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 ...but he shows up in the background here. |
| The participants...Christian, me, Ken, and Jeanette (Matt was taking the picture in this case) | |
| First stop: Fort Shirley at the Cabrits Fort Shirley is an old restored British fort located on the Cabrit's peninsula that wraps around Prince Rupert Bay. Some of the ruins are very picturesque, and as you can see, my roll of film turned up with more pictures of windows and sky than I realized were there. Guess I just like the drama. |
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Though the main complex has been cleaned up very nicely, much of the rest is still overgrown - some too overgrown to find, we found out. A friend and I hiked up to the West Cabrit one day in order to find another complex that was listed on the map - but when we got to the end, all we found was a cannon and a nice view of Guadaloupe to the north. So on this trip, we hiked up to the East Cabrit and found NOTHING. Not even a cannon! Ok, so we found the commandant's quarters on the way, but nothing at the top. Lesson learned: maps lie. |
 Vague outline of Guadaloupe on the north horizon... |
Doorway heading into what looked like a well or a cellar. |
 View off the wall near the armory |
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 More rocks... |
More doorways... |
 Sign listing important dates at Fort Shirley |
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Matt at Cabrits No, that isn't the cannon that we found. This is in the main complex again. (That's Matt down by the cannon, as if you couldn't guess from the title. See a trend starting?)
These cannons are trained on Prince Rupert bay, I assume they were to protect Portsmouth from the invading French. Actually, they were probably used to protect Portsmouth from the invading English once or twice because the island traded hands often. Guadaloupe to the north and Martinique to the south were both French holdouts, so this island was not in friendly territory if you happened to be English.
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 Prince Rupert Bay and Portsmouth in the distance. |
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| In the main complex of the Cabrit's are the powder storage vaults, for one has to have powder in order to shoot at the French. They now contain the museum artifacts and displays that document some of the history of Fort Shirley. Apparently, the "Godspeed" carrying the first settlers to Jamestown stopped here in Dominica before heading up to the coast of North America. Also, the red rocks shown in these pictures came from the ballast with which ships coming from England had filled their hulls. They left the ballast here and took raw materials back to England. |  |
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 Christian attempts to pilfer some grapeshot in a barred storehouse in the commandant's quarters on the fateful East Cabrit hike. |
 This tree and wall is covered by a "ficus" plant. They choke out and eventually kill whatever they decide to use as a trellis. This was, again, at the commandant's quarters. |
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| Sundry hike pictures... | |
 Have you ever seen those little "air plants" in Wal-Mart? This is its great grand-daddy. |
 An old water pump. I found it interesting because it said "England" on the side. Guess I just don't think of England all that much while I'm here. |
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