large anchors were useless in the face of the mounting winds and waves. Two of the anchor chains parted, and the third was cut by “the seamen in extremity and distress, to save the ship and their own lives.” When that last cable was severed, the James was set adrift, perilously close to the nine rocky islands that make up the Isle of Shoals. The sails were also no match for the storm, being “rent asunder and split in pieces, as if they had been but rotten rags.” Mather and his fellow puritans “cried unto the Lord” to be saved, and, by their
telling, the Lord “was pleased to have compassion and pity upon us, for by his overruling providence and his own immediate good hand, he guided the ship past the rock[s], assuaged the violence of the sea, and the wind and rain, and gave us a little respite.” (They had undoubtedly entered the eye of the hurricane.) During the calm, the crew hung new sails. When winds rapidly picked up again, they pushed the James toward the increasingly calmer waters off Cape Ann. “It was a day much to be remembered,” Mather said, “because on that
day the Lord granted us as wonderful a deliverance as I think ever people had, out of as apparent [a] danger as I think people ever felt.” Mather and his family ultimately made it safely to Dorchester, where he quickly rose to become one of New England’s most prominent preachers. There is a strange asymmetry between these two accounts. Both involve men of the cloth who fervently believed that God had a plan for them and was at the controls. Yet, for one of them a hurricane brought death and misery, while the other walked away unscathed. This disparity certainly supports what people often say, that God works in mysterious ways. As it happens, by surviving, Mather had a profound impact on American history. Not only was he an esteemed and influential preacher, but his son, Increase Mather, and his grandson, Cotton Mather, played pivotal roles in the religious and political life of New England for the better part of a century. Eric Jay Dolin is the author of fourteen books, including Leviathan, Brilliant Beacons, and Black Flags, Blue Waters. He lives with his family in Marblehead, Massachusetts. About the book: A Furious Sky is much more than a litany of death and destruction. It also weaves together a great range of captivating themes. There is the intriguing history of meteorology. The influence of hurricanes on the course of empire and the outcomes of war adds to the story. Critical innovations in communication, aviation, computer, and satellite technology play an important part, as does the women’s movement and its role in the naming of hurricanes. In the end, the history of America’s hurricanes forces us to confront thorny questions of how we can learn to survive and adapt to the continued barrage that is sure to come from the greatest storms on Earth. A Furious Sky, a finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction and a New York Times Editor’s Choice, is available at bookstores everywhere. Excerpted from A Furious Sky: The FiveHundred-Year History of America’s Hurricanes. © 2020 by Eric Jay Dolin. Printed with permission of the publisher, Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. All rights reserved. 1
Richard Mather, as depicted in the frontispiece of John Foster’s The Life and Death of That Reverend Man of God, Mr. Richard, Mather, Teacher of the Church of Dorchester in New England, circa 1670. 18
SEA HISTORY 174, SPRING 2021