Port Royal

“ To-day Arthur and I went by rail to Versailles, and took a little carriage thence to Port Royal. The country was lovely, the forest red and golden with autumnal tints. In a wooded valley, with a green lawn winding through it like a river, watered by a little brooklet, are the remains of Port Royal, the farmhouse where Racine and Pascal lived and wrote, the dovecot and fountain of Mère Angélique, the ruins of the church, the cemetery and cross, and 'the Solitude' where the nuns sat in solemn council around a crucifix in the middle of the woods. ”

“ Port Royal crowded with Spanish prizes; its busy dockyards, and English frigates and privateers fitting out there for glorious or desperate enterprises. The name of Jamaica brought them crowding up with incident on incident; and behind the history came Tom Cringle and the wild and reckless, yet wholesome and hearty, planter's life in Kingston; the dark figures of the pirates swinging above the mangroves at Gallows Point; the balls and parties and the beautiful quadroons, and the laughing, merry innocent children of darkness, with the tricks of the middies upon them. ”

“ On the following morning, directly after breakfast, I started in Mr Finnie’s ketureen for Kingston, and, reaching the wharf about noon, chartered that fast-sailing clipper, the “Fly-by-night,” to convey me to Port Royal. The jabber of the black boatmen and the exhilarating sensation of being once more afloat had quite a tonic effect upon my spirits, which rose higher and higher as we tore down past the Palisades, the boat careening gunwale-to, with the hissing, sparkling foam seething past and trailing away in a long wake astern. ”

“ In the forenoon our pilot came on board, a comfortable, self-possessed black man, who toward sunset brought us off the Palisades. This is the name of the narrow spit of land which forms the outer wall of the magnificent harbor of Kingston. Upon it is situated the naval station of Port Royal, the principal rendezvous of the British fleet in the West Indies. ”

“ The sea all round is studded with treacherous coral reefs, some of which, just showing above the water, are thickly grown with palm-trees. The effect is beautiful in the extreme; the clumps of trees, planted apparently on nothing, are growing straight out of the sea.
As you round Port Royal you discover Kingston, a large, white, straggling town, on the land side entirely hemmed in by the Blue Mountains, and seawards washed by the waters of a lagoon seven or eight miles long, and nearly half as wide. ”

“ A year later he was once more in Jamaica, near to death with dysentery contracted on the San Juan expedition, and in the home of a noted black nurse, Cuba Cornwallis, he slowly regained his health and strength.
Strange sights and famous men has this old fort of sun-faded brick seen. It has seen Port Royal in all its vicious wickedness and flamboyant sin; it has seen the heaving earth and angry sea sweep the city and all its villainy into the depths. It has [260] seen shot-riddled buccaneer ships returning, triumphant and deep-laden with loot, from piratical forays. ”

“ Port Royal is situated on the inner aspect of the bulbous-headed western extremity of the natural breakwater. The land surface is very limited in extent and is entirely taken up with the old fort, the old dockyard, and old naval and military quarters. All but a few poor closely packed houses is in the occupation of Government. The width of the breakwater to the eastward soon becomes small; open beach on seaward side, mangroves extending into the lagoon on the other; and between the two sand and scrub. ”

“ Port Royal is the general name given to a broad body of water formed by the confluence of the Broad and Beaufort Rivers, and opening into the Atlantic Ocean on the South Carolina coast, about midway between Charleston and Savannah. No more beautiful region is to be found in the world. Far enough south to escape the rigors of the northern winters, and far enough north to be free from the enervating heat of the tropics; honeycombed by broad, salt-water lagoons, giving moisture and mildness to the air,—the country about Port Royal is like a great garden ”

“ Sir Anthony enlisted the services of about twenty men from Port Royal to lend us a hand for a day—at 10 shillings apiece—and we all turned to on the huge cranks of the massive, hand-operated winch, taking an entire day literally to inch our thirty tons up the incline.
During our stay in Port Royal we went into the city only two or three times. There was no bus service between Kingston and Port Royal, and the tiny ferry-launch ran only one trip each way a day. The town was hot, dirty, and not too colorful. Although the Christmas season was in full swing, we found little that tempted us to buy. ”

