Local History

Pomp falls more to circumstance

Colonial affairs were always carried out with a great flair for ceremony, yet these actions were often diluted with muddle circumstance

St Lucia is one island of the Caribbean that relates a bit of muddy water surrounding its early history. The exact discovery of the island is uncertain; the early colonists faced continual confrontations with the already established Amerindian tribes; and the British and French were constantly laying simultaneous claim to the island. Yet, whenever an occasion arose, it was, nonetheless, presented with much pageantry. Several early attempts at settlement from both the English and the French were unsuccessful. In 1700 the island was, by a prior 1667 treaty, assigned to the French. Yet the governor of Barbados, Governor Grey, acting upon orders issue by the King laid claim to the island. Threat of military intervention on the part of the French Commander-in-Chief, however changed his resolve. Again in 1713 by the Peace of Utrecht, the island was official named French. A number of French deserters took up residence increasing the island’s population and seemingly spurring some interest.

Marshal Count d’Estrées, thus applied to the French Regent for a grant of the island and a grant was accorded in 1718. Permission to begin land sales and concessions followed with restrictions that all would be properly documented with boundaries delineated. According to protocol a “prise de possession” or occupation ceremony was planned. On July 24, 1719 the Marshal d’Estrées arrived in the Castries Harbor with a contingency that included the man-of-war “La Vénus” and the appropriately named “Le Maréchal d’Estrés”. The grand assemblage included newly appointed personage to the island including the surgeon and the chaplain. Merchants from Martinique were in attendance. A 12 cannon British vessel was also on hand, having been granted temporary anchorage and a brief reprieve from its mission of “hunting Spanish”.

The headland to the north of the harbor known as Pointe St Victor played stage to the ceremony. Henri de St Martin, the Commandant de l’ile Ste Lucie, boarded the French man-of-war to sign the documentation before the party went ashore. Drums and musket salutes were followed by a formal mass. A cross was erected on the point alongside a newly planted French flag. Further ceremonial acts of possession included planting plants, drinking of the island’s river waters, and gathering stones. Cheers to the King and the Marshal followed a cannon salute from the ships in the harbor. Such grandeur fell to circumstance as the British appeared once again to claim the island in 1722 and the resultant confrontation ended in compromise and St Lucia become officially neutral.