The Creque Marine Railway, formerly the "St Thomas Marine Repair Facility", is an inclined-plane ship railway on

Hassel Island Hassel Island (also sometimes Hassell Island) is a small island of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a United States territory located in the Caribbean Sea. Hassel Island lies in the Charlotte Amalie Harbor just south of Saint Thomas and east of Water I ...

, in the bay of Charlotte Amalie off the coast of

St. Thomas Island St. Thomas Island (, ''ostrov sv. Toma'') or Zmiyski ostrov (Змийски остров, ''Snake island''), is a Bulgarian island in the Black Sea. It is situated in Burgas Province, Primorsko Municipality, north of Primorsko and km south of ...

, in the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

. Its site is below

Fort Shipley A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...

, within

Virgin Islands National Park The Virgin Islands National Park is a national park of the United States preserving about 60% of the land area of Saint John, U.S. Virgin Islands, as well as more than of adjacent ocean, and nearly all of Hassel Island, just off the Charlott ...

History

19th century

The

marine railway A patent slip or marine railway is an inclined plane extending from shoreline into water, featuring a "cradle" onto which a ship is first floated, and a mechanism to haul the ship, attached to the cradle, out of the water onto a slip. The mar ...

was constructed in the 1840s by Danish investors, at Little Careening Cove on

in the colonial

Danish West Indies The Danish West Indies () or Danish Virgin Islands () or Danish Antilles were a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with , Saint John () with , Saint Croix with , and Water Island. The islands of St ...

. It entered commercial service in 1844. It is probably the world's oldest surviving marine railway. A large ship-cradle, built out of "greenheart" wood, ran on four rails, down a shallow incline into the water; the cradle was ballasted. A ship could be floated into the cradle, then drawn up the railway by a winch so that work could be done on the hull - or propellers - of the ship on dry land. The winch was driven by a

beam engine A beam engine is a type of steam engine where a pivoted overhead Beam (structure), beam is used to apply the force from a vertical piston to a vertical connecting rod. This configuration, with the engine directly driving a pump, was first used b ...

. The beam engine and winch mechanism were manufactured by Boulton of

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, around 1840.

20th century

The marine railway was originally called the "St Thomas Marine Repair Facility". It fell into financial difficulties and was auctioned in 1910. It was bought by Henry Creque, who refurbished it. By 1912, the site was back in working order under the name Creque's Maritime Railway Dock. Hassel Island.org: 20th Century history
/ref> Under new ownership, the business succeeded again. The Creque Marine Railway continued service into the 1960s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the U.S. military utilized Hassel Island including Creque Marine Railway and Careening Cove. The site was fully abandoned in the 1960s. In 1978 a large part of Hassel Island was donated to the U.S. Department of the Interior as part of the

21st century

Hassel Island is accessible to the public by boat from mainland St. Thomas. Hiking trails follow the historic routes on the island, passing

, the Creque Marine Railway, Hamburg American Line coaling station, West Indies headquarters of the

Royal Mail Steam Packet Company The Royal Mail Steam Packet Company was a British shipping company founded in London in 1839 by a Scot, James MacQueen. The line's motto was ''Per Mare Ubique'' (everywhere by sea). After a troubled start, it became the largest shipping grou ...

, and other historic sites. In 2006 the St. Thomas Historical Trust entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with

, to repair, rehabilitate, and restore structures and areas on Hassel Island.

References

External links