Jesus and Port Royal

If you’ve ever heard of Port Royal, Jamaica, it’s probably because you watched one of Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Less likely, you watched a documentary on pirates, or maybe you read a book about pirates. In point of fact, however, Port Royal was, at one time, the second largest city in the western hemisphere, trailing only Boston. It was a massive shipping hub and the de facto capital of Jamaica. That was near the end of the 17^th century. 

The city, founded by the Spanish, was then under British rule in principle, but, for all practical purposes, was run by pirates. There were, “more taverns and brothels than the rest of the English colonies combined…” Modern day Las Vegas is tame in comparison. One clergyman wrote, 

This town is the Sodom of the New World and since the majority of its population consists of pirates, cutthroats, whores and some of the vilest persons in the whole of the world, I felt my permanence there was of no use. 

He left on the same ship in which he arrived. 

When the new missionary in town takes one look and runs… you know you have issues. God-fearing people had been predicting cataclysmic judgment on the city for decades when an earthquake hit in 1692. It was massive and destructive on a level rarely seen in history.

Much of the city and most of the port was built on a foundation of loose sand, a mistake of monumental proportions. As ships churned one another into matchsticks all over the harbor, a geological process called liquefaction took place in homes and businesses all over port. What followed was something straight out of a Hollywood film. The earthquake shook with such force that the sandy ground was liquified and people quite suddenly found themselves fighting for their lives as they sank into the very floors and streets they had been standing and walking on moments before. Thousands of geysers began to erupt out of nowhere as salt water, forced by the energy of the buckling earth, blasted through new underground channels. Incredibly, people were sucked under the sand, shot through these newly created underground rivers and shot back up through geysers hundreds of yards away. Seriously. There were witnesses and survivors to document the phenomena. One man had it happen twice! How did Disney fail to incorporate that into their films?!

Then came the three-story high tidal wave traveling sixty miles an hour.

Then from the landward side a mudslide a full mile long.

At the height of the quake it is estimated that ninety percent of the city was underwater. When it was over, two-thirds remained that way. You can still go there today and snorkel through the ruins fifteen feet below the surface. Two-thousand of the sixty-five hundred residents were dead. Flotsam and jetsam clogged the harbor, grinding anyone unfortunate enough to remain there into so much more broken flesh. Screams from the injured and people trapped in the earth filled the air. Packs of wild dogs did their worst. Looting… They were mostly pirates, remember? It was said that the stench of the dead alone was nearly enough to kill a man. Three thousand more people died within a few days of the initial quake, succumbing to injury and disease. Efforts to recover were made, but the city remained plagued by natural and manmade disasters. The modern capital of Kingston was literally founded for the survivors.

Where was God in all this?

Funny you should ask. There was actually an Anglican rector who survived the quake and went home to find, “all things in the order as I had left them.” His house was built inland from the harbor, on bedrock, not sand. From his balcony he could see and hear people who once derided him crying for his help, so he did the only thing he could: he went down to them, shared the gospel, and prayed. The poor soul who took not one, but two geyser rides? His name was Lewis Galdy, and he found God the next day.

It’s hard to read about the Port Royal earthquake and not think about the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:24-27. Our spiritual foundation determines our eternal destination, and that foundation is revealed in the way we live our lives. Will you listen? Will you obey?

The way Jesus frames his argument is pretty straightforward. You’re listening and obeying, or you’re opening the door for anyone to call into question the nature of your spiritual condition. Back up a few verses, and His threat becomes even more apparent. 

Hear this: for anyone those stakes are high, but for leaders, it’s even worse. Why? Because your students are watching. You are the Jesus they’re gauging their lives on. They’ll judge how well they’re holding up by comparing themselves to you. They’re looking at what you say and do, not in front of the crowd, but behind the scenes and off the clock, physically and online, to see what’s acceptable for them.

How are you doing now?

Port Royal is an amazing historical event because it illustrates so well and on so many levels exactly what Jesus is trying to say, but as leaders, it isn’t Port Royal that teaches the lesson. It’s you. What message does your daily life teach the students you’re trying to guide about the importance of a solid foundation?

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1. Talty, Stephan. Empire of Blue Water. Crown Publishers, New York, 2007, p. 40.
2.  Ibid., pp. 139-140.
3.  In point of fact, the ruins are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
4. From the journal of Dr. Emmanuel Heath, rector of Port Royal at the time of the quake. Available at: https://www.laphamsquarterly.org/disaster/fear-and-trembling.
5.  A picture of his tombstone can be found at: http://theappendix.net/issues/2014/10/the-man-who-was-buried-twice. Also, I seriously want to talk to this guy when we get to heaven, because, come on, HE GOT SHOT THROUGH A GEYSER!