Fort Saint Louis (Martinique)
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Fort Saint Louis (often hyphenated as Fort Saint-Louis) is a seaside
fortress 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 L ...
in
Fort-de-France Fort-de-France (, , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. History Before it was ceded to France by Spain in 1635, the area of Fort-de-Fra ...
,
Martinique Martinique ( ; or ; Kalinago language, Kalinago: or ) is an island in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the eastern Caribbean Sea. It was previously known as Iguanacaera which translates to iguana island in Carib language, Kariʼn ...
. The present-day fort has evolved from earlier strongholds that were erected on the site as early as 1638, and has been known in previous incarnations as Fort Royal and Fort de la Republique. The modern-day Fort Saint Louis is both an active naval base and a listed historic site of
France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...
. There are daily tours of the fort, though the portion that is still a naval base is off-limits.


Naval base

Fort Saint Louis is under command of the ''
capitaine de vaisseau Captain is the name most often given in English-speaking navy, navies to the rank corresponding to command of the largest ships. The rank is equal to the army rank of colonel and air force rank of group captain. Equivalent ranks worldwide in ...
'' in charge of the navy and the naval air forces for the Caribbean (COMAR ANTILLES). The forces based here include the surveillance frigates (F733) and (F735), the patrol and support vessel ''
Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his name ...
'' (A624) and the Confiance-class patrol vessel ''La Combattante'' (P735). One ''Engins de Débarquement Amphibie – Standards'' (EDA-S) landing craft is to be delivered to naval forces based in Martinique by 2025. The landing craft is to better support coastal operations in the region. The active part of the fort includes the administrative buildings of the base, the service for naval constructions, the radio station of Pointe des Sables, ammunition storage facilities (at the end of Fort de France), and the Rivière Salée station (20 km away).


Environment

Fort Saint Louis has a commanding view of the anchorage of
Fort-de-France Fort-de-France (, , ; ) is a Communes of France, commune and the capital city of Martinique, an overseas department and region of France located in the Caribbean. History Before it was ceded to France by Spain in 1635, the area of Fort-de-Fra ...
, the island's capital city. It stands on a rocky peninsula at the edge of Fort-de-France Bay. The fort has been home to many generations of a small but enduring colony of Green Iguana. The species, ''Iguana iguana'', is not indigenous to Martinique and the reptiles are thought to have arrived by boat from either
French Guiana French Guiana, or Guyane in French, is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France located on the northern coast of South America in the Guianas and the West Indies. Bordered by Suriname to the west ...
or the ÃŽles des Saintes and thrived in the fort area after their release or escape.


