Great Gale of 1848

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Allen's Creek looking east from U.S. 19 towards Tampa Bay.

Egmont Key lighthouse.

View from John‘s Pass bridge looking east toward Boca Ciega Bay

The Great Gale of 1848, also known as the Tampa Bay hurricane of 1848, was a tropical cyclone that struck Florida in September of 1848. It affected the Tampa Bay Area September 23-25, 1848. It crossed the Florida Peninsula to cause damage on the east coast on or about September 26. It reshaped parts of the coast and destroyed much of what few human works and habitation were then in the Tampa Bay Area. Although its wind speed was that of a category 1 storm on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, its barometric pressure and storm surge were consistent with a category 3 or 4 storm. It was described by one survivor as, “the granddaddy of all hurricanes.” (Grismer, 35)

The storm paralleled the coast on a northerly heading for part of its course and then made land fall near Clearwater, Florida. It then crossed the Florida peninsula and exited near Cape Canaveral. The wind speed was measured at 72 mph at its highest and the barometer read 28.18 in at its lowest (at Fort Brooke). The storm produced the highest tide ever experienced in Tampa Bay. The water rose and fell about 15 feet in 6 to 8 hours. Pinellas County was inundated “at the waste” and “the bays met.”

General R. D. A. Wade, commanding at Fort Brooke reported the destruction of the wharves, public buildings, and storehouses. B. P. Curry, the fort’s assistant surgeon, reported the hospital destroyed. Only five houses were left standing in Tampa, and they were all damaged. The water rose twelve feet higher than had been noted in the past. (Pizo 19)

At Englewood, Florida, Stump Pass was cut. Casey’s Pass was opened at Venice, Florida. New Pass was opened between Sarasota Bay and the Gulf. Allen’s Creek was widened from less than 200 feet to about half a mile at its mouth. The fish rancho of Antonio Maximo Hernandez , reputedly lower Pinellas’ first white settler, was destroyed. Passage Key, between Egmont Key and Anna Maria was obliterated but reformed later.

The storm created what would become known as “Soldier’s Hole” at Mullet Key, so called because soldiers at Fort De Soto used it as a swimming hole. John’s Pass was opened but has since shifted north. After the storm damaged the lighthouse on Egmont Key, the keeper (Marvel Edwards) rode out the storm in a rowboat tied to a palmetto tree. The end of the rope was later found 9 feet off the ground, which had an elevation of about 6 feet. The Tocobaga mound on Odette Phillippe’s property in what is now Safety Harbor, Florida was damaged. All the trees along what is now Indian Rocks Road in Largo, Florida were knocked down. (Largo, 148)

Damage on the east coast may have been less severe., though it was described in the Savannah Republican as, “blowing ‘great guns’ - the hardest blow felt [on the St. Johns River] for several years." It blew down houses in Jacksonville, Florida and caused flooding in St. Augustine, Florida, as well as interfering with shipping on the river. Sandrik)