Elizabeth (Betty) Jane Artiga was born to Mercedes McIntyre and Ricardo Artiga on February 16, 1923, at Mount Zion Hospital in San Francisco, California. For unknown reasons, within her first year, Betty was sent to live in San Salvador with relatives. Her Aunt Francisca (McIntyre) took care of her.
Then in August 1927, when Betty was almost five years old, Mercedes, along with a servant, traveled down to San Salvador to bring Betty back to the United States. This gap in years always puzzled Betty and, though she seeked for a reason as to why she had been sent to San Salvador away from her parents, she was never able to get an answer from her mother.
On the return trip, Betty remembered anchoring in Mazatlan but from a little child's perspective, she did not understand what was happening or the gravity of the situation. What she relayed to her daughter, Joan, was that Mercedes had gone ashore and had left her alone with a nurse for a long time. It was dark and cold and Betty remembered being afraid.
As it turns out, the ship manifest reveals that Betty's nurse was none other than Martha Herrera, the faithful member (servant) of the family whose name has shown as living with the McIntyres as early as the 1920 census. According to Betty, Martha stayed by her side in the darkness unbeknownest to her that there was a hurricane raging all around her. Once the storm had passed, Mercedes was able to come back to the ship and continue on to the Port of San Francisco thanks to the heroic efforts of the ship's captain.
Joan Hamiton Zandona
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| This photo, provided by Joan Zandona, shows Betty Artiga at 4 years old. The doll and baby carriage are the same as shown in the newspaper clipping below. It is thought that both photos were taken the same day in 1927. |
The newspaper article appeared on the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle, September 20. It tells of the hurricane that hit Mazatlan, Mexico, where she and her family were on September 10, 1927.
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| Click on the article to enlarge |
More about the 1927 hurricane:
September 10th 1927 A Historic Hurricane Hits Mazatlan Written by Lloyd Goldstein.
"On September 6th 1927, to the South of the Gulf of Tehuantepec, a hydro meteorological phenomenon was forming. At high speed, the hurricane was intensifying along the coast, causing havoc for the entire coastline of the Pacific. On September 8th it was off the coast of Manzanillo, and on September 10th entered the Sea of Cortez and hit Mazatlan. It was the second worst hurricane of the season, with the only difference that the worst hurricane did not come on land, but was lost in the immensity of the ocean. The hurricane was devastating for both Mazatlan and much of the country.
"Uniquely, it was not the deadliest. Mazatlan survives with only 1 dead, commendable for the time: a child walked down the boardwalk in high waves when a wave took him. In total, the season left 184 dead across the Pacific, according to reports, while the 1926 season killed a 1,370, and in 1928, 3,411. In just 90 years, Mazatlan had gone from 3 to 30,000 inhabitants. Far was the memory of the 1902-03 plague, which had infected one of every 20 mazatlecos. Far was the memory of the revolution, even though it had been relatively noble in the port, compared with other parts of the country, leaving its batch of death and desolation.
"Measuring the speed of the winds of a hurricane was not easy in those years. Normally ships gave wind reports, and for that the boat had to survive the shipwreck. On the other hand, hurricanes cause changes in atmospheric pressure, and is from the pressure that the power has been calculated: the smaller atmospheric pressure the greater the strength of the hurricane. The hurricane of 1927 registered a pressure of 987 millibars. For reference, the average atmospheric pressure at sea in the United States is 1313.25, and the lower register of a hurricane in history occurred recently, in 2005, when Hurricane Vilma ranged from the 982 to 882 millibars.
"The waves from the hurricane of 1927 were memorable. Seven and a half meters tall, they were enough for flooding and rendered the railway lines inoperable. Pathways to Mazatlan had only less than 20 years of being built. With trains not running and damaged roads, the city was disconnected by land with the rest of the country.
"Rainfall affected practically the entire country. The city of Acámbaro, Guanajuato, was reported to be flooded, and many displaced in Sonora crossed the border to take refuge in Nogales. The city most affected by the hurricane was Salina Cruz, Oaxaca. In it, even though there was a timely evacuation by the sudden change in air pressure, most of the deaths occurred, and the village of 5,000 inhabitants was practically in ruins. Salina Cruz had been affected by the opening of the Panama Canal, and had begun a demographic decrease that continued until 1947. Steam Bolívar, who had left Oaxaca on August 22nd, the road to San Pedro, California, never finished the tour. The British Cape of Good Hope ship and the charger Grace Dollar were also lost.
"In Mazatlan, there was considerable damage to the fishing fleet, which in those years specializing in fishing for sharks – it would take more than 10 years that the shrimp culture was born in the Sea of Cortez."
Sources:
San Francisco Chronicle, September 20, 1927, pages 1 and 3; accessed Genealogybank.com, January 17, 2016.
History of flood: MazatlanMyCity.com, http://www.mazatlanmycity.com/es/our-mazatlan-vintage-photographs.html accessed January 19, 2016.
