| Haitian gunboat Crête-à-Pierrot | |
|---|---|
| Haitian ship Crête-à-Pierrot.jpg | |
| Career (Haiti) |  |
| Name: | Crête-à-Pierrot |
| Builder: | Earle's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co, Hull (Yard 396) |
| Launched: | 7 November 1895 |
| Commissioned: | 1896 |
| Out of service: | 1902 |
| Fate: | Destroyed to prevent capture |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Gunboat |
| Displacement: | 950 tons |
| Installed power: | Triple expansion steam engines |
| Propulsion: | 1 × propeller |
| Speed: | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Complement: | 175 |
| Armament: |
|
Crête-à-Pierrot was a gunboat in the Haitian Navy. It was destroyed by Admiral Hammerton Killick in 1902 to prevent it falling into the hands of a German warship.
Description[]
The ship displaced 950 tons. It was powered by a triple expansion steam engine driving a single screw propeller, giving a speed of 16 knots (30 km/h). Armament comprised a 16 cm, 12 cm and four 10 cm guns, four Nordenfelt machine guns and two Maxim machine guns.[1][2]
Commission[]
The Haitian Government commissioned an armed cruiser to be designed by Sir E J Reed and built by Earle's Shipbuilding & Engineering Co at Hull, Yorkshire, England.[1][2][3] The ship was launched as Crête-à-Pierrot, named for the revolutionary battle of Crête-à-Pierrot, on 7 November 1895.[2] After arming in France, it was added to the Haitian Navy in 1896 and considered the Navy's crown jewel, the best of the four ships it possessed at the time.[3]
Crête-à-Pierrot's first commander was Captain Gilmour, from Scotland, who served under contract to Haiti.[3]
Destruction[]
In 1943 the ship appeared on a postage stamp commemorating its 1902 destruction
In 1902 Haiti was enveloped in a civil war over who would become president after the sudden resignation of Tirésias Simon Sam. 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.[4] There was a plan to use Crête-à-Pierrot to transport Firmin to Port-au-Prince while Jean Jumeau marched on Port-au-Prince by land.[5]
In September 1902, Crête-à-Pierrot seized a German ammunition ship, Markomannia en route to provide ammunition to Alexis' forces.[5] Alexis asked Germany for help subduing a pirate ship.[4] In response, Germany sent the gunboat SMS Panther to find and capture Crête-à-Pierrot.[5]
On 6 September, Crête-à-Pierrot was in port at Gonaïves, with Killick and most of the crew on Shore leave when Panther appeared.[6] Killick rushed aboard and ordered his crew to abandon ship.[6] When all but four crew members had evacuated the ship[5] Killick, inspired by the tale of Captain LaPorte, wrapped himself in a Haitian flag, fired the aft magazine, and blew up the ship rather than let the Germans take her.[6][7] Killick and the remaining four crew members went down with the ship.[6]
An hour later, Panther fired thirty shots at Crête-à-Pierrot to finish it off, then sailed away.[7] The ship's rifles and machine guns were salvaged, along with the bodies of the crew that remained on board.[7]
Gallery[]
.jpg "SMS Panther (1901).jpg (3.5 MB)")
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Error: no
|title=specified when using {{Cite web}}". 9 September 1902. - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Neal, William George, ed (1 December 1895). "Armed Cruiser for the Haytian Government". p. 355. https://archive.org/stream/marineengineera08unkngoog/marineengineera08unkngoog_djvu.txt. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 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.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Dubois, Laurent (January 3, 2012). Haiti: The Aftershocks of History. Macmillan. ISBN 9780805095623. https://books.google.com/books?id=drU3HlesN5kC&pg=PT221.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Smith, Matthew (October 20, 2014). Liberty, Fraternity, Exile: Haiti and Jamaica after Emancipation. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469617985.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 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.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Killick Went Down with His Warship" (pdf). September 11, 1902. https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1902/09/11/118478751.pdf. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
Bibliography[]
- Davis, William H. (1977). "Question 3/77". pp. 262–263. ISSN 0043-0374.
The original article can be found at Haitian gunboat Crête-à-Pierrot and the edit history here.