Catalina Sunshine: THE BATTLE OF THE SAINTS

0930 hours, March 18, 2015, Cabrit, Les Saintes: I tied a line to a tree on Cabrit Island and pushed the dingy into deeper water allowing our bungee cord anchor line to retract and position the dingy about 30 ft. off shore. Jackie and I proceeded up the steep trail to Fort Josephine about 600 ft. above.

The English Admiral Rodney defeated a French fleet in the Battle of The Saints in 1782. This ended the French domination of the Caribbean. As discussed in an earlier Blog on St. Kitts, the 30 days it took for an overwhelming French force of 8 to 1, to overtake Brimstone Hill Fortress defended by Scots bought Admiral Rodney the time he needed to defeat the French in the Battle of The Saintes. Admiral Nelson who defeated a combined French/Spanish fleet at the critical Battle of Trafalgar 23 years later, discussed in one of my Blogs on English Harbour, borrowed from Rodney's strategic approached to The Battle of The Saintes. Les Saintes were not in Brittish control long, the Treaty of Paris in 1815 gave Les Saintes back to the French. Having lost this significant Battle the French built Fort Josephine on Cabrit and Fort Napoleon on Terre de Haut to fortify Les Saintes. These forts were never used in battle. They were later used to house prisoners in WWII.

Les Saintes, St. Barthelemy, Martinque, St. Martin, Marie-Galante and Guadeloupe comprise the French West Indies. Guadeloupe is the center of government for the French West Indies which is under French control. The French culture in these Islands is very much alive. When it comes to dress the islands we visited all had the stylish boutiques. At night we saw women, and men but to a lesser extent, dressed in this stylish clothing. During the day on the beach and on boats men wore "bikini" type bathing suits regardless of their body shapes, and woman, more sensitive to their body shapes, wore bikinis where their body shapes would allow. And, yes a number of women both on the beach and on boats in the anchorages wore no tops. Frequently in anchorages both men and woman would undress on swim steps of their boats to shower. We could not help but watch one boat next to us in a crowded anchorage while a couple first rapped in only towels took the towels off one at a time and climbed into the same hammock in the middle of the day. This same couple swam nude a few feet from our boat to cool off after the hammock.

I frequently asked long time cruising couples which islands they liked best. The first answer was usually that they were all different. I would then press with more detailed questions and the final was always, the French Islands.