VirginiaHuguenot
Puritanboard Librarian
As some know, I live in the Caribbean (Jamaica, Dominica, St. Maarten, etc.) for several years as a child. So, I enjoy drawing connections between my own travels and experiences and Reformed church history. Pardon my meandering thoughts.
I recently read [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Search-Robinson-Crusoe-Tim-Serverin/dp/0465076998]In Search of Robinson Crusoe[/ame] by Tim Severin. It's a fascinating read on many levels which attempts to show that Defoe modelled Crusoe's island not so much after [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe_Island]Alexander Selkirk's island in the Pacific[/ame], but rather [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Tortuga_Island]Salt Tortuga[/ame], a place where Henry Pitman was marooned.
I myself was marooned on an island off the coast of Jamaica for one day. I've related the story here. That took place near Port Royal, Jamaica, now mostly underwater, after being destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 and other disasters following.
Following the unsuccessful Darien expedition to settle the colony of New Caledonia, Alexander Shields, Scottish Covenanter, died at Port Royal on June 14, 1700.
The Caribbean was a magnet for all sorts of people during the colonial days, from pirates to those fleeing religious persecution.
One work that I hope read one day (it's very
) is Historie Naturelle et Morale des Iles Antilles de l'Amerique (a Huguenot work prepared by some who travelled the Caribbean with Sir Francis Drake, aimed at describing European and native settlements in the Caribbean and Florida, and promoting Huguenot emigration to the Caribbean).
A place I'd very much like to visit someday is Eleuthera, site of the Puritan Bahamian colony. Another reason to take a trip to the Caribbean again one of these days.
I recently read [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Search-Robinson-Crusoe-Tim-Serverin/dp/0465076998]In Search of Robinson Crusoe[/ame] by Tim Severin. It's a fascinating read on many levels which attempts to show that Defoe modelled Crusoe's island not so much after [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robinson_Crusoe_Island]Alexander Selkirk's island in the Pacific[/ame], but rather [ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Tortuga_Island]Salt Tortuga[/ame], a place where Henry Pitman was marooned.
I myself was marooned on an island off the coast of Jamaica for one day. I've related the story here. That took place near Port Royal, Jamaica, now mostly underwater, after being destroyed by an earthquake in 1692 and other disasters following.
Following the unsuccessful Darien expedition to settle the colony of New Caledonia, Alexander Shields, Scottish Covenanter, died at Port Royal on June 14, 1700.
The Caribbean was a magnet for all sorts of people during the colonial days, from pirates to those fleeing religious persecution.
One work that I hope read one day (it's very
) is Historie Naturelle et Morale des Iles Antilles de l'Amerique (a Huguenot work prepared by some who travelled the Caribbean with Sir Francis Drake, aimed at describing European and native settlements in the Caribbean and Florida, and promoting Huguenot emigration to the Caribbean).A place I'd very much like to visit someday is Eleuthera, site of the Puritan Bahamian colony. Another reason to take a trip to the Caribbean again one of these days.
