A convoy of ten ships, including HMS Convert (a recent French prize previously named L'Inconstante) and nine of the accompanying merchantmen, was wrecked on the treacherous eastern reef surrounding Grand Cayman Island in 1794 while voyaging from Jamaica to Britain. Although perceived by some as the loss of a single ship, it was a multiple wrecking of ten vessels at the same time. This event represented a major maritime disaster in Caribbean naval history. Resident islanders ventured into stormy waters and successfully rescued the ships’ crews and passengers. Eight people died in the event. Although the details vary, islanders shared the dramatic story with generations of their descendants. Beyond the significance to local history, the broader context of the story is an important case study of French and British nations jousting for sea power as a strategy for global commercial hegemony in the last decade of the eighteenth century. Author Margaret Leshikar-Denton skilfully weaves together the narrative using a combination of ethnographic, archaeological and historical research methodologies. The study includes the history of the frigates, the island community and the interpretation of wreck sites to explain its place in the rich fabric of Cayman, Caribbean and European history.
Under the umbrella of the Cayman Islands Memory Bank administered by their National Archives, the author interviewed Caymanian elders. Each informant described the origin knowledge of the ‘Wreck of the Ten Sail’ and its aftermath. Memories of the wrecking range from believing it was a deliberate strategy of one ship firing cannons to fake a distress situation to lure the rest of the fleet onto the reef, to a frantic trumpet signal to assist a captain anticipating pirate plunder. As in the case of previous wreckings, the enslaved people of the island came to the rescue in their canoes. Equally fascinating are the accounts of continued engagement of the inhabitants with the wrecks. They salvaged artefacts from shipwreck sites, such as cannons, iron furnaces, cooking pots and wood to build houses. Recollections of what happened to the shipwrecked survivors include speculations that some stayed and had relationships and children with Caymanian women; others went home to England to collect pay cheques, and then returned to the island again. These narratives are immortalised in the stories, songs and poems collected by Leshikar-Denton. Stories of the shipwrecks not only shaped local memory, but influenced popular culture for future Caymanian generations.
The historical research devoted to this book comprises a substantial investigation of primary sources in a variety of repositories. Especially valuable were those discovered in the Public Record Office and National Maritime Museum in London, the National Library at the Institute of Jamaica, Kingston and three archives in Paris, France. Examples of the array of documents examined to reconstruct historical events include: Vice Admiralty records about the prize ships; prisoner statements and interrogations; registers of ships; muster rolls; port and dockyard records; captains’ correspondence; and shipwreck salvage accounts. With the escalation of naval hostilities between British and French fleets in the Caribbean, the merchant ships, carrying sugar, rum and molasses, travelled together for safety. Captain John Lawford, who had served in the American War of Independence, commanded the convoy from his vessel HMS Convert, captured from the French during an attack on Sainte-Domingue (Haiti). Leshikar-Denton expertly assembles data on the naval and biographical background of John Lawford and the capture of L'Inconstante. Intricate archival details about the equipment, stores and wrecking provide a convenient complement to archaeological data. These also appear in several appendices that contain a wealth of primary-source raw data that will be of value to other scholars investigating this era of maritime history and for future work in the area.
With training as a professional maritime archaeologist and a background in ship construction technicalities, the author proficiently navigates the section describing the construction and outfitting of frigates in the late eighteenth century. These vessels served in a variety of capacities as commerce raiders, cruisers and reconnaissance ships. The addition of historical illustrations, waterlines, plans, and profile and stern views are bound to delight the ship afficionado readership. Further research reveals a plethora of details on the ballasting, sheathing and arming of the vessel. The book includes tantalising images of correspondence relating to these significant details.
The archaeological portion of the book comprehensively credits the multiple agencies and practitioners who contributed towards archaeological surveys and investigations on Cayman Island since 1979. Team members not only conducted conventional underwater survey work, but informed by oral histories, they also searched for salvaged artefacts displayed on land. This was a valuable exercise, culminating in the discovery and documentation of 30 cannons distributed at various locations on the island, along with the salvage history of each. The addition of the cannon photographs complements this portion of the book, although they lack the best practice of including archaeological scales.
The search for tangible submerged remains of the ten shipwrecks continued through to the 1990s. Leshikar-Denton meticulously details the archaeological methodology of underwater survey including the sequence of visual inspections, controlled metal-detection surveys and mapping procedures of a cannon site and laying out a grid system. This section of the book includes excellent maps and artwork of some of the diagnostic artefacts credited to the author. The surveys yielded discoveries of ordnance, anchors, a windlass assembly, ballast stones and a diverse scatter of surface artefacts including ceramics, glassware and iron fastenings on the reef. Large amounts of eighteenth-century materials suggest that the French Cannon Site (GC017) and the Probable Frigate Spillage Site (GC012) represent the remains of the Royal Navy frigate HMS Convert.
The significance of this project and scholarship to the broader public and international community is reflected in a visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in 1994 to the exhibit at the Cayman Islands National Museum, where the author currently serves as the director and archaeologist. As the frigate is a British warship, it technically belongs to the UK, which is therefore responsible for its protection. It will be interesting to see how this collaboration is negotiated in future management policies and practices.
This scholarly book is a valuable addition to the shelves of any historian or maritime archaeologist interested in late eighteenth-century Caribbean or European naval history. It will serve as an outstanding complement to university courses in underwater archaeology and to community or public archaeology. The rich use of quotes from oral historical accounts scattered throughout allows the reader to hear the voices of the past. Leshikar-Denton's engagement in the narrative as a team member in all aspects of the research makes it an authentic read.
