about noon on the 7th
of June 1692
I have never undertaken anything unless I wished to succeed and had secured the necessary means ; and then I have guarded as best I could against unforeseen circumstances . '' This was the sort of way the old gentleman talked . He told the gentlemen one day that he was not born when the earthquake occurred during which Port-Royal was swallowed up ; but that he had often heard people speak of it who had witnessed it . It began about noon on the 7th of June 1692 . Nine-tenths of the city and all the wharves sunk at once ; and in two minutes from the commencement of the earthquake several fathoms of water lay over the spot where the streets had just stood . Two thousand persons perished . Some , it was said , who were swallowed up in one place , rose again in another still alive ; but that I do not think possible .