Preface:
     As party chief of a United States Department of Defense satellite tracking and surveying team,  It was my privilege to live on Diego Garcia during 1968 and 1969.  Our small group of technicians and geodesists established a camp just east of the plantation at East Point.
     During our stay we became part of the island community and enjoyed the friendship of the islanders and the beautiful expanses of the island itself.  Little were we to know that not long after our departure, the Island was to change dramatically with the abrupt removal  of the island population, and the establishment of a large military complex.
     A draft, (of very poor quality), of Under Two Flags, by David Melville, was given to me in the late 70's.   although a later edited version of this work has been done, it has been my endeavor to faithfully transcribe David Melville's draft in it's original form.  A limited number of copies of this transcript  will be made for friends and acquaintances  who share a common interest in this fascinating and once isolated outpost in the middle of the Indian Ocean.
     Some of the reports of visits have been rearranged in chronological order .  Some of the spellings and punctuation's have changed  from their British origin through the use of my North American word processor and spell checker.  Other than that, I have endeavored to copy it as originally written.
Kirby Crawford;  April, 2001
 
 

Introduction:

The Island of Diego Garcia has been known to man for less than five hundred years.  This is but a tiny fraction of the time that the island has been in existence, so it is perhaps worthwhile at this stage to skip briefly through the millions of years of island history which occurred before man arrived to record it, and to describe the various theories which try to account for the existence of this remote island.

Diego Garcia, together with the other islands in the Chagos Archipelago is an atoll.  In simple terms, an atoll is a low, circular coral island, or chain of islands, with a central lagoon of fairly shallow water. There are several theories to explain the formation of such islands and that of Charles Darwin is probably the best known.  Darwin supposed that a rocky island first exists, around which a 'fringing reef' of coral gradually builds.  After many thousands of years, the island starts to subside, but the process of coral building continues, so that the coral reef remains, although now separated from the island by a lagoon of shallow water.  This is known as a 'barrier reef.'  After further subsidence, the island disappears below the surface of the ocean, leaving a ring of coral, which in the course of time, weathers into soil, allowing seeds carried by birds to establish vegetation.

Fossil evidence suggests that subsidence has occurred in some areas of the Pacific Ocean in the vicinity of atolls and this explanation is probably correct for the formation of some atolls, but not all of them.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, an oil-drilling platform converted to scientific ship, the 'Glomar Challenger II', conducted surveys throughout the world's oceans and extracted cores from the ocean beds, sometimes from a depth of over 12,000 feet.  The expedition was attempting to prove the theory of continental drift, and they discovered that in the regions where the tectonic plates of the earth's crust overlap, stress areas are formed, where a higher than normal incidence of volcanic activity takes place.  Subterranean ridges are formed in the stress areas on ocean beds and chains of volcanoes rise above the surface of the sea, but in many cases their summits remain some distance below sea level.

It is these underwater volcanoes, or 'seamounts' as they have been named, which collect coral on their summits and ridges, due to the comparative shallowness of the water above them.  The coral slowly builds up until it reaches surface lever.  It is believed that at this stage the central lagoon is formed, being etched out of the coral by tidal action.  Sparse vegetation grows, which attracts myriad's of seabirds.  The birds fertilize the ground, laying down rich phosphate deposit, and this causes the vegetation to rapidly increase.  Conditions therefore become unfavorable for the seabirds and their population drops drastically.  Storm action, over hundreds of years, then builds up deposits of sand on the land, causing the vegetation to become sparse once more.  The seabirds return and so the cycle  continues.  In time, the island land level rises by a few feet and the cycle is broken, sand is unable to clog the vegetation, which then turns to jungle.  Due to the base amount of decaying matter in the jungle, it is self-fertilizing and thus self perpetuating.  a bore taken through the various layers of soil on an atoll will prove this cycle.  This first layer consists of organic matter, the second sand and the third guano.  This pattern repeats itself in succeeding layers.  It is very difficult to establish an age of any atoll by these means, however, because of the possibility that early strata of subsoil may have been washed away by exceptionally heavy seas.

Chapter  One - Discovery

Lying off the southwest coast of India, and extending in a slight westward curve toward the islands of Mauritius and Reunion, is an extensive chain of islands, mainly atolls, consisting of three main groups: the Laccadives, the Maldives and the Chagos Archipelago.  In this area, there are thousands of islands of various shapes and sizes.  This vast island chain has been known to man since time immemorial, but its extent was unknown until little more than two hundred years ago.  Indeed, it was well into the nineteenth century before the exact location of even the principal islands were charted to any degree of accuracy.  The southernmost part of this island chain is the Chagos Archipelago, which is separated from the Maldives by a channel more than three hundred miles wide.  This archipelago contains some of the most remarkable atolls in the world.  It is divided into five distinct groups: Peros Banhos, the Egmont Islands, the Salomon Islands, the Three Brothers and Diego Garcia.  Diego Garcia, which is the largest of these islands, lies at seven degrees twenty minutes south, seventy-two degrees twenty-five minutes east, being an elongated, roughly 'V' shaped atoll, some thirty-five miles from tip to tip.  It has one of the most continuous land rims of any atoll in the world, which surrounds a spacious lagoon, over twelve miles long and four and a half miles wide at one point.  Most of the land area lies just a few feet above sea level, the highest point being less than twenty feet.

Despite early voyages by Malays, Indians and Arabs in the Indian Ocean, it is probable that the first people ever to sight the Chagos Islands were Portuguese navigators, which had rounded Cape of Good Hope, en route to India, where they had established a settlement at Goa.  The most likely year of discovery being 1500, only two years after Vasco da Gama's epic voyage.

Clusters of islands, which possibly represent the Chagos Archipelago, appear on Alberto Catino's world map, published in 1502, but it is open to conjecture whether their inclusion is based upon navigators' reports, or was merely to fill up a space in an unknown area of ocean. It is possible that the group of islands on the map could represent the Mascarene Islands, Mauritius and Reunion, which although not officially discovered until 1505, may nevertheless have been sighted on occasions from a distance, due to the great height of their peaks above sea level.  In the early part of the sixteenth century, the placement of islands and other features on charts was at best a hit or miss affair.

There is an account of a Portuguese visit to the Chagos Archipelago in 1512, by Pedro Mascarenhas, after whom the Mascarene Islands are named.  Mascarenhas had been detached from the 'Armada de India', of Dom Garcia de Noronha and sent to India with dispatches by the shortest and fastest route, passing through the Chagos Island.  This date is given by some authorities as the actual date of discovery.

Portuguese records for this period are incomplete, so it is unlikely that we will ever know the name of the navigator which discovered Diego Garcia - it is in fact called 'Digo Grahosse',  'Gratia' or 'Graciosa' on some early charts, and possibly the island bears his name to this day.  It is just as likely, however, that it was named after a dignitary traveling on board the ship, or possibly after the saint on whose day it was discovered.  This were all common Portuguese naming methods.  It may even have been named several years later, after Admiral Dom Garcia de Noronha, the Portuguese commander in the Indian Ocean.  What is surprising is that the name should have survived for over two hundred years, until the first recorded visit to the island by a non-Portuguese vessel.  Possibly the Portuguese used the island from time to time to carryout repairs, or dig a well for fresh water, and as they appeared to be the only people who knew of its existence, they perhaps found it expedient to keep the knowledge to themselves.

Because of the short, steep seas of the Chagos Bank,  and the uncertainty about the locations of the island groups within the Archipelago, navigators tended to avoid the area of if at all possible.  Most vessels rounding the Cape of Good Hope, on voyages to the Arab lands or India, kept fairly close to the African coast, using the Mozambique Channel between Madagascar and Africa.  They were thus able to find an anchorage in bad weather,  or supplies of food and water, if becalmed for long periods.

Despite this, in 1602,  Sir James Lancaster,  in attempting to pioneer a sea route to the East Indies, took a group of vessels across the Indian Ocean.  At one point,  the suddenly discovered that there were less than five fathoms of water under the keel.  They estimated their latitude at this point to be about six degrees south.  The lookout man reported a low island toward the southeast,  maybe one of the Three Brothers,  but possibly just a reef,  temporarily exposed at low tide.  Maintaining an easterly course, the fleet shortly found itself over another very shallow area.  The ships turned south, but soon found more shallow water.  For two and a half days,  the ships floundered among the reefs, until headed by a pinnace,  making continuous soundings,  the fleet sailed cautiously northward and came at last to the open ocean.  The story of Lancaster's plight over the Great Chagos Bank served only to increase the apprehension mariners felt for this area.

During the next hundred years or so, it became the policy of both the British and French Governments to leave various animals,  such as sheep,  goats, rabbits and chickens on uninhabited islands in the Indian Ocean.  It was hoped that these would multiply and provide a source of food for castaways, or future settlers.  Sometime during this period,  sheep and goats were left at Diego Garcia,  though it is not certain by which country.  However,  they didn't multiply,  and by the time that regular visits by ships occurred in the late eighteenth  century,  these animals had become extinct on the island.

