It is difficult to pin down a number, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association estimates that between one third and one half million people died in Atlantic hurricanes between 1492 and 1994. More than a thousand of those lives were lost on July 31st, 1715, in a tragedy more remembered for treasure than people.
The “Great Sedition Trial” uncovered shocking connections at the time with the German reich that we were fighting, and challenged the idea that the nation was of a single mind during the war. It also challenged exactly how far the national commitment to freedom of speech and opinion reached, especially in extraordinary times.