Melville’s Battery, as before observed, was the principal place from whence the most material service was done, in preventing the French from entering Roseau on the 7th of September, 1778. This battery has some very heavy cannon on it, but the works of it are all gone to decay, and it is at present wholly neglected.
Bruce’s Hill, which is just above Roseau, has several fine batteries, with one for mortars, commodious barracks, and several blockhouses. It had a fine stone cistern in the time of the French, but which, being built by them, they thought proper to destroy and blew it up, a few days before they evacuated the island, thereby rendering it useless. However, the aqueduct, by which it was supplied with water, has been since discovered, and is of great use to that fortification, which is, upon the whole, well calculated for the defence of the town, when attacked only from the sea; but being under the command of other heights above it, it would soon be rendered untenable, was it to be attacked on the land-side, as was the case the last war.
Demoullen’s Hill fort is also well mounted with cannon, and is otherways well provided for the defence of the town; but it is subject to the same inconveniences as the other fortifications, being under the command of the heights above it.
These are the chief fortifications in Dominica at present, except that at Cashacrou, which is rather a signal post; the other batteries on the sea-coasts, at a distance from Roseau, being of small importance for the defence of the island, save only the works now raising at Prince Rupert’s Bay.
This last is in the parish of Saint John, on the north-west part of the island, distant about seven leagues from the town of Roseau. The bay is three miles across, and one and a half deep, that is to say, from the extremity of each point, to the shore of the land laid out for a town. In this bay the whole of the British navy may safely ride at anchor all seasons of the year, and be well supplied with necessaries not be found at English harbours in Antigua, or any other part of the English West Indies, the rendezvous of the British fleet. It is surrounded by two high mountains, called the Cabrittes; the inner of which is about five hundred, and the outer six hundred feet perpendicular; both of them are out of the reach of other heights.
At the bottom of these mountains, between the inner one and the main land, is a large piece of swampy ground, upwards of one hundred acres in extent; which, if well drained, would pasture many cattle, sheep, and other stock, for the use of the garrison; and the stock, feeding under the muzzles of the guns, would be secure from being pillaged, or destroyed by the enemy.
Soon after the arrival of Colonel Andrew Fraser, his Majesty’s chief Engineer for that island, the Legislature of Dominica, wishing to testify their readiness to co-operate with government, in the important work of fortifying Prince Rupert’s Bay, well knowing that it would be the only effectual means of preserving the sovereignty of the country to Great Britain, they passed an act, granting to his Majesty the labour of one hundred negros, for three years, to be paid for by the colony.
The work was accordingly began, by cutting down the trees on the Cabrittes, tracing roads to the tops of them, and draining the swamps; from which, in a few months, fifteen inches of water was carried off, and it was found that they could be effectually drained; whereby the healthiness of fort Shirley, which lays between the two Cabrittes, was established. But on the rumour of a fresh war, expected between England and France in 1787, the negros so granted by the colony were withdrawn from Prince Rupert’s Bay by Governor Orde, who employed them on the fortifications of Roseau, particularly on Demoullen’s Hill, the works of which were then first began. However, the fortifying the Cabrittes has since been re-commenced; and when completed, there is no doubt but that they will be nearly as formidable as the rock of Gibraltar.
At the distance of about twelve miles from Roseau, and nine miles from Prince Rupert’s Bay, is the grand Savanna, which also might be well fortified, and rendered of great service, for the defence of the island. The Savanna is a fine extensive plain, upwards of a mile in extent; is on a tolerable height above the sea-shore, and at a great distance from the mountains above it.