Roger Smith. 2000. University of Florida Press, Gainesville. ISBN 0-8130-1773-4 (hardback, acid-free paper). 182 pages, plus 34 pages of appendices, notes, and references; and an index.
Roger C. Smith's The Maritime Heritage of the Cayman Islands takes the reader on a trip both underwater and into the past of the Cayman Islands; and a rollicking, swash-buckling, pirate-filled, shipwreck-strewn adventure-on-the-high-seas past it was!
The book begins with an introduction to the Cayman Islands Project, a two-year underwater archaeology project that sounds like heaven, tempered by the occasional hurricane. The 1978-1980 project, engineered by the Texas A&M University's world-renowned Institute of Nautical Archaeology and on behalf of the Cayman Island government, was to go to the Caymans and record 475 years of shipwrecks known to have occurred off the coasts of the three islands. After two years, the crew had recorded seventy-seven shipwrecks, including privateers, small colonial vessels, trading vessels, freighters, brigands, four-masted schooners, Spanish galleons, sloops, and Dutch West Indies vessels from the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
The book begins with an introduction to the Cayman Islands Project, a two-year underwater archaeology project that sounds like heaven, tempered by the occasional hurricane. The 1978-1980 project, engineered by the Texas A&M University's world-renowned Institute of Nautical Archaeology and on behalf of the Cayman Island government, was to go to the Caymans and record 475 years of shipwrecks known to have occurred off the coasts of the three islands. After two years, the crew had recorded seventy-seven shipwrecks, including privateers, small colonial vessels, trading vessels, freighters, brigands, four-masted schooners, Spanish galleons, sloops, and Dutch West Indies vessels from the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries.
The remaining chapters describe the early maritime history of the Caymans, from their discovery 500 years ago (there has never been found any archaeological evidence for prehistoric use of the islands), through turtle fishing by explorers and piracy by the English and the French and the Spanish. A long digression describes the history of shipbuilding, and a chapter is dedicated to the Wreck of the Ten Sail, the greatest shipping disaster in the Caymans. In 1794, nine British merchant vessels and their naval escort crashed into the windward reefs of Grand Cayman island. Only five men died, although some of the wounded died later; but the Naval captain and his crew were court-martialled for the expensive disaster.
Three appendices for this book include an eyewitness account of a 1669 Spanish corsair raid on Little Cayman; a description of the Cayman islands in 1880 by a British surveyor; and the first census of the Caymans, taken in 1802. Numerous black and white photos and some early maps of the islands are sprinkled throughout the text.
Three appendices for this book include an eyewitness account of a 1669 Spanish corsair raid on Little Cayman; a description of the Cayman islands in 1880 by a British surveyor; and the first census of the Caymans, taken in 1802. Numerous black and white photos and some early maps of the islands are sprinkled throughout the text.
The Maritime Heritage of the Cayman Islands is a window into the romance and adventure of the high seas; and a little peek into the adventure and romance of underwater archaeology as well. Directed to and written for the general public, this book has a great deal to offer anyone seeking to know a little bit about island paradises.
