Map for the reconstruction of fort Sint Andries

Title Leupe: Platte grond van de post St. Andries enz.

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 however, as in the past, remained a too poorly equipped post and so after brief combat it 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 map by Jan Carel Willem Herlin depicts his relevant reconstruction proposals of c. 1785. These are given in their broader context with, alongside a plan for Fort Sint Andries, an overview map of the whole estuary area and ground plans for the new projected auxiliary posts of Nieuw Slot on the western bank and Kijk-in-de-Pot slightly downstream of the fort on the eastern side.

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

Scale bars of 150 feet = [approximately 1 : 490] / [profiles] 60 feet = [approximately 1 : 120].