 First edition | |
| Author | Desmond Bagley |
|---|---|
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Thriller novel |
| Published | 1966 (Collins) |
| Media type | Print (hardcover and paperback) |
| Pages | 254 pp |
| ISBN | 0-00-615398-4 |
| OCLC | 26300480 |
| Preceded by | High Citadel |
| Followed by | Landslide |
Wyatt's Hurricane is a third person narrative thriller novel by English author Desmond Bagley, first published in 1966.
David Wyatt is a white West Indian, originally from St Kitts by way of Grenada, and is a meteorologist working with the United States Navy's “Hurricane hunter” flights researching storms and severe weather patterns. He is based out of San Fernandez, a fictional Caribbean island nation with a history and political background strikingly similar to Haiti. Wyatt is convinced that Hurricane Mabel will strike San Fernandez head-on, with a storm surge that will flood its capital of St Pierre, potentially killing thousands. The United States Navy is not convinced, as their computer models indicate that the hurricane will pass by, and the paranoid, megalomaniacal dictator of San Fernandez, General Serrurier, will hear nothing of it. A hurricane has not struck San Fernandez in over fifty years, and he has much more important things to worry about – such as an armed revolt against his rule. As civil war erupts, Wyatt struggles to convince his superiors, the government, and eventually the rebels that the hurricane will be their most serious problem...
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The 1900 Galveston hurricane, also known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood, and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm, is the deadliest natural disaster in United States history. The strongest storm of the 1900 Atlantic hurricane season, it left between 6,000 and 12,000 fatalities in the United States; the number most cited in official reports is 8,000. Most of these deaths occurred in and near Galveston, Texas, after the storm surge inundated the coastline and the island city with 8 to 12 ft of water. It remains among the deadliest Atlantic hurricanes on record. In addition to the number killed, the storm destroyed about 7,000 buildings of all uses in Galveston, which included 3,636 demolished homes; every dwelling in the city suffered some degree of damage. The hurricane left approximately 10,000 people in the city homeless, out of a total population of fewer than 38,000. The disaster ended the Golden Era of Galveston, as the hurricane alarmed potential investors, who turned to Houston instead. In response to the storm, three engineers designed and oversaw plans to raise the Gulf of Mexico shoreline of Galveston Island by 17 ft (5.2 m) and erect a 10 mi (16 km) seawall.
The Great Hurricane of 1780 was the deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, as well as the deadliest tropical cyclone in the Western Hemisphere. An estimated 22,000 people died throughout the Lesser Antilles when the storm passed through the islands from October 10 to October 16. Specifics on the hurricane's track and strength are unknown, as the official Atlantic hurricane database only goes back to 1851.
Desmond Bagley was an English journalist and novelist known mainly for a series of bestselling thrillers. He and fellow British writers such as Hammond Innes and Alistair MacLean set conventions for the genre: a tough, resourceful, but essentially ordinary hero pitted against villains determined to sow destruction and chaos for their own ends.
Hurricane hunters, typhoon hunters, or cyclone hunters are aircrews that fly into tropical cyclones to gather weather data. In the United States, the organizations that fly these missions are the United States Air Force Reserve's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Hurricane Hunters. Such missions have also been flown by Navy units and other Air Force and NOAA units. Other organizations also fly these missions, such as Government Flying Service Hong Kong.
USS Lake Champlain (CG-57) is a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser in the United States Navy. She is the third US Naval ship to be named Lake Champlain, in honor of Battle of Lake Champlain, which took place during the War of 1812.
Hurricane David was a devastating Atlantic hurricane which caused massive loss of life in the Dominican Republic in August 1979, and was the most intense hurricane to make landfall in the country in recorded history. A long-lived Cape Verde hurricane, David was the fourth named storm, second hurricane, and first major hurricane of the 1979 Atlantic hurricane season.
