Our plan for a decently long lie this morning to compensate for yesterday’s pre-dawn start was interrupted by a missed phone call from the UK before 0600 – from an unidentified number, probably a call centre, which was permanently engaged when we tried to call back to check it. We have had a few of these out here, usually in the night, and not easy to ignore just in case it is something important.

At least it got us up early for another day of boat work! A bit of engine maintenance, some electrical repairs, and the inevitable laundry whilst the generator was running and the inverter switched on.  It took the mind off another batch of insect bites which were really itchy….having forgotten to put the insect repellent on yesterday. You get quite ansty about them when suffering, and the fly swats have had another good outing! Likewise the spray and the mosquito devices have been deployed freely. A little madness creeps in, and it obviously has affected folk through the ages.

One of the apocryphal old naval stories here is that Nelson’s predecessor at the Dockyard which bears his name lost his eye in a bit of similar madness- he was chasing a cockroach with a fork which took out his eye….maybe too much grog beforehand!

Naval Lore

Most of these islands bear witness to a torrid past when colonial powers grabbed land to exploit, defend routes, provision boats, kidnap ships and treasures, and strike at enemies (and sometimes friends). The names of harbours, features and islands hark back to Columbus (who ran out of saints and had to start calling new ones after his boats), Napoleon, Nelson (who made his mark here, there and everywhere), Jolly, Rodney et al.  The British, Dutch, French and Spanish plundered and stole from one another, and the islands became bases to be attacked and defended.

The islands are littered with towns or places called “Fort de France”, “Falmouth Harbour”, Baie Des Anglais”, “Spanish Point” , “Codrington”, redolent of naval egos, places back in Europe, or people missed by captains stationed here for a year or two (“Charlotte Point , perhaps?).  

One of the most peculiar and interesting stories about the British and the French relates to Martinique, where the French prevailed (then and now). Whilst Napoleon had done his worst in land battles in Europe, the French navy was not as successful. In the Caribbean, Britain had managed to take or hold a number of islands, but Martinique remained firmly in the French camp. You will probably know that Britain was pretty well bankrupt (then and now!), and could not afford to build and run enough ships of the line to do all that was asked of the navy.

Just off the south west tip of Martinique, and towering over the approaches to the protected harbours of Fort de France and Le Marin, is a vertiginous island called Diamond Rock. It looks a bit like a squashed Ailsa Craig, but without the access shelf. One dark night, the mad Britons decided it would make a good, cheap and unsinkable naval stronghold, and they climbed it under the cover of darkness (avoiding the poisonous snakes en route), and hauled up some cannon and ammunition with block and tackle, christening it HMS Diamond Rock.  French vessels approaching the island in the following months were shelled relentlessly, and Napoleon went berserk when he was informed (Empress Josephine was born on the island, so it was something of a slight on the little fellow’s manhood).

Napoleon’s Admiral Villeneuve was dispatched to take the Rock back into French hands, and managed to do so since Nelson’s fleet was elsewhere when he arrived.  Good news (an easy victory) and bad news for Villeneuve (Napoleon had ordered him to sink Nelson whilst he was at it, but Villeneuve knew he was outgunned and therefore snuck back towards France). The outcome was that he was told to report back in disgrace.

Villeneuve may not have been daft enough to go looking for Nelson in the Caribbean, but he was a man of honour and rather than have Napoleon take his head off for fun at court, he decided to confront the British at the Battle of Trafalgar, and die with dignity (along with his many men!). Again, he just couldn’t get a thing right, losing the battle but surviving whilst Nelson died in his stead!  V

Watergaw