Floreana Island
The Galapagos Islands are one of the very few places on earth never inhabited by aborigines, and their absence partly explains the extraordinary behavior of the animals here. The Islands have been known to Europeans for 450 years, but they were not permanently settled until the nineteenth century. The early history of the Galapagos is known to us, through the written records left by a succession of visitors who stayed briefly and left nothing but tales and histories behind them. Until recent times no one could arrive to the islands without a good share of adventuring spirit and luck. The visitors who came to Galapagos have been like the dramatis personae in a series of comedies, tragedies and mysteries that would be hard to match elsewhere. This is especially true of Floreana, where we visited today.
Early in the morning, at Post Office Bay, we visited the post office barrel. Following an old tradition, we read the addresses of the postcards we found in the barrel and when appropriate they were pick up by our guests, to be hand delivered to their destinations. This is a fun use of the old post office; but the barrel has been used over the years in different ways.
One of the most bizarre ways in which the Post Office Barrel was used occurred during the War of 1812 between England and a united Europe under the command of Napoleon. The Americans, led by President Madison, saw an opportunity to profit from England’s predicament. The last time that England had faced a united Europe and a hostile America (in 1783), she had been forced to accept a peace treaty which resulted in a free United States and set new limits on British power. It is understandable that the United States again wished to see the British monarchy, which they considered an intolerable tyranny, to be “liberalized” by revolutionary France.
Although the war at sea was, in fact, mainly fought in the Western Atlantic, some ships were positioned in the Pacific. The USS Essex under Captain David Porter, based in the Galapagos Islands, captured more than half of the entire British whaling fleet in the Pacific.
Porter set course for Charles’ Island, as he knew about the whalers’ postal system located there. He sent some of his crew to ascertain whether any English vessels had been in this area lately, and to bring back the letters that might be of use to him. His crew returned three hours later with several letters that they had taken from a box which they found nailed to a post. From the letters Porter was able to deduce a good deal about the identity and whereabouts of British whalers and to lay his plans to capture them.
After a British ship was captured, Porter would install part of his crew on board to command the enemy vessels. His greatest problem was to find sufficient crews for all the ships he captured. In one instance Porter appointed a twelve-year-old midshipman, David Farragut, to command one of the vessels. This boy, whom Porter had adopted three years previously, was eventually to rise to be the first full admiral of the United States Navy.
The Galapagos Islands are one of the very few places on earth never inhabited by aborigines, and their absence partly explains the extraordinary behavior of the animals here. The Islands have been known to Europeans for 450 years, but they were not permanently settled until the nineteenth century. The early history of the Galapagos is known to us, through the written records left by a succession of visitors who stayed briefly and left nothing but tales and histories behind them. Until recent times no one could arrive to the islands without a good share of adventuring spirit and luck. The visitors who came to Galapagos have been like the dramatis personae in a series of comedies, tragedies and mysteries that would be hard to match elsewhere. This is especially true of Floreana, where we visited today.
Early in the morning, at Post Office Bay, we visited the post office barrel. Following an old tradition, we read the addresses of the postcards we found in the barrel and when appropriate they were pick up by our guests, to be hand delivered to their destinations. This is a fun use of the old post office; but the barrel has been used over the years in different ways.
One of the most bizarre ways in which the Post Office Barrel was used occurred during the War of 1812 between England and a united Europe under the command of Napoleon. The Americans, led by President Madison, saw an opportunity to profit from England’s predicament. The last time that England had faced a united Europe and a hostile America (in 1783), she had been forced to accept a peace treaty which resulted in a free United States and set new limits on British power. It is understandable that the United States again wished to see the British monarchy, which they considered an intolerable tyranny, to be “liberalized” by revolutionary France.
Although the war at sea was, in fact, mainly fought in the Western Atlantic, some ships were positioned in the Pacific. The USS Essex under Captain David Porter, based in the Galapagos Islands, captured more than half of the entire British whaling fleet in the Pacific.
Porter set course for Charles’ Island, as he knew about the whalers’ postal system located there. He sent some of his crew to ascertain whether any English vessels had been in this area lately, and to bring back the letters that might be of use to him. His crew returned three hours later with several letters that they had taken from a box which they found nailed to a post. From the letters Porter was able to deduce a good deal about the identity and whereabouts of British whalers and to lay his plans to capture them.
After a British ship was captured, Porter would install part of his crew on board to command the enemy vessels. His greatest problem was to find sufficient crews for all the ships he captured. In one instance Porter appointed a twelve-year-old midshipman, David Farragut, to command one of the vessels. This boy, whom Porter had adopted three years previously, was eventually to rise to be the first full admiral of the United States Navy.
