Artifact in Focus: A view of St. Eustatius

This watercolor is complemented with pen and ink drawing and measures 16.5 x 24.5 cm. It was made in 1810 by Nicholas Pocock (1740-1821). Pocock was a famous English artist who became known for his depictions of naval battles and beautifully illustrated log books. Several of his log books are preserved in the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News and the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.

This view of the island shows two ships on the left, the one in front being a French frigate which is shadowed by the Boreas, a naval vessel commanded by Horatio Nelson during his service in the West Indies. The French vessel was planning on surveying several British islands in the region. She was spotted while the Boreas lay at anchor off Nevis. Nelson followed her to St. Eustatius, where he and the captain of the French ship were invited for dinner by the island’s governor. The French captain insisted they were just cruising around the island, but Nelson didn’t trust them. The next day, the French vessel abandoned its project and sailed for Martinique, followed by the Boreas. Nelson didn’t let the ship out of his sight until she reached Martinique.

In 1784, when this scene took place, the Revolutionary War had just ended. St. Eustatius played an important part in the conflict, by providing the North American rebels with vast quantities of arms and ammunition in their fight for freedom. After being sacked by the British in 1781, it was conquered by the French in the same year, and by 1784 it had returned in Dutch hands. The island would continue to engage in illegal trading activities, defying Britain’s Navigation Acts. In 1784, aged only 25, Nelson was a senior captain of the Leeward Islands station in command of the 28-gun Boreas. On his own instigation, he began enforcing the Navigation Acts in the vicinity of Antigua. Despite being told to desist, he continued to harass illegal trade until 1787, making himself hugely unpopular with people throughout the West Indies as they relied on supplies from the United States.

The right side shows a view of the leeward side of St. Eustatius. The two peaks in the background are Signal Hill and Pilot Hill. The center of the view shows about a dozen ships at anchor in the roadstead. We’ve used historic artwork before as one line of evidence to determine the size and extent of the historic roadstead, and this view confirms what was found out previously. Several buildings of the island’s residential area, known as Upper Town, are depicted on the ridge on the right. There are a few buildings depicted in the foreground in more detail. The one on the right was a sugar refinery knows as Crook’s Castle. It was the southernmost building of the historic port district known as Lower Town, and its ruins are still there.

This is not the only time Pocock depicted St. Eustatius in his work. The National Maritime Museum in Greenwich holds another watercolor showing a naval scene with St. Eustatius in the background (see link below). This work, also made in 1810, is very similar to our artifact in question and was part of the same series. Moreover, one of his log books contains a beautiful view of the island and its roadstead. During his early career as a mariner, Pocock had called at St. Eustatius, so these views were made by someone who was familiar with the island. In addition, there are other works by him showing St. Eustatius, held in private collections.

\Why did we choose this particular watercolor for this post? Well, it’s because we recently obtained this work, and it is now part of our collection of antique maps and prints. Having been in private collections for decades, it was unknown to us until just a few weeks ago, but we now wanted to make this view available to everyone. It is in a reasonable state of preservation. While there is minimal damage to the paper itself, there is some staining and fading throughout the work. We are now assessing options for conservation in order to restore this beautiful view of the island back to its former glory.