Iles des Saintes
Early morning showers and attendant rainbows cleared as we nosed our way into the bay at first light. We had arrived off the principal township of Bourg on the larger of the two islands - Terre de Haut - that make up the delightful archipelago of the Saintes to the south of Guadeloupe. The name of the archipelago derives from its being discovered by the Spanish around All Saints Day. Today, it is most decidedly French, in culture and prosperity, having avoided the usual ravages of colonial development largely by being in a rain shadow and being too short of water for plantation agriculture or large-scale settlement.
The name of the island entered the history books when the largest naval battle of the eighteenth century took place off its coast on 12th April 1782. The French fleet under Admiral de Grasse was in the area, having helped the Americans defeat the British at Chesapeake Bay the previous year. It had sailed triumphantly through the Caribbean, so that by the end of that year the British were only in possession of Jamaica, St Lucia, Antigua and Barbados. The end of hard-won British naval supremacy in the Atlantic was in sight. The French fleet was sailing towards toward Jamaica, the largest and richest of these British possessions, when Admiral Rodney intercepted it. But, not for the first time, it was a chance occurrence that changed the course of history. A gust of wind - and some confused communication between the French ships-of-the-line - enabled the British to penetrate the French lines and divide their fleet. With more maneuverable vessels, thanks to copper-sheathed hulls and the newly developed carronade that fired deadly shrapnel at close range, the British secured a famous victory, leaving us with some tantalizing might-have-beens.
Had the French achieved dominance in the Caribbean, they would have controlled the lucrative eighteenth-century sugar trade. The financial crisis that precipitated the French Revolution would not then have occurred, and there would have been neither a Napoleon nor any need to sell Louisiana to the United States. Our world would have looked and probably sounded very different. All this - thanks to a gust of wind. We were able to meditate on all this during our tour of Fort Napoleon above the town, with its excellent museum devoted to the battle and much else besides.
There was excellent snorkeling before lunch, followed by a fine afternoon's sailing during which we reached an invigorating 12 knots, with a deck dinner accompanied by the Sea Cloud II shanty gang to bring a memorable day to a close.
Early morning showers and attendant rainbows cleared as we nosed our way into the bay at first light. We had arrived off the principal township of Bourg on the larger of the two islands - Terre de Haut - that make up the delightful archipelago of the Saintes to the south of Guadeloupe. The name of the archipelago derives from its being discovered by the Spanish around All Saints Day. Today, it is most decidedly French, in culture and prosperity, having avoided the usual ravages of colonial development largely by being in a rain shadow and being too short of water for plantation agriculture or large-scale settlement.
The name of the island entered the history books when the largest naval battle of the eighteenth century took place off its coast on 12th April 1782. The French fleet under Admiral de Grasse was in the area, having helped the Americans defeat the British at Chesapeake Bay the previous year. It had sailed triumphantly through the Caribbean, so that by the end of that year the British were only in possession of Jamaica, St Lucia, Antigua and Barbados. The end of hard-won British naval supremacy in the Atlantic was in sight. The French fleet was sailing towards toward Jamaica, the largest and richest of these British possessions, when Admiral Rodney intercepted it. But, not for the first time, it was a chance occurrence that changed the course of history. A gust of wind - and some confused communication between the French ships-of-the-line - enabled the British to penetrate the French lines and divide their fleet. With more maneuverable vessels, thanks to copper-sheathed hulls and the newly developed carronade that fired deadly shrapnel at close range, the British secured a famous victory, leaving us with some tantalizing might-have-beens.
Had the French achieved dominance in the Caribbean, they would have controlled the lucrative eighteenth-century sugar trade. The financial crisis that precipitated the French Revolution would not then have occurred, and there would have been neither a Napoleon nor any need to sell Louisiana to the United States. Our world would have looked and probably sounded very different. All this - thanks to a gust of wind. We were able to meditate on all this during our tour of Fort Napoleon above the town, with its excellent museum devoted to the battle and much else besides.
There was excellent snorkeling before lunch, followed by a fine afternoon's sailing during which we reached an invigorating 12 knots, with a deck dinner accompanied by the Sea Cloud II shanty gang to bring a memorable day to a close.
