Times of the Islands Summer 2024

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astrolabe newsletter of the Turks & Caicos National Museum SHUTTERSTOCK Built in 1852, the lighthouse is Grand Turk’s most famous landmark. After many ships wrecked off the northern coast of Grand Turk, the lighthouse was built to aid in navigation. Run Aground Shipwrecks of the Turks & Caicos Islands–The Turks Islands (1500 – 1800) By James Jenney, The Bahamas Lost Ship Project Over the years the Turks & Caicos Islands have been written about in many ways, most associated with tourism and the pristine beauty of the tropical islands which Northerners would rightly call a paradise. But what of the Islands and their unique history? In terms of a European presence, the Islands were initially populated only on a seasonal basis and for the specific purpose of gathering salt, a commodity that built a solid foundation for what would become a permanent colony and later a country. This is the first of a series of articles which will look at the history of the Turks & Caicos with a singular focus on its maritime history. 72 www.timespub.tc
astrolabe newsletter of the Turks & Caicos National Museum As more vessels came from all parts of the world for salt and for other reasons, more shipwrecks occurred. Given that the Turks & Caicos Islands are remote and that it was nearly two centuries before the first regular newspaper was introduced here, it is understandable that information about maritime disasters was hard to come by and often incomplete or even missing. It is principally for these reasons that, particularly in the earlier years, many of the lost vessels were reported without even a record of the vessel’s name, let alone details of the disaster. Although it would be most desirable to be able to identify by name each lost ship, that is not possible, even though all sources of information have been pursued. The short abstracts of each loss (sometimes multiple losses) are detailed using the reports of the time when these have been discovered. Italics indicate the original news reports and will include misspellings and sometimes even errors in details of the loss. Where a date is shown in italics, the actual date is not known. What appears is the date of the reporting of the wreck. The data is by no means a complete listing of all of the wrecks in the Turks & Caicos Islands. That is an ongoing study. What is presented is the only listing of wrecks in the Islands that has been researched and published. The series will be presented in two main parts, with the first documenting the wrecks in the Turks Islands followed by those in the waters of the Caicos Islands. With these words of explanation, let us start the story of the maritime history of the Turks & Caicos Islands at the beginning. August, 1500 — UNIDENTIFIED x 2 A fleet of explorers destined for the northern coast of South America was made up of four caravels under the command of Vincent Yanez Pinzon. In the summer of 1500, two of the vessels were caught in a hurricane and lost. Although there are different opinions about where these wrecks occurred, one possible location of the loss was on a shoal called Abrajos (actually Abre los ojos which translates in English to “Open Your Eyes”—undoubtedly to advise mariners of its dangerous location). The shoal is also known as Mouchoir Carre Bank (which translates to “Square Handkerchief,” another name often associated with shipwrecks). The shoal lies 45 miles southeast from Grand Turk Island. July 10, 1715 — UNIDENTIFIED x 6 Twenty-one days before the loss of the Spanish treasure fleet off the coast of Florida, another fleet—this one from Bermuda—met with a similar fate on Turks Island due to a storm. According to a news report in the Boston News-Letter of August 29, “ . . . we are informed that in the great storm about the 10th of July last, there were six Bermuda sloops cast away on Turks Island. The men were all saved except one little boy . . . a seventh sloop got away from amongst the rocks with great difficulty by cutting her cable and came safe to Bermuda and gave account of the rest that was lost.” It is probable that the sloops traveled from Bermuda to Turks Island for a cargo of salt but they were also known to travel here for “wrecking.” March 15, 1735 — UNIDENTIFIED The loss of a brigantine near Turks Island made it into a Boston newspaper only because one captain Dyer mentioned it in a letter to a friend. In part, his letter read, “a wreck had been discovered near Turks Island about the middle of March last, where there was drove on shore a large quantity of boards, the mainmast of a brigantine, and two hen-coops newly painted.” The letter was sent while the captain was in Jamaica in early June. September 13, 1747 — UNIDENTIFIED A merchant brig under the command of Capt. Elberson was lost on this date in a hurricane that struck Turks Island. Most likely she was headed there to procure a cargo of salt when lost. The exact location of this wreck is unknown. July 4, 1764 — LA-BOINARD On June 1, 1764 French forces attacked the Turks Islands and made prisoners of the British subjects living there. According to Lloyd’s List, a few weeks later on July 4, this French ship was lost on Turks Island. The two incidents could be connected but there is no evidence of that. August, 1765 — UNIDENTIFIED One Captain Yorke, enroute from Jamaica, passed the brig Francis. Captain Brownlaw, travelling from Turks Island to Philadelphia advised, “that a sloop, Captain Russ, from North Carolina, was lost at Turks Island, the latter end of August; her rigging and cargo were saved.” Times of the Islands Summer 2024 73
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TIMES SAMPLING THE SOUL OF THE TURK
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Page 22 and 23: When Hurricane Donna hit in Septemb
Page 24 and 25: PHOTO COURTESY TANYA LIGHTBOURNE Gu
Page 26 and 27: JOHN A. ANDERSON—SHUTTERSTOCK
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Page 30 and 31: KELLY CURRINGTON This male Peacock
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Page 39 and 40: feature These “scenes from South
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Page 47 and 48: Bahamas that diverted two US Coast
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Page 53 and 54: dent visa. She contacted US Immigra
Page 55 and 56: feature Opposite page: This is the
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Page 68 and 69: astrolabe newsletter of the Turks &
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Page 80 and 81: Government/Legal system TCI is a Br
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Times of the Islands Summer 2024

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