Chapter  Two - Anglo-French Rivalry

When considering the Anglo-French wars of the eighteenth century and the search for a naval base in the Indian Ocean,  it is usual to think primarily of such places as the Cape of Good Hope,  Mauritius,  Trincomalee and Penang.  The name of Chagos Archipelago would not normally be included in such a list.  However,  for a considerable number of years,  Diego Garcia,  in particular,  was thought by the British to be of great strategic value as a possible base of operations against the French,  who maintained a large number of ships at Mauritius and Reunion.  Also under consideration was Diego Garcia's use as a center of communications between ships operating in Indian waters,  and as a base for ships exploring the seas between India and Southern Africa.

Visits by ships to the Chagos Archipelago were sporadic in the early parts of the eighteenth century.  A British ship visited Diego Garcia in 1712, and seven years later, the "Stranger," also British, sailed right through the archipelago, passing close to several of the islands.  In 1728, HMS Grantham made a brief visit to one of the islands in the group, although it is uncertain which one.  It was at about this time that the French started to appear on the scene more frequently.  In 1717,  they had annexed Mauritius and Reunion.  Mauritius had become the main base for French exploration in the southwestern part of the Indian Ocean,  and they had started systematically searching to the north and east for other islands.  Clashes between the French and British were commonplace during this period,  as the British became very suspicious of French motives in the Indian Ocean.

In 1742,  the first major voyage of discovery to the Chagos group was made by a Frenchman,  Lazare Picault, aboard his ship, the "Elisabeth".  He discovered an island and entered its position on the chart.  The island was probably one of the Three Brothers.  Picault returned to the archipelago in 1744, and this time examined the atoll of Peros Banhos.  Both these groups of islands had been discovered originally by the Portuguese,  and their rough locations had appeared on charts of 1592 and 1595.

Picault was followed in January, 1745, by a British vessel, the "Pelham",  which made a brief visit to Diego Garcia.  A short examination of the island was made, but no report or chart appears to have been produced.

A gap of ten years then followed until,  on 15 July 1755, HMS Mary, under the command of Captain Milsham, visited Diego Garcia.  Once again, no charts or observations were forthcoming.

In that same year,  a chart was published in the "English Pilot" showing several groups of islands in the Chagos Archipelago.  Many of these islands were later found to be non-existent.  It is interesting to note that the name "Padre Banhas" appears on this chart, in place of the more usual "Peros Banhos."

The exploration of the Chagos Archipelago was continued in 1756, when a Frenchman, M. de Surville, discovered a group of islands.  Four years later, a British vessel,  the "Egmont" visited these same islands,  and since that time they have been known as the Egmont Islands.

Also in 1756, according to Captain Alexender Dalyrimple,  who was at that time the head of the Bombay Marine, two men purchased a boat in Bombay, with the intention of exploring all the islands between the Maldives and Madagascar.  the Bombay Government, however, refused them permission to sail, relying instead on information on captains who chanced to pass close enough to any of the islands to make observations.  Unfortunately,  the plans produced from these reports were, in the main, unreliable and of little value for producing accurate charts.

The French continued their exploration of the Chagos group for several more years, the British apparently having lost interest.  In 1766, Captain Bourde discovered a group of islands, which remained unnamed until 1786.  In that year, Lt. Blair (of whom we shall hear more later) christened the Governor Boddam Islands.  This name was generally applied only to the main island, however, and since about 1790, the group has been known as the "Salomon Islands."  In 1775, a group of islands appeared on hydrographer M. D'Apres de Mannevellette's chart of the Chagos group.  These were known as the "Bourde Islands" and lay to the north of the "Peros Banhos" and "Salomon" groups.  Presumably, Captain Bourde imagined that he had discovered a new atoll, but he must have mistakenly repositioned either "Peros Banhos" or "Salomon", for the group of islands which bore his name did not, in reality, exist.

French exploration continued intermittently until the 1770's.  In 1768, Captain Dufresne, of the French Navy, carried out a survey of the Seychelle Islands, and in the course of this survey,  sailed  westward to try to establish the relative position of this group.  He sailed nearly a thousand miles before again striking land,  at Diego Garcia.  This expedition, more than any other put the position of the Chagos Archipelago into its true perspective.

Captain Dufresne's surveyor was a Lieutenant La Fontaine, who returned to Diego Garcia the following year, this time as surveyor for M. le Chevalier Grenier.  This expedition consisted to two ships,  "L'heure du Berger" and the "Vert Galland."  They carried out a rough survey of the Chagos Archipelago,  although missing some of the islands,  and produced the best chart to date of the era.  The chart was not particularly accurate by modern standards.  For instance,  two islands,  called Adu and Candu were included,  as they had been on many previous charts.  These islands do not in fact exist.  In fairness, it should be added that the only instruments at the surveyors' disposal were the sextant and the magnetic compass, and therefore, chart making must have been a cumbersome and time consuming affair to say the least.

Lieutenant La Fontaine returned again in 1770 to make a survey of the lagoon at Diego Garcia.  In addition, he spent a number of days ashore making observations of the island.  He reported;  "A large number of vessels could anchor here in safety.  The island has a great many coconut trees and is covered with jungle.  Many of the trees,  such as the "bios blanc" make good firewood.  Fish, turtles, seabirds and wild  fowl are around, but there is very little fresh water.  It is possible to dig a well into the coral of which the island is mainly formed, but the water so obtained is brackish, and could in all probability cause sickness."

La Fontain's survey and observations, together with those of M D'Apres de Mannevillette, were used by the latter in his charts of the Indian Ocean, which were the principal charts of the day, until replaced by Blair's more accurate ones in about 1788.  In 1770,  the Bombay Government was informed by Captain Phillip Pitman that the French had occupied the Seychelle Islands.  This report finally prompted the government into taking action to have the islands between the Maldives and Madagascar explored.  They feared that the French might occupy all the islands in the area.  the Bombay Government apparently didn't understand the enormity of the task.  There are over two thousand islands of various sizes in the Maldives alone,  and the seas between them are crisscrossed with sharp, shallow reefs.  Some of these dangers had been reported,  but their positions on the charts of the day were questionable to say the least.  Often a navigator would enter the position of a small islet on the chart, while sometime later,  a ship would pass over the same spot and see nothing,  thus creating doubts as to the existence of the danger.

Early in 1771, Captain du Roslan, of the French Navy, while searching through the Archipelago, came across a low island late one evening.  He maneuvered all night to keep the island in sight, and at daybreak, found himself lying off three separate islands, each surrounded by a reef.  The islands were low "but covered with very lofty cocoa trees and other wood of inferior height."  Two days later, the expedition made Diego Garcia and was then able to plot the comparative positions of the Three Brothers and Diego Garcia based on these two sightings.

Also in 1771, the Bombay Government dispatched two ships, the "Drake" and the "Eagle", with two surveyors of the Bombay Marine aboard.  There are almost no records of this expedition, which was possibly the first non-costal survey ever carried out by the Bombay Marine.  The vessels are reported to have visited the Seychelle Islands and returned via the Chagos Archipelago, where they sighted a group of islands, possibly the Egmont Islands.

The "Eagle" sailed again in 1772, this time in company with the "Terrible."  Somewhere in the Chagos Archipelago they ran into a violent storm.  The "Terrible" was so badly damaged that she was forced to return to Bombay.  The "Eagle" suffered much less damage and was able to continue the survey, visiting several  groups of islands.  these included the Egmont Island and Peros Banhos, but not apparently Diego Garcia.  the ship returned to Bombay because of a dispute between the Captain and the surveyor.  The quarrel between them led to a duel in which the surveyor was killed.  The Captain was court-martialed and no charts of the survey were ever published.

Other vessels had been sent from Bombay in 1771 and 1772, to search for and chart specific island groups in the Chagos Archipelago, notably the Three Brothers and the Egmont Islands.  Most of these ships returned without sighting any of the atolls.  However, one ship, the "Swift", captained by Thomas Neale had better luck.  Neale was able to determine the rough locations of many of the islands in the group.  He found what he thought to be the Three Brothers, but wasn't able to place them accurately on the chart.  He was also unable to form any idea of the extent of the Archipelago.  He did, however, visit Diego Garcia and even entered the lagoon for a while.  His report on the harbor was highly favorable and was of great interest
to the Bombay authorities.

Acting upon Captain Neale's report, the Bombay Government decided to form a small settlement at Diego Garcia.  this would, it was hoped, provide a base for ships surveying the area, enabling them to stay longer among the Chagos Islands.   Captain Adam Sheriff was dispatched aboard the "Drake" in 1774 to make a report on the island.  He was also instructed to land some sheep, goats and pigs, to be used as future food supply for survey vessels.  Captain Sheriff and his surveyor, Lieutenant Dickensen, made a rough plan of the lagoon, and their chart of the harbor was eventually sent to England, where a remarkable lack of interest was shown. The British Government was probably preoccupied with the quarrel over the American colonies, which was soon to develop into the War of Independence.

Exploration by the British was sporadic for another two years and ceased completely in 1776.  However, the French continued to make occasional visits, and even landed a few settlers on Diego Garcia. These were the first know human inhabitants on the island.

