The Coolidge examiner., 1937-03-04


1892, when Columbus discovered
| America, in tho form of San Sal
| vador.
On this island, facing the open
Atlantic, is a monument set up by
the Chicago Herald in 1891 to COM
memorate the landing Of the great
navigator. Here also a lighthouse
rises, but not to show modern ships
how to anchor where the Santa
Maria did; rather, to help them
keep safely away, for few visitors
venture now where Columbus set up
the Cross and traded trinketS with
the shy Lucayans.
All these Lucayans-about 10000
were enslaved by Spaniards, sent
to work in Hispaniola mines, and
the Bahamas left quite uninhabited.
Yet, in time, these islands were to
become not only a historic stepping
stone by which Europeans and Afri-
cans reached our shores, but the
stage for almost incredible adven-
lures.
Enmity toward England, after the
loss of the Great Armada, brought
Sanguinary conflicts, which in time
became notorious for the nautical
brigandage of the buccaneers. For
generations these outlaws were the
cause of constant diplomatic fric-
tion between London and Madrid,
as when English sailors, seized
from the Boston ship, Blessing,
were stripped by Spaniards, tied
naked to mangrove bushes on
Bahama cay, and left to die of
thirst in plain sight of each other.
Famous is the story of "Jenkyns'
Ear" When Spaniards took an Eng
lish ship commanded by Captain
Jenkyns, it is written that they cut
off one of his ears and handed it
to him, telling him to take it home
and show it to his king! This ear,
in bottle, he exhibited later in
the house of commons.
Even Virginia and the Carolinas
dreaded these Bahama pirates, es-
pecially one Edward Teach, or
Blackboard" With his last COM
mand, the Queen Anne's Revenge,
mounting 40 guns, Blackboard and
another pirate leader spread terror
all along our South Atlantic coast.
When, in desperation, the British
government finally sent that iron
fisted governor, Woodes Rogers, to
hang pirates and make Nassau safe
for honest traders, it began the first
normal life it had ever known. That
was in 1718, and the motto put on it's
coat Of arms was, "EXpulSis Pira-
tbs, Restituta Commercial"
Pirate Treasure" Still Hunted.
Today Blackboard, his long
whiskers worn in three beribboned
braids tucked into his waistband
among his many pistols, is but
memory-or favorite model for
Nassau masquerade parties. Ye
hunting parate treasure is still a
constant adventure. Always, just
around the corner, is mysterious
man with an ''old map" for sale.
Feast, then famine, that's been
our history" an Englishman born
in Nassau will tell you. ''Over and
over again, in the last 300 years,
hordes of people have swarmed into
Nassau, on every errand from SELL
ing slaves to running rum; these
boom periods meant lots of easy
money, but there's been many a
lean time in between"
When Liverpool used to send 100
or more ''blackbirderS" to Africa
each year, and when our own
American-built craft were in this
traffic, as many as $4,000 blacks
annually used to be sold into the
West Indies, of which the Bahamas
got their share.
After CORVALLIS yielded at York
town, loyalists flocked to the Ba-
hamas, bringing their slaves, silver
ware, and other personal effects.
On plantations of cane and cotton
developed by these royal refugees
rose another tide of profits. This
ebbed when slaves were freed, and
when competing agriculture grew
up in the States.
Agriculture Has Failed.
Loyalists, departing for England
after this land boom faded, turned
their farms over to eX-slaves or
other retainers; lacking skill, capi-
tai, or sufficient energy, these lat
ter failed. Farming declined. An
easier living-if on lower standard
- was offered by the sea. Hence
today the once productive fields are
idle and brush-groWn.
Andres island, for example,
named for an early governor of
the Massachusetts colony, was once
the scene of much sisal growing,
well-knoWn families in England be-
ing the owners. Now all that is
abandoned.
Yet today a new kind of prosper
ity, wholesome and satisfying, is
coming to Nassau. This is its rise
as a popular winter resort, which
compensates for the vanished reve-