nassau bahamas and fort charlotte and toussaint l'ouverture and 19th century

When we disembarked from our Celebrity Millennium cruise ship at the capitol (pop. 180,000) of this former British colony in April 29, most of our number headed for the shops or the subterranean pleasures of snorkeling or scuba diving. I, having learned earlier in the trip it was best for me to investigate places on my own, decided to strike out on foot through downtown Nassau, ready to discover what I would along the way. I walked through the British Colonial Hilton, where there was a festive wedding taking place, couldn't find the Pirate museum, discovered that a slavery museum was closed, and then headed East on foot along the beach. About 3/4 of a mile East of downtown I ran into the Arawak Cay,a sort of little peninsula jutting out into the Caribbean on which there were shops and restaurants. Not in the mood for either shopping or eating, I crossed the street and was greeted with a sight not seen every day in America: a group of native (African-Bahamian) men playing cricket. I looked at the clubhouse half expecting a portly pith-helmeted British colonial to be sitting on the verandah, but no such luck. After letting the reality of the new culture sink into me by watching the game, I decided to climb a steep but short hill to an old fort perched atop the hill. Fort Charlotte, built in the late 18th century by the British, is situated about 200 feet above sea level and looks out on the Eastern entrance to the Nassau harbor. I decided to pay the $5 entry fee and search around this old fort to see what secrets it would disclose to me.

Fort Charlotte

There is a "fortness" to almost all forts which makes detailed description of Charlotte (named after George IIIs' wife) unncessary. All have walls; all have cannons; all have places where people slept and ate and observed potential enemies. What made this fort interesting to me was that it wasn't built until the late 1780s, despite British presence on the island for more than 150 years previous to that, and that not a shot was ever fired from it. The British had come to the island in the 1640s but the French and Spanish were always harassing them, culminating in the destruction of Nassau in 1703 by the French and Spanish. In addition, the English had to face the depredations of Pirates, many of whom had originally been contracted agents of the English government (privateers) but who then decided there was more money to be made by biting the hand that fed it than eating the morsels that the hand dispensed. The decisive act of the British to take full control of the island occurred in 1718 when they sent former privateer Woodes Rogers (1679?- 1732) as governor with the commission to establish order and rid the island of the Pirates. Rogers was able to do this over the next several years, which led to the issuance of a new Bahamian seal in which there was a trading ship ringed with the motto: "Expulsis Piratis, Restituta Commercia" ("The Pirates expelled, commerce restored"). This would remain the motto of the Bahamas until their independence in 1973.

While the British were hard at work fortifying the island through this late 1780s fort, the Spanish and French, historical enemies of the British, were retreating from the New World. With the Pirate threat also being overcome, no one really remained to oppose the British. The desire to build a fort, then, was fueled by ancient hostilities which, by the time of the fort's completion, had dissipated. Nevertheless, within a decade of the fort's being built another pair of "enemies" arose which sent shivers of fear through the British.

The Fears

One of the enemies was internal, the other external. The "internal" enemy were tropical and regional diseases against which the British had few immunities. Thus, in the decade of the 1790s the mortality rate among (White) British soldiers manning Fort Charlotte was very high. This led to the hitherto untested idea to man a fort by using local soldiers. In other words, native armed Bahamians, of African descent, would not only be staffing the fort but might wander into town brandishing weapons and making the British and others fearful of their presence. By 1800, then, the decision was made to man the fort with African-Bahamians.

The decision to do this, however, couldn't have come at a worse time, for the late 18th century saw the beginning of slave revolts in the Caribbean, revolts which filled the White colonists with overmastering fear. Indeed, the only successful slave revolt in this hemisphere had just been led in Haiti in the 1790s by the brilliant (and educated) slave Toussaint l'Ouverture, whose story is told here. Maybe Toussaint's revolt woud spread to the Bahamas. We can therefore understand the tone of the following letter written in May 1801 by a White Britisher at the handing over of surpervision of Fort Charlotte to the African regiments:

"I have the honour of informing your grace of the Arrival at the island...of Detachments of the 5th and 6th (African-Bahamian) West India Regiments. It is not easy to conceive a more general panic than the appearance of the Detachments excited; the agitation of the public mind could not have been grater had Toussaint himself have come with all his force."

No slave revolt followed, however, and the fort gradually fell into disuse as the 19th century progressed. However, it still stands today, overlooking what had once been known as Hog Island but now, with all the glitzy hotels, resorts and private mansions, is known as Paradise Island. Just think. I had the opportunity of spending a day in paradise, and I spent it instead traipsing through an old fort. Paradise postponed, once more.

I learned some "fort" terminology, however, while walking through Fort Charlotte. The next essay introduces some of it.

1841