Synopsis "Undiminished Violence: The John Minturn Storm of 1846 (in English)"
"He who foresees calamities, suffers them twice over"The east coast of the United States was mostly quiet in 1845 - not a single hurricane or tropical storm was reported. But the seaboard residents knew this relative calm was an aberration. They understood that Mother Nature keeps a ledger on these things and, sooner or later, she would balance her bookkeeping.So when January 1846 arrived, concern among the coastal population was palpable, and they kept a keen weather eye out for the next nor'easter. In February, when the tempest finally arrived, it may not have come as a great surprise to many. What was surprising was its intensity and reach.The monster storm arrived on Saturday, February 14th and lasted two full days. It pounded the entire coast, from the Carolinas all the way north to Maine. Twenty-foot-high snowdrifts were reported in parts of Massachusetts, while massive flooding and high winds affected the south. But New Jersey received the brunt of the storm. Nine ships were hurled upon her shore. Scores of deaths were recorded.Undiminished Violence recounts that horrific weekend and describes what would later be known as the "Minturn Storm". The fate of the individual wrecks and their victims is described in detail in these pages. But Undiminished Violence is really the story of the ship John Minturn itself. The John Minturn tragedy would give the storm not only its name, but also claim the greatest number of lives. The vessel was driven by the storm onto a shoal an agonizing two hundred yards from shore. It remained there for almost an entire day, within sight of hundreds of onlookers and would-be rescuers. The vessel's terrified crew and passengers anxiously awaited a rescue that would never come. By nightfall, the ship disintegrated after a great wave pounded her. Throughout her ordeal, not one surfboat was deployed from the beach. Undiminished Violence describes the passengers aboard the ill-fated ship, the secrets the captain hid from his family and crew, and the heroic efforts of the New York pilot who sought to save the ship.In the aftermath, accusations were directed at the New Jersey residents who plundered the dead and brazenly charged the victims' relatives a body-retrieval fee. These wild accounts were published in newspapers throughout the United States and Europe. This prompted the State of New Jersey to respond with an investigation of its own, although many later considered it to be a whitewash undertaken to preserve the state's otherwise good name.Finally, Undiminished Violence provides an insight into the fate of the captain, the pilot and the "duplicate crew" that was aboard the Minturn that fateful day. Their personal narratives provide great insight to the hopes and difficulties they encountered on that horrific Sunday in 1846.
