View source for 1775 Newfoundland hurricane

{{Short description|Atlantic hurricane in 1775}}
{{Infobox weather event
| name = 1775 Newfoundland hurricane
| image = 
| caption = 
| formed = August 29, 1775
| dissipated = September 9, 1775
}}<!--{{Infobox weather event/NWS
| winds = 
| pressure = 
}}-->{{Infobox weather event/Effects
| year = 1775
| fatalities = 4,000<–4,163 + <br /><small>(8th deadliest [[Atlantic Ocean|Atlantic]]-basin hurricane in recorded history)</small>
| damage = 
| areas = [[North Carolina]], [[Virginia]], [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]]
| refs = <ref name=Hairr/>
}}{{Infobox weather event/Footer
| season = [[1775 Atlantic hurricane season]]
}}
The '''1775 Newfoundland hurricane''', also known as the '''Independence Hurricane''', was a [[hurricane]] that struck the [[Thirteen Colonies]] and the [[Colony of Newfoundland]] in August and September, 1775, at the outset of the [[American War of Independence]].<ref name=Hairr>{{cite book|last1=Hairr|first1=John|title=The great hurricanes of North Carolina|date=2008|publisher=History Press|location=Charleston, SC|isbn=978-1-59629-391-5|pages=2–3}}</ref> It is believed to have killed at least 4,000 people,<ref name=Hairr/> making it one of the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes of all time.<ref>{{cite news |title=The forgotten storm |first=Deanna Stokes |last=Sullivan |newspaper=[[The Telegram]] |url=http://ngb.chebucto.org/Articles/dis-1775-hurricane-telegram-article.pdf |date=October 2, 2010 |accessdate=June 6, 2018}}</ref> There is disagreement among historians and meteorologists whether the events were one storm or two distinct storms.

==Impact==

===North Carolina and Virginia===
On August 27, 1775, a hurricane hit the Outer Banks of [[North Carolina]]. It turned northeastward and left the state on September 2, bringing heavy wind and rain to southeastern [[Virginia]]. A letter from [[New Bern]], [[North Carolina]], recounted, ''"We had a violent hurricane...which has done a vast deal of damage here, at the Bar, and at Matamuskeet, near 150 lives being lost at the Bar, and 15 in one neighborhood at Matamuskeet."''

The September 9, 1775, edition of The [[Virginia Gazette]] reported: ''"The shocking accounts of damage done by the rains last week are numerous: Most of the mill-dams are broke, the corn laid almost level with the ground, and fodder destroyed; many ships and other vessels drove ashore and damaged, at Norfolk, Hampton, and York. In the heavy storm of wind and rain, which came on last Saturday, and continued most part of the night, the Mercury man of war as drove from her station abreast of the town of Norfolk, and stuck flat aground in shoal water."''

At least 4,163 people were killed.<ref name="deadly">{{cite web |title=The Deadliest Atlantic Tropical Cyclones, 1492-1996 |url=https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/pastdeadly.shtml |first1=Edward |last1=Rappaport |first2=Jose |last2=Fernandez-Partagas |publisher=NOAA National Hurricane Center |date=May 28, 1995 |accessdate=June 6, 2018}}</ref>

===Newfoundland===
{{deadliest Atlantic hurricanes|align=right}}
A storm struck the eastern coast of [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] on September 9, 1775. It is uncertain if this storm was the remnants of the hurricane that had crossed the Outer Banks over a week earlier.<ref>{{cite web |title=240th Anniversary of the Great Newfoundland Hurricane |url=https://noaahrd.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/240th-anniversary-of-the-great-newfoundland-hurricane/ |publisher=[[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration|NOAA]] Hurricane Research Division |date=September 9, 2015 |accessdate=June 6, 2018}}</ref>

Newfoundland's fisheries ''"received a very severe stroke from the violence of a storm of wind, which almost swept everything before it,"'' [[List of Lieutenant Governors of Newfoundland and Labrador|Commodore Governor]] [[Robert Duff (Royal Navy officer)|Robert Duff]] wrote shortly after it struck. ''"A considerable number of boats, with their crews, have been totally lost, several vessels wrecked on the shores,"'' he said. Ocean levels rose to heights ''"scarcely ever known before"'' and caused great devastation, Duff reported.

A total of 4,000 sailors, mostly from England and Ireland, were reported to have been drowned.<ref name="deadly" />  A localized [[storm surge]] is reported to have reached heights of between 20 and 30&nbsp;feet. Losses from the hurricane include two armed [[schooner|schooners]] of the [[Royal Navy]], which were on the [[Grand Banks of Newfoundland]] to enforce Britain's fishing rights.

The hurricane is Atlantic Canada's first recorded hurricane and Canada's deadliest natural disaster (and by far the deadliest hurricane to ever hit territory of present-day Canada), as well as the eighth-deadliest Atlantic hurricane in history.

==See also==
{{Portal|Tropical cyclones}}
*[[List of Newfoundland hurricanes]]
*[[List of Canadian hurricanes]]
*[[Great Hurricane of 1780]] – The deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, occurred 5 years later

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite journal |title=The Great Newfoundland and Saint Pierre et Miquelon Hurricane of September 1775 |first=Alan |last=Ruffman |journal=[[The Northern Mariner]] |volume=VI |issue=3 |date=July 1996 |pages=11–23 |doi=10.25071/2561-5467.705 |s2cid=247642543 |url=https://www.cnrs-scrn.org/northern_mariner/vol06/tnm_6_3_11-23.pdf}}
*{{cite book |title=Hurricane of Independence: The Untold Story of the Deadly Storm at the Deciding Moment of the American Revolution |first=Tony |last=Williams |year=1999 |publisher=Sourcebooks |isbn=1402247494 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qr56CAAAQBAJ}}

[[Category:1770s Atlantic hurricane seasons]]
[[Category:Unknown-strength tropical cyclones|Newfoundland Hurricane of 1775]]
[[Category:Hurricanes in North Carolina|Newfoundland Hurricane of 1775]]
[[Category:Hurricanes in New England|Newfoundland Hurricane of 1775]]
[[Category:Hurricanes in Canada|Newfoundland Hurricane of 1775]]
[[Category:Natural disasters in Newfoundland and Labrador|Newfoundland Hurricane of 1775]]
[[Category:1775 disasters|Newfoundland]]
[[Category:1775 in the Thirteen Colonies|Newfoundland Hurricane of 1775]]
[[Category:1775 in North America]]
[[Category:1775 in the British Empire]]
[[Category:18th century in Newfoundland]]
[[Category:1775 in North Carolina]]
[[Category:1775 in the Colony of Virginia]]