;margin-right:0in;margin-bottom:6.0pt;
margin-left:0in;line-height:14.4pt;background:white">An often repeated legend appears to suggest that a massive 1690
earthquake and tsunami destroyed the buildings of the original
capital Jamestown on the west coast. Folk tales say that the town
sank beneath the ocean. However, archaeologists from the University of
Southampton who have done excavations in the area, have found no evidence
to indicate that the story is true. They state that this story may originate
with an over-excited Victorian letter writer sharing somewhat exaggerated
accounts of his exotic life in the tropical colony with a British audience back
home. One such letter recounts that so much damage was done to the town
that it was completely evacuated, and was engulfed by the sea. Early maps do
not, however, actually show a settlement called "Jamestown", only
"Morton's Bay", and later maps show that all that was left of
Jamestown/Morton's Bay in 1818 was a building labelled "Pleasure
House". Very old bricks that wash up on Pinney's Beach after storms may
have contributed to this legend of a sunken town; however these bricks are
thought to be dumped ballast from 17th and 18th century sailing ships
