An anchor story
Romon Beal also has his own anchor story – like the one of Christophe Colomb (or at least from the same era) – which anchor is placed in the garden at the entrance of his house. Romon B found it in 1943 in Tortola while he was looking for his own anchor he had lost in the same seas.
An anchor which is even better known by the local people and, of course, by the tourists who never miss an opportunity to take a photography of it, is the imperturbable one facing Gustavia harbour.
“What a surprise he had when he discovered huge chain links which were to lead him to an even more impressive anchor.”
In 1980, Romon Beal was then the harbour pilot; ensuring the entry of the tugs and barges in St Barth. One day of August, he had to ensure the entry of a container barge from the US Virgin Islands. The captain indicated him that he had hooked by the line of the trailer, from Charlotte Amalie to St Barth, something really big and which slowed it down during all the crossing. “I picked something at St Thomas I was not able to get ride of. And then nothing “. The “thing” had come off near the entrance of the port of Gustavia. Romon, whose curiosity was thoroughly aroused, naturally thought about a shipwreck which could have regrettably attached itself on the barge.
When he went to collect the traps (pots) on the following day, he decided, to be sure, to go and observe the “thing” that clandestinely hooked the barge. In this way, he had intuitively taken his “marks” which indicated, thanks to very precise spots, its exact position. D. Blanchard, his son-in-law and emeritus diver, was given the mission (and he accepted it) to descend 20m. What a surprise he had when he discovered huge chain links which were to lead him to an even more impressive anchor.
After the failed attempt of a modest trailer which did not succeed in moving it an inch, he requested the help of the Delgrès which was able to lift up to fifteen tons. The anchor was then lifted from the water, revealing a piece of extraordinary size and mass. An ebony emtek of 5m32, a chain of 30m weighting about 2 tons; and the anchor in itself measuring 4m69 and weighting about 10 tons. Briefly, a phenomenal discovery!
Clearly bearing the inscription “Liverpool… Wood…London “, Daniel Blanchard investigated with several existing Marine museums. The museum of London gave him some indications, appreciating the anchor manufacturing between 1750 and 1820. It possibly fitted (without any assured confirmation from the United Kingdom Ministry) a british warship named Wood, a freebooter with 70 canons based in Liverpool. The vessel would have deliberately cut the chain and its anchor on december 4th 1828 near to St Thomas, in order not to be reached by the canons coming from a brasilian privateer ship.
This anchor, of priceless historic value and still keeping its secrets, was delivered to the Community. Nowadays exhibited on a pedestal in Gustavia, it represents a clear additional tourist attraction for St Barthélemy, for the greater enjoyment of visitors which rarely leave without a souvenir picture.
