Teddy Roosevelt’s Great White Fleet gets the “cold shoulder” in Port of Spain.

How an error in diplomacy affected a historic event.

The seagulls and porpoises at the Port of Spain harbour witnessed a very unusual sight on Monday 23^rd, December, 1907 as sixteen freshly-painted, white ships of the US Navy entered the Gulf of Paria. That Monday, the citizens of the city were undoubtedly busy with their holiday preparations, and night fell very quickly as the ships gathered outside the port as there was no deep-water harbour.

Of the sixteen warships that later came to be known as Theodore Roosevelt’s “Great White Fleet”, eleven of them were brand new, and five recently refurbished. The fleet steamed from Hampton Roads, Virginia six days before, and was in Trinidad for refueling. The supply of coals that they were about to take on was preordered and stockpiled in Trinidad in advance, so that the quantity required for a such a large fleet will not disrupt the normal coaling operation.

Teddy Roosevelt, eager to raise the status of the United States from being a third-rate world power, created the Great White Fleet to show off the nation’s military might. This was in the period when “Britannia ruled the waves”.

“Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves: Britons never will be slaves” are the words of the patriotic song. At the turn of the 20^th century Britain ruled a quarter of the human race, and the empire was so wide-spread that it was described as “the empire on which the sun never sets”.

It was only four years before that the Wright brothers achieved self-powered flight. Aeroplanes back then were dangerous novelties that only the daring or foolhardy dabbled with.

Britain built its empire through the use of its navy which it used to dislodge the Spanish from the main and the Caribbean Sea aka “the Spanish Lake”.

In 1823, the United States, having gained so many new trading partners in the western hemisphere by way of newly-formed independent states in Latin American and the Caribbean, adopted a policy called, the Monroe Doctrine. The policy hoped to prevent the colonial powers of Europe from reentering the region, and the US appointed itself the defender of these new countries.

Theodore Roosevelt (US president 1901 to 1909: not to be confused with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a later US president) adopted the Monroe Doctrine Corollary as official US foreign policy and the United States now proclaimed that it was the only power authorized to physically intervene against Caribbean and Latin American countries in disputes that might arise with European nations.

Roosevelt supported revolution in Colombia which led to the formation of Panama. US assistance came with an agreement that they could occupy the Panama Canal Zone. The president, an avid outdoorsman, traveler, and hunter, was a veteran of the Spanish American War in 1898 where he saw service in Cuba as a member of the US voluntary cavalry called, the Rough Riders. The president had been previously, Secretary of the Navy, and he played a pivotal role in encouraging US involvement in the Cuban struggle for independence from Spain. 

Cartoon depicting the Roosevelt Corollary

It was Roosevelt who was acting Secretary of the Navy for just a few hours ordered the mobilization of the US Navy for the Spanish American War which resulted in the US gaining Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. In a speech as Vice President in 1901 Roosevelt was quoted as saying:  “Speak softly and carry a big stick – you will go far” His foreign policy as president was encapsulated in that statement. The Great White fleet was Roosevelt’s “big stick”. 

By Christmas Eve, officers and sailors of the fleet came ashore in Port of Spain, including Rear Admiral Robley D Evans, who was a veteran of the US Civil War. At the age of 61, Evans had to be assisted in moving around by two young sailors due to an injury he received in the Civil War, in addition to the fact that he suffered from gout. He earned the nickname “Fighting Bob “for threatening to destroy the Chilean Navy at Valparaiso in 1900, and was Captain of the USS Iowa in battle of Santiago, Cuba where was credited with sinking the Spanish flagship. Four other Rear Admirals of similar age and experience, shared command of the fleet.

US accounts of the visit, even to this day, describe the reception of the fleet in Trinidad as cold, and unfriendly, or even downright hostile. The event was without the customary diplomatic niceties and protocols that would normally be afforded on such an occasion.  Aside from being under the watchful eye of the constabulary, (as the Police was called in those days), the Americans were all but left to themselves.

Great White Feet Officers buying pets in Port of Spain

The visitors sent thousands of postcards back home, bought parrots and monkeys as pets, took excursion to the suburbs, and even attended horse racing at the Queens Park Savannah. The island gained considerable financial benefit from the six day visit, including the purchase of coals and food supplies from local businesses, plus personal spending by the 14,000 sailors and marines who manned the fleet.

The presence of the fleet must have generated curiosity among locals, as the Trinidad Government Railway Gulf Steamer service offered an excursion to view the sixteen white ships of the flotilla.

In January of the same year (1907) Jamaica, suffered from the effects of a major earthquake which destroyed most of Kingston. On hearing news of the disaster, US Navy Rear Admiral Charles H. Davis Jr, hurried to Jamaica from Guantanamo, Cuba with two battleships and a torpedo boat to provide relief to the British Colony. After preventing a potential jail break by inmates from a damaged prison, the Admiral was told by way of a letter from the British Governor, Sir Alexander Swettenham, that their services were no longer needed. The admiral and his men returned to their ships and left the island.

By his action Swettenham had committed a diplomatic faux pas, and was called back to England. The governor claimed that the admiral and his contingent landed without his permission, and did not observe the necessary protocols on entering the colony, including not firing the traditional gun salute as a mark of respect for the Union Jack. Admiral Davis countered that the Governor was not found by a messenger who was sent in advance to gain such permission. Not finding the governor, the messenger got the approval from the next official in charge, the Colonial Secretary, and given the exigencies of the occasion, decided to land and render humanitarian aid.

Although he was recalled to England, Swettengham had a few local supporters, including the head of the Methodist Church in Jamaica who was reported as saying:
“This is a British colony, not Cuba, or a Spanish-American Republic”
In light of US policies and practices of that era, many British subjects, no doubt, privately concurred with that statement.

When the Great White fleet arrived in Trinidad, Sir Henry Moore Jackson was Governor, and though he discouraged local businessmen from feting the foreigners, he invited officers of the fleet to a reception at Governor’s House to which there was, understandably, a poor turnout.

Despite this, Sir Henry Moore Jackson was high in praise of the conduct of the visitors, and communicated his feelings by letter to Admiral Evans. This recommendation, without doubt, set the tone for the resounding welcome the Great White Fleet received in New Zealand, Australia and Ceylon the following year.  

   

After taking on coals and supplies, the Great White Fleet left for Rio de Janeiro on Sunday 29^th December, 1907, with slightly less crew members than they came with. The Port of Spain Gazette reported that five deserters were left behind. A bag belonging to one of them, was found in a Port of Spain rumshop, and was taken to the US consulate. Surprisingly, a US publication reported sixty deserters.

The writer is left wondering if it was five or sixty deserters that remained in Trinidad, and if so, did they assimilate into the population?