At this time though, both the British and the French were heavily involved with the fast moving events of the day in Europe and North America, and eventually, war broke our once more between the two countries.  The French maintained a large number of warships at Mauritius, and used them to carry out frequent and often successful attacks against British possessions and ships in Indian waters.  However, neither side could spare much attention for the small islands on the periphery of the war zones, and so the Chagos Archipelago and the handful of settlers on Diego Garcia were to be left in peace and isolation for a number of years.

Chapter  Three - The  First  British Settlement

In 1784, the British again started to take an interest in the Indian Ocean, the burden of events nearer home having eased  somewhat.  Merchant ships started to appear more frequently in the area.  The French too, although on a lesser scale, started to expand their influence again.  By the end of 1785, trading and exploration in the region were almost back to their prewar levels.

It was in that year, that the East India Company Board of Control in London, which was headed by Henry Dundas, began to take a greater interest in the islands of the Indian Ocean.  They considered that bases might be needed in the area in case war should break our again in France, for because of economic difficulties throughout Europe, both sides would rely heavily on their overseas possessions for supplies.  They would therefore station warships aboard with which to protect their sea routes.  Diego Garcia was one of the islands under consideration, for the Board of Control had examined many old charts and reports about the island and were impressed with the capabilities of the harbor.  they had read Captain Sheriff's report of 1774 and wanted to know whether Diego Garcia could be easily fortified and defended.  If this were possible, the island could be used as a base for warships, in addition to vessels sent to check on French activities at Mauritius.

Accordingly, the Bombay Government was instructed to send two small vessels to take possession of Diego Garcia, and "occupy" the island.  the Board of Control required an exact survey of the island and harbor and a detailed report on possible food supplies there.  They also ordered that the officers, to be chosen from the Bombay Marine, were to be "competent marine surveyors and were to examine and ascertain the situation of the numerous Banks and islands in that part of the sea, as an accurate knowledge of these hitherto neglected Seas is essential to the Security and Navigation of the Company's Ships."  A number of chronometers and lunar observation tables were sent out to be used by the surveyors.

It is not certain whether the Bombay Government were simply over anxious to oblige, or whether they misinterpreted the work "occupy" given in the instructions.  In any event, they began to prepare an expedition which, although grand in scale, was to suffer throughout from disorganized and inefficient planning.  The two ships became eight, six of them carrying nothing but topsoil with which to grow cereals and vegetables.  There was not enough food to go around and building supplies were non existent.  Even the chronometers sent out for their use  had either been lost or stolen.

The Governor of Bombay, Rawson Hart Boddam, personally selected the leaders of the expedition.  As leader of the settlement party he picked a civilian, Richard Thomas Price.  Price was to be in command of four officers, forty-one craftsmen and sixty-nine  servants.  Military command was given to Captain John Sartorius of the Engineers, who was considered "a man of good sense and sound judgment, as well as an excellent officer."  Sartorius was to be in charge of all land and marine surveys.  He had under his command eight officers and 155 soldiers, mainly Sepoys and Lascars.

The Governor selected the Bombay Marine officers from "those Gentlemen in the Marine, who have established many talents for surveying, drawing and nautical observations."  Lieutenant Archibald Blair was appointed in charge of the marine surveys under the direction of Sartorius, and his assistant was Lieutenant John  - - - es [indecipherable], who later became the first Marine Surveyor General of India.

Prior to sailing, Price was given detailed instructions by the governor.  He was to be the only person to know the destination of the expedition and was not to allow any surveys or reports to be forwarded to anywhere but Bombay.  After the vessels has sailed, the newspapers could only report that they had left for an unknown destination, where a colony was to be established. It was feared that any leakage of information might alarm the French, who would then send warships to intercept the expedition.

Price was informed that the English had "discovered" Diego Garcia in 1712 and that this fact had been acknowledged by the French hydrographer, M. l'Apres de Mannervillette, in 1775.  Price was not to allow "any straggling French, who may accidentally be there without authority, or any settlement of that nature, or any post or pillar or such trifling mark of possession (left there with an evil design to restrict other Nations profiting from the situation)", prevent him from occupying the island.  If, however, the French had settled in large numbers, he was to return to Bombay for further advice, having first sent a fast ship, via the Cape of Good Hope to inform the Board of Control of any such French occupation.  If any foreign vessel was to visit the island, they were to be treated civilly, but were not to be allowed to enter the harbor.

The expedition arrived safely at Diego Garcia in April, 1786.  Great care had to be taken upon entering the harbor, because of a number of shoals in the principle entrance.  All the men and stores were landed immediately and the construction of barracks and a warehouse was begun.  The French settlers, who had been on the island since around 1776, were forced to leave, and departed, for Mauritius to inform the governor of the British actions.

Captain Sartorius soon issued his preliminary instructions to Lt. Blaire.  He was first to examine the harbor,  and secondly to begin a careful survey of the coast of the island.  The work was then to be extended to other islands in the Vicinity.

Soon after the expedition had landed,  the first know shipwreck occurred on the island.  The ship, the "Atlas", carrying hydrographer Captain James Horsburgh,  was sailing close to Diego Garcia on 30 May 1786.  Horsburgh later explained "The charts on board were very erroneous in the delineation of  the Chagos Islands and Banks,  and the commander,  trusting too much to dead reckoning,  was steering with confidence to make the non-existent Adu or Candu for a new departure,  being their longitude nearly, by account, and bound for Ceylon; but, unfortunately a cloud over Diego Garcia prevented the helmsman from discerning it,  (the officer of the watch being asleep),  till we were on the reef close to the shore,  the masts,  rudder, and everything above the deck,  went with the first surge;  the second lifted the vessel over the outer rocks and threw her in towards the beach".

The many survivors from the "Atlas" added to the many difficulties that the expedition had to face.  The extra men caused overcrowding in the accommodations and seriously depleted the food supplies.  Although the climate proved, luckily, to be healthy, there was an absence of building materials on the island, and so construction soon came to a halt.  Price believed that the island would be incapable of providing support for ships in the area, because no foodstuffs seemed to grow there.  Earlier attempts by the French to introduce crops had failed, and the six ship-loads of soil, transported to the island by the expedition, either because of the effects of rain, or erosion were already dissipating into the coral.  There was no trace of the sheep, goats and pigs landed by Captain Sheriff in 1774, or of any animals landed previous to that time.

During the first three months of the settlement, there appears to have been disagreements between Price and Sartorious over the time allotted to the surveys.  Price had been instructed by Bombay to have them finished within a month of arrival.  This seems to have been typical of survey instructions issued by the Bombay Marine.  They appeared to have no idea of the difficulties involved in the amount of time required to produce accurate charts.  Sartorius protested that the Bombay Government might abandon or occupy the island on the basis of these surveys and so they needed to be as accurate as possible.  It seems that Sartorius had his way, for the 'Adriral Hughes', sent to collect the survey reports, was delayed at the island for a number of weeks before they were completed to Sartorius' satisfaction.

In July, 1786, the 'Admiral Hughes' arrived back in Bombay with the reports from Price, Sartorius and Blair.  All the reports were unfavorable.  Blair had discovered that Diego Garcia was unsuitable for large vessels, due to the partial blockage of the only usable entrance by large shoals and coral heads.  He also found that the harbour had another disadvantage.  It was almost impossible to leave during the southwest monsoons due to the difficulty of tacking through the entrance.  Sartorius claimed that the lack of any proper building materials, plus the extreme lowness of the island would make it impossible to fortify.  It would be difficult to maintain a garrison, because all the food  would have to come from Bombay.

The Bombay Government considered the reports.  They felt that the Board of Control would never consider a settlement that offered no apparent advantages and couldn't be defended, except at enormous expense.  And so, cautiously this time, they decided to reduce the settlement.  The orders to this effect being carried to Diego Garcia on the 'Bombay', commanded by Captain James Sutherland.

At about this time, reports concerning the settlement that had reached the Governor-General in Bengal and also the Court of Directors in London.  Nevertheless, the Court of Directors still felt that Diego Garcia had strategic importance, and they approved its use as a base for further surveys.  A detailed knowledge of the seas and currents in the area were considered essential.  The Bombay Government were instructed to continue surveying the region.

The French settlers who had been forced to leave Diego Garcia by Price, had by this time reached Mauritius, and had informed the governor of what was happening.  He sent letters of protest to Bombay and London, and dispatched the frigate  'Minerve' to Diego Garcia to remove the British.  However, when the 'Minerve' reached the island, the British had already left.

While the troops were being evacuated, and during the voyage back to India, Lt. Blair continued his surveys and managed to establish the extent and comparative positions of nearly all the islands in the archipelago.  He had established that Adu and Candu did not exist, and was able to produce a reasonably accurate chart of the region, despite the rather primitive methods he had been force to use.  Although another set of chronometers had been sent to Bombay for this survey, they were never given to Blair.  He was obliged to rely on observations of lunar distances to determine longitudes.  Nevertheless, he successfully completed the first general survey of the Chagos Archipelago, and although he had worked throughout with the minimum of instruments, his charts were sufficiently accurate for navigators to use, and were far more accurate than any charts previously published.  In addition to his work in Chagos Archipelago, Blair was also able to determine the extend of the Maldive Islands and collect information on the currents there.  He did this while ferrying troops back to Bombay from Diego Garcia.