The Okeechobee hurricane of 1928, also known as the San Felipe Segundo hurricane, was one of the deadliest hurricanes in the recorded history of the North Atlantic basin, and the fourth deadliest hurricane in the United States, only behind the 1900 Galveston hurricane, 1899 San Ciriaco hurricane, and Hurricane Maria. The hurricane killed an estimated 2,500 people in the United States; most of the fatalities occurred in the state of Florida, particularly in Lake Okeechobee. It was the fourth tropical cyclone, third hurricane, the only major hurricane of the 1928 Atlantic hurricane season, and remains the deadliest disaster in Florida’s history to date. It developed off the west coast of Africa on September 6 as a tropical depression, but it strengthened into a tropical storm later that day, shortly before passing south of the Cape Verde islands. Further intensification was slow and halted late on September 7. About 48 hours later, the storm strengthened and became a Category 1 hurricane on the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale. Still moving westward, the system reached Category 4 intensity before striking Guadeloupe on September 12, where it brought great destruction and resulted in 1,200 deaths. The islands of Martinique, Montserrat, and Nevis also reported damage and fatalities, but not nearly as severe as in Guadeloupe.
The 1893 Atlantic hurricane season ran through the summer and the first half of fall in 1893. The 1893 season was fairly active, with 12 tropical storms forming, 10 of which became hurricanes. Of those, five became major hurricanes. This season proved to be a very deadly season, with two different hurricanes each causing over 2,000 deaths in the United States; at the time, the season was the deadliest in U.S. history. The season was one of two seasons on record to see four Atlantic hurricanes active simultaneously, along with the 1998 Atlantic hurricane season. Additionally, August 15, 1893 was the only time since the advent of modern record keeping that three storms have formed on the same day until 2020 saw Wilfred, Alpha, and Beta forming on the same day; and for the first time, there were two high-intensity hurricanes simultaneously in one month of August, and this was not repeated until the year 2023.
Hurricane Easy was the fifth tropical storm, hurricane, and major hurricane of the 1950 Atlantic hurricane season. The hurricane developed in the western Caribbean Sea on September 1, and tracked northeastward. After crossing Cuba, the hurricane rapidly strengthened in the eastern Gulf of Mexico to reach peak winds of 120 mph (200 km/h). Easy executed a cyclonic loop, moved northeastward to hit near Cedar Key, Florida, executed a second loop, and hit western Florida again. After rapidly weakening over Florida, the hurricane turned to the northwest, and ultimately dissipated over northeastern Arkansas on September 9. From the point when Hurricane Easy entered the Gulf of Mexico until it weakened to a tropical storm, it was observed nearly constantly from radars or reconnaissance aircraft.
The appearances of tropical cyclones in popular culture spans many genres of media and encompasses many different plot uses.
The 1939 California tropical storm, also known as the 1939 Long Beach tropical storm, and El Cordonazo, was a tropical cyclone that affected Southern California in September 1939. Formerly classified a hurricane, it was the first tropical cyclone to directly affect California since the 1858 San Diego hurricane, and is the only tropical cyclone of tropical-storm strength to make landfall in the U.S. state of California. The storm caused heavy flooding, leaving many dead, mostly at sea.
David Worth Bagley was an admiral in the United States Navy during World War II. He was also the brother of Ensign Worth Bagley, the only United States Navy officer killed in action during the Spanish–American War, and the father of Admirals David H. Bagley and Worth H. Bagley, and CIA officer Tennent H. Bagley.
