Disaster and desire in Tobago: The hurricane of 1847

Dr Rita Pemberton  -
Dr Rita Pemberton -

Dr Rita Pemberton

The first decade after Emancipation was a decisive period in the history of Tobago, when it was clear the free African workers were not willing to tolerate terms and conditions reminiscent of the period of enslavement.

The planting community, which had shown itself unwilling to adjust its modus operandi, sought to employ a number of mechanisms, including immigrant labour schemes, to force workers to accept their terms.

These processes were rudely interrupted by a disaster which hit the island, to which the response of the authorities is instructive.

On the night of October 11, 1847, a hurricane – which according to officials is more properly described as a tornado – swept across Tobago, from one end to the other, with increasing force, after 8pm until daybreak.

Throughout the extended battering, the hurricane left a trail of destruction. Vessels were tossed seawards and then lashed back to the shore as wrecked monuments to the force of its visitation. The community was taken by surprise, because the island was considered to be out of the range of hurricanes, having not experienced one since 1790. Disaster complacency was reflected in construction practices: buildings on the island were not strengthened to resist hurricane force winds.

The Lieutenant Governor and his officials sent detailed reports to the imperial authorities on the state of affairs and the actions taken to mitigate the impact of the disaster.

This body of correspondence reflected two trends. Firstly, it provided minutiae on the buildings that were destroyed, particularly sugar works, estate buildings and the homes of plantation owners and managers, and indicated the nature of the support they required from the imperial government.

Of the island’s 70 operating estates, 26 factories and 30 large dwelling houses were completely destroyed, and 33 works and 31 houses damaged.

This left only ten estates with a capacity to continue to manufacture sugar. This was to underscore the extent of the need for financial support to put the island’s sugar industry back on its feet, which theme dominated the contents of letters to the imperial government about the hurricane.

Fortunately, there were only 17 casualties, which included four children of planters.

The second trend was reflected in the communication about the free African population. While it was reported that this class also suffered severe losses – 465 houses were destroyed and 180 lost their roofs or were otherwise severely damaged – the Lieutenant Governor commended the behaviour of the population, which, he said, posed no threat to the island’s security. The members of this group showed no signs of despondency and were energetically engaged in repairing and rebuilding.

With their self-help process under way, it can be deduced that, unlike the planting community, the freed Africans did not need imperial assistance, which was, of course, not provided. Governor Graeme planned a day of thanksgiving and humiliation to give support to the positivity evident in the population.

The Lieutenant Governor indicated that the barracks at Fort King George, which housed the island’s main security forces, had been destroyed and the men were removed to safety; later, “having every confidence that the peace of the colony would not be disturbed,” he authorised the movement of the troops to Trinidad.

Having also made arrangements for housing the homeless, he assured the imperial authorities the peace of the island was secure. Then came the contradiction.

It is ironical that, after heaping praises on the conduct of the African population, Governor Graeme found it necessary to issue a proclamation on October 15 which called on all persons to maintain the honesty and good conduct for which the island was known and warned all those who might be desirous of taking advantage of the situation to appropriate the scattered property of others to note that all such acts were illegal and would come under the brunt of the law if such items were found in their possession.

Such persons would be speedily prosecuted for felony and all magistrates, ministers of gospel, constables and peace officers were required to broadcast this proclamation to the people in the effort to protect the property of those who had already suffered much losses from the hurricane, ie the planters.

In support of this proclamation, the Council and House of Assembly submitted a bill to the Colonial Office for its approval on October 20, 1847, which presented a completely contradictory view of the conduct of the African population from that initially presented by the Lieutenant Governor. Entitled an “Act for the Summary Conviction of Persons Detected in Stealing or Pilfering Goods, Lumber etc. Exposed or Scattered by the Hurricane,” its preamble said because there were many idle and disorderly persons moving about the country refusing to work and apparently seeking to use the opportunity to plunder, a faster legal process was needed to deal with such breaches and to protect property than the laws in force allowed.

The act identified as unlawful acts: stealing or taking away money, valuable security, goods or chattels, wares, merchandise, lumber shingles, staves, bricks, tiles, copper, zinc, lead, tin, iron or other building material from any building, or any other place or attached or detached from any building affected by the hurricane. The act empowered two justices of the peace to send such persons to the tribunal, to the ordinary tribunals or on summary conviction, based on the oath of one or more credible witnesses, to adjudge the person guilty of felony and to sentence him to be publicly whipped with the cat o’ nine tails with up to 39 lashes and for women, imprisonment with hard labour for three months.

This piece of legislation, which was to be in force for three months, reveals the extent to which Tobago’s planting community remained wedded to the labour practices of enslavement in order to maintain the sugar industry.

The hurricane disaster, which catapulted the labour issue into greater prominence at a time when the industry was plagued by general post-Emancipation problems and economic challenges, revealed the deepest desire of a struggling sugar-planting fraternity: to force the Africans to accept planter terms and serve the sugar industry, to whose existing wounds the hurricane disaster added salt. It was a desire that was destined to remain unfulfilled.

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"Disaster and desire in Tobago: The hurricane of 1847"

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