These structures were located on the bay shore in the northwestern corner of the immense reservation. Following the jetty as it extended eastward and curved to the south were the United States life saving station and the Fort Point light house, each about two hundred yards apart. At the northeastern point of the island are the two rapid-fire batteries pointing over the jetty and commanding the channel in the bay between the two jetties. Around on the eastern and southeastern edge of the point are the 10–inch rifle battery and the 12–inch mortar battery, about 500 yards apart. In the centre of the reservation were grouped the barrack buildings. These buildings were built about eighteen months ago and afforded accommodations for a one-battery post.
The government was raising this reservation by filling in the site about ten feet above mean low tide. The quarters had not been occupied, having been built on piling, high in the air, to allow for the filling which was being distributed in the shape of sand pumped from the bay by the government dredge boat. The detail of twelve men from battery O which cared for the batteries at Fort San Jacinto, which was the new name given to the historic “Fort Point” of early Texas days, occupied quarters in temporary structures erected in the rear of the 10–inch battery.
Before the storm Fort San Jacinto was a most inviting and attractive place. The immense reservation east of the fence, which marked the western boundary, extending across the island from bay to gulf, was a most picturesque section of the island. When the storm had finished its merciless onslaught, Fort San Jacinto and its government structures presented a picture of terrible ruin. The costly coast fortifications, which had been constructed to withstand the attacking powers of the navies of the world, were silenced and rendered helpless by the combined batteries of the wind and sea.
The life saving station, where Captain Edward Haines and nine of his brave comrades stood ready to render succor to the storm-driven wretches, was picked up with its load of boats, beach apparatus and other life saving paraphernalia and crushed like a match box. Only four or five of the long pilings mark the site of the station house. Mrs. Haines, wife of Captain Haines, and one of the crew met their death at the station when the building collapsed.
WATERS OF BAY AND GULF MEET.
The south jetty, which marked the northern and eastern boundaries of the reservation, pointed its long line of rail-capped rocks five feet above the tide before the storm. But when the northeast gale backed the waters of the bay against the stone wall and the storm swelled the bay out of its banks, the water rose above the jetty and swept like a millrace to meet the waters of the gulf, which came running in from the southeast. This was early in the afternoon, and as the hurricane increased in velocity and the gulf roared out its warning, the terrible work of destruction commenced. The reservation was inundated and the force of the mighty waters quickly dug channels beneath the fortifications.
Then the wind and gulf joined forces and the great coast defenses succumbed to the attack and were washed from their foundations and half buried in the grave dug by the waters of the gulf. The immense concrete and rock structures toppled like toy houses as the greedy waters plowed channel after channel in the quicksand upon which the batteries stood. With the wooden structures, the barracks and warehouses, the wind made quick work, and the wreckage was shot through the rapids and carried to sea.
As the waters on their reservation rose higher and higher and the fortifications sank from view the lighthouse stood alone in the high sea which made the gulf and bay one. In this structure two human souls watched the storm gods at work and waited for their time. There was no hope of escape. The steel bridge leading from the top of the jetty to the lighthouse had been twisted by the wind and carried away; the lifeboat which hung from davits beneath the house had been snatched from its position and smashed against the iron supports, and the water carried off the splintered remnants.
Night came and the lamp in the tower, as though defying the hellish work of the raging elements, cast its mellow rays of light upon the scene of devastation and death which Night had just covered with its mantle. That human hands should dare to illuminate the appalling scene of tragedy must have enraged the murderous elements, and the storm batteries were turned on the tower. For an hour or more the attack continued with increasing vengeful power, and then—the light went out. Satisfied, perhaps, that the last defender of the reservation had been silenced the warring elements abandoned their fierce attack and entered the city to finish their destruction.
With the dawning of day an aged couple, who had faced many dangers in life’s stormy sea together, came out on the gallery of the lighthouse and, standing arm in arm, viewed the funeral procession in the bay. They had survived the night, and while they stood there high above the water in silent thanksgiving for their safe deliverance, they saw the ebbing tide carrying its dead to sea. Out through the jetties the long cortege moved swiftly, with the angel of death piloting the craft of human corpses.