| Crête-à-Pierrot | |
|---|---|
|
File:Haitian ship Crête-à-Pierrot.jpg The Crête-à-Pierrot | |
| Career (Haiti) | |
| Name: | Crête-à-Pierrot |
| Fate: | Destroyed in battle. |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 940 t |
| Propulsion: | Steam |
| Speed: | 15 Knotts |
| Complement: | 175 |
| Armament: |
1 x 16 cm gun 1 x 12 cm gun 4 x 10 cm guns 5 x Nordenfeld machine guns 2 x Maxim machine guns |
In 1943 the ship appeared on a postage stamp commemorating its 1902 destruction
The Crête-à-Pierrot was a ship in the Haitian Navy. It was destroyed by Admiral Hammerton Killick in 1902 to prevent it falling into the hands of the Germans.
Commission[]
The Haitian Government commissioned a boat to be designed and built in England.[1] What it was finished, this ship, the Crête-à-Pierrot was the crown jewel of the Haitian navy; the best of the four ships it possessed at the time.[1] It was built in England in 1895, armed in France, and added to Haitian Navy in 1896.[1]
Her first captain was Captain Gilmour, from Scotland, who served under contract to Haiti.[1]
Destruction[]
In 1902 Haiti was enveloped in a civil war over who would become president after the sudden resignation of Tirésias Simon Sam. The Crête-à-Pierrot was controlled by Admiral Hammerton Killick and supporters of Anténor Firmin and was used to blockade ports where Pierre Nord Alexis was gathering troops.[2] There was a plan to use the Crête-à-Pierrot to transport Firmin to Port-au-Prince while Jean Jumeau marched on Port-au-Prince by land.[3]
In September 1902, the Crête-à-Pierrot seized a German ammunition ship, the Markomannia en route to provide ammunition to Alexis' forces.[3] Alexis asked Germany for help subduing a pirate ship.[2] In response, Germany sent the SMS Panther to find an capture the Crête-à-Pierrot.[3]
On September 6, the Crête-à-Pierrot was in port at Gonaïves, with Killick and most of the crew on Shore leave when the Panther appeared.[4] Killick rushed on-board and ordered his crew to abandon ship.[4] When all but four crew members had evacuated the ship[3] Killick, inspired by the tale of Captian LaPorte, wrapped himself in a Haitian flag, fired the aft magazine, and blew up the ship rather than let the Germans take her.[4][5] Killick and the remaining four crew members went down with the ship.[4]
An hour later, the Panther fired thirty shots at the Crête-à-Pierrot to finish it off, then sailed away.[5] The ship's rifles and machine guns were salvaged, along with the bodies of the crew that remained on-board.[5]
Gallery[]
.jpg "SMS Panther (1901).jpg (3.5 MB)")
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hesketh-Prichard, Hesketh Vernon (October 15, 2012). Where Black Rules White: A Journey Through and About Hayti. Wermod and Wermod Publishing Group. pp. 77–84. ISBN 9780956183583. https://books.google.com/books?id=i3-TAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81&lpg=PA81&dq=Cr%C3%AAte-%C3%A0-Pierrot+ship&source=bl&ots=BHQrr4uP8O&sig=SdRjtQNV2q5AdY6auge-pYzd01M&hl=en&sa=X&ei=oT3NVKWePISkyQTduIHYCA&ved=0CDUQ6AEwBDgK#v=onepage&q=Cr%C3%AAte-%C3%A0-Pierrot%20ship&f=false. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Dubois, Laurent (January 3, 2012). Haiti: The Aftershocks of History. Macmillan. ISBN 9780805095623. https://books.google.com/books?id=drU3HlesN5kC&pg=PT221&dq=Hammerton+Killick&hl=en&sa=X&ei=f_zKVPieE9D2yQSZ4oKQAg&ved=0CDgQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Hammerton%20Killick&f=false. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Smith, Matthew (October 20, 2014). Liberty, Fraternity, Exile: Haiti and Jamaica after Emancipation. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469617985.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 Haiti: A Slave Revolution: 200 years after 1804. International Action Center. September 2004. ISBN 978-0974752105. http://www.iacenter.org/haiti/flag.htm. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Killick Went Down with His Warship". New York Times. September 11, 1902. http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D00E0D7113DEE32A25752C1A96F9C946397D6CF. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
The original article can be found at Crête-à-Pierrot and the edit history here.