Lundy Island

“ As the wind was from the southward and the tide favourable, we did not stay long, but stood across to Lundy Island, a rock at the southern end of which is called Bat Island. We had seen the revolving light of the island before entering Barnstaple Bay. The east coast is bold and precipitous, with numerous deep ravines running into the cliffs. The south end is even more rugged than the northern. Near the landing-place is a cave hollowed out of a black rock, called the Devil’s Kitchen ”

“ The wind heading us, we stood off the shore until we caught sight of the lower fixed light on Lundy Island, where, from the distance we were from it, papa calculated that the next tack would carry us into the bay.
I always enjoy sailing at night when finding our way by the lights, with the chart spread out on the cabin table. The lighthouse of Lundy Island—which is at the very entrance of the Bristol Channel—is a great blessing to mariners ”

“ THE PIRATES OF LUNDY In the Bristol Channel,” says Mr. Chanter, “twenty miles from Barnstaple Bar, and nearly equidistant from the two headlands of the bay, lies the island of Lundy, sometimes invisible from the shore, but generally looming dim and mysterious and more or less shrouded in mists, or capped with cloud-reefs; occasionally standing out lofty, clear, and distinct, bright with varied hues of rock, fern, and heather, its granite cliffs glittering as they reflect the rays of the morning sun, and the graceful lighthouse tower and buildings plainly defined ”

“ We have also the curious fact of our outlying islands, such as the Shetland Isles, the Isle of Man, and the little Lundy Island, possessing each some peculiar forms which, certainly, do not exist on our principal island which has been so very thoroughly worked. ”

“ At the mouth of the Bristol Channel, off the pleasant western English shore, fighting as it were with the long white waves of the Atlantic, and with its lighthouse warning the mariner to give it ample range, stands the lonely little island of Lundy, between Devon on the south and the coast of Wales on the north; while from the island’s granite cliffs, looking towards the western horizon, stretches the open Atlantic. It is a very little place ”

“ Is it impossible to build out a pier at Lundy Island? If impossible, cannot some regulation as to the number every boat is to carry be enforced? [A]
* * *
The perfumes of Ilfracombe (I think I saw the "Perfume d'Ilfracombe" advertised as sold in bottles at a local hairdresser's) are various at various times. Always on the Torrs is the perfume perfect. But in the lower part of the town they are select and peculiar; as thus:—Early morning, coming from bathing, and passing by hotels and boarding-houses, appetising perfume of eggs and bacon everywhere, with that of fried fish thrown in. ”

“ The soil of the island is principally of a black peaty nature, with in parts a substratum of clay. And that the land has been anciently extensively cultivated is shewn by traces of the plough where now there is only wild pasturage. Ruins of round towers (for what purposes designed is unknown) , and of humble dwelling-places, are also visible.
The flora of Lundy is extremely interesting, but has never been exhaustively treated. ”

“ A considerable amount of speciality is shown to exist, and that this speciality is real and not apparent is supported by the fact, that small outlying islands, such as the Isle of Man, the Shetland Isles, Lundy Island, and the Isle of Wight, all possess certain species or varieties not found elsewhere. ”

“ On the left, the first rocks shut out the coast view; but Lundy Isle, about eighteen miles away, is generally distinguishable. For those who are good sailors it is an interesting expedition to Lundy. Our stay was not long enough to enable us to go; but we heard much of its wildness and beauty. There is generally a good dish of fish to be had for breakfast at Clovelly, if you are not too early. Fresh herrings or whiting are plentiful in the autumn, and the nearer your lodging is to the pier the better choice you will have.
Our first walk was to Buck’s Mills. ”

“ The principal event in the history of Lundy is its capture by a party of Frenchmen, in the reign of William and Mary. A ship of war, under Dutch colours, brought up in the roadstead, and sent ashore for some milk, pretending that the captain was sick. The islanders supplied the milk for several days, when at length the crew informed them that their captain was dead, and asked permission to bury him in consecrated ground. This was immediately granted, and the inhabitants assisted in carrying the coffin to the grave. ”

