Racer's hurricane
Racer's hurricane was a destructive tropical cyclone that had severe effects in northeastern Mexico, the Republic of Texas, and the Gulf Coast of the United States in early October 1837.
Termed "one of the most famous and destructive hurricanes of the century" by meteorology historian David Ludlum,[1] the storm first affected Jamaica with flooding rainfall and strong winds on September 26 and 27, before entering the Gulf of Mexico by October 1.
Matamoros, on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, faced hurricane conditions for several days, with significant damage to ships.
As the weakening storm buffeted the Outer Banks of North Carolina on October 9, the passenger steamship SS Home ran aground about 300 ft (91 m) off Cape Hatteras and rapidly broke up in the pounding surf.
Both ships recorded easterly winds for several days as they traversed the Yucatán Channel, indicating that the storm center remained to their south.
Due to the tight pressure gradient between the storm and an expansive high-pressure area centered over the Ohio Valley, damaging winds extended far to the north of the hurricane's track.
[19] Efforts to reconstruct the hurricane's path began as early as 1838 with the work of Corps of Royal Engineers officer William Reid, who examined logbooks of ships in the Caribbean.
[7] American meteorologist William Charles Redfield had been studying the portion of the storm's track over the eastern U.S., but it would not be until 1846 that, based on Reid's work, he recognized it as a continuation of Racer's hurricane.
[21] In Jamaica, heavy rainfall triggered widespread street flooding, forcing nearly all businesses in Kingston to close for the duration of the storm.
He also wrote extensively of his experiences during the hurricane, during which he was able to hear crashing waves on the coast, some 18 mi (29 km) away, and witnessed whitecaps on floodwaters in city streets.
[7][25] The storm surge deposited ships in fields several miles inland; near Sabine Pass, a three-masted barque came to rest 7 mi (11 km) from the coast.
[17] Strong winds in the city toppled chimneys, brought down trees and fences, and unroofed homes, carrying some roofs up to 100 ft (30 m) away from the damaged buildings.
[7] In the settlement known then as Port Pontchartrain (now part of New Orleans), a pier and breakwater sustained a combined $50,000 (1837 USD) in damage, and most buildings there were swept away.
Strong winds destroyed homes and toppled trees in Baton Rouge, and ravaged forests and plantations surrounding the city.
[28] All the wharves along the coast of Mississippi were destroyed,[26] and the influx of freshwater runoff severely affected the locally prized oyster beds in the Bay of St. Louis.
Tides rose several feet above normal, flooding low-lying streets so that fishermen were able to deliver their catches directly to market by boat.
[29] There were descriptions of tremendous damage to wharves and warehouses along the coasts of Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, although some accounts may have been exaggerated by rival companies.
[33] The newly built passenger steamship SS Home was en route from New York City to Charleston, South Carolina when she encountered strengthening northeasterly winds on October 8.
[34] All passengers and crewmen were ordered to assist in bailing out the water pouring into the hold, but despite their best efforts, the engine rooms were inundated and the Home was forced to continue under sail.
[34] The largely submerged Home rapidly broke up amid the hurricane's pounding surf, and of the 130 people aboard the steamboat, only about 40 made it to shore alive: 20 out of 90 passengers and 20 crew members, including the captain.
[39] The wreck of the Home occurred during a period of increasingly frequent passenger steamship tragedies, and in 1838 Congress passed reformed safety legislation for these vessels.
