The storm continued strengthening, attaining the equivalence of major hurricane status by 12:00 UTC that day. By the time it reached the central Bahamas at 00:00 UTC on July 26, it reached winds of . After 12:00 UTC, while still moving northwest, the cyclone made landfall on New Providence and crossed over Nassau, where winds were unofficially estimated at . Reducing its forward speed, the storm weakened considerably after passing New Providence, losing major hurricane status by 06:00 UTC on July 27. As the storm neared the Florida coast, it curved somewhat to the north-northwest and passed just east of Cape Canaveral early on July 28. It made landfall at 10:00 UTC near present-day Edgewater, near the Canaveral National Seashore just south of New Smyrna Beach, with winds of . Prior to reanalysis in 2010, the storm was estimated to have made landfall farther south, near Cocoa Beach. In Florida, the storm's lowest known barometric pressure of was estimated, although it was likely deeper near the Bahamas.