“ Lunenburg has a claim on the tourist's attention by reason of its ancestry, its situation, an its industry born of the sea. The town is fortunate in being placed upon a sloping peninsula that is broached on every side by the waters of the Atlantic. Below the crown of the hill lies the schooner fleet in the main harbour. The bankers, all rigged alike and all painted black, direct their spoon bows in unison as they shift with the tide. The "back harbour" view embraces multitudes of islands afloat on the great Bay of Mahone. ”

“ It is, however, certain that for a considerable portion of the reigns of William and Mary and of Queen Anne, Lundy was a continual resort of the outcasts of the various parties who betook themselves to piracy as a means of subsistence, as also that it was for a time in the hands of the French in the reign of Queen Anne, and that they used it as a privateering station, and preyed upon the merchant-men who sailed from Barnstaple and Bideford, and that they made so many prizes that they termed Barnstaple Bay as "the Golden Bay." ”

“ From Cape Elizabeth on the west to Quoddy Head on the east, there are over a thousand large and small islands, nearly all of which are of bold formation and most of them wholly or in part covered with a growth of spruce and fir. The shores of these islands, as well as the mainland, are mainly rock-ribbed, with many high cliffs, at the foot of which the ocean surges beat unceasingly. Deep fissures and sea caverns into which the green water, changed to yeasty foam, ever churns and rushes by day and night, are common; and when storms arise it bellows and roars like an angry bull. ”

“ This compels any person selling a cargo there to lay the returns out in some of the produce of the Island, which is consequently the cause of heavy losses to the shippers. The inhabitants are a mixed race of black and white, varying in color from the blackness of charcoal to almost the whiteness of a snow-ball, and hundreds of them have to take hard oaths to satisfy the authorities that they have some black blood running through their veins, which entitles them to the rights of citizenship in the Island. I have seen many red-whiskered fair complexioned men pass themselves off for men of color. ”

“ For Lundy is a great rock, about three and a half miles long, and averaging half a mile in depth, cutting the strong tidal stream which runs round the south coast of Wales and up the Bristol Channel, with steep cliffs and outlying crags and peaks of rock over which the surf is flung ceaselessly, even on still summer days, and with a dangerous tidal race at its northern end and the south-west and south-east angles. ”

“ The summit of a very small rocky island, near the anchorage, named by Captain Stanley, Mound Islet, formed the first station. Dunk Island, eight or nine miles in circumference, is well wooded--it has two conspicuous peaks, one of which (the North-West one) is 857 feet in height. Our excursions were confined to the vicinity of the watering place and the bay in which it is situated. The shores are rocky on one side and sandy on the other, where a low point runs out to the westward. ”

“ Cunningham, to examine the south-west side of the island, which we rowed round, until we opened Phillip and Nepean Isles off the south point; but it blew too hard, and there was too great a sea running for us to pull the boat any farther, so that at two in the afternoon we returned on board.
There is only one place on this side of the island, where landing is at all practicable, and that is in a small bay just within the west point: the bottom of it is a fine sandy beach, but the surf broke on it with such violence, as to put landing out of the question. ”

“ What is certain is that from the moment Londonderry was menaced by the troops of King James, Lundy used all his endeavours to paralyse the defence of the city. In April 1689 he was in command of a force of Protestants who encountered some troops under Richard Hamilton at Strabane, when, instead of holding his ground, he told his men that all was lost and ordered them to shift for themselves; he himself was the first to take flight back to Derry. ”

“ It was a silent and desolate spot, but, true to his expectations, as he passed there he caught the sound of a low, moaning bellow that rose and fell, almost dying away, and seemed to come from the farther side of the island. He looked and listened, and then, with a parting glance at the sloop half a mile away, started over the202 island. He soon found he had been rightly informed, for its surface was the worst tangle of rocks and scrub spruce thick between them he ever saw or heard of. ”

“ Turning to more scientific evidence, we find that the Islanders have always been judged to be of Polynesian race, as indeed would naturally be expected from the easterly position of the island in the Pacific Ocean. ”

