.

1692

Ninety Seconds

The sand beneath the city liquefied. Two-thirds of Port Royal slid into the harbour; some two thousand people were lost before noon. The drowned streets are still down there.

33 acres swallowed by the sea~2,000 lost in minutes13 m deep today

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A question before you sail on

What sank Port Royal in 1692?

1755

The Navy's Fortress

Port Royal rebuilt itself as the Royal Navy's Caribbean stronghold. Nelson walked the quarterdeck at Fort Charles; the dockyard refitted the fleet that ruled these waters.

Fort Charles guarding the passageHoratio Nelson stood watch here1735 naval dockyard opens

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A question before you sail on

Which future admiral stood watch at Fort Charles?

Today

The City That Refused to Sink Twice

Fires, storms, and a second quake in 1907 - yet Port Royal endures: a fishing village on top of a drowned city, now a heritage site awaiting the world.

Fort Charles still standsGiddy House leans since 1907UNESCO tentative list

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Stories from this era

Test Heritage

Test summary Information Giddy House Area

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A question before you sail on

What has leaned sideways in Port Royal since the 1907 quake?

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