The expedition arrived back in Bombay early in 1787, beaten by the island, although not by the French.  Diego Garcia wasn't deserted for long however, for it was around this time that the French settlers started returning.  The 'Minerve' had left a  'stone of ownership' on the island, proclaiming the possession of Diego Garcia by France, and the settlers seemed intent on backing up this claim, for they brought with them new ideas for the island, and a new sense of purpose for themselves.  The era of the plantations was about to begin.

Chapter Four - The Early Establishments

One result of the recent war between Britain and France was an economic depression, from which both countries, together with their smaller overseas possessions suffered.  Mauritius, in particular, was badly hit.  Many basic commodities were in short supply and prices were rising rapidly.  The island relied on imports from places such as India for much of its needs and, to a certain extend, the British traders on the subcontinent were able to hold the Mauritians to ransom.  One particular item which was in short supply was coconut oil, which was widely used as fuel for lamps and stoves.  There were very few coconuts grown in Mauritius at the time.

Accordingly, in 1787, the governor of Mauritius, Vicomte de Souillac, decided to explore the potential of the large number of palm-clad islands which, in recent years, had been claimed by the French and which would in later years become known as the 'Lesser Dependents'.  He cast around for men who would be willing to exploit these islands with a view to exporting coconuts to Mauritius.  One man, a M. Normand came forward and expressed interest, and after some consideration, asked for and was granted a concession to harvest coconuts on Diego Garcia.  At the same time a M. Dauguet was granted a fishing concession on the island.

One of the terms of M. Dauguet's concession was that he provide a refuge for a number of lepers.  It was known that turtles were plentiful at the island, and at the time, turtle meat was considered beneficial to, and even as a possible cure for sufferers of leprosy.

Messrs. Normand and Dauguet duly dispatched their expeditions to the island, consisting of overseers, slaves and the group of lepers.  The number of slaves was small, for it was considered that there were sufficient settlers on the island already to provide any extra labor force that might be required.  There were already a number of lepers on the island, and this leper colony had gained a further two members when, in 1792, two unfortunate Lascar seamen were abandoned by a British ship after they had been in close contact with the lepers.

There are no records concerning these expeditions and little evidence regarding any success they may have had.  However, progress must have been fairly satisfactory, because the venture raised the interest of merchants in Port Louis, the capital of Mauritius.  One of these, a M. Laportaire, owned an oil pressing factory in Port Louis, which imported coconuts in the shell from Diego Garcia, presumably from M. Normand.  In 1793, M. Laportaire consulted Lieutenant-General Maures, Comte de Malaric, who was now the governor of Mauritius, and expressed the opinion that the most effective way of increasing the supply of coconut oil in Mauritius would be to establish a factory on Diego Garcia to prepare copra in the 'Indian' fashion and export the oil itself to Mauritius.  The governor promised his support.

However, Laportaire didn't wait for government approval, but sent out two ships, each manned by twenty-five or thirty men and with a suitable complement of slaves.  An establishment, the first of those which were to dominate the history of the island for the next 175 years, was quickly brought into being and proved highly successful.  By 1794, Laportaire had made a considerable quantity of oil available to merchants in Port Louis, in addition to giving over 900 velts, (velts = 1 1/2 gallons), to the government.

The next fifteen years cover the period of Napoleon's rise to power.  Britain and France once more found themselves at war, and Mauritius, together with the outer islands came increasingly under the influence of the British blockades.  Consequently, reports from Diego Garcia during this time are necessarily sketchy.  Few facts about the island seem to have been recorded.  It is, however known that during this period, another merchant, M. Paul Cayeux, formed a small establishment on the island, initially supplying slaves to gather nuts for Laportaire.  After a time, Cayeux and Douguet, the man who had been given the fishing concession, had gone into partnership and built their own factory for extracting coconut oil.  there was yet another complication.  Two interlopers, Blevec, a former overseer of Laportaire's and Chepe, a form ships master, had set up two mills on the island, employing about twenty slaves, a number they shortly intended to double.  They were extracting the coconut oil in a very wasteful way and making a huge profit.  With these facts in mind, Laportaire, in 1808, weighed the results of his fifteen years experience and decided that his best course was one of expansion.  He submitted a plan to the government, summarizing his past success in developing the oil trade.  He proposed that the island be partitioned, the two arms to be given to himself and the smaller southern area to Cayeux.  He considered that the coconut harvest on the island was big enough to support 2 factories, but no more.  He protested that Blevec and Chepe were operating on the island without government approval, (he apparently didn't press the point that he was doing the same).  Laportaire's final proposal to the government was that the manufacture of oil on the island be prohibited and whole coconuts only be exported, since "the English, who so often visit Diego Garcia, look down on copra, but would not fail to seize manufactured oil".

Cayeux agreed with Laportaire's ideas and together with his brother, addressed Captain-General DeCaen, then the effective ruler of Mauritius, appealing for the proposals to be adopted.  He stressed the wastage of coconuts resulting from the methods of the 'new factories'.  Some of the Captain-General's advisors were in favor of the scheme, but DeCaen himself thought otherwise.  In April 1809, he gave permission to Blevec and Chepe to continue on Diego Garcia.  He assigned the eastern part of the island to them and authorized Laportaire and Cayeux to maintain their current establishments.  the manufacture of coconut oil was to cease immediately, only the whole coconut to be exported in future.  DeCaen also ordered the concessionaires to be responsible for any lepers whom he might send to the island.  Apart from this final note, it would appear that Laportaire had achieved all that he had set out to do.  Not only he, in a roundabout way, finally gained official recognition for his own establishment, but he had also nipped in the but a potentially dangerous source of competition, namely the factory of Blevec and Chepe.  It is difficult to see how they could cause any great wastage when they were limited to one part of the island and could in any case only export whole nuts.

Throughout this period of the island's history, one name stands out above all others; that of Laportaire.  He appears to have been a very keen and astute businessman.  However profit oriented his motives may have been, he was never the less also concerned with the effects of the economic recession among his people, a matter which he was at pains to help resolve.  That he was a public figure in Port Louis there can be little doubt, for when he wanted something, he seemed to know the right people to help him.  He also had a keen sense of diplomacy, which enabled him to put proposals in such a way that they sounded very reasonable to the listener.  Although he lived in Port Louis and rarely, if ever went to Diego Garcia, he was responsible for the origins of the 'establishment' system on the island, which was eventually to spread throughout the Lesser Dependencies and form the basis of a unique society, ideally suited to the area in which it existed.  This society was based initially on slave labor, it is true, but it proved virile enough to survive the emancipation of the 1830's and developed into a society of free contracted laborers, each having choice of contract.

Throughout this period, the occasional traveler would visit the island and sometime between 1800 and 1809, one such visitor, an unknown Frenchman, wrote down his impressions of life on the island.  To conclude this chapter, here is an extract from his diary.

The black laborers are able to knock birds out of the trees with the aid of a long rod, and catch fish at night, which they attract with burning torches, and these together with coconuts and cereals make for an abundance of food, which in turn leads to a high standard of living.  Their dwellings are all supplied by the proprietors.

Apart from the oil and fish, which are both in great abundance on Diego Garcia, large, black sea-slugs are exported to Batavia in Jave, where the Chinese have a secret method of preparing them and they have become a major article of commerce.

Another source of food is the 'cipaye' crab, which is large and has very strong claws.  Also 'soldier' crabs are eaten in large numbers.  For a long time, these crustaceans were thought to be peculiar to Diego Garcia, but they have since been found on the other islands in the Archipelago".

Chapter Five - British Occupation And the Emancipation of Slaves

Early in the morning on 3 December, 1810, Mauritius capitulated to the British.  Two days later, Robert Farquher, an official of the East India Company, was appointed governor.  His first decision while in office was, to avoid any hardships, the business system in Mauritius and the establishments in the Lesser Dependencies would continue to be run as always, the concessions on Diego Garcia and the other islands remaining in the same hands as before.  This would have come as a relief to people such as Laportaire and Cayeux, who must have been apprehensive of British inventions.

The first instruction that Farquher received from the British parliament was to start putting into effect measures designed to stop the slave trade in Mauritius and its dependencies.  This was to prove no easy task.  For one thing, the economy of Mauritius was dependent on slave labor, and for another, the attitude of the people was against these measures because they believed that British rule would only be temporary, and that with the inevitable French return, slave trading would again go into full swing.  The worst problem that Farquher had to face was that the British parliament had not decreed an end to  slavery, only to slave trading.

The establishment at Diego Garcia continued to import slaves from Mauritius and were within the law, for the slaves were only being moved within the area under Mauritius government jurisdiction.  However, there is evidence that the Diego Garcia establishments, in addition to those in the other islands, were also continuing to import slaves from Madagascar and Africa, claiming that these slaves had been resident on the islands since before the British takeover.  As there was no register of slaves prior to the occupation, the truth was difficult to establish.