“ While Breeze is still gazing at the Snäfell Jökull, and Captain Coffin is altering his schooner’s course a point more to the southward, so as to fetch the light-house on Cape Reykjaines (smoking cape) , let us take a sort of a general look at the curious island, and see if we can find out any more about it than these Yankee fishermen knew.
In the first place, everybody knows, or ought to know, 268that Iceland, as well as Greenland, belongs to Denmark, and is ruled by a governor appointed by the Danish king. ”

“ With a felt lining it forms a warm, durable, and cheap roofing, easily erected without skilled labour. When whole houses were erected of it I could never lose the idea that they were the mission chapels of dissent at home. The North Island is a barren and sterile desert when compared to the prosperity and population of the South Island, but then the North Island belongs chiefly to the Maoris, and this to the English in the north, and the Scotch in the south. To have seen only the North Island would be to see New Zealand in its primitive state ”

“ It is a pity that the ability and bravery displayed by Dr. Walker have been made causes of political and religious irritation in the north of Ireland for upward of two centuries. Lundy, when his authority was defied, escaped from the city at night, in the disguise of a laborer, and cut no further figure in Irish history. Before his flight, King James’s flatterers in Dublin had persuaded him to advance against Derry in person and demand its surrender. Tyrconnel opposed the idea in vain. He well knew that Lundy was in correspondence with Hamilton and De Rosen for the surrender of the city. ”

“ French pirates made Lundy their headquarters three years later, and in June, 1630, Captain Plumleigh reported that 'Egypt was never more infested with caterpillars than the Channel with Biscayers. On the 23rd instant there came out of St Sebastian twenty sail of sloops; some attempted to land on Lundy, but were repulsed by the inhabitants.'
One of the most conspicuous of all Lundy's owners was a certain [Pg 249] Thomas Benson, merchant of Bideford, who, with great sang-froid and considerable humour, combined smuggling and piracy with being a member of Parliament. ”

“ Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Hunter walked about the island, but did not meet the natives. The traces both of men and dogs were so recent as to make us conjecture they were at no great distance; but, from our subsequent knowledge of thee inhabitants of these islands, there is no doubt but that they would have shewn themselves had they known of our visit. Mr. Cunningham also ascended a remarkably rugged looking hill at the south point of the bay, on the east side of the island, which from its appearance, received several appropriate names from our people, such as "Mount Dreary," and "Mount Horrid." ”

“ We should also expect to find that after the partition of the Isles the Northern Islands would become comparatively deserted by the lower class of the population, the actual occupiers of the soil; and the condition of these islands at this time may be gathered from the Chronicle of Man, where it tells us that the Norwegian king Reginald ‘gave his brother Olave the island which is called Leodhus or Lewis, which though larger than any of the other isles is mountainous, rocky, and almost entirely inaccessible. ”

“ The group lies between the south end of New Ireland and the north end of the great Bougainville Island in the Solomon Archipelago, and consists of six low, well-wooded and fertile islands, enclosed within a barrier reef, forming a noble atoll, almost circular in shape. All the islands are thickly populated at the present day by natives, who are peaceable enough, and engage in bêche-de-mer and pearl-shell fishing. ”

“ By this time the islanders had discovered that they were harbouring two criminals of the blackest dye, men from whom the least vestige of goodness was absent, whose thoughts were only evil, and that continually. Worse still, it seemed as if the island was likely to be cursed with their presence for an indefinite time, for upon the suggestion that they would be able to leave by the first ship that called at the island the two desperadoes avowed with awful words that they were not going to risk their liberty in any ship whatever. ”

“ I do not think they would understand the Thing so well as the People in the Northern Island, but they might be brought to understand it. They are not void of Intelligence, but they are by far an inferior Race, in Appearance and Intelligence, to the Men of the Northern Island. Those Men in the Northern Island are a light Yellow Copper Colour, fine tall Race of Men, very intelligent; those on the South Island are darker and shorter. Are the Capabilities for a Colonization by Europeans as great as in the Northern Island? ”