September 12-14, 1818 Among the earliest accounts of a direct hurricane strike on the Texas coast was this storm which passed by the Cayman Islands, before moving westward into the Bay of Campeche, then northwest to hit Galveston on September 12th. It was described as a storm of extraordinary violence. War ships from Vera Cruz who encountered this storm were put out of commission for months. All but 6 buildings on Galveston Island were reported destroyed when it was covered by 4 feet of water from the storm surge. The pirate Jean LaFitte was occupying Galveston at the time and played a great role during the tragedy. Most of the ships in his fleet were destroyed; 4 in all. After the disaster, his home named Red House was used as a hospital for the French colonists in the area.
The Blue Topaz on our site, unless otherwise noted, is unfortunately not from the Mason County, Texas area . The production of that material just cannot meet our manufacturing demands and is generally very light blue or clear compared to the deeper Blue Topaz we offer.
