Christopher Codrington

The Leeward Islands are the northern islands of the Lesser Antilles chain of islands, part of the West Indies. In the years of my sailing in the Western ocean, I had several run-ins with the Captain~General of these islands. His name was Christopher Codrington. I have mentioned him before. He was born in Barbados and asumed his fathers post in 1697. His picture is above.

It was against him that I experienced my largest engagement. In 1703 he led an invasion force against the French island of Guadeloupe. Joseph d'Honon de Gallifet, the sickly governor of that and other French islands, called me and several other privateers, to him to keep the British off his island home.

Codrington was a soldier and an Englishman. In other words he was entirely full of himself. He put to sea with a small force of a dozen vessels of various types with himself captaining a Brig of war. Codrington had to sail his fleet south by south east, agains the prevailing winds to reach Guadeloupe.



Now Guadeluope is the northern most set of islands in the great arch of islands that make up the eastern rim of the Caribbeann Sea. It is not a single island but five islands. The main populaiton lives on either of Basse-Terre or Grande-Terre. From sea they look like but a single island but in truth a very narrow channel, known as the salt river, divides them. The other islands are sparsely populated. As the nothern most island in the great chain of islands, Guadeloupe would be a great catch since it would provide a nearby harbour for English ships attempting to take all the islands to the south.

Codgrington's father, aslso named Christopher, had attempted in 1691 to take Guadeluope and failed. Now his son came south. And we were sent to stop him. Now privateering is based in the weakness of kings. England, France, Holland, had very small navies. The lords of these lands had spent many centuries concerned with landed interests so the idea of a standing navy was new to them.

National armies came into being back in the 15th century. Navies, as you know them, did not yet exist. Men such as Henry Morgan, and myself, were the navy of the kings of Europe. The French governor sent our fleet to sea with express orders to prevent the English from taking his islands. This was a vague order. It was a good order that we could actually follow.

Our fleet split in two with half our numbers to the north of Grande-Terre and the other half, my half south of that island. Codrington's fleet had easted far too much and so when then came up on the wind and sailed on Guadeluope they ran into my fleet first. Codrington had numbers on his side and the wind. His ship was well armed and the seamen who crewed the ship new what they were doing. All was with him including a rising tide.

But this last bit luck was to tern evil towards him. For as his ships aproached my own fleet they came upon shoals. These shoals were at the time hidden by the tide. They drew up in line to do battle with us. We, in deep waters, did like wise and so began a cannonade that lasted several hours. The tide turned but Codgrington's ships were still over the shoals. So very soon after the turning of the tide, his ships had to fall off lest they ground themselves and be wrecked. Two of his ships were lost this way.

With the shoals preventing him from coming at us he attempted to sail to the south and come about to cross into the bay. This manuver put him broadside to us and we took advantage by blasting away at him at a range of four hundred yards. We had but to stay in position. He had to contend with a rapid tide coming off the shoals, and a backing wind.

In two hours his ships were so damanged that he withdrew to Nevis not to return. Guadeluope remains a possession of France to this day.