Great Thatch is an uninhabited

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

of the

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

in the

Caribbean The Caribbean ( , ; ; ; ) is a region in the middle of the Americas centered around the Caribbean Sea in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, mostly overlapping with the West Indies. Bordered by North America to the north, Central America ...

. It is one of the westernmost islands in the territory. It is believed to take its name from the famous pirate, Edward Teach (better known as "

Blackbeard Edward Teach (or Thatch; – 22 November 1718), better known as Blackbeard, was an English pirate who operated around the West Indies and the eastern coast of Britain's North American colonies. Little is known about his early life, but he ma ...

"), although there is little evidence Blackbeard ever sailed in the Virgin Islands.

History

Although presently uninhabited, it was formerly occupied, and boasted a customs house and mail exchange where the mail would be delivered from Charlotte Amalie by skiff after the

packet ship Packet boats were medium-sized boats designed mainly for domestic mail and freight transport in European countries and in North American rivers and canals. Eventually including basic passenger accommodation, they were used extensively during t ...

s had called there. The island was the site of significant act of civil disobedience in 1856, three years' after the British community of the British Virgin Islands had largely fled during the insurrection of 1853. On 24 November 1856, the sub-Treasurer of

Tortola Tortola () is the largest and most populated island of the British Virgin Islands, a group of islands that form part of the archipelago of the Virgin Islands. It has a surface area of with a total population of 23,908, with 9,400 residents in ...

sought to seize a boat belonging to an inhabitant of Thatch Island, as it was then known, for trading without a licence. He was

assault In the terminology of law, an assault is the act of causing physical harm or consent, unwanted physical contact to another person, or, in some legal definitions, the threat or attempt to do so. It is both a crime and a tort and, therefore, may ...

ed and his crew badly beaten. Two days later a force of four constables was dispatched to

arrest An arrest is the act of apprehending and taking a person into custody (legal protection or control), usually because the person has been suspected of or observed committing a crime. After being taken into custody, the person can be question ...

the offenders, but upon their landing they were obstructed by a crowd of 40 to 50 people. They persisted in making the arrest, and were also severely beaten. The following day, a force of some 30 men, principally rural constables, 12 of whom were armed, landed on the island to quell the insubordination and apprehend the perpetrators of the violence. In the event, it was only the intervention of

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan–Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

missionaries A missionary is a member of a religious group who is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Miss ...

who were influential amongst the inhabitants which enabled arrests to be made without further violence. Isaac Dookhan cites this as an example of the general spirit of unrest which prevailed in the Territory during the 1850s.See generally, Isaac Dookhan, ''A History of the British Virgin Islands'', , at pages 150-151

Ruin

There remains a significant ruin on the island, although it is extremely difficult to access as the paths are all heavily overgrown.

National park

The island was formerly in private hands, but was repurchased by the government of the territory in September 1997, and is now a

national park A national park is a nature park designated for conservation (ethic), conservation purposes because of unparalleled national natural, historic, or cultural significance. It is an area of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that is protecte ...

. The island provides habitat for the crested anole (''Anolis cristatellus wileyae''), the barred anole (''

Anolis stratulus ''Anolis stratulus'' is a moderately-sized species of anole () (family Dactyloidae) found in Puerto Rico, the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. It is a gray-colored lizard spotted with brown markings. It is arboreal, us ...

''), and the big-scaled least gecko (''Sphaerodactylus macrolepis macrolepis'').

References

Uninhabited islands of the British Virgin Islands Blackbeard {{BVI-geo-stub