1537.—­July and August.  The town officers wrote to the king in September:  “In the last two months we have had three storms of wind and rain, the greatest that have been seen in this island, and as the plantations are along the banks of the rivers the floods have destroyed them all.  Many slaves and cattle have been drowned, and this has caused much discouragement among the settlers, who before were inclined to go away, and are now more so.”

1575.—­September 21 (San Mateo), hurricane mentioned in the memoirs of Father Torres Vargas.

1614.—­September 12, mentioned by the same chronicler in the following words:  “Fray Pedro de Solier came to his bishopric in the year 1615, the same in which a great tempest occurred, after more than forty years since the one called of San Mateo.  This one happened on the 12th of September.  It did so much damage to the cathedral that it was necessary partly to cover it with straw and write to his Majesty asking for a donation to repair it.  With his accustomed generosity he gave 4,000 ducats.”

1678.—­Abbad states that a certain Count or Duke Estren, an English commander, with a fleet of 22 ships and a body of landing troops appeared before San Juan and demanded its surrender, but that, before the English had time to land, a violent hurricane occurred which stranded every one of the British ships on Bird Island.  Most of the people on board perished, and the few who saved their lives were made prisoners of war.

1740.—­Precise date unknown.  Monsieur Moreau de Jonnes, in his work,[88] says that this hurricane destroyed a coco-palm grove of 5 or 6 leagues in extent, which existed near Ponce.  Other writers confirm this.

1772, August 28.—­Friar Inigo Abbad, who was in the island at the time, gives the following description of this tempest:  “About a quarter to eleven of the night of the 28th of August the storm began to be felt in the capital of the island.  A dull but continuous roll of thunder filled the celestial hemisphere, the sound as of approaching torrents of rain, the frightful sight of incessant lightning, and a slow quaking of the earth accompanied the furious wind.  The tearing up of trees, the lifting of roofs, smashing of windows, and leveling of everything added terror-striking noises to the scene.  The tempest raged with the same fury in the capital till after one o’clock in the morning.  In other parts of the island it began about the same hour, but without any serious effect till later.  In Aguada, where I was at the time, nothing was felt till half-past two in the morning.  It blew violently till a quarter to four, and the wind continued, growing less strong, till noon.  During this time the wind came from all points of the compass, and the storm visited every part of the island, causing more damage in some places than others, according to their degree of exposure.”

1780, June 13, and 1788, August 16.—­No details of these two hurricanes are found in any of the Puerto Rican chronicles.