AUTHOR'S POSTSCRIPT

 The fourth edition of Steele's Naval Chronologist of the Late War was published in London in 1806, and on page 100, under the heading 'Colonies, Settlements &c, captured from the enemy', is the following brief reference:

The island of Curacao, in the West Indies, D[utch]: surrendered after having claimed the protection of his Britannic Majesty, to the Nereide, 36, Capt F. Watkins, September 12, 1800.

William James, in his Naval History of Great Britain, Volume III, gives more details:

On the 11th of September, while the British 12 - pounder 36 - gun frigate Nereide . . . was cruising off the port of Amsterdam, in the island of Curacao, the Dutch inhabitants of the latter, tired out with the enormities of the band of 1500 republican ruffians that were in possession of the west end of the island, sent off a deputation to claim the protection of England. On the 13th the capitulation surrendering the island . . . was signed . . . The vessels, large and small, lying in the harbour of Amsterdam, numbering 44; but no ships of war were among them.

The rest of the story is told by the redoubtable James, who recorded the whole war in great detail. The island was subsequently returned to the Dutch, and Amsterdam's name was later changed to Willemstad.

D. P.

Yacht Ramage

EnglishHarbour

Antigua

West Indies