St. Eustatius, capture of
While negotiations between the Dutch and English were going on at The Hague, British cruisers pounced upon Dutch merchantmen, capturing 200 ships of the republic of Holland, worth, with their cargoes, 15,000,000 guilders. Swift cutters were sent to Admiral Rodney at Barbadoes to seize the Dutch island of St. Eustatius, in the West Indies. Suddenly, on Feb. 3, 1781, the British West India fleet and army, after making a feint on the coast of Martinique, appeared off the doomed island and demanded of Governor De Grant its surrender within an hour. The surprised and astonished inhabitants, unable to offer any resistance, and ignorant of war between their home government and Great Britain, surrendered the post and its dependencies, at the same time invoking clemency for the town. The island was a rich prize, for it was a free port for all nations and was “one continued store of French, Dutch, American, and English property.” All the magazines and storehouses were filled, and even the beach was covered with tobacco and sugar. The value of merchandise found there was estimated at $15,000,000. There were taken in the bay a Dutch frigate, five smaller vessels of war, and 150 merchantships. Thirty richly laden Dutch ships which had just left the island were overtaken by a detachment from Rodney's fleet and captured, together with their convoy, a 60-gun Dutch ship. Keeping the Dutch flag flying on the island, no less than seventeen Dutch ships were decoyed into port and seized.
