Battery Tumble Down Dick
A section of the oddly shaped battery built circa 1704
Traditionally, the beach at Tumble Down Dick was a favourite landing site for pirates, smugglers and slavers. It offered a protected bay with calm waters, and had a sandy beach upon which one could run long-boats ashore. The journey to the town was not so easy, for one had to go up and over the crest of the mountain, but a well worn road probably made it worth-while, especially if the prying eyes of officials were being avoided.
Commander Isaac Lamont propsed the battery in 1701, but it seems to have been constructed after 1704. At this time it was proposed to be armed with eight guns. In typical Dutch West India Company fashion, by 1709 it was already allowed to have fallen into disrepair. An inspection found the guns overgrown with vegetation and partially buried in the sand. Only a month after this, pirates landed at this site, and took over the island for some time.
In 1740, the battery was refurbished,
though not to any great extent. The plan was an entire rebuilding, but
a lack of money from the West India Company allowed only for rebricking
the eight gun platforms, and some walls to be strengthened. It did, in
that year, get a new guard house, however, sporting three rooms. It seems
to have been made from cane, with a thatched roof. Unfortunately, all traces
of the barracks, as well as an indigo processing manufactory, were completely
destroyed by the building of an American oil terminal and storage tank
facility. As can be seen in the photograph, the terminal also destroyed
much of the fortification, with pipes running right through the parapet.
Today only three of the eight gun platforms along the wall remain, the
remainder having been bulldozed during construction. Fortunately, a plan
of the pre-construction wall was drawn in 1981 by a William and Mary crew
under J.B. Haviser, and a plan of circa 1740 has also survived.
The plan of the original battery
parapet is rather irregular. The wall faces the beach, and has several
angles sections, none of which seem to be for topographical reasons. Perhaps
these represent an unskilled attempt at flanking coverage for the guns,
but if so, they would have failed most miserably.
The walls are a mixture of cut stone, faced stone, and rounded cobble, all mortared together in approximately nine courses. Unlike the batteries of the 1780's, this defense has high walls and embrasures, or openings for the guns. This trait seems to indicate older construction theory than the very low walls at sites such as Concordia and Corre Corre.
The main section of the wall is mostly cut stone. The exterior has unmodified cobble stone mortared onto the botton half of the wall, and over this a soil embankment was then added to cover it. The result would be a somewhat better situation for the gun crews under fire from the bay, for any cannon shells stricking low might be absorbed by the soil. On the other hand, shot could also be deflected upwards by the slope, and stricke the exposed upper sections of the stone wall. Although this feature may have been in place by 1740, it is also quite possible this was an improvement added by the British in 1781, as this battery was among those refurbished.
In 1753, the armament of the battery had bene increased to 12 cannon, including 8 and 6 pounders. A muster roll of 1775, however, shows that once again the Dutch had let the battery's effectiveness fall, for then it was manned by only two corporals and one private. Another inventory in 1776 shows at this time 10 cannon remained, being three 12 pounders and six 6 pounders with carraiges, and one 12 pounder unmounted. Ammunition on hand was 100 balls.
In 1781, the nine mounted cannon remained at Tumble Down Dick. The initial
British occupation force left some 25 men at the battery to work the nine
guns, but Colonel Cockburn later ordered that it only be serviced by one
corporal and three privates, though it retained its nine guns. The logic
in this decision seems curious today, and it was also questioned then,
and was one of many commands Cockburn gave that the court-martial took
under consideration when they blamed him for the loss of the island to
the French. Return to the Fortifications
of St. Eustatius home page.