The year 1845 was disturbingly quiet on the east coast of the United States; neither a hurricane nor a tropical storm had made an appearance. However, the residents along the coast knew that there would be 'hell to pay" when ’46 arrived. 

It didn't take long before a wicked nor'easter battered the entire coastline in February. The storm reached inland from Savannah, Georgia to Syracuse, New York where snow was "piled in heaps of all imaginable shapes and dimensions" while barometer readings plunged in just a few short hours. 

But the storm reserved its wrath for those who happened to be at sea. The storm rose quickly from gale to hurricane force in a matter of hours and kept the intensity for days. When it reached the New Jersey shore it claimed nine ships, including the John Minturn, which bears the storm’s name to this day. 

In the words of one witness…  “the wind continued blowing with Undiminished Violence”.