Diamond Rock - an island with a rich history (8 photos)

South of Martinique, an island in the eastern Caribbean, lies a small basalt island called Diamond Rock. At certain times of the day, the island, with its impressive 175-meter peak, is said to look like a cut piece of the gemstone of the same name. Despite being just a rock formation, Diamond Rock has quite a history.





Traditionally, naval bases in many Commonwealth countries, including the Royal Navy, are named after ships and therefore have a prefix (HMS in the Royal Navy, HMCS in the Royal Canadian Navy, HMAS in the Royal Australian Navy, INS in the Indian Navy, etc.).



Diamond Rock

The use of ship prefixes to designate naval facilities dates back to the Age of Sail, when navies used the hulls of old wooden ships moored in ports as floating barracks or classrooms to train sailors and officers. These hulls retained their HMS designation, and later, when these schools moved ashore to more permanent bases, the name moved with them.

Another theory is that all sailors were required by law to be on the ship's payroll. Therefore, by referring to naval bases as Royal Navy ships, service records could indicate that personnel were serving on the ship even when not at sea.





Following this tradition, Commodore Sir Samuel Hood formally commissioned the sloop HMS Diamond Rock on the island, under the command of Lieutenant James Wilkes Maurice. Other Royal Navy ships were required to show due respect when passing the island, with personnel on the upper decks forming formation and facing the rock, and the bridge saluting. HMS Diamond Rock popularized the term "stone frigate", which is another name for the shore establishment.



The French fleet attacks Diamond Rock. Painting by Auguste Etienne François Mayer

The garrison of HMS Diamond Rock consisted of the usual officers of a British warship, including a surgeon and a sub-lieutenant to command a small supply vessel. Maurice set up a hospital, and provisions, gunpowder, and ammunition were brought to the rock by boat, where they were purchased from local islanders in Martinique.

The island's main weakness was the lack of food and water, which had to be obtained from ships that plied the surrounding islands. The sailors also kept goats, chickens, and chicks to supplement their meager food supplies.



For 17 months, Diamond Rock controlled the channel between it and the main island, firing on French ships that tried to get too close to the rock and intercepting cargo destined for the French garrison. Because of its elevation, the guns on Diamond Rock had a longer range, forcing French ships to avoid it. The guns of Diamond Rock, as well as the currents and strong winds, made it nearly impossible for enemy ships to approach Port Royal Harbor.



The French decided to take Diamond Rock by blockading and cutting off supplies to the island, thereby forcing the British to surrender. The plan, although simple, worked. After several days of skirmishing with the French, the island began to run out of ammunition and water, and Lieutenant James Wilkes Maurice had no choice but to surrender to the French forces.



I regret to inform you of the loss of the Diamond Rock, under my command, which was forced to surrender on the 2d, after a three-day attack by a squadron consisting of two ships of the line, one frigate, one brig, a schooner, eleven gunboats, and, at the earliest estimate, 1,500 men. Lack of ammunition and water was the sole cause of this lamentable loss.... [our losses amounted to] only two killed and one wounded.



Maurice was court-martialed for the loss of a ship - in this case an island - as was required by naval procedure at the time, but was honorably acquitted of the loss.

The Rock remained in French hands until the capture of Martinique by the British in 1809. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the island was returned to France along with Martinique. Since then, it has remained a French possession, inaccessible, inhospitable and uninhabited.