Farquher remained governor for thirteen years, and during this time, worked patiently to plug the loopholes in the anti-slavery laws.  Aided by the Royal Navy, who patrolled the nearby seas intercepting slave ships, he had a certain amount of success.  He was able to get a great deal of support from local businessmen, who realized that the tide of public opinion was turning against slavery and surprisingly, also from the establishment owners themselves, who were conscious of the difficulty of imposing stringent conditions on their slaves in such remote areas.  In fact, it would appear that the slaves on Diego Garcia, in particular, lived in conditions equal to their Mauritian overseers, and seem to have been slaves  in name only.  By the time that Farquher's term in office ended in 1823, slave trading had decreased considerably.

The new governor of Mauritius, Lowry Cole, was still faced with a number of problems when he took office in 1823.  One of these was the fact that it was very difficult to enforce the anti-slave trading laws in the Lesser Dependencies, due to their remoteness.  Reports would filter through to him from time to time about trading being continued on the island, or about trouble between slaves and overseers and he was under even more pressure than his predecessor from the British parliament to crush the trade once and for all. In this, however, he was little more successful than Farquher.

One of his early moves as governor, in 1824, was to send a government agent to Diego Garcia.  Cole had been given reports of disturbances on the island between slaves and lepers, and the proprietors seemed unable to handle the situation.  Accordingly, he decided to take a hand in the administration of the island.  He appointed m. Le Camus as agent, and charged him with certain duties.  First, he was to do everything in his power to restore peace between the lepers, slaves and owners.  Second, he was to familiarize himself with the situation of the harbor and its entrance, and ace as pilot for any vessel entering Diego Garcia, unless he was able to determine that it was carrying slaves, in which case it was to be denied access and a report sent to Mauritius.  Third, he was to regulate the dumping of ballast in the lagoon and insure that it was kept well away from the main channels.  Fourth, he was, with the aid of labor provided by the lepers, to build a hospital on East Island, for the use, not only for the lepers, but also for crewmen of any ships calling at the island who were suffering from contagious diseases.  This, it was hoped, would once and for all put an end to the troubles between the lepers and the slaves.  Finally, he was to report to Mauritius any damage or breach of the law committed by any visiting ships' crews.

M. Le Camus departed for Diego Garcia in June, 1824, and appears to have been successful in most of his duties.  The one exception being that the hospital was never completed, the lepers continuing to mix freely with the slaves on the main island.  However, he appears to have brought an end to the disturbances between the two groups and was able to persuade the overseers to employ the lepers in coconut gathering duties on the estates, thus achieving the maximum usage of manpower on the island.

M. Le Camus remained on Diego Garcia for five years.  On his return to Mauritius, he reported to the new governor, James Colville, about conditions on the island.  He claimed that all the duties with which he had been charged had been carried out, with the exception of the lazarette project, which, because of the end of the troubles on the island, was now unnecessary.  He complained about the great distances he had been forced to travel on the island, often on foot in difficult conditions.  He furthermore claims that all the duties had been carried out at his own expense and that he had received no remuneration for them.  The governor apparently expressed surprise that Le Camus should be thinking in terms of payment for his duties, but nevertheless, promised to put the matter forward to his advisors for consideration.  Two years later, when Laportaire died, and because of his concession was non hereditary, the latter's establishment on Diego Garcia was given to Le Camus by way of reward.

In 1824 a survey was carried out on the island by Colonel E. A. Draper.  This survey was of Laportaire's concession only and was probably at the instigation of Laporataier, who was ever concerned with greater yield from his coconut trees.  A few months later, two brothers W. and C. T. Horat, carried out a survey of the whole island for the Mauritius Government.  The produced the first completely accurate map of Diego Garcia.  They were accompanied by Mr. D. Werner, who wrote a report on the island.  The report gave a considerable amount of information for the benefit of navigators of ships entering the harbor.  He also reported that, at this time, the island was divided into four estates;  those of Laportaire, Cayeux, Cayeux's brother and Bleved and Patee,  Laportaire's being larger than the other three combined, having an area of 2590 acres.  He further mentions that topsoil had been brought from Mauritius and a few crops were being grown.  Werner went on to say that the produce of the island was "coconuts and honey of a delicious quality", which suggests that bees had been introduced by that time to Diego Garcia.  He pointed out that the island was of no further use for lepers, because, "at one time great quantities of turtle were taken, but latterly they have become extremely scarce".

The next few years saw a gradual improvement in the status of the slaves on Diego Garcia.  Many establishment owners were already giving privileges that slaves had never before experienced.  They were allowed for the fist time to have personal possession and to choose their own wives.  Usually, their rations were far in excess of those laid down by law, and they were allowed to supplement these by rearing pigs and chickens.  So when, in 1835, The Mauritius government followed an example of the British parliament and ordered the immediate emancipation of all slaves, very little in fact changed.  The government decided that, in order to insure a smooth transition, all slaves would become "praedial apprentices", for a period of four year, bound to their former master by compulsory contracts, into which were written the rates of pay and basic freedoms that each apprentice would be permitted, in addition to the allotted daily task that would be expected of him.  This encouraged the apprentices to finish their daily tasks quickly in order to get more free time.

There are indications that this transition period was not without its problems.  Both owners and slaves tried various means to extract more benefit to themselves from the new conditions, and quarrels were commonplace.  On Diego Garcia, both the slaves and lepers were treated in the same manner and soon became indistinguishable.  However, despite these problems, development towards individual freedom did proceed, albeit slowly.  A certain amount of agricultural production had begun, notably with maize, tobacco and cotton, but this appeared to be an initiative of the apprentices rather than the management, and generally, the development of the island was desperately slow during this period.

In 1838, a Special Justice, Mr. Charles Anderson, was sent to Diego Garcia by the Mauritius Government to proclaim the act of emancipation to the slaves.  As it turned out, they were already aware of it, having been for some time classes as 'praedial apprentices'.  Anderson reported that at this time, there were three establishments on the island, namely those of Messrs. Majestre at Minni Minni,  Messrs. Marcy and Enouf at East Point and M. Paul Cayeux at Pointe Marianne, with a total output of 36,000 velts of oil per year, oil production having by this time recommenced on the island.  He also reported that "Diego Garcia has plenty of water and firewood, as well as pigs and poultry and it is mush resorted to by whalers and vessels bound from England to India for supplies of that description".

Anderson then launched into a scathing attack on what he called the 'appalling' conditions existing in the establishments, and heavily criticized  the owners for allowing such conditions to exist.  "The state and condition of the apprentices on all these establishments are decidedly inferior to those of the laborers o the other islands which I have visited.  The majority of the apprentices are composed of old, infirm and diseased people.  Among the latter are several deplorable cases of leprosy on each of the establishments.  The greater part of the negroes have been brought at different times from Mauritius, from whence it has been the custom in many instances to remove them to Diego Garcia as punishment.  The evil effects of this system are manifested by the indolent and idle habits of the apprentices on the island, who never occupy themselves in any useful manner during their own time.....Much discontent has been created among the apprentices by an imposed daily task which I consider too severe, and directed to be immediately abolished or diminished according to a scale which I fixed".

Anderson went on to say that he considered the comparatively low crime rate on the island was do to the "lack of spirituous liquors".

He continued:  "There is a deplorable lack of hospital accommodation and the usual entire want for medical aid.  In fact the comfort of the apprentices is in no way considered and proprietors are highly blamable for having withheld the proper supplies of rice and clothing.  I took great pains to point out the extreme impropriety of such a system, and to explain to the apprentices the nature and extend of their rights, from which I think a beneficial effect may result".

Whether conditions were really as bad as Mr. Anderson suggested is open to conjecture, but his report does confirm the fact that emancipation had caused very few changes in the system.  The Mauritius Government obviously didn't see anything unusual in the administration of the estates, for when M. Paul Cayeux died later that same year, they were quite content to pass on the concession to his sons, who had in fact been effectively running the business for some time.

The transition from slavery to apprenticeship was also responsible for a technological improvement on Diego Garcia.  It had been the custom before 1835 to use teams of slaves to turn the heavy apparatus which crushed the copra to produce oil.  One of the clauses of the emancipation bill however, stated that it was unlawful to us apprentices for work better suited to beasts of burden.  Therefore the proprietors decided to import a number of donkeys to carry out this task.  This change had a number of advantages.  First, it made available more apprentices to gather, dehusk and break the coconuts, thereby producing more raw material to feed the increased output of the mill.  Second, the spare donkeys could be utilized as a means of transport, cutting down the amount of time used in traveling to outlying areas.  Last, the donkeys formed a useful emergency food supply, should ships be unable to get through to the island, and records show that this was a fairly common occurrence.

Another visitor to the island in 1838 was Captain Robert Moresby, of the Royal Navy.  He carried out a full hydrographic survey of the lagoon and ocean coast of Diego Garcia.  The soundings that he made still form the basis for the charts used to this day, although there have, of course, been further surveys to improve them.  Moresby made a number of comments regarding the island and its produce.  He recorded "Maize, tobacco, cabbage, greens, sweet potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips, leeks, garlic and all common vegetables cultivated in India.  Also limes and citrons.  Pompions and plantains grow wild and cotton is widespread".  It apparently thrived and formed a useful addition to the islanders diet.  He observed that the animal life included donkeys, rat, pigs, poultry and feral cats.

