Battery Bouille

Battery Bouille, perhaps the best preserved of all the Statian coastal fortifications, was situated so as to protect the approach to the main harbour. Ships approaching the bay, due to wind and currents, generally had to do so from the southeast to the northwest, and thus pass under the guns of Battery Bouille before reaching Oranje Bay. It was also centrally located between Battery Dollijn, to the south, and Fort Oranje, so between the three the approach up the coast of Statia was reasonably well covered.

The offshore depth at this site is sufficient to allow a fairly large warship to approach fairly close, although some coral colonies offshore could present hazards. Although the shoreline here today is rocky, and not especially conducive to landing, the presence of a probale sugar processing site known as Crook's Castle, which predates the battery, is below this, and suggests shore landings were rather more accessible in the 18th-century.

A ravine which seems to be an 18th-century era roadway to the north of Bouille, behind Crook's Castle, would have provided easy access to the Upper Town. The surrounding coastal terrain, however, is mostly a shore cliff, and so the ravine would have required protection from the battery as well.

Battery Bouille sits some 70 feet above sea level. This puts it well within the range of elevation required for ship's cannon to fire richocet shots into the battery, those which were most devastating to mounted guns. The surrounding terrain, although, would not assist the ship's gunners very much, for behind was a flat plain, and before a cliff edge.

The battery's construction was the usual three-winged variety enountered throughout the island. The parapet is laid with carefully cut limestone blocks. While this makes the battery aesthetically pleasing, it was not especially functional, for squared stone walls struck by incoming shells could create major problems for the gun crews. The addition of a soil embankment, as seen at Tumble Down Dick and Concordia for example, would have made this battery vastly more safe from attack, but there is no evidence of this having been done to Bouille. While erosion could have removed most of such an embankment if it existed, weathering on the stone, as well as the surrounding terrain does not seem suggestive that this occurred.

The construction of Battery Bouille, combined with evidence from maps, suggests that the battery as it now stands is primarily a French construction. Although the British and even the Dutch before them may have had a battery in place at this site, Bouille is probably a product of their efforts of late 1781 and 1782. The very fact that it is built with cut stone suggests it was not a product of haste, and the British batteries were certainly being built with great urgency. The French, on the other hand, knew that the British were in no immediate position to retake the island, and probably had more time to spare in creating such a construction. Although it is not strong evidence, it should also be recalled that the battery takes its name from the French leader of the expeditionary force, the Marquis de Bouille.

Regardless of who built the battery, it was modified in later years. The length of the flank walls were extended at some point, using loose cobble. The height remained unchanged though, which was sufficiently high to allow a gun to clear it, but would preclude any significant negative angle firing. Three guns still remain at Battery Bouille, one a 24 poundeer of British manufacture, and two 12 pounders. Although the date of the guns has not been precisely determined, they are old enough to ahve been present in the 1780's, but it seems more likely they were left in the early 19th-century after the batteries abandonment, at the end of the Napoleonic wars. The British were not allowed to remove their artillery in 1781, so the 24 pounder could have been left since that date, but the French would seem unlikely to leave behind such a valuable weapon in 1784, when they voluntarily quited the island.

During archaeological recording, one military related artifact that could be precisely dated was found. It is a button of the British Artillery. The style and backmark place it in a timeframe that strongly suggests it was lost during the British occupation of 1802.