ISLES OF ROMANCE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 66, Issue 5598, 29 March 1943, Page 4

ISLES OF ROMANCE

OLD-TIME HAUNTS OF PIRATES

(By

J.E.P.)

With Britain denied imports from Europe, her own agricultural efforts at a maximum, and many of her colonies separated from: her by almost half the world, the British West Indies are once again playing an important part in supplying vital commodities to the mother country.

In the present war little has so fai happened to bring these colourful islands directly into the news, but the Spanish Main has figured in story and history since the British wrested control of the seas from the Spanish galleons, and since the seventeenth century the Atlantic has been a vital battle-ground for warring nations.

The West Indies have a romantic past. It was here that the Elizabethans lay in’wait for the cumbersome Spanish treasure ships as they passed through the Mona Channel, between the islands of Porto Rico and St. Domingo. The countless creeks and harbours of these islands formed natural retreats for the pirates who once preyed on the homeward-bound treasure ships, nad the history they made has been told in fact and fiction. The islands, too, formed natural bases for the British fleet which was then trying to wrest the South American trade from Spain. Jamaica, discovered by Columbus on 2nd May, 1492, was called Xaymaca by the natives, and San Jago by Columbus in honour of the patron saint of Spain. Colonisation was first attempted by the Spaniards in 1509 The original Indian race on the islands perished entirely by 1558. The writer Las Casas says, speaking of the treatment the Indians received from the Spaniards: “They hanged these unfortunates by thirteens, in honour of the thirteen Apostles.” ANGLO-FRENCH STRUGGLE In 1623 Sir Thomas Warner colonised St. Kitts, the first English settlement in the Caribbean Sea, and He was quick to recognise the possibilities of the fertile island and its neighbours. Before an English fleet, under Penn—father of the famous Quaker who founded Pennsylvania—captured Jamaica in 1655 settlements had been made by trading companies for their own profit. In the wars of the eighteenth century between the French and the English the Caribbean Sea was one of the chief areas of hostilities. Off Martinique Rodney defeated de Grasse in and regained command of the sea, and it was among these islands that Nelson gained much of his experience.

The declaration of American Independence created a wealth in the Indies unequalled since by any other group of islands, excepting perhaps the Malay Archipelago. They almost monopolised the trade in sugar and many tropical products, and the half a million acres under cultivation were valued at £86,000,000. In the “ golden age ” of the islands West Indian planters revelled in luxury and wealth rivalled only by an Indian nabob. Spanish rule, with its cruelties, had almost depopulated the islands, and negroes were imported from West Africa to supply the labour necessary on the plantations. The entire wealth of the islands at that time was founded on slave labour. England was not behind in participation in the slave trade and the coat of arms of Adi miral John Hawkins had two negroes as “ supporters.” The emancipation of .the slaves in 1833 caused havoc to the finances of the islands; wealthy families were ruined and great estates went out of cultivation. In Jamaica the loss of profits with the freeing of the slaves led to much dissatisfaction and in 1865 the negroes staged an uprising at Morant Bay, which was sternly suppressed by Governor Eyre. For some inexplicable reason, after abolishing slave labour, the British Legislature, while at home fostering foreign commerce, placed restrictions on West Indian commerce, which was adverse to the general principles of free trade. The newspapers of that time were loud in their condemnation, and the Barbadoes West Indian concluded a long and bitter article with these words: “ As England has adopted free trade let her carry it out for the benefit of all parties of the Empire. The extremities are as much part of the body, and as useful, though considered as vital., as the head or the heart, and the same blood circulates through them in as pure and healthy a state.” SUGAR AND RUM As the struggle for world supremacy continues West Indian products become of increasing value to Britain. Sugar growing was introduced early by the Spaniards, and to-day Great Britain imports almost the entire production of this fine-quality sugar. Runt, averaging at least 4,000>000 gallons, goes to Britain to uphold the old naval tradition. The production of. cocoa, indigo, and cotton has been almost replaced in reecnt years by

VIVID STORY OF BRITISH WEST INDIES

drugs. Vital drugs, necessary for the relief of the wounded, are produced on Jamaica and sister islands, and find their way in well-guarded convoys across the Atlantic.

Jamaica is the largest and most important of the British Indies. It is 150 miles long and 55 miles broad, with a range of mountains running longitudinally through it which has been named the Blue Mountains. Upwards of 200 rivers have been described on this picturesque island, the Black River being the largest and deepest.

The island is evidently of volcanic origin, and warm mineral springs are found in parts. The theory is held that this entire crescent of islands, from the Bahamas in the north to Trinidad, off the coast of South America, once formed a chain of mountains connecting the north and south continents of America.

Kingston, capital of Jamaica, contains one of the finest harbours in the world, and superseded St. Jago de la Vega, or Spanish Town, as capital because of its commerce and its harbour. Kingston lies in an alluvial plain, surrounded by a series of irregular mountains, some of which rise to a considerable elevation and add to the grandeur of the Jamaican scenery.

The Caymans, a small group of islands north-west of Jamaica, were discovered by Columbus on his return from Porto Bello to Hispaniola, but for long these islands were only resorts for adventurers and rovers, who lived on the meat of the turtles found abundantly there. TRINIDAD’S FAMOUS LAKE Trinidad, the next largest British island in the group, situated close to hhe South American coast, is worldfamous for its lake of pitch. The material., from this lake is used for many industrial purposes.

When the island was first discovered by Columbus in 1498 it was inhabited by Caribs, who were either murdered or transported to the Hispaniola mines. The British captured the island in 1797, and it has remained a British possession ever since. The capital. Port of Spain, lies in an amphitheatre of hills on the Gulf of Paris, and is one of the finest towns of the Wiest Indies.

North from Trinidad the islands form a close, curved line to the Am-erican-owned island of Porto Rico. The long chain is taken up by the Bahama Islands in the north and continued to the coast of Florida. Of this group the most interesting is Antigua, which has an area of 108 square miles. Discovered by Columbus in 1493, and named by him after a church in Seville, it was settled in 1633.

The Bahamas themselves contribute interesting facts to the historian. From here Britain receives a steady supply of food, and here, too, Britain and America have established a protecting fan of island bases around the American-owned Panama Canal.

San Salvador, an island of the Bahamas group, was the first land discovered by Columbus, on 12th October, 1492. In the eighteenth century the Behamas became the rendezvous of pirates whose activities so interfered with British trade that England too kit upon herself to suppress them. During the American war the Bahamas were plundered by a squadron from Philadelphia, and the Governor was carried off, but the islands were restored to Britain in 1783, and have since remained peacefully in her possession.

With the opening of the Panama Canal the islands became part of the great highways of commerce, and to!ay west-bound convoys pass through the Indies and rest for a time after the 4500-mile journey across the Ü-boat-infested waters of the Atlantic. The vigil is resumed when the supply ships slip into the Pacific.

These are Britain’s island storehouses, won for us by her intrepid old sea-dogs, whose sons to-day are so gloriously upholding the traditions they created by waging unceasing battle for supremacy not only in the Atlantic, but on all the waters of the earth.