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Fort Charles at Port Royal in Negril Jamaica

Fort Charles at Port Royal

June 13th, 2013

As promised yesterday, we are featuring more information about the historic Port Royal in Kingston. Today we want to talk a bit about Fort Charles which was originally named Fort Cromwell after Lord Oliver Cromwell. When Charles II was restored as the King of England, the fort was renamed Fort Charles in 1660. Port Royal was such a strategic harbour for England, that 6 forts were built to protect this valuable location. As Port Royal continued to grow and pirates and buccaneers became the major reason not to attack Port Royal, the forts became less of simple fortifications to protect the harbour and became part of the industry of handling the goods transported by ship to this busy harbour. By 1688, Port Royal was the busiest port in all of the Americas, handling some 213 ships that year. In comparison, where as all of the ports in the New England combined handled only 226 ships. Then on June 7th,1692 at 11:43am, the great earthquake struck Port Royal, sinking two thirds of of the town, with Fort Charles being the only fort still standing. Today's Negril Today picture was taken of the fort at 11:50am on June 7th on the 321st anniversary of the quake. For more places to visit while vacationing in Jamaica, be sure to click on our Things To Do section!

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