The system of 'praedial apprenticeship' interposed between the abolition of slavery and the achievement of full human rights came to an end in Mauritius and its dependencies in 1839.  From this time on, laborers on Diego Garcia were free to negotiate the terms of their contracts, or to apply immediately for repatriation to Mauritius.  No contracts were to be valid for more than a year and were to be terminated at the end of this period without notice having to be given on either side.  All contracts were to be witnessed by stipendiary magistrates.  The system, however, must have seemed relatively fair to the laborers, because the population of Diago Garcia, in particular, continued to rise, suggesting that many laborers preferred to stay on after their initial one year contract had expired.

Interference from Mauritius in the affairs of the Lesser Dependencies was kept to a minimum for a while after this, and as the middle years of the nineteenth century approached, the affairs of Diego Garcia and the other islands were firmly in the hands of the estate owners.  Generally though, they appear to have kept to the letter of the law in their relations with the laborers, relations seem to have remained good.  This state of affairs was to continue for a number of years, as the island plodded very, very slowly towards the beginnings of modernization to greater control from the central authorities in Mauritius.

Chapter Six - The Travelling Magistrates

Diego Garcia had,  since Le Camus' time been administered purely by the plantation owners,  through their managers on the spot.  There was very little interference by the Mauritius Government in affairs on any of the islands of the lesser dependencies.  The laws which were applied on Diego Garcia were those laid down in the 1838 Order of Council on emancipation of slaves,  and the authorities in Mauritius evidently saw no advantage in altering the system.  They had been however,  under a certain amount of pressure from the British Parliament to bring the Lesser Dependencies further under the rule of law.  They were able to resist this pressure for a number of years,  but during the 1850's to take the first tentative steps towards closer government supervision of the islands.  In 1859, the governor,  Sir William Stevenson,  sent two special commissioners,  Lieutenant H. Berkley and Mr. J. Caldwell,  to visit the islands of the Chagos Archipelago to report on conditions in the plantations there.  They were charged with general inspectorial duties,  and ordered to pursue two particular lines of inquiry.  the most important of these was to investigate complaints of laborers having been brought to the islands against their will, or having been unlawfully detained on the islands after the expiration date of their contracts.  Second,  they were to determine whether any of the laborers wished to complain about any form of ill-treatment by either the plantation owners or managers.

The report which the commissioners issued dealt with Diego Garcia in detail and was very favorable as regards to treatment of the laborers.  It appeared that the laws laid down in the 1838 Order of Council were being used as the framework of society on all the estates.  There were no serious complaints either by the managers or laborers towards each other or about conditions,  and everything appeared to be running very smoothly.  Lt. Berkley and Mr. Caldwell reported a population of 338,  broken down into 258 men,  39 women and 41 children.  Production of oil was up to 51,000 veltes per year.  In addition to coconuts,  the commissioners noted tamarind,  bitter oranges,  lemons,  sugar cane and vanilla growing in the gardens at East Point.  There were said to be nearly 350 donkeys on the island.  The report concluded by saying that the island was "healthy" and abounded in "all the necessities of life,  and the inhabitants have nothing to desire".  The commissioners suggested that more regular visits to the island by government agents should be made, in order to ensure that the status quo was maintained, and recommended that the proportion of male to female laborers be adjusted to give a more balanced population.

The Mauritius Government apparently took little action over this report for a number of years. True, they dispatched Commander Harding,  in HMS Persian to report,  in 1860,  on the islands which were missed out the previous year,  but no further visits to the Chagos Archipelago were envisaged in the immediate future.  It was not until 1864 that any further government action was forthcoming.  In that year,  a District Magistrate was appointed for the Lesser Dependencies.  He was to have the same powers as a magistrate in Mauritius, involving himself in both civil and criminal matter, and was to be responsible for supervising the signing of all contracts between employer and employee.  In November, 1864,  this first magistrate,  Charles Farquharson, visited Diego Garcia,  on board the 'Rapid'.  He found the Minni Minni and Point Marianne estates to be in good order.  The laborers were apparently well treated and they had no complaints concerning the management.  The story at East Point, however, was not so good.  Mr. Farquharson reports;  "Shortly after my arrival, the whole of the laborers came in body, and in a clamorous and disorderly manner, asked to be taken aboard the 'Rapid' stating
that the manager used them very badly, overworked them and did not feed them".  Farquharson discovered that the reason for this unruly mob was that the estate had recently had a new manager who was merely trying to bring the estate back into line with the other two, his predecessor apparently allowed discipline to deteriorate badly.  The magistrate continued; "On investigation into the treatment of the laborers and in regard to food, lodging, and wages, I found that this estate was in no way behind the two others".  Farquharson reported the population of the island was 267 men, 45 women, and 46 children.  The managers and their families accounted for a further 20, making 378 in all.

In 1865,  the Mauritius Government took a further step toward centralized control of the islands.  The plantation owners,  who at this time,  still held title through the concession arrangement,  were given the opportunity of changing the legal status of their occupancy.  They were offered perpetual grants of their holdings in exchange for a cash payment of two shillings for each velte of coconut oil produced, based on the previous years' production figures.  In the case of Diego Garcia,  this amounted to 66,000 veltes,  split between the three estates.  There were, however, certain conditions to the offer.  The government retained the right to take possession at any time of up to two acres of land on each estate, if the land should be required for public purpose, such as for school or hospital.  Queen Victoria was to have sole right to any mines, precious stones or metals found on any property.  The right of ownership was to be immediately revoked by the government, should any attempt be made to transfer land to a person other than a British subject.  The terms must have seemed reasonable, because the proprietors of the estates on Diego Garcia all elected to change their rights of tenure.

In 1872,  the Mauritius Government took a further step towards bringing the Lesser Dependencies more closely under Mauritius law.  The appointed the junior magistrate of Port Louis as the district magistrate for the islands.  This meant that the islands would be considered in law as though they were part of the district of Port Louis and the magistrate was to have the same powers,  authority and jurisdiction on the islands as he had in Mauritius.

Two years later,  before any of these magistrates had, in fact, visited the islands, the government took the further step of appointing the Stipendiary Magistrate of Port Louis as the Stipendiary Magistrate of the Lesser Dependencies,  who would also assume the duties of the District Magistrate.  He would be authorized to try to send the accused back to Mauritius for trial by higher court.  The stipendiary magistrates were to become virtually the chief administrators of the Lesser Dependencies,  being responsible to the governor of Mauritius for most facets of island life, and were, in effect, to act as government advisors to the managers on the spot.  The government also empowered the magistrates to appoint Civil Status Officers on the islands, usually to be the senior manager on the island with more than one estate.  The job of the Civil Status Officer was more or less the same as that of a registrar in modern Britain, to record birth, marriages and deaths and issue certificates accordingly.  They were also to insure that the books of each estate were kept in good order, so that they might be inspected b the magistrate on his next regular visit.

In 1875,  the first visiting Stipendiary and District Magistrate of the Lesser Dependencies, Mr. E. Pakenham Brooks, toured the islands.  It was eleven years since the last magisterial visit.  He reported the population of Diego Garcia as 300, being 176 men, 57 women and 68 children, a slight drop over previous years.  Minni Minni and Pointe Marianne estates he found to be in good order,  but there was a different story at East Point.  There, he found that the manager, Mr. James Spurs, had resorted to imprisoning his laborers for long periods, often unfairly,  and the laborers complained generally about his treatment of them.  The magistrate fined Mr. Spurs on three counts for inhuman behavior, but however, pointed out by way of mitigation that several laborers had been resident on the estate for between ten and twenty years and wished to stay indefinitely, thus inferring that Mr. Spurs' treatment was perhaps no worse than the norm.

Regular inspections of the Lesser Dependencies by magistrates continued through the 1870's and 1880's.  The pioneers, E. Pakenham Brooks, J.H. Ackroyd, Ivanoff Dupont and A. Boucherat, travelled extensively through the islands during this period, often in conditions of great discomfort.  Ackroyd, in particular, seems to have been (an) extremely unlucky voyager.  In 1876, he took 19 days to cover the 1,200 miles from Port Louis to Diego Garcia, and a further eleven days in mountainous seas to reach Egmont Island,  a distance of seventy miles.  In the following year, Ackroyd took 28 days to travel from Diego Garcia to Mauritius, and a few months later, this time because of high winds, 47 days from Mauritius to Eagle Island.  On that tour, Ackroyd was away from Mauritius for three months, spending less than two weeks on land.  All the magistrates had strong words to say on the subjects of cramped and stuffy quarters, bad food, nauseating smells, erratic masters and voyages of unpredictable length.  There were even worse hazards.  Dupont was shipwrecked on Agalega Island in 1879, and three months were to pass before a vessel called to take him home.

