CAB9-1_PT1 — Page 246

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Printed for the use of the Colonial Office. August 15, 1894.

CONFIDENTIAL.

91-R

ST. LUCIA,

ST. LUCIA. 5.

No. 237.

Report of Local Joint Naval and Military Committee of February 1894.

Remarks by the Colonial Defence Committee.

PORT CASTRIES is liable to naval attack by one or more cruisers, and by the second class torpedo-boats which can be carried on board them. Under existing conditions it is not liable to attack by first class torpedo-boats, but, as pointed out by the Colonial Defence Committee in their remarks of May 1894 on the Defence Scheme of St. Lucia, the possibility of some first class torpedo-boats being posted at Martinique in the case of a war with France cannot be altogether overlooked.

It is not clear what nature of boat attack exactly is contemplated by the Local Committee in the paragraph at the foot of p. 5. If they refer to an attack to damage shipping, &c., it would come under the same head as second class torpedo-boat attack; if to an attempt to effect a landing, it is to be observed that it is unlikely that the defended harbour would be selected for the purpose when the open beach in Choc Bay would be so much more favourable.

According to the recent conclusions of the Joint Naval and Military Committee Reports XI and XII (copies of which have been sent to the station) our war-vessels, while at anchor or moored, will provide for their own protection against second class torpedo-boat attack. Thus, under existing conditions, all that seems requisite at Port Castries is to lay down proper Harbour Regulations.

The draft Rules to govern harbour traffic have already reached the Colonial Defence Committee separately in C.O. letter Grenada/6728, and were dealt with in their remarks of April 1894, a copy of which is herewith appended for reference. The only further observation which they desire to add on this head is with regard to the note in the Report that "the staff of pilots should, if possible, not be local men." The Committee fully concur in this, but it rests with the Local Committee to say whether other men are available at St. Lucia, or from Barbados or elsewhere, or how they propose to carry out their recommendation.

In view of the contingency alluded to in the first paragraph above, it seems desirable that such portion of the defensive measures as would be required to meet a first class torpedo-boat attack, and could not easily be improvised on emergency, should be provided as soon as the naval establish- ment at Port Castries is completed. A boom to close the entrance of the harbour could be improvised at short notice, but not so the Q.F. armament and the electric light installation to illumine the field of fire of the Q.F. guns. These latter should be provided beforehand; moreover, they would be a useful help to ships in harbour in repelling second class torpedo craft.

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