The Search: An Account of the Fort Road Tragedy

This book relates the tragic tale of the efforts of Paul Johnson Moore to locate his step-mother and his disabled sister, both of whom went missing during the devastating Great Hurricane of 1938. Together with 40 other houses on Fort Road on Napatree Point in Watch Hill, the Moore cottage was swept across Little Narragansett Bay by the howling winds of the hurricane. The author also lost his first cousin in the storm. The book is a detailed, first-hand, contemporary eyewitness account of the rescue and recovery effort following one of the greatest natural disasters to hit New England in the twentieth century. The story focuses primarily on the areas of Westerly, Watch Hill, Avondale, and Pawcatuck, but also touches on other areas as well. Its 100 or so pages contain over two dozen photographs, many of them taken by the author. Proceeds will be used to purchase grave markers for the two Moore women lost in the hurricane.