Plan for the reconstruction of the fort Sint Andries

Title Leupe: Platte grond van 't fort St. Andries.

On 6th March 1781, more than a week after the occupation of Essequibo and Demerara, two English ships sailed into view of the recently renovated Fort Sint Andries, which was poorly equipped and so after brief combat was forced to surrender. The small fort was subsequently set alight, after which the British proceeded unimpeded towards Fort Nassau where Governor Pieter Hendrik Koppiers (1778-1781) also found himself forced to capitulate, due to a lack of military personnel. After the expulsion of the British in February 1782, Sint Andries was provisionally patched up under French interim administration, but it was not until the French had departed in March 1784 that serious new plans for fortifications on the mouth of the river Berbice could be drawn up.

This ground plan depicts the proposal by Jan Carel Willem Herlin to reconstruct the fort Sint Andries.

After 1785 these plans were more or less executed as anticipated, as is indeed confirmed by the general map of 1801 (see VEL1575).

The profile to the left of the map runs across the main breastwork cut according to the line AB.

Scale-bars of 168 Rhineland feet: = [approximately 1 : 410] / [profiles] 10 Rhineland feet = [approximately 1 : 305].