The 1931 British Honduras hurricane was the deadliest hurricane in the history of British Honduras, killing an estimated 2,500 people. The hurricane was first detected as a tropical wave off the west coast of Africa on 29 August. Moving westward, the disturbance remained relatively weak until 6 September, when it was first classified as a tropical cyclone just west of the Windward Islands. The depression gradually intensified, reaching tropical storm intensity within the first six hours following tropical cyclogenesis. The cyclone intensified further to hurricane intensity by 8 September. Strengthening and organisation remained gradual until the storm reached the Gulf of Honduras, by which time it began to rapidly intensify, reaching Category 4 hurricane intensity on 10 September. The hurricane subsequently made landfall in Belize City with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 km/h). Moving across the Yucatán Peninsula, the tropical cyclone weakened, and continued to do so when it moved across the Bay of Campeche. This track brought it to a second landfall north of Tampico, Mexico, as a tropical storm on 13 September. Once inland, the storm quickly weakened and dissipated later that day.
The 1941 Florida hurricane was a compact but strong tropical cyclone that affected the Bahamas, Florida, and the southeastern United States in October 1941. The fifth known storm of the 1941 Atlantic hurricane season, it was first observed to the north of the Virgin Islands on October 3. The storm tracked generally westward, reaching peak winds of 120 miles per hour (193 km/h) before passing through the Bahamas. After weakening somewhat, the storm later passed across southern Florida with winds of 100 mph (161 km/h). The hurricane then emerged into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm, but regained hurricane intensity and made another landfall along the Florida Panhandle. Turning northeast, it crossed Georgia and South Carolina, and entered the Atlantic Ocean on October 8.
The Spoilers is a novel written by English author Desmond Bagley, and was first published in 1969 with a cover by Norman Weaver.
The action of 25 January 1797 was a minor naval battle of the French Revolutionary Wars, fought in the Gulf of Cádiz. The Spanish third-rate ship of the line San Francisco de Asís was attacked and pursued for several hours by a British squadron of three fifth-rates frigates and a sixth-rate corvette under George Stewart, 8th Earl of Galloway. After an intermittent but fierce exchange of fire, the British warships, badly damaged, were eventually forced to withdraw. The San Francisco de Asís, which suffered only minor damage, was able to return to Cádiz without difficulties. The commander of the ship, Captain Alonso de Torres y Guerra, was promoted for his success.
The San Felipe Hurricane was the second tropical cyclone of the 1876 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm was first observed east of the Leeward Islands on September 12, later intensifying to a category 3 hurricane while approaching Puerto Rico. In the upcoming days, the storm would make landfall on Hispaniola and Cuba, while also at hurricane intensity. Weakening to a tropical storm, it crossed the island until emerging over central Cuba, and passing just east of Florida. The storm re-intensified into a hurricane and struck near Wilmington, North Carolina as a minimal hurricane. Continuing inland, the San Felipe Hurricane gradually weakened over the United States, reaching near Cape Cod before dissipation on September 19. The San Felipe Hurricane was the only tropical cyclone in the season to result in fatalities, according to records of the season.
The 1869 Atlantic hurricane season was the earliest season in the Atlantic hurricane database in which there were at least ten tropical cyclones. Initially there were only three known storms in the year, but additional research uncovered the additional storms. Meteorologist Christopher Landsea estimates up to six storms may remain missing from the official database for each season in this era, due to small tropical cyclone size, sparse ship reports, and relatively unpopulated coastlines. All activity occurred in a three-month period between the middle of August and early October.
The 1916 Virgin Islands hurricane was a strong tropical cyclone that inflicted extensive damage across the Virgin Islands in October 1916. It was the region's most destructive storm since at least the 1867 San Narciso hurricane; Consul General Christopher Payne and archaeologist Theodoor de Booy considered the 1916 storm as the archipelago's most damaging. Its peak intensity was equivalent to a Category 3 on the modern Saffir–Simpson scale. The storm began as a tropical depression southeast of Barbados on October 6, though little is known about the storm's origins or its developing stages; by the time its center was first located, the cyclone was already a hurricane and causing damage in the Virgin Islands. After forming, the storm moved northwest into the eastern Caribbean Sea and strengthened quickly. Rough seas were produced in the Windward Islands at Dominica and Saint Kitts as the storm passed nearby between October 7–8, damaging coastal villages.