Devil’s Island, French Guiana
March 4, 2016
We are on the home stretch. Today we are at Devil’s Island – the infamous penal colony in French Guiana. Well,
actually we are on Ile Royale, one of the three Salvation Islands, the other
two being Saint-Joseph and Ile du Diable. The Salvation Islands began as a
leper colony. Located seven miles off the coast of French Guiana, the penal
colony was established there in 1852 by the government of Napoleon III. The
original name for the colony was Bagne de Cayenne (Cayenne Penal Colony), but
its prisoners coined the name “Devil’s Island.” The government stopped sending
new prisoners in 1938 and closed the facility in 1952.
Our day began with a bit of adventure as the rough seas made
stepping from the ship onto the tender a bit dicey. However, having survived,
we began our bittersweet visit to the largest island in the archipelago. I say
bittersweet because this now mostly uninhabited island saw so much hardship and
death over its century of existence.
Welcome to Devil's Island sign
Today there is a small hotel, a former guard barrack, to help
accommodate the more than 50,000 tourists who visit every year, a 1928 lighthouse,
and a modern radio/radar tracking station of the European Space agency where
scientists monitor Ariane rocket launches from Kourou on the French Guiaa
mainland seven miles away. The Guiana Space Centre has responsibility for the
islands.
Of greatest interest are the remains of the prison facilities,
including housing for the wardens and their families, a small church adorned
with murals painted by the prisoners, and the overgrown ruins of former prison
cells. A rough dirt road allowed us to circumnavigate the island. We passed a children's cemetery. Guards and their wives who died while stationed here were buried on Ile St. Joseph and prisoners were buried at sea, which fostered the presence of sharks.
Murals inside the church
Although the islands have no beaches, there is a "swimming pool" that was used by guards and wardens. It is protected from the heavy surf by strategically placed rocks.
The swimming pool. That's Ile du Diable in the background.
We saw squirrel
monkeys and macaws – both introduced species – in the trees and around the
trail, as well as agoutis, rodents native to the Caribbean and South America.
They look a bit like reddish guinea pigs on stilts.
Macaw and squirrel monkey. Sorry, no pics of the agoutis.
Over the years over 80,000 prisoners were sent here, most of
whom were never seen again due to harsh conditions, isolation and disease.
Among its most famous residents was Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish French military
officer accused of espionage and later exonerated. A recent book about this is An
Officer and a Spy by Robert Harris. He
was kept in isolation in a small cottage on Ile du Diable which we could see from
Ile Royale.
Dreyfus isolation hut on Ile du Diable
Only three prisoners escaped successfully. The first was
Clement Duval, a French anarchist who escaped in April 1901 and found sanctuary
in the U.S. The second, and probably most famous, was Henri Charriere, who successfully
escaped in 1941. The book, Papillion, and subsequent movie tells this
story vividly. The third escapee we discovered from a framed newspaper article
at the entry to the church. His name was Rene Belbenoit and he, too, received
sanctuary in the U.S.
Belbenoit before (above) and after escape
At the tender pier, as we were preparing to return to the
ship, we saw sea turtles nibbling at the rocks. This was a day filled with sad
reminders of inhumane treatment. It was also a day filled with wildlife, for
which the sea turtles provided a fitting end.
Now we are off to the Caribbean with stops scheduled on
Barbados and St. Thomas. This is my final post for this blog.
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