Day 17
Spent the day talking with other boaters and planning our next few days while waiting for the rain and wind to come through this afternoon and evening. Will be a big blow tomorrow also have to wait for the waves to die down as our next passage takes us out into the Atlantic for a short bit before we can duck in behind the islands again.
We also have identified a problem with our Starlink router and have been emailing their support desk most of the late morning and afternoon. So far no resolution.
So I thought I'd continue a Reader's Digest history of the Bahamas. We left off with the British religious refugees landing in Eleuthera and moving to the Abacos and eventually also settling in New Providence's natural harbor Nassau.
During this time the Spanish steadily increased shipping in Bahamian waters and the British commissioned privateers to plunder and destroy Spanish ships. The French on Hispaniola also joined the plundering. Thus began the period of Privateering. For 76 years the privateers and Buccaneers were the scourge of the Spanish fleet. Edward Mansfield and Sir Henry Morgan were the most famous of the "brethren of the coast" whose strict code of honor and rewards and compensation ruled.
The Privateers and Buccaneers evolved into pirates as the French and English Buccaneers quarreled and the Jamaican and Colonial America passed acts against pirating. The final blow to cooperation came when the English went to war with the French in 1689. The pirates evolved to expand to raids on American and any European ships. In the 1690's, the Bahamas, especially Nassau became the center of illegal trade.
The French and Spanish raided Nassau to try to regain control of the harbor, but it was the English who retained control, establishing martial law and amnesty to those who would abandon pirating. The English succeeded in ending the age of pirates in the Bahamas in 1732.
The next phase of the Bahamas is called the Loyalist. The Treaty of Versailles which ended the Revolutionary War in 1783 gave Bahamas to England and Florida to Spain. The Loyalists left Florida and Colonial America to settle in the Abacos, Exuma and Nassau bringing their slaves and plantation life to the Bahamas. They made their living farming, trying their hand at cotton, and harvesting salt. In 1807, slave trade was abolished and in 1834 slavery of outlawed. This and the poor soil for farming, brought the end of the cotton plantations. The Loyalist then turned to fishing, boat building, salvaging the wrecks common in these waters, and harvesting salt.
Day 18
Spent this rainy morning communicating with Starlink and got our account reactivated. YEAH!! Now we can have internet and Nebo is back working again. We should now show up in Black Sound, Green Turtle Bay.
Since it is still raining off and on, I'll continue the Bahamas history.
The next phase of Bahamian history began with the age of steam. The Bahamian government worked to establish Nassau as a steamship stop and succeeded in 1859 with an agreement with the Cunard line.
However, in 1861, America was embroiled in Civil War. When President Lincoln ordered a blockade of all southern ports, seamen in the Bahamas saw an opportunity. Any able vessel began shipping supplies to the southern states and returning with cotton to market in Nassau, marking a huge profit. As the blockade was loosely guarded at first there was little risk, but has the Federal Navy tightened its hold on the blockades, blockade running became more hazardous. The Bahamians created camouflage to allow the boats to continue shipping and with greater risk came greater profits. Once the port of New Orleans and then Sherman's march to the sea cut off all southern ports, the golden days of blockade running came to an end.
This brings us to the birth of tourism in the Bahamas.
After the Civil War ended the Bahamas fell into a depression as trade to the America was impacted by high tariffs. The salt industry collapsed, but a Frenchmen who had wrecked on Bahamian shores saw the opportunity to export Bahamian sponges to Paris. The Bahamas then became the epic center of the sponging industry. At one point, up to 600 schooners and 2800 open boats plied the waters of the Bahamas for sponge. Later as Key West became another sponge center, many Bahamians moved to take advantage of this opportunity. At one point 8,000 of Key West's population of 25,000 were Bahamian. The sponge industry lasted until 1939 when a fungus infected the sponges. Today sponging is still viable but on a much limited scale.
Bahamians also returned to salvaging wrecks along it shores which proved lucrative, until the British began building lighthouses to assist with shipping.
Finally in 1890, regular steamship service began between Florida and Nassau and the Bahamian government signed a contract with Henry Flagler to build a flagship hotel - Colonial Hotel. Also a Development Board was established in 1914, it sole purpose to increase tourism.
Prohibition and Rum Running
In 1919, America passed a law making it illegal to buy and sell liquor. This provided another high profit opportunity as bootlegging was born. Almost overnight, more than 20 liquor concerns sprang up in Nassau. Bootlegging was the prime industry from 1920-1933. Bahamian schooners would ply the waters of New Jersey and New York. Power boats would run from West End to Florida and even airplanes were used to smuggle liquor into the Everglades. But prohibition laws were repealed and the rum running came to an end.
Tourism Boom
During World War II, tourism enjoyed a boom as British refugees from the war came to the Bahamas to live. An additional boost to tourism came after the war as air travel became more affordable. Airstrips on the out islands were built which allowed visitors to explore more of the Bahamas. By 1960, there were 43 airports and over 7,500 visitors a day in Nassau, and 4000 visitors to the Out Islands. The Bahamas became known as a year round destination for its Nassau's Old World charm, its beaches and beautiful waters and it comfortable climate.
Enough history -
In the afternoon the skies cleared and we headed into town. We wandered the streets we missed yesterday and enjoyed learning a little more history of Green Turtle. Was interesting to learn that the early blacks and freed slaves that emigrated to the Bahamas were from New York after the Revolutionary War.
We walked along the waterfront and watched the ferries that move people between the islands.
Also saw from afar a mail boat that delivers mail and supplies to the islands. It is actually a small freighter that visits several islands and unloads their mail and ordered goods. The people on the island then come to the dock to pick up their mail and supplies.
On our way back to the boat we stopped to talk with some of the boaters in the marina. Then we met up with Gary and Carol and took a shot with them of our boats rafted together. They were kind enough to invite us on their boat and share some delicious conch fritters!!