The magistrates invariably made lengthy reports about conditions in the islands and during the next twenty years, these careful reports provide a comprehensive picture of the Lesser Dependencies and a medium through which the qualities of administration in the islands could be assessed.  Ackroyd, in particular, was very outspoken about conditions on the islands, often being bluntly critical of the local administrators, but just as often coming down on the side of the managers when following up laborer's complaints.  He was very strict in laying down official standards for the dimensions of homes and hospitals and seemed to be adept at persuading the managers to improve these buildings.

In this report of 1880,  Ackroyd gave the following account of life on Diego Garcia:

"On the island,  aquatic birds are numerous and the edible and hawksbill turtles exist,  but are scarce.  Horned cattle do not thrive, but there are some goats and they do well.  Except for the managers, sub-managers and their families who are Europeans, the population consists of Africans, Creoles and Malagashes.  The work is generally carried out by tasks.  500 or 600 coconuts have to be picked up per day and husked, a task which is easily accomplished.  The breaking and shelling are afterwards done by women, who have to do 1,500 per day.  The coconut, after having been picked up and broken, is dried in the sun and crushed in the mill of primitive construction, consisting of a heavy wooden roller working in a hollow block of wood, the rollers being turned by donkeys.  Generally, the men are in good health and frequently save from one quarter to one half of their wages.  They live in good huts, made of coconut leaves and having a wooden framework.  Most of them grow pumpkins, bananas and fruit called the papaye (paw-paw).  There is, however,  no provisions made for education or religious instruction of the laborers or their children, and a great disproportion of women to men exists.  This evil has existed from the time of slavery.  The population at present is 227 men,  86 women and 87 children, a total of 400".

Ackroyd went on to criticize the lack of communication between the various islands, a fact which he was at pains to point out, made his job that much more difficult, greatly cutting down the time that he was able to spend on each island.

All the magistrates reported 'disrespect' for the institution of marriage among the islanders and a large number of cases they dealt with arose out of quarrels over women.  There was, however, little major crime, most of the charges dealt with, concerning petty theft or insubordination.

Hospitals were provided on each estate,  which were generally up to the standards prescribed by the Mauritius Government, and the island was generally healthy.  The common complaint of the time were demonstrated by the large quantities of laxatives and antiseptics used.  Ackroyd found a shortage of castor oil at Pointe Marianne, and upon questioning the manager, was informed that consumption had exceeded supply,  "the man being rather partial to it".  The only black patch in the otherwise good health record of Diego Garcia was the appallingly high rate of infant mortality.  James Spurs had a comment to make about this to Ackroyd.  He claimed that the high number of deaths amongst babies was due to the ill-treatment of pregnant women by their men and the gross carelessness of the women themselves.

Spurs himself has been described as a  'despotic but benevolent man'.  He was manager at East Point from 1866,  until he joined the Orient Steam Navigation Company in 1883.  He had very personal views of right and wrong and thoroughly applied these standards throughout.  He introduced the system of allowing the laborers to build their own houses and gave much more than the legal amount of clothing and rations.  He came down heavily against drunkenness, and forbade the killing of sea-birds and 'cipaye'  crabs, in order that their numbers might build up again.  The visiting magistrates came to regard him with increasing confidence and respect, as an efficient and upright man, and in 1883, Ivanoff Dupont paid official tribute to his "outstanding administrative ability".

These early traveling magistrates set a pattern that was to last for nearly a hundred years.  Except for war time and a few rare occasions, a magistrate visited Diego Garcia every year until the mid-1960's.  Pakenham Brooks, Ackroyd, Dupont and Boucherat wrote an immense amount about conditions and points of interest in the islands, and it is due to these men that we know so much about this stage in the development of the Lesser Dependencies.  Their matter-of-fact reports appear at first glance to be very dry,  but as one reads further into them, a clear picture of the islands and the people who populated them emerges, as do the personalities of the men who wrote them.  They appear to have been a very prim and proper band, with a righteous sense of duty and mission, but it was evidently this which enabled them to endure the appalling conditions of travel to bring justice and government control to one of the most remote areas of the world.  Further generations on the islands would owe much to the efforts of these men to achieve for them a decent standard of life and a reasonable basis of law under which to live.

Chapter Seven - The Coal Stations

In the 1880's,  Diego Garcia, alone among the Lesser Dependencies was subjected to one of the effects of the European Industrial Revolution.  By this time, sailing ships had largely given way to steam, particularly for long-distance travel and many shipping companies were searching for coaling stations, where they could maintain large stocks of coal to refuel their ships on trans-oceanic voyages.  In 1881, the Orient Steam Navigation Company wanted to run a direct steamship service to Australia, via the Suez Canal, the problem being that it was necessary to refuel somewhere well to the east of the Red Sea.  Accordingly,  they decided to give up their coaling station in Aden and cast around for a more suitable alternative.  As Diego Garcia was on the direct route from the Red Sea to Australia, the company sent an inspector to the island.  His report was highly favorable, and so the company established themselves on the island in 1882.  Almost simultaneously, a London firm of coal merchants, Lund and Company, also installed a depot on the island.  Whereas the Orient Company intended to supply only their own ships, Messrs. Lund were open to contract and were prepared to supply all comers.

The Governor of Mauritius was concerned about the possible impact of these enterprises on the life of the island, and in early 1883, sent Ivanoff Dupont to make inquiries.  Dupont arrived to find James Spurs had been appointed as the local agent for the Orient Company, in addition to his other job as manager of East Point estate.  The company had also imported forty Somali laborers and seventeen Europeans and were constructing steel lighters at East Point.  Spurs was negotiating with the company  to replace the Somalis with Mauritians, as he was unhappy with the amount of work achieved with the former.  Messrs. Lund had imported no staff, but had agreed with the proprietors of the estates to hire their laborers when required.  They had appointed G. Worsell as their agent at East Point.  Both companies were storing their stocks of coal in hulks anchored at Minni Minni and East Point, and Orient also had a yard ashore in the latter village.  The companies jointly expected to import 50,000 tons of coal yearly, although at the time of Dupont's visit, only 15,000 tons were on the island.

By the time of Dupont's arrival,  several ships had already visited the coaling stations.  Each coaling operation had taken between twenty four and sixty eight hours and during this time, passengers were normally forbidden to land, unless they had the express permission of the Civil Status Officer (the senior estate manager).  There was a strict quarantine which had prevented the introduction of disease to Diego Garcia and there had been no trouble involving passengers or crews on the island.  Dupont was impressed and made a report to this effect.  Unfortunately, it turned out to be premature.

The Governor of Mauritius was not completely satisfied with the report on the coaling stations and sent Dupont back the following year.  Things had changed somewhat on the island and were not now going so smoothly.  Spurs was now employed full time by the Orient Company, which had leased Middle and East Islands from the Mauritius Government and moved their hulks to Barton Point.  Middle Island was to be home of Spurs and the laborers' camp was to be on East Island.  Most of the laborers were at this time living under canvas.  The water on East Island was very brackish and drinking water had to be ferried from the main island.  Spurs had a distillation plant, but apparently, nobody knew how to assemble it.  It had become easy for the islanders to obtain drink from passing ships and there was one report of a laborer dying from alcoholic poisoning.  Passengers and crews had been going ashore in increasing numbers and plundering the plantations.  With all this in mind, Dupont recommended that a government official be stationed permanently on the island.

In February,  1884,  Messrs. Lund proposed the inauguration of a mail service from Mauritius to Columbo,  which would link up at Diego Garcia with the Cape of Good Hope to Australia services, thus considerably improving the mail service to Mauritius itself.  The company's proposal was turned down, however, because the building of necessary passenger accommodation ashore at Diego Garcia would have made the quarantine difficult to enforce.

The Mauritius Government, acting upon Dupont's recommendation, passed an ordinance enabling it to post a police officer to the island, but by the time of Dupont's next visit, in October, 1884, no police post had in fact been established.  On this visit, Dupont found that Messrs. Lund had appointed a new agent, J.N. Beaver, and now had an independent labor force of forty five Mauritians.  They appeared to be well paid and were housed in excellent huts.  The Company had buoyed all the reefs from the entrance of the lagoon to East Point.  James Spurs, on the other hand, was still having problems.  He had completed his laborer's camp, but due to various complications, many of his laborers were having to share his accommodation on Middle Island.  The distillation plant was still in pieces.  The Orient Company had tried to ease the lot of their employees by offering free passages to Diego Garcia for their wives, but most of the men declined to take up this offer.  Dupont found them to be a surly and undisciplined lot.  Spurs complained that the men had proved to be poor workers and said he was contemplating importing Chinese labor.  Dupont was more than ever persuaded that a police post was urgently needed on Diego Garcia.  Dupont records one particularly nasty, but somewhat comic incident which had occurred a few months previously.  In January, 1884, the sailing ship 'Windsor Castle', with Captain Raymond as master,  had arrive with several hundred tons of coal for Messrs. Lund.  The ship anchored at East Point.  On February 24, "while in a drunken fit, Captain Raymond landed at East Point with sixteen men, armed with loaded guns; had the Union Jack hoisted at the top of the tree in front of the manager's house, paraded his men; had a volley fired at the house (then unoccupied); patrolled about; informed the manager that he had taken possession of the island in the name of the British Government, and appointed Mr. LeConte, the head manager, in writing Lieutenant-Governor".  Fortunately,  Captain Raymond then came to his senses and went back to his ship, which sailed the next day.