History

In 1635, during the reign of
Louis XIII Louis XIII (; sometimes called the Just; 27 September 1601 – 14 May 1643) was King of France from 1610 until his death in 1643 and King of Navarre (as Louis II) from 1610 to 1620, when the crown of Navarre was merged with the French crown. ...
, Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc and the
Compagnie des Îles de l'Amérique The Company of the American Islands () was a French chartered company that in 1635 took over the administration of the French portion of ''Saint-Christophe island'' (Saint Kitts) from the Compagnie de Saint-Christophe which was the only French settl ...
established a French colony in Martinique, which the company governed until 1650. In 1638, Jacques Dyel du Parquet (1606-1658), nephew of Pierre Belain d'Esnambuc and first governor of Martinique, decided to have Fort Saint Louis built to protect the city against enemy attacks. The fort was soon destroyed, and rebuilt in 1669, when
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
appointed Jean-Charles de Baas-Castelmore, the Marquis of Baas, as governor-general. Under his orders and those of his successors, particularly the Count of Blénac, the fort was built along the lines of a Vauban design. On 19 July 1674, during the
Third Anglo-Dutch War The Third Anglo-Dutch War, began on 27 March 1672, and concluded on 19 February 1674. A naval conflict between the Dutch Republic and England, in alliance with France, it is considered a related conflict of the wider 1672 to 1678 Franco-Dutch W ...
, Admiral de Ruyter led a Dutch fleet of eighteen warships, nine storeships, and fifteen troop transports bearing 3,400 soldiers in an attack on the fort. The attack lasted three days before the Dutch gave up. After the initial Dutch attack, Governor Sainte Marthe called a war council. Sieur de Gemozat, the ''Lieutenant du Roi'' (an engineering officer), was the only member to absolutely reject the option to surrender. Still, Captain Aycard, at ruinous personal cost, scuttled his fully freighted ship to prevent the Dutch vessels from entering the ''Carénage''; the King rewarded the captain by authorizing him thereafter to fly an admiral's pennant wherever he went. During the siege, Thomas-Claude Renart de Fuschamberg, future Marquis d'Amblimont, and commander of the warship ''Les Jeux'', used his vessel's guns to prevent the Dutch frigates from approaching the fort more closely, and the Dutch land forces from over-running the North Bastion. Today, the actions of Aycard, de Baas, de Gemozat and D'Amblimont are memorialized in structures in the fort that bear their names. In 1677, Charles de La Roche-Courbon, comte de Blénac, became Governor-General, holding the post until 1683. He was responsible for the 10-year effort that resulted in the building of a 487-meter wall around the peninsula, the wall being four meters high and two meters thick. Comte de Blénac served as Governor-General again from June 1684 to February 1691, and again from 24 Nov 1691 until his death in 1696. His successor was the Marquis d'Amblimont, who had played an important role in the repulse of the Dutch. In January 1759, the fort repulsed a British attack led by Sir George Rodney. A second British attack three years later was more successful. The British forces occupied two hills overlooking Fort Saint Louis, Morne Garnier and Morne Tartenson. Fort Saint Louis, although strong on the seaward side, was ill-prepared to resist bombardment from above and an attack from the landward. The British were therefore able to force its surrender. During this and subsequent periods of British occupation, the fort bore the name Fort Edward. On 11 February 1763, after the Treaty of Paris returned Martinique to French control, the British left and the fort resumed its name of Fort Royal. The French proceeded to construct a second fort, Fort Bourbon, on Morne Garnier to protect Fort Saint Louis. In 1793, with the advent of the French Revolution, the fort's name was changed to Fort de la Republique. In February 1794, the British Admiral John Jervis invaded Martinique, taking it after a 28-day campaign. By 20 March only Fort Bourbon and Fort Royal still held out. Jervis ordered the
fourth-rate In 1603 all English warships with a complement of fewer than 160 men were known as 'small ships'. In 1625/26 to establish pay rates for officers, a six-tier naval ship rating system was introduced.Winfield 2009 These small ships were divided ...
ship of the line A ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed during the Age of Sail from the 17th century to the mid-19th century. The ship of the line was designed for the naval tactics in the Age of Sail, naval tactic known as the line of battl ...
HMS ''Asia'' (64 guns), and the sloop, HMS ''Zebra'' to take Fort Saint Louis. ''Asia'' was unable to get close, and so Commander Faulknor of ''Zebra'' volunteered to undertake the capture without the help of the larger vessel. Despite facing heavy fire, he ran his sloop close under the walls. He and his ship's company used ''Zebra's'' boats to land. The British stormed the fort and captured it. Meanwhile, the boats of the British fleet captured Fort Royal and two days later Fort Bourbon capitulated. The Governor-General of Martinique at the time was Donatien Marie Joseph de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau. The British occupied the fort from 22 May 1794 until September 1802 when the
Treaty of Amiens The Treaty of Amiens (, ) temporarily ended hostilities between France, the Spanish Empire, and the United Kingdom at the end of the War of the Second Coalition. It marked the end of the French Revolutionary Wars; after a short peace it set t ...
again returned Martinique to France. The fort was renamed Fort Saint Louis. The British captured Martinique again in 1809. During their attack, Commander Charles John Napier of the
brig-sloop During the 18th and 19th centuries, a sloop-of-war was a warship of the Royal Navy with a single gun deck that carried up to 18 guns. The rating system of the Royal Navy covered all vessels with 20 or more guns; thus, the term encompassed all ...
''Recruit'' noticed that Fort Edward, as he termed it, appeared abandoned. He took a gig and with four men, landed, scaled the fort's walls, and hoisted a British flag. Sir Alexander Cochrane immediately landed marines to occupy the fort and turn its mortars, which its fleeing garrison had not spiked, against the French.Napier (1862), p.17. Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse, who had become Governor-General in September 1802, was still in office at the time of the British attack. A Court of Inquiry in Paris in December 1809 stripped the Admiral and some of his subordinates of their rank and honors, holding them responsible for problems with the fortification of Fort Desaix and the subsequent loss of the island. The British occupied the fort from 21 February 1809 to 8 October 1814, and again briefly in 1815 after
Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
escaped from
Elba Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, a ...
. Several British regiments, such as the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, the 63rd (The West Suffolk) Regiment of Foot, and others, have 'Martinique 1809' as one of their battle honors. Between 1850 and 1896, the French installed a number of artillery pieces at the fort and at Pointe des Negres to protect the bay.


References

* Napier, Edward Delaval Hungerford Elers (1862) ''The life and correspondence of Admiral Sir Charles Napier, K.C.B., from personal recollections, letters, and official documents ...''. (London: Hurst and Blackett). {{coord, 14.5999, -61.0664, type:landmark_region:FR-MQ, display=title Forts in Martinique Fort-de-France Installations of the French Navy 1638 establishments in the French colonial empire