1794.
In the spring of 1794 the British succeeded in taking Tiburon and one or two more ports, and finally in June they effected the capture of Port au Prince. But the revolted negroes, under the command of a man of colour, Andrew Rigaud, showed plainly by an attack on the British post at Tiburon that they at any rate did not mean to accept British rule. And now yellow fever set in again with frightful severity. A small British reinforcement of 300 men lost 100 in the short passage between Guadeloupe and Jamaica, left 150 more dying at Jamaica, and arrived at Port au Prince with a bare 50 fit for duty. 1795. Then Rigaud again became active, and on 28th December succeeded in recapturing Tiburon, after the British had lost 300 men out of 480.
When the news of all these calamities arrived in England, it was resolved that four regiments of Light Cavalry should be sent dismounted to St. Domingo in August, and that meanwhile detachments amounting to eight troops of the 13th, 17th and 18th Light Dragoons should be despatched to Jamaica forthwith. These last were, if required by the General, to be sent on to St. Domingo; and as the General required them very badly, being able to raise only 500 men fit for duty out of seven regiments, he lost no time in asking for them.
The detachments, including that from the Seventeenth, were accordingly shipped off, when or from whence I have been unable to discover. As little is known of the life on a transport in those days, it may be worth while to put down here such few details as I have succeeded in collecting. In the first place, then, hired transports seem generally to have been thoroughly bad ships. That they should have been small was unavoidable; but they seem as a rule to have been in every respect bad, and by no means invariably seaworthy. Those who have seen in the naval despatches of those days the extraordinary difficulty that was found in keeping even men-of-war clean, and the foul diseases that were rampant in the fleet through the jobbery and mismanagement of the Admiralty, will not be inclined to expect much of the hired transports. Let us then imagine the men brought on board a ship full of foul smells from bad stores and bilge-water, and then proceed to a brief sketch of the regulations.
The first regulation is that the ship is to be frequently fumigated with brimstone, sawdust, or wet gunpowder—no doubt to overcome the pervading stench. Such fumigation was to begin at 7 A.M., when the berths were brought up and aired, and be repeated if possible after each meal. Moreover, lest the free circulation of air should be impeded unnecessarily, it was ordained that married couples should not be allowed to hang up blankets, to make them separate berths, all over the ship, but in certain places only. 1795. The men were to be divided into three watches, one of which was always to be on deck; and in fine weather every man was to be on deck all day, and kept in health and strength by shot drill. For the rest the men were required to wash their feet every morning in two tubs of salt water placed in the forecastle for the purpose, to comb their heads every morning with a small tooth comb, to shave, to wash all over, and to put on a clean shirt at least twice a week.
At the very best the prospects of a voyage to the West Indies a century ago could not have been pleasant; but the experience of these unfortunate detachments of dragoons seems to have been appalling. After a terrible passage, in which some ships were cast away, and all were seriously battered, a certain number of transports arrived in July at Jamaica, and among them those containing two troops of the Seventeenth. Jamaica not being their destination, they were told that their arrival was an unfortunate blunder, and packed off again to St. Domingo. Think of the feelings of those unhappy men at being bandied about in such a fashion. They had not sailed clear of the Jamaican coast, however, when they were hastily recalled. The Maroons had broken out into rebellion; and the “unfortunate blunder” which brought the Seventeenth to Jamaica was fated to prove a piece of great good luck to the island and a cause of distinction to the regiment. But something must first be said of the story of the Maroons themselves.
CHAPTER VII
THE MAROON WAR IN JAMAICA, 1795
1795.
The year 1795, as will presently be told when we speak of the services of the Seventeenth in Grenada, was marked by a simultaneous revolt of almost all the possessions of the British in the West Indies. Amid all this trouble the large and important island of Jamaica remained untouched. This was remarkable, for from its wealth it offered a tempting prey to the French, and, from its proximity to St. Domingo, it was easy of access to French agents of sedition and revolt, who could pass into it without suspicion among the hundreds of refugees that had fled from that unhappy island. Moreover, the garrison had been reduced to great weakness by the constant drain of reinforcements for St. Domingo. Still, in spite of some awkward symptoms, the Jamaica planters remained careless and supine; and no one but the governor, Lord Balcarres, a veteran of the American War, felt the slightest anxiety. Such was the state of affairs when the squadron of the Seventeenth arrived at Port Royal in July, and was sent on board ship again. Three days later the Maroons were up in rebellion.
The history of these Maroons is curious, and must be told at some length if the relation of the war is to be rightly understood. Jamaica was originally gained for the English by an expedition despatched by Cromwell in 1655; but it was not until 1658 that the Spaniards, after a last vain struggle to expel the British garrison, were finally driven from the island. On their departure their slaves fled to the mountains, and there for some years they lived by the massacre and plunder of British settlers. 1795. They seem to have scattered themselves over a large extent of country, and to have kept themselves in at least two distinct bodies, those in the north holding no communication with those in the south. These latter, in their district of Clarendon, being disagreeably near the seat of Government, the British authorities contrived to conciliate and disperse; but their fastnesses had not long been deserted by the Maroons when they were occupied (1690) by a band of revolted slaves. These last soon became extremely formidable and troublesome, their ravages compelling the planters to convert every estate-building into a fortress; and at last the burden of this brigandage became so insupportable that the Government determined to put it down with a strong hand.