f A e i Br History All photos: Wilfred Dederer
Bequia’s outstanding natural harbour, tucked deep into Admiralty Bay, and richly stocked waters made it a perfect location for the widespread development of marine activities
B
equia, along with the other Grenadine islands, appears to have first been inhabited around 200AD by superbly skilled pottery-making Amerindians (referred to by archaeologists as “Saladoid”), who originated from the South American mainland. Successive migrations of other groups from the mainland followed, until a final migration by yet another mainland group - the Caribs - shortly before the arrival of Columbus in the Antilles in the late 15th century. This latest arrival resulted in part conquest, part assimilation of the existing people and their culture, and gave rise throughout the region to the Kalinago or Island Carib people.
When the French seized Grenada from the Caribs in 1650, they also took control of the Grenadine islands from Carriacou in the south to Bequia in the North. St Vincent, however, which was then home to an estimated 10,000 Caribs, remained technically ‘neutral’, with fierce resistance from its indigenous people deterring any European settlement until the early 18th century. The island’s outstanding natural harbour, tucked deep into Admiralty Bay, and richly stocked waters made it a perfect location for the widespread development of marine skills – fishing (including whaling), boat building and navigation. Bequia enjoys the distinction of having once been pre-eminent in the region’s whaling industry in the last quarter of the 19th century. It’s no surprise that many of its inhabitants today can trace their heritage to two of the island’s great whaling patriarchs, Joseph Ollivierre and William Wallace Jr., whose whaling stations on Bequia quite literally saved the life of the island and its people.
68 Bequia MAYREAU
William Thomas (‘Old Bill’) Wallace introduced whaling to Bequia in the late 1860s after years of apprenticeship on a New England whale ship; returning to Bequia with a young American wife and two Yankee whaleboats, he set about founding Bequia’s first whaling station. One of these original 26ft. boats, “Iron Duke”, still exists today and is one of the favourite contenders at the annual Bequia Easter Regatta. Under international agreement, St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been granted aboriginal whaling rights by the International Whaling Commission because it is considered a true cultural tradition, providing food for the islanders. It allows Bequia’s small group of whalermen to harpoon no more than four whales per year. If a whale is caught, the entire island comes out to get their portion of the catch and share in the many exciting versions of the fishing tales told. Rugged individualism and resourcefulness still flourish