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User:ONUnicorn/Hammerton Killick

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Hammerton Killick
Admiral Killick
NicknameAdmiral Hammerton Killick
Born(1856-04-18)April 18, 1856
DiedSeptember 6, 1902(1902-09-06) (aged 46)
Gonaïves
Service/branchNavy
RankAdmiral

Hammerton Killick (April 18, 1856 – September 6, 1902) was an officer (called an admiral) in the navy of Haiti. A naval base in Port-au-Prince is named after him.[1] In 1943, he was honored with a postage stamp.[2]

Military service

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Haiti was a poor country. Its had to borrow officers other countries.[3] It had very few ships.[3] In 1899 its ships were old, some were not seaworthy, many needed paint, and they were being cannibalized for parts.[3] Sailors sometimes were not paid.[4] Sailors did not get enough good food.[4][3] The political situation in Haiti was not stable. There was a rebellion against President Florvil Hyppolite.

One of Killick's goals was to get more ships for the navy. In January of 1894 an American Yacht called the Natalie went missing.[5] Some people thought the Natalie was carrying weapons for fighting against Hyppolite.[6] Her captain said there were no weapons on board. He said the trip was just a pleasure trip.[7] The Natalie was seen close to Long Cay, Bahamas in February.[6] A short time later two Haitian ships, the Defence and the Dessalines, with Killick onboard, showed up near the Natalie.[5] The Defence was carrying $25,000 in American gold to buy the Natalie,[5] and the Dessalines was carrying $60,000 in gold coin to buy the Natalie.[7] Killick bought the Natalie for £5,208 6s 8d,[8] or $25,000.[9] The Natalie was retrofitted and added to the Haitian Navy.[5]

In 1896 Haiti bought a new ship, the Crête-à-Pierrot.[3] The Crête-à-Pierrot was to be the flagship of the navy.[3] It was built in England and armed in France.[3] It had 11 guns, could steam 15 knotts, and displaced 940 tonnes of water.[3] In 1899 the captain said the Admiral often came aboard.[3]

In July of 1898, Admiral Killick went missing for nineteen days.[10]

Rebellion and death

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In May of 1902, Haitian President Tirésias Simon Sam resigned. He was ashamed because of what happened with Emil Lüders.[11] The constitution said the National Assembly should name a president, but the people wanted direct elections.[11] A temporary government was made to supervise the election of deputies who would help the National Assembly appoint the president.[12] Many people wanted Anténor Firmin to be president, but the military and the temporary government, wanted Pierre Nord Alexis instead.[11] By June of 1902 a civil war had started.[11]

Admiral Killick wanted Firmin.[13][14] This means that Alexis had the support of the military, but Firmin had the support of the navy.[15] On May 15, Killick took the Crête-à-Pierrot, to Cap-Haïtien to get Firminist troops and take them to Port-au-Prince.[13][14] Meanwhile, the other ship in Haiti's navy, the Toussaint Louverture, was in Gonaïves.[13] Firmin had many supporters in Gonaïves.[12]

Firmin wanted to be elected deputy of both Cap-Haïtien, and Gonaïves.[12] He was elected deputy for Gonaïves, but on June 28th fighting began in Cap-Haïtien between his supporters and soldiers controlled by Alexis. The soldiers had been sent there to supervise the elections.[12] After the fighting broke out Firmin left on the Crête-à-Pierrot and sailed to Gonaïves.[12] He protested against the way the elections were being done.[12]

Killick attacked Cap-Haïtien with both ships.[16] When he left Cap-Haitien he accidentally wrecked the Toussaint Louverture on a reef.[16][15] Through the rest of the summer Killick and the Crête-à-Pierrot moved soldiers for the Firminist cause, attacked towns on the coast, and caused problems for Alexis' soldiers.[15][17] Other soldiers loyal to Firmin were lead by Jean Jumeau and marched on Port-au-Prince by land.[18]

Because of his support for Firmin, Killick was decommissioned by July 12.[19]

By July 26 Firmin had been named president by the people of several other regions of Haiti, even though the election was not over[19]. Jumeau's soldiers were said to be one day away from Port-au-Prince, and the Crête-à-Pierrot was in the harbor at Port-au-Prince.[20]

Killick tried to block the harbor at Cap-Haïtien.[15] On September 2, 1902,[12] Killick and his crew captured a German ship, the Markomannia. The Markomannia was on the way to Cape Haitian to give weapons to Alexis' soldiers.[18] Alexis asked Germany for help with a pirate ship.[11] Germany sent the SMS Panther to find and capture the Crête-à-Pierrot.[18]

