Training in the land of pirates

 I want to look at a couple of items from my maternal grandfather's military service record today before switching over to the other side of the family for the next couple of weeks.

As I mentioned before, grandfather William was a member of  the U.S. Marines. He enlisted in the service in 1900 at the age of 21 and was sent to Washington, D.C. Two years later, he was sent to Annapolis, Maryland, and a year later was posted to Culebra, V.I., as it's listed on his record.

I mistakenly assumed, when I first read this information, that he had been sent to the U.S. Virgin Islands, but it turns out that Culebra was part of the Spanish Virgin Islands, consisting primarily of Puerto Rico, Isla Culebra and Isla Vieques. It would be worth your while to read up on the USVI, which the U.S. bought from the Danish, and learn about its history with piracy and slavery, but I won't deal with it in this blog.

Some believe Christopher Columbus stopped in on Culebra, or Isla Pasaje (Passage Island) as the Spanish originally called it on his second voyage in 1493. The Spanish pretty much abandoned the island for the next few hundred years, and it became a refuge for pirates, fishermen and sailors. 

The Spanish appointed a black Englishman named John Stevens in either the 1850s, according to Wikipedia, or 1875, according to the site islaculebra.com. He was charged with protecting the coastal fishing industry. Colonization began in 1880. The indigenous populations of the island seem to have been lost to disease and the pressures of colonization. 

The Spanish Virgin Islands passed into American control as a result of the treaty ending the Spanish-American War. U.S. military established a firing range on the island in 1901, and by 1903 the Americans had established the Culebra Naval Reservation, where the South Atlantic fleet was harbored.

After leasing Guantanamo from the Cubans for a military base, the U.S. reduced its military presence at Culebra, using it primarily for training purposes. By 1939 the base was being used again for gunnery practice, as well as bombing practice.

This did not sit well with the inhabitants of the island, and in 1971 a series of protests lead the U.S. shut down the gunnery range and by 1975, all operations were removed to Isla Vieques. The islaculebra.com site observes that "... the destruction to the reefs and the psyches of the inhabitants will take decades to heal. Rusting tanks on Flamenco Beach bear witness."

The island is governed by Puerto Rico, which makes it part of the commonwealth, and I assume, means that it's residents are American citizens, though like all American territories, they have token, nonvoting representation in Congress and may not vote in presidential elections. They are, unlike the nearby USVI, exempt from IRS tax code. Culebrans do elect all their local officials and have a governor, a House of Representatives and a Senate.

One last thing, after his service in Culebra, William was reassigned to Annapolis, where he joined the crew of the USS Chesapeake, a sailing vessel used as a training vessel, the third ship to bear that name, which was later renamed as the USS Severn. Here's a picture: