Antigua - English Navy Lord's Bizzarre Duel
Personality
By
David Ellis
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A rusting old anchor on a waterfront lawn at
English Harbour on the tiny island of Antigua in the Caribbean attracts
only mild attention from most visitors… after all, this harbour was
once one of Britain’s major naval centres, so there are plenty such
items of maritime history to be found here.
But in fact it marks an infamous blot in Britain’s naval history, for
it was here that a British peer and Acting Commander – Thomas Pitt, the
2nd Baron Camelford – shot dead a lower-born officer in a pistol duel…
because the latter refused to kowtow to His Lordship.
Lord Camelford was no stranger to controversy: when he travelled with
Captain George Vancouver on his journey of discovery to Tahiti and
America, Vancouver had him flogged for trading ship’s stores for the
favours of a Tahitian beauty, again for unauthorised trading with
Indians on the American coast, and yet again for breaking the binnacle
glass while skylarking.
And finally Vancouver put him in irons for falling asleep on watch.
After other problems Lord Camelford left the navy for a short time, but
rejoined and rose to the rank of lieutenant aboard HMS Favourite, and
possibly because of his family connections, in 1797 was appointed
Acting Commander over the ship’s First Lieutenant, Charles Peterson who
was actually his senior.
Inevitable friction between them saw Peterson transferred to HMS
Perdrix, but the two found themselves moored uncomfortably side-by-side
in Antigua’s English Harbour in 1798.
They quarrelled yet again over seniority, and Lord Camelford, who
considered himself a top shot and had already killed one man in a duel,
challenged Lieutenant Peterson to join him on the lawn opposite their
ships.
He shot Petersen dead, was court-martialled and acquitted, but
ironically when he made a similar call against a friend six years
later, it was His Lordship who proved not the shot he thought he was:
he died on the spot at just 29 years of age, and with no heirs his
title died with him.
The British chose English Harbour, 20km south of Antigua’s now-capital
St John’s, as a base for their ships for raids on valuable
sugar-producing islands in the Eastern Caribbean, and to thwart others
eyeing-off the same islands. They could also repair their ships in a
harbour well-protected against enemy and storms, and which had
plentiful timber.
Lord Nelson was temporarily based there, and hated the place so much he
wrote back home that it was “an infernal hole… a vile spot.” And
bizarrely when he fell ill and sailed back to England, he took a barrel
of Caribbean rum with him to “preserve my body in the event of my death
at sea.”
English Harbour ceased operations as a naval base in 1889, and today is
a favourite haunt of cruising yachties who find safe haven here. And
local maritime and naval buffs who formed the Friends of English
Harbour in the mid-1990s have restored much of the original Georgian
dockyard, believed to be the only one of its kind remaining in the
world today.
They’ve also created a fascinating maritime museum in the 1885’s
Admiral’s House which, typically of the British, was given its
illustrious name despite never having been home to an admiral: most of
the time it was occupied by the officer-in-charge of the docks and his
storekeeper.
As well as the anchor marking the spot where the erratic Lord Camelford
shot Lieutenant Peterson, there are restored capstans on which fiddlers
once sat and played sea shanties to encourage greater effort by sailors
struggling to haul ships ashore for repairs, the massive pillars to
which those ships were tied upright once on dry land, historic stone
wharves, 250-year old warehouses that are now boutique hotels, and the
museum with its fascinating collections.
Sadly most visitors to Antigua don’t go much beyond the shops, markets,
restaurants and bars of capital St John’s, but the trip down to English
Harbour is well worth the taxi fare.
Most cruise lines visiting Antigua depart early evening, but the twin
112-passenger mega motor-yachts of SeaDream Yacht Club generally don’t
depart until later at night, allowing time to enjoy the town’s
after-dinner nightlife; details travel agents or www.seadream.com
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