The 1755 Cape Ann earthquake takes place off the coast of the British Province of Massachusetts Bay (present-day Massachusetts) on November 18.
At between 6.0 and 6.3 on the Richter scale, it remains the largest earthquake in the history of Massachusetts.
No one is killed, but it damages hundreds of buildings in Boston and is felt as far north as Nova Scotia and as far south as South Carolina.
Sailors on a ship more than two hundred miles (three hundred and twenty kilometers) offshore feel the quake, and mistake it at first for their ship running aground.
Many residents of Boston and the surrounding areas attribute the quake to God, and it occasions a brief increase in religious fervor in the city.
Modern studies estimate that if a similar quake shook Boston today, it would result in as much as $5 billion in damage and hundreds of deaths.
Some discussion has revolved around the idea that this may have been a remotely triggered event.