On September 6, the Crête-à-Pierrot was in port at Gonaïves. Killick and most of the crew were on shore leave when the Panther got there.[1] Killick ran back to the ship and his crew to leave.[1] When all but four people had left the ship[18] Killick dressed himself in the Haitian flag and blew up the ship and weapons.[21] He didn't want the Germans to have them.[1][22] Killick and the four people still on the ship went down with the ship.[1]

An hour later, the Panther fired thirty shots at the Crête-à-Pierrot, then sailed away.[22] The ship's weapons were salvaged.[22] Killick's body was found and buried that same day.[22]

Without the support of the navy, Firmin's revolt failed.[17] Within a month Firmin went into exile in Saint Thomas, Barbados. He died there in 1911.[17]

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  •  
    Killick's ship, the Crête-à-Pierrot
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    The SMS Panther, a German ship sent to capture the Crête-à-Pierrot.
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    Pierre Nord Alexis, the 19th President of Haiti.
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    Anténor Firmin. Killick died supporting Firmin instead of Alexis in the civil war over who would become the 19th President of Haiti.
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    In 1943 Killick was honored with a postage stamp depicting his death.

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Haiti: A Slave Revolution: 200 years after 1804. International Action Center. September 2004. ISBN 978-0974752105. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  2. ↑ "Haiti stamp for defier of Germans". New York Times. September 26, 1943. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Hesketh-Prichard, Hesketh Vernon (October 15, 2012). Where Black Rules White: A Journey Through and About Hayti. Wermod and Wermod Publishing Group. pp. 77–84. ISBN 9780956183583.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Prence, Katherine (August 3, 1902). "ON THE EVE OF REVOLUTION; The Preliminary Fighting in the Streets of Port-au-Prince – Fusillades of Musketry from Soldiers of Contending Parties – Cabinet Minister Who Attends a Voodoo Church – Admiral Killick Runs Off with the Navy – How He Defied the Authorities". New York Times. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 "THE STORY OF THE NATALIE.; Triumph of Haitian Diplomacy Over the Revolutionary Cause". New York Times. March 14, 1894. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Natalie Captured and Crew Shot". New York Times. March 11, 1894. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Yacht Natalie's Captain Here". New York Times. March 13, 1894. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  8. ↑ "The Natalie Mystery". Los Angeles Herald. No. Volume 47 Number 157. March 27, 1984. Retrieved 18 February 2015. {{cite news}}: |issue= has extra text (help)
  9. ↑ Officer, Lawrence. "Dollar-Pound Exchange Rate From 1791". Measuring Worth. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  10. ↑ "Admiral Killick Returns". New York Times. July 3, 1898. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 11.3 11.4 Dubois, Laurent (January 3, 2012). Haiti: The Aftershocks of History. Macmillan. ISBN 9780805095623.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 Léger, Jacques Nicolas (1907). Haiti: Her History and Her Detractors. New York and Washington: Neale Publishing Company. pp. 252–253. Retrieved 3 February 2015.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "Article 6 - Untitled". New York Times. May 16, 1902.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Battle in Haiti Expected". New York Times. May 15, 1902. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 World Today. Current Encyclopedia Company. 1902. p. 1802.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Cite error: The named reference Haiti was used but no text was provided for refs named (see the help page).
  17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Clough, Joseph. "The Firminist War". Haiti An Island Luminous. Digital Library of the Caribbean. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 Smith, Matthew (October 20, 2014). Liberty, Fraternity, Exile: Haiti and Jamaica after Emancipation. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469617985.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "SITUATION IN HAITI.; Admiral Loses His Commission for Disobeying the New Government". New York Times. July 13, 1902. Retrieved 31 January 2015.
  20. ↑ "THE REVOLUTION IN HAITI.; Provisional Government Declares Firmin an Outlaw – Great Excitement at Port-au-Prince". New York Times. July 27, 1902. Retrieved 17 February 2015.
  21. ↑ Nicholls, David (1996). From Dessalines to Duvalier: Race, Colour, and National Independence in Haiti. Rutgers University Press. p. 140. ISBN 9780813522401.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 "Killick Went Down with His Warship". New York Times. September 11, 1902. Retrieved 3 February 2015.


Category:1856 births Category:1902 deaths Category:Haitian people of Mulatto descent Category:Haitian military leaders Category:Military personnel killed in action

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