The Creque Marine Railway, formerly the "St Thomas Marine Repair Facility", is an inclined-plane ship railway on Hassel Island, in the bay of Charlotte Amalie off the coast of St. Thomas Island, in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Its site is below Fort Shipley, within Virgin Islands National Park.
The marine railway was constructed in the 1840s by Danish investors, at Little Careening Cove on Hassel Island in the colonial Danish West Indies. It entered commercial service in 1844. [1] It is probably the world's oldest surviving marine railway. [2]
A large ship-cradle, built out of "greenheart" wood, ran on four rails, [3] down a shallow incline into the water; the cradle was ballasted. A ship could be floated into the cradle, then drawn up the railway by a winch so that work could be done on the hull - or propellers - of the ship on dry land. The winch was driven by a beam engine.
The beam engine and winch mechanism were manufactured by Boulton of Hamburg, around 1840.
The marine railway was originally called the "St Thomas Marine Repair Facility". It fell into financial difficulties and was auctioned in 1910. It was bought by Henry Creque, who refurbished it. By 1912, the site was back in working order under the name Creque's Maritime Railway Dock. [4] Under new ownership, the business succeeded again. [5] The Creque Marine Railway continued service into the 1960s. [6]
During World War II, the U.S. military utilized Hassel Island including Creque Marine Railway and Careening Cove. [4]
The site was fully abandoned in the 1960s. In 1978 a large part of Hassel Island was donated to the U.S. Department of the Interior as part of the Virgin Islands National Park.
Hassel Island is accessible to the public by boat from mainland St. Thomas.
Hiking trails follow the historic routes on the island, passing Fort Shipley, the Creque Marine Railway, Hamburg American Line coaling station, West Indies headquarters of the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, and other historic sites. [7] [8]
In 2006 the St. Thomas Historical Trust entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Virgin Islands National Park, to repair, rehabilitate, and restore structures and areas on Hassel Island. [9] [4]
The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and an unincorporated and organized territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located in the Leeward Islands of the Lesser Antilles to the east of Puerto Rico and west of the British Virgin Islands.
The United States Virgin Islands (USVI) is the only place under United States jurisdiction where the rule of the road is to drive on the left. However, virtually all passenger vehicles are left hand drive due to imports of U.S. vehicles.
The Danish West Indies or Danish Antilles or Danish Virgin Islands was a Danish colony in the Caribbean, consisting of the islands of Saint Thomas with 32 square miles (83 km2); Saint John with 19 square miles (49 km2); and Saint Croix with 84 square miles (220 km2). The islands have belonged to the United States since they were purchased in 1917. Water Island was part of the Danish West Indies until 1905 when the Danish state sold it to the East Asiatic Company, a private shipping company.
Charlotte Amalie, located on St. Thomas, is the capital and the largest city of the United States Virgin Islands, founded in 1666 as Taphus. In 1691, the town was renamed to Charlotte Amalie after Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel (1650–1714), queen consort to King Christian V of Denmark-Norway. It has a deep-water harbor that was once a haven for pirates and is now one of the busiest ports of call for cruise ships in the Caribbean, with about 1.5 million/plus cruise ship passengers landing there annually. Protected by Hassel Island, the harbor has docking and fueling facilities, machine shops, and shipyards and was a U.S. submarine base until 1966. The Town has been inhabited for centuries. When Christopher Columbus arrived in 1493, the area was inhabited by Caribs, Arawaks, Ciboney and Taíno native peoples. It is on the southern shore at the head of Saint Thomas Harbor. In 2010 the City had a population of 18,481, which makes it the largest city in the Virgin Islands Archipelago. Hundreds of ferries and yachts pass by the Town each week.
Saint Croix is an island in the Caribbean Sea, and a county and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Saint Thomas is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea which, together with Saint John, Water Island, Hassel Island, and Saint Croix, form a county-equivalent and constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States. The territorial capital and port of Charlotte Amalie is located on the island. As of the 2010 census, the population of Saint Thomas was 51,634, about 48.5% of the US Virgin Islands total. The district has a land area of 32 square miles (83 km2).
The Virgin Islands National Park is an American national park preserving about 60% of the land area of Saint John in the United States Virgin Islands, as well as more than 5,500 acres of adjacent ocean, and nearly all of Hassel Island, just off the Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas harbor.
Saint John is one of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), an unincorporated territory of the United States.
Water Island is an island territory currently belonging to the American Virgin Islands, an American territory located in the Caribbean Sea. The rest of the U.S. Virgin Islands were acquired by the Americans in 1917 from Denmark, however Water Island was excluded, thus the Danish East Asiatic Company, and by proxy the Danish kingdom, continued to own Water Island until several decades later. Water Island was bought by the American government in 1944, and in 1996 it was transferred to the U.S. Virgin Islands. The island is of volcanic origin and lies to the south of Saint Thomas in the Charlotte Amalie harbor. Ferry service runs regularly from Crown Bay, Saint Thomas to Phillips Landing, Water Island; the ferry ride is about 10 minutes.
Hassel Island is a small island of the U.S. Virgin Islands, a United States territory located in the Caribbean Sea. Hassel Island lies in the Charlotte Amalie harbor just south of Saint Thomas and east of Water Island, with which it is part of the sub-district of Water Island.
Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral is a cathedral of the Roman Catholic Church in the United States Virgin Islands. It is the mother church and seat of the Diocese of Saint Thomas. It is located in the City of Charlotte Amalie.
The United States Virgin Islands, often abbreviated USVI, is a group of islands and cays in the Caribbean to the east of Puerto Rico. Consisting of three larger islands plus fifty smaller islets and cays, it covers approximately 133 square miles (340 km2). Like many of its Caribbean neighbors, its history includes native Amerindian cultures, European exploration followed by subsequent colonization and exploitation, and the enslavement of Africans.
The Legislature of the Virgin Islands is the territorial legislature of the United States Virgin Islands. The legislative branch of the unincorporated U.S. territory is unicameral, with a single house consisting of 15 senators, elected to two-year terms without term limits. The legislature meets in Charlotte Amalie on the island of St. Thomas.
The patent slip or marine railway is an inclined plane extending from shoreline into water, featuring a "cradle" onto which a ship is first floated, and a mechanism to haul the ship, attached to the cradle, out of the water onto a slip. The marine railway was invented by a Scot, Thomas Morton, in the early 19th century, as a cheaper alternative to dry docks for marine vessel repairs, in particular below waterline. Larger modern marine railways can handle vessels of thousands of tons.
Fort Christian is a Dano-Norwegian-built fort in Charlotte Amalie, Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. Built 1672-1680, early in the first successful colonial establishment on the island, the fort served as a critical point of defense and government during the entire period of Dano-Norwegian, and later Danish, administration, which ended in 1917 with the sale of the islands to the United States. It currently holds the St. Thomas Museum, which holds artifacts and art of the Dano-Norwegian period. It was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1977.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the United States Virgin Islands:
The following is an alphabetical list of articles related to the territory of the United States Virgin Islands.
St Thomas Historical Trust, is a non-profit historic preservation organization located on Saint Thomas island, in the United States Virgin Islands.
Frederik Christian Hals von Moth was a Danish businessman who served as Governor-General of St. Thomas and St. John in the Danish West Indies from April 1724 - May 1727 then again from 21 February 1736 - 13 April 1744. In addition, he served as Governor of St. Croix from 8 January 1735 - 15 May 1747. In 1736, his title was changed to Governor General (generalguvernør). His military rank was Commander (kommandørkaptajn). In addition, he held the rank of justitsråd.
The 1916 Virgin Islands hurricane was a strong tropical cyclone that inflicted extensive damage across the Virgin Islands in October 1916. It was the region's most destructive storm since at least the 1867 San Narciso hurricane; Consul General Christopher Payne and archaeologist Theodoor de Booy considered the 1916 storm as the archipelago's most damaging. Its peak intensity was equivalent to a Category 3 on the modern Saffir–Simpson scale. The storm began as a tropical depression southeast of Barbados on October 6, though little is known about the storm's origins or its developing stages; by the time its center was first located, the cyclone was already a hurricane and causing damage in the Virgin Islands. After forming, the storm moved northwest into the eastern Caribbean Sea and strengthened quickly. Rough seas were produced in the Windward Islands at Dominica and Saint Kitts as the storm passed nearby between October 7–8, damaging coastal villages.
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