Re Island Prison Was 17th Century Fortress

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31530, 18 November 1967, Page 5

Re Island Prison Was 17th Century Fortress

(Specially written for “The Press’ 1 by

MARY TROUP)

Nobody who has seen the prison of the French Island of Re will have been surprised that an inmate’s escape recently made world news. Ringed about with high walls, elevated sentry-posts, armed guards and the Atlantic Ocean, the place has for centuries been regarded as escape proof.

Indeed, an evident measure of the authorities’ confidence is that ordinary citizens —including foreigners like our New Zealand family—are permitted to walk between the inner and outer walls in the course of a pleasant stroll along the seafront.

The prison is thus not an isolated hellhole, but an integral part of the charming, sleepy little town of St Martin, which wakes up in the summer holiday season: but very likely a hell-hole all the same.

Guide-books and local histories are reticent about its present-day use and conditions: but I have found one writer who has ventured to say. speaking of the vanished glories of St. Martin, that the transfer there of a section of convicts from Guiana has not enhanced its lustre. In the bad old days of the French penal system. Re was the last hopeless staging-post on the way to Devil’s Island. Nowadays, its citadel confines important political prisoners, such as would-be assassins of General de Gaulle. In its time it has held such diverse characters as the eighteenthcentury statesman Mirabeau, guilty in his young days of an amorous indiscretion: and ‘ thousands of refractory' priests (many of whom died there), who refused to compromise with the State after the Revolution.

By Car Ferry Over the centuries, the Island of Re has been closely connected w’ith the historic and lovely city of La Rochelle, opposite on the mainland of Charente Maritime. To reach it nowadays the visitor drives from La Rochelle (along country roads bordered by wild hedges of dusky pink tamarisk) to the modern port of La Pallice. where German U-boat pens from World War II may be seen. After what may be a long wait in a queue, the motorist drives his car on to a side-loading ferry boat for the mile-and-a-half trip to the island's nearest port, Sablanceaux.

A pleasant drive along the sandy, pine-planted northern coast and through several white villages leads on to the capital. St. Martin. It is here that is situated the citadel, now the State prison, but originally designed by the great military engineer, architect and town-planner. Vauban. for Louis XIV in the 1680 s.

Star Within Star It is an intricate and harmonious structure, comprising a walled four-pointed star within a six-pointed star, the sixth point of which latter protrudes into the sea and encloses an artificial cove (presumably where the convict ships - ply their miserable trade). The whole is built up on high ramparts, one side of which continues on to form a moated wall enclosing the whole town within its semicircle. Only two roads enter this wall, each through a huge stone gateway: and the one nearer to the Citadel has armed sentries posted within Vauban had been called in to arm the French coast against the neighbouring sea powers. The off-shore islands were regarded as advance bastions of the defence of Rochefort's arsenal. The most valuable points of Re were fortified, and the citadel built at St. Martin was described as being large enough to hold all the inhabitants of the island with their goods, in the event of enemies descending on them.

Long Bombardment In 1696 the Citadel withstood a three-day bombardment by an Anglo-Dutch fleet of 43 ships, at great loss to the attackers but not the defenders. From then on. the island knew greater peace and prosperity, agriculture, wine-making and salt-gather-ing being its stable industries.

When our family visitedl the lie de Re in 1965. we were i met by an old friend of my. husband. They had been stu- [ dents together at Poitiers I University, and my husbandi had last been at St. Martin 43 [ years before to attend his col-: league’s wedding. Although' the then bridal couple nowspend only part of their time on the island, they still owned an ancient house there, full of grandchildren Its door opened right on to the paved quay of the little island port—empty nowadays, except for a few fishing-boats and pleasure-craft. Long ago it prospered greatly, sailing ships from the Americas unloading cargoes of spiees and West Indian timber, and reloading with salt and wines. After a vast two-family mid-day dinner in a covered courtyard beside the narrow two-storey cottage, our host took us walking. We went not through the tiny, tortuous streets of the little town, but out to the coast. At first our way led among pine-trees in sandy park-land, and ’hen along the ramparts above the sea. Not far away rose the forbidding walls of the Citadel.

Within Precincts To our surprise, we ware able to continue strolling along the road on the ramparts even when we came within the prison precincts.

On our left we looked through , an open gate down into the walled cove where, we w ere told, the prisoners were permitted to bathe once a week I for cleanliness. Opposite this was a great gateway in the ( Prison wall, and as we came ‘ level with it one of the heavy gates swung open for a moment to admit two gendarmes on bicycles, so that we i glimpsed the courtyard within. All this time we were very conscious of a sentinel on i high ground behind us, armed with a sub-machine-gun. and one of the family who raised a camera to take a shot thought better of it. Historic Buildings When we had passed safely through the prison precincts, we were amused to see that the moat beyond the ramparts had been filled in to accommodate public tennis courts. Beyond again was a cove filled to overflowing with bathers and playing children. It was a very tiny beach by New Zealand standards, and we were told that the sand had had to be carried there. St. Martin has several other historic buildings, including a handsome arsenal: a museum which was once a naval officer-cadet college: and the ruins of a church which was destroyed and restored repeatedly, and which shelters the remains of Madame de Sevingny’s father. Not far from the town is an

I old mansion with a park designed by Le Notre, the gariden architect of Versailles. ‘Elsewhere on the island is a ruined Cistercian abbey built I in the twelfth century <>n the [site of an ancient Roman I camp. I Admirable work in the ■ manner of our health camps I is done at St. Martin de Re by ; an organisation calling itself i a “preventorium.” During our [walk we saw three groups i each of several dozen small I children, escorted by young women attendants, resting or i playing among the trees. Each | group had a distinctive item of clothing, such as a sunbonnet or overall. In one party that walked [past us the biggest boy, who brought up the rear, had slung over his shoulder a sack of open mesh, which revealed chunks of bread and small sticks of chocolate—the favourite “gouter,” or be-tween-meals snack, of French children. Hundreds of well children come each year to holiday camps, or "colonies.” in various parts of the island. Economic Set Back About 1880 Re’s economy suffered gravely from an outbreak of phylloxera, which destroyed the vineyards. Eventually they were testored, but only partially. About the same time, the advent of salt-mines reduced lhe island’s trade in ocean salt. One of the picturesque features of the island used to he

donkeys wearing striped “pyjamas" on their front legs, and bonnets over their ears, to protect them from flies and mosquitoes as they worked in the salt marshes. Long caravans of donkeys carried the salt harvest to the ports for loading on the sailing vessels. The name Re goes back to a Celtic word. meaning “fern.” The island's history can be traced into the preChristian era, but the picture is sketchy until the end cf the tenth century. Thence follows a long saga of invasions and conquests, in which the English were not blameless, and the Wars of Religion brought more tragedy. In recent times. Re was under German occupation from 1940 to 1945. Only one village was destroyed, but many blockhouses remain. Calm Life Since then the island has resumed its calm and measured life. Its coasts provide ample sea-foods, and its gardens good fruit. The ’•ails of its little wheezy train have been torn up, and a bus service substituted. The neighbouring island of Oleron, to the south, is already in process of being linked to the mainland by the longest bridge in Europe; and “progressive” elements are advocating a similar span for Re. But while the French Government strives to maintain a maximum-security gaol on the island, a bridge would provide one more possible escape route. Now that Ciaure Tenne, the O.A.S. murderer, has broken the iegend of the prison’s inviolability. the authorities are likely to be extra-sensitive.