Norman Island
Frommer's 500 Extraordinary Islands:
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Norman Island
Ahoy, Long John Silver
Location: British Virgin Islands
Extraordinary Islands > Islands of History > Pirates
Tourist information: Tortola tourist office ☎ 284/494-3134; also www.normanisland.com
Airports: Beef Island Airport, connected by bridge to Tortola.
Hotels: Ole Works Inn $ ☎ 284/495-4837; www.quitorymer.com The Sugar Mill $$$ ☎ 800/462-8834 in the U.S., or 284/495-4355; www.sugarmillhotel.com
Airports: Beef Island Airport, connected by bridge to Tortola.
Hotels: Ole Works Inn $ ☎ 284/495-4837; www.quitorymer.com The Sugar Mill $$$ ☎ 800/462-8834 in the U.S., or 284/495-4355; www.sugarmillhotel.com
Seen from the air, it looks like a splat of seaweed, intensely green against the blue waters of the Caribbean. But back in the old days, no one saw Norman Island from the air. You saw it from the deck of a pirate ship, and that ragged profile meant one thing: lots of coves and caves to hide booty in.
When Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Treasure Island in the early 1880s, his imagination had been fired by tales told to him by a seafaring uncle of his expedition to the British Virgin Islands, and specifically Norman Island. Over the years, many stories floated about of local people discovering mysterious caches of gold and silver coins, squirreled away in caves on such islands. As Stevenson fashioned his gripping yarn of hidden riches and bloodthirsty buccaneers, he drew upon his uncle's descriptions, as well as childhood memories of vacationing on Uist (read more), in the Shetland Islands.
Today, the treasures of Norman Island are more for snorkelers and bareboaters, who find its caves and sheltered anchorages make a wonderful Virgin Islands getaway. Nearby Tortola (read more)—the gateway to the British Virgin Islands and one of the premier sailing centers of the entire Caribbean—is the jumping-off point for private boat excursions over the Drake Channel, 11km (6¾ miles) south to Norman Island. Contact Travel Plan Tours (☎ 284/494-2872; www.aroundthebvi.com) to join one of their full-day sailing tours aboard a motor launch from Tortola to Norman Island; or rent a catamaran from Moorings Limited (☎ 888/952-8420; in the U.S. or (☎ 284/494-2331; www.moorings.com) . Usually they require a 3-day minimum, but there are enough other places to explore around Tortola to make the stay worth your while.
Once here, you can row, kayak, or snorkel into the caves, located in Treasure Point, the rocky headland at the southern end of the wide sheltered cove of The Bight. At the base of Treasure Point's cliffs are three caves, where bats nest and algae on the cave walls glows in the darkness—almost like a bioluminescent night dive. You can also explore the 4km-long (21/2-mile) island on foot, climbing through its scrubby vegetation to the top of Spy Glass Hill—to give it the name Stevenson used in his book—a perfect pirate lookout if there ever was one. Divers will also want to explore the island's reefs contact >Blue Water Divers (☎ 284/494-2847; www.bluewaterdiversbvi.com) , visiting among other dive sites the wreck of the HMS Rhone off nearby Salt Island.
Though privately owned Norman Island is uninhabited, it's not really deserted—there are two lively bar/restaurants in the Bight: Pirates, located on the beach (look for its red tin roof), and just offshore an old moored lumber barge named the William Thornton ("Willie T" to locals). There are no accommodations on the island, but Norman Island's coves are so calm and sheltered that it's a prime place for sailors to anchor their boats overnight.
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Norman Island
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Norman Island
For the island in Australia, see Norman Island (Victoria).
Norman Island is located at the southern tip of the British Virgin Islands archipelago. It is reputed to be the inspiration for Robert Louis Stevenson's pirate novel Treasure Island.[1]
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Contents
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History
It is said that the island was named after a pirate who bought it or leased it at some point during the early 18th century,[2] although supporting evidence for this contention is difficult to find.
However, Norman Island also has a documented history of pirate booty being stowed upon the island. In August 1750 a Spanish treasure galleon named Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe sought shelter from a storm on the North Carolina coast. The crew mutinied and the treasure, said to consist of (amongst other things) 55 chests of silver coins, was loaded into two Bilanders, one of which was manned by Owen Lloyd. The first vessel perished, but Lloyd escaped to St. Croix. After disposing of some of the money, he proceeded to Norman Island where the treasure was buried. Lloyd and his crew were later arrested in St. Eustatius, but word of the treasure spread, and residents of Tortola went to Norman Island and dug it up for themselves. Part of the booty was later recovered by Gilbert Fleming, Lieutenant-General of the Leeward Islands at the time, who travelled to Tortola with two companies of soldiers. Fleming persuaded Abraham Chalwill, the acting Lieutenant Governor of the British Virgin Islands (who had coincidentally lead the search for the treasure on Norman Island) to issue a proclamation whereby the treasure would be returned and the people who had dug it up would receive a one-third share as a reward.[3]
There the historical record ends, but local rumours abound that a member of a well-known local family had been fishing near Norman Island and took shelter in one of the caves on the Western coast of Norman Island during a storm. The surge repeatedly banged his small boat against the walls of the cave, whilst the storm surge caused the water level to rise several feet. When the fortunate fisherman woke the next morning, a large number of rocks had broken off into his small craft, as had a small chest, supposedly filled with gold doubloons. The story cannot be verified as no legal application for treasure trove was ever made,[4] but it is known that members of the family ceased being fisherman and left Tortola at about the time to open some shops in Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas.
Rumours persist of more pirate gold to be found on Norman Island, although to date no applications have ever been made for treasure trove.
Today
The island is uninhabited and privately owned by Dr Henry Jarecki. Its area is about 600 acres (2.4 km²), and it is about 2.5 miles (4 km) long. A large harbour known as "The Bight" offers one of the most protected anchorages in the area. It is considered to be one of the "Little Sisters," along with Pelican Island, Peter Island, Salt Island, Dead Chest Island, and Ginger Island. This group of islands is smaller, lower, and more arid than other islands to the north and west.
Norman Island is a well-known destination for cruisers and other tourists because of 3 water-level caves at the base of cliffs just outside the western edge of The Bight. The caves are ideal for snorkeling, and, if one goes deeply enough into the cliffs, darkness makes the experience like a night dive.
The island has no permanent inhabitants (other than wild goats), but there is a restaurant and bar named "Pirates" located in the Bight. There is also an old barge named the William Thornton (or "Willie T" to locals) which operates as a bar and restaurant.
In the television show The Jeffersons one of the characters is from the Caribbean island of "St. Norman". This is probably an inside joke since the creator of the show was Norman Lear.
External links
Footnotes
- ^ "Where's Where" (1974) (Eyre Methuen, London) ISBN 0-413-32290-4, Norman Island.
- ^ See for example, Welcome Magazine, Vol. 36, No. 1: "The Real Pirates of the Caribbean"
- ^ A History of the British Virgin Islands, Isaac Dookahn, ISBN 0-85935-027-4
- ^ Under applicable British Virgin Islands law, the Government would probably have been entitled to a half share, depending upon the coroner's finding as to the circumstances of the treasure's coming to be in the cave.
Coordinates: 18°19′N 64°37′W / 18.317°N 64.617°W
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