“ We reached Port Royal on the afternoon of the following day, but remarked we were not received with that welcome as before; no boats filled with yellow-legged females came off with banjos. Why? Because we brought in no prize with us. And when we went on shore some of these delicate dames exclaimed when we accosted them: “Eh, massa, you hab know me before? I no recollect you. What ship you belong to?” And we were seldom asked to the dignity balls. ”

“ PORT ROYAL The chief interest of Port Royal lies rather in the silent witness which through two and a half centuries she has borne to the naval activities of the island of Jamaica, and in a measure to those of the British fleets which have from time to time visited these waters, than in any part which she has played in the internal domestic development of the colony, although she has now and again sent to the Assembly such notable members as William Beeston, Samuel Long, Marmaduke Freeman, Peter Beckford, Matthew Concanen, Roger Hope Elletson and Samuel Jackson Dallas. ”

“ As long as we lay alongside the jetty in the smooth waters of the harbour, the distressing symptoms persisted at their regular intervals, but no sooner had the ship cleared Port Royal and begun to lift to the very heavy sea outside, than the sickness stopped as though by magic. The Port Kingston, of the now defunct Imperial Direct West India Mail Line, was really a champion pitcher, for she had an immense beam for her length, and a great amount of top-hamper in the way of deck-houses. ”

“ We are under a full press of canvas, running eight knots. 11 A.M., in sight of land. We soon make the highlands, and are running for Port Royal. We have a pilot already on board, he having accompanied our steamer to Chagres. Port Royal is situated on a low island in the mouth of a small bay, upon the head of which Kingston is situated. We passed an armed brig, a steamer-of-war, seventy-four gun ship, revenue-cutter, all displaying the red cross of St. George. A four-oared boat comes off towards us; our wheels are turned back, and we are boarded by an officer in full uniform. ”

“ In spite of the fact that vessels find it hard to ride at anchor near Hilton Head during a storm, every effort is to be made to stimulate on its site the growth of a city. A newspaper is already published, which dilates on the magnificence of its future, and rebukes everybody who doesn’t call the place Port Royal (the name generally given to the great sheet of water constituting at once its harbor, that of Bay Point, and of one or two other places farther in) , rather than Hilton Head. ”

“ The channel up to Port Royal harbour is deep enough for the largest ships that sail on the sea; and the whole royal navy of England may ride with safety in it. Nature has evidently ordained this place for trade and commerce, by the many advantages with which she hath favoured it. ”

“ In fancy, primitive battles are enacted again about the quadrangle of Port Royal—royal in the eyes of the French for the beauty of its environment—battles in which the flags of England and France were alternately victorious throughout a hundred years. A fort near the site occupied now by Annapolis was set up in the year 1643. In 1680 there was a small settlement adjoining. Poutrincourt and his friends had chosen not to build there because "too far within the harbour." ”

“ Writing about 1740, Leslie, in his “New and Exact Account of Jamaica,” says:—“Port Royal was once the fairest seaport in America, it flowed in Riches and Trade, now it is only a small place, but yet it consists of three handsome streets, several cross lanes and a fine Church. They have a Hospital for sick or disabled Sailors, and there is lately built a Yard for the King’s Naval Stores and conveniency of Workmen employed about His Majesty’s Ships of War.” ”

“ Boat ahoy! We are sorry to take the felucca from you, but circumstances, which we have now no time to explain, oblige us to do so. We are going to take her to Port Royal. Yonder is the land, not more than forty miles away; the weather is fine and settled, so you will have no difficulty in reaching the shore by this time to-morrow. When you land make at once for Port Royal. We will arrange that, on reaching there, you shall be properly cared for until such time as the Pinta can be restored to you. You will find provisions in the tub and fresh water in the keg, which we have dropped overboard. ”

