After the Hurricane, Bahamas

1. 1

   What is written

   The Bahamas, in the winter of 1898–99 as the museum dates Homer’s visit; signed 1899. The title names a hurricane.

   • Homer 99Signature, lower left, as the Art Institute of Chicago transcribes it
   • After the TornadoPencil inscription on the back, lower left, as the Art Institute of Chicago transcribes it; the hand is not identified
   • This compelling watercolor was painted during Homer’s second trip to the Bahamas in the winter of 1898–99.Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.1235
   • Here sunlight glints through gradually thinning storm clouds.Art Institute of Chicago, 1933.1235
2. 2

   Records of those days

   • HURDAT2, the Atlantic hurricane recordNOAA’s reconstructed track of every known Atlantic tropical storm and hurricane, position and wind every six hours. Every 1898 and 1899 storm measured against Nassau.
   • O. L. Fassig, Climate of the Bahama Islands (1905)Nassau observations of 1898–1902 from the Bahamas Cable Office, printed as averages and extremes, and James Page’s 1901 account of the September 1898 hurricane.

   Not found or not yet searched

   • The daily Nassau register kept at the Bahamas Cable Office was summarised by Fassig but not printed day by day, and has not been found.
   • No open source found gives the month Homer arrived in or left the Bahamas.
   • Nassau newspapers for the winter have not been searched.
3. 3

   Each claim tested

   • “After the Hurricane”. NOAA’s hurricane database (HURDAT2) records no tropical storm or hurricane anywhere in the Atlantic between 4 November 1898 and 26 June 1899. Five storms passed within 500 km of Nassau from August to October 1898; the strongest there, a hurricane of 95 knots, stayed 381 km away on 30 September.
   • Page’s hurricane of 26 September 1898. Fassig quotes Page on a hurricane “of small area but of great intensity” west of Eleuthera on 26 September and at Great Abaco by the 27th. The only storm HURDAT2 places in the Bahamas those days passes Great Abaco on the 27th but is rated no more than 45 knots, a tropical storm, and comes no nearer Nassau than 173 km.
   • “After the Tornado”. HURDAT2 does not record tornadoes, and the Fassig passages read for this study do not mention one.
   • “gradually thinning storm clouds”, the museum’s reading of the sky. Fassig prints Nassau’s weather only as five-year averages and extremes. Thunderstorms averaged 0 in December, 0.8 in January and 0.6 in February, 1898–1902.
4. 4

   Verdict

   The winter was quiet: NOAA’s hurricane database records no tropical storm or hurricane anywhere in the Atlantic between 4 November 1898 and 26 June 1899.

   • Unknown“After the Hurricane” The storms nearest Nassau came in September and October 1898, before the winter the museum gives; which storm, if any, the title means cannot be shown.
   • Unknown“After the Tornado” No record read for this study covers tornadoes.
   • Unknown“gradually thinning storm clouds” No day’s sky at Nassau that winter is on record.
   • UnknownThe day painted. The museum gives a winter, not a day.

What this cannot tell you. Storm positions for 1898–99 are modern reconstructions from ship and coast reports; a small storm far from shipping could be missing. Distances are to a storm’s centre, not the wind felt on a beach. The museum names the Bahamas, not an island; Nassau stands in because its record is the one Fassig published. A winter gale is not a tropical storm and would not appear in HURDAT2.