“ PUERTO REAL, a seaport of southern Spain, in the province of Cadiz; on the north shore of the inner arm of the Bay of Cadiz and on the Seville-Cadiz railway. Pop. (1900) , 10,535. Puerto Real (Port Royal) is the Portus Gaditanus of the Romans, and is probably the most ancient trading-station on the Bay of Cadiz. It owes its modern name to the fact that it was rebuilt in 1488 by Ferdinand and Isabella. The port has good quays, a dry dock of the Spanish Transatlantic Company, connected with their important works, and safe anchorage close to the wharves for the largest steamers. ”

“ As there was now no sign of the buccaneering craft, the Gannet put about and returned to Port Royal, there to wait until the return of the cruising squadron should set us free to pursue our adventure. For nearly two weeks we remained in suspense, Captain Poynings refusing leave for fear that a man's tongue might get the better of his discretion, till early one morning we perceived to our great joy the sails of our consorts approaching the port. ”

“ Port Royal, and the fort of the same name as the harbor, are on what is called French Bay, one hundred and fifty leagues from Cape Campseau, eight leagues from the sea. A bay among the French, as among the Spanish, is a large indentation in the land at the shore of the sea or of a great river, angular or round in shape, giving the waters entrance to the interior regions. At the head of French Bay is a harbor, reached by a channel three-quarters of a mile long ”

“ Old Port Royal formerly extended northward from the point at the left. of the city of Kingston, ran along the water front encircling the harbor, and continued along the line of the Palisadoes, reaching its greatest destructive effect at Port Royal. ”

“ Arrival Port Royal Bay This morn early came to an anchor in Port Royal bay King George the thirds Island. Before the anchor was down we were surrounded by a large number of Canoes who traded very quietly and civily, for beads cheifly, in exchange for which they gave Cocoa nuts Bread fruit both roasted and raw some small fish and apples. They had one pig with them which they refus'd to sell for nails upon any account but repeatedly offerd it for a hatchet ”

“ The island is surrounded by a reef of coral rock, which forms several excellent bays and harbours, some of which have been particularly described, where there is room and depth of water far any number of the largest ships. Port Royal bay, called by the natives Matavai which is not inferior to any in Otaheite, may easily be known, by a very high mountain in the middle of the island, which bears due south from Point Venus. ”

“ It is here at Port Royal that we first see her with her husband. Charles de St. Etienne, the Chevalier de la Tour,—there is a world of romance in these mere names,—was a Huguenot nobleman who had a grant of Port Royal and of La Hive, from Louis XIII. He ceded La Hive to Razilli, the governor-in-chief of the provinces, who took a fancy to it, for a residence. He was living peacefully at Port Royal in 1647, when the Chevalier d'Aunay Charnise, having succeeded his brother Razilli at La Hive, tired of that place and removed to Port Royal. ”

“ After we had plundered and stripped them of everything, we set to to kick them, and we did it for half an hour so effectually that they were all left groaning in a heap on the ballast, and we then found our way on deck.
The privateer which had recaptured us proved to be the Hero, of New Providence; the Frenchmen were taken out, and some of her own men put in to take us to Port Royal; we, being wounded, and not willing to join her, remained on board. On our arrival at Port Royal, we obtained permission to go to the King’s Hospital to be cured. ”

“ Moving northward slowly for three weeks, they named each stream after some French river, till they saw, in latitude 32° 15', a commodious haven, which received the name of Port Royal. On 27 May they crossed the bar, passed Hilton Head, and landed. ”

“ Port Royal de Paris was secularized at the French Revolution, and is now a maternity hospital.
For a classified list of the chief books, ancient and modern, dealing with Port Royal, see the Abrégé de l'histoire de Port Royal, by Jean Racine, ed. E. Gazier (Paris, 1908) . See also C. A. Sainte-Beuve, Port Royal (6 vols. and index, Paris, 1882) ”

“ Port Royal was a quadrangle of wooden buildings, enclosing a spacious court. At the southeast corner was the arched gateway, whence a path, a few paces in length, led to the water. It was flanked by a sort of bastion of palisades, while at the southwest corner was another bastion, on which four cannon were mounted. On the east side of the quadrangle was a range of magazines and storehouses; on the west were quarters for the men ”