Dupont also comments on the quarantine regulations enforced on the island.  On February 14, the steamer 'Natal' belonging to Messrs. Lund arrived at East Point with ninety passengers on board, eight of whom were suffering from measles.  "A child died the next day from that disease and it was attempted to take the body to East Point to be buried, but on refusal of Mr. LeConte to allow it, for fear that the disease might spread out on the island, the steamer left the next day with the body, which was to be thrown overboard outside the bay".  On a disease free island, the outbreak of measles might have decimated the population.

A police post was finally established at Minni Minni in November, 1885, with a complement of one inspector, on noncommissioned officer and six men.  The police officer was given certain magisterial powers, which had previously been conferred on the plantation managers.  However,  the jurisdiction of the police inspector was to be suspended whenever the traveling magistrate was on Diego Garcia.  The police officer was also required to levy a due of six cents per registered ton on every ship arriving at the island, with the exception of warships.  This money was intended to pay the costs of the police post, but in fact was never used for this purpose.  An argument started between the British and Mauritius Governments about responsibility of financing the police post and, with this question remaining unresolved, the Mauritius authorities eventually withdrew the men.

A change in the ownership of the plantations had occurred in 1883.  In order to standardize the production methods, the various estates of the Chagos Archipelago had combined into one large company, the 'Societe Huiliere de Diego et Peros'.  The only immediate effect of this amalgamation on Diego Garcia was the decision to close down the estate headquarters at Minni Minni and combine that estate with the one at East Point.  Point Marianne virtually remained as a separate estate.

When Mr. Magistrate Boucherat visited the island in 1888, there was still a police officer resident, but he didn't remain there much longer.  The Mauritius Government had forecast that the coaling stations would close down and they were proved right, for the Orient Company had discontinued their operations on Diego Garcia.  Spurs had left for Columbo, having sold the company's vessels and plants to Messrs. Lund.  The Orient Company had invested over $33,000 in the vessels alone and had found the island an unprofitable port of call.  Boucherat guessed that Messrs. Lund would also give up their interests on Diego Garcia, and this they did a few months later.  Apart from their agent, they now had only one permanent employee on the island, although the agent was still able to enlist temporary laborers when required.  Diego Garcia was on the point of reverting to its staple industry, the production of coconut oil.

Chapter Eight - The First Half of the Twentieth Century

From 1888 onwards,  conditions on Diego Garcia were very much as they had been in the days before the coaling stations, and coconuts became, once more, the basis of the island's economy.  By the early 1890's, the island society had reverted to a condition of stability, and this state was to last until well into the twentieth century.  The traveling magistrates continued to visit the island as least annually, and still prepared their voluminous reports on life and conditions there.  These reports had their value, however,  for they enabled the Mauritius Government to continually update the laws governing relations between employer and employee and to monitor the well being of the native workers.

During the early years of the twentieth century, the Mauritius Government passed certain ordinances, allowing the appointment of various specialists to tour the Lesser Dependencies, to contribute their know how and generally advise the local populations to their various fields.  It was hoped that this move would create an influx of new ideas and help to prevent any stagnation in the unique societies existing on the islands.

One of the first of these specialists to visit Diego Garcia was a Doctor Powell, who went as the head of a medical mission in 1908.  He found health conditions to be very satisfactory and the death rate still low, despite the fact that apparently, even the most elementary sanitation conditions, with regard to latrines and water supply, were ignored by both the labor, and the management.  Dr. Powell was, it seems, strongly in favor of the islanders being forbidden to take wine away from the village shop, preferring them to drink it at the counter, as he thought this would help to avoid the common troubles and fights.  He blamed much of the island's crimes and disease on the quality of the wine.  "Only coarse wine is given, and then comes the rub, a fight and the knife".

In the 1890's,  the main buildings at East Point were renovated and in 1895, the church was built.  Shortly after this, the jetty was constructed, together with a light railway running along it from the copra mill, motive power being provided by donkeys.  Thus, East Point gradually became the main commercial center of the island.  The buildings at Minni Minni and on East and Middle Islands were abandoned, as were a number of buildings at Point Marianne.  By 1910, all copra processing was being carried out at East Point.

Despite the apparent stability, technological change came to Diego Garcia during the 1900's, when copra platforms were introduced from the Seychelles.  These platforms dried copra by a combination of sun and artificial heat and greatly increased the production of the plantations.  By 1910, copra had replaced coconut oil as Diego Garcia's main export.  For over a hundred years, the Chagos Archipelago had been known as the 'Oil Islands', but this name had now become redundant.  The annual yield from Diego Garcia in the early years of this century was around five million nuts, half the total yield of the entire Chagos group.

Hints of the possible use of Diego Garcia as a strategic base became apparent again at the turn of the century.  In 1899, two German warships, the 'Bismarck' and the 'Marie' anchored in the lagoon for a while, and shortly afterwards, the British warships 'Hampshire' and 'Empress of Russia' paid a visit.  It seemed that the great powers were keen to check the potential of the harbor as a possible haven in event of future conflict.

Several scientific surveys took place on Diego Garcia during this period.  G.C. Bourne spent four months in 1886, studying the geology and the bird and plant life of the island.  Then, in 1899, the Deutsche Tiefsee-Expedition, aboard the 'Vildivia' carried out a survey of the marine fauna.  They were followed six years later by the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition, led by J. Stanley Gardiner, which studied the island's geomorphology, together with marine and land plants and animals.  It was only after the reports issued by these expeditions had been thoroughly studied that scientists really became aware of the unique construction of atoll formations and the myriads of life forms associated with them, both in and out of the water.

This scientific study of Diego Garcia was to be continued in later years, but before that time, more momentous events were to disturb the life on the island, events which were to radically change the world order and, in time, lead to the end of the colonial system, under which the island had comfortably nestled for so many years.  The affairs of the atoll were to be greatly altered, not by events close to it, but by happenings many thousands of miles away, in places that the islanders had in all probability, never heard of.

In August 1914,  the First World War broke out.  Apart from one isolated incident, life carried on pretty well as normal on Diego Garcia.  Full copra production was maintained and there was little or no interference with ships carrying the copra to Mauritius.  The population were not called upon in any way to help the war effort, so no disruption of island life occurred.

The one incident which did take place has itself been the subject of numerous books.  Barley a month after the war had started, a fact of which the islanders were not yet aware, the German cruiser 'Emden' called at Diego Garcia.  The 'Emden' had carried out a number of successful raids against British property in the Indian Ocean area, but was now being hotly pursued by a British squadron.  For this reason, the Captain of the 'Emden' urgently needed a safe anchorage to carry out repairs, take on supplies and move coal.  Diego Garcia was the nearest harbor of any consequence, so he decided to enter, reasoning that any hostile natives would be quickly subdued when faced with the 'Emden's' fire-power.  However, immediately upon anchoring, the Assistant Manager of the plantation came aboard, "Came into the wardroom an made very good practice with the iced whisky and soda".  This surprised the Captain until, "the conversation became interesting from the moment that we recognized that this manager and the inhabitants had no idea there was a war on in the world".  The Captain explained the battle damage to the ship as having been caused by storms.  The islanders gave the ship a live pig, fish and fruit, and received wine and whisky in return.  With much cheering from the population, the ship then proceeded to sea.  Shortly afterwards, the group of British warships arrived and the islanders discovered their mistake.  The British ship took off in pursuit, and the 'Emden' was hounded for some weeks until, on 9 November 1914, she was destroyed at Cocos-Keeling by a naval force led by HMAS Sydney.

This incident effectively ended Diego Garcia's involvement in the First World War,  and the island settled back to continue its quiet existence through the 1920's and 1930's.  The middle years of the 1930's saw coconut production at its highest in the island's history.  The export of 'cocos barbes', the coconut of the greengrocers shop was greatly stepped up during this period, at one stage running in excess of 100,000 per year.

The relative calm of this period ended abruptly in the early 1940's.  Britain was once more at war with Germany.  Initially, this was to affect the island little, but when in late 1941, the Japanese entered the war and commenced their conquest of South-East Asia and the Pacific islands, events were brought closer to the island than they had been at any time since the Napoleonic wars.  The Japanese attacked Columbo in 1942, and this, together with the weakened state of the Royal Navy in the area, made the Allies aware that the Indian Ocean would be open for Japanese 'island-hopping', just as the Pacific had been.  Accordingly, several islands were selected to be used as small military bases, to help keep an eye on the situation in the region.  One of these islands was Diego Garcia.  Six-inch guns were installed at Eclipse Point to guard the entrance to the lagoon and an R.A.F. squadron of Catalina flying boats was sent to East Point.  In addition, an observation post was set up near Barton Point, connected to East Point by a submarine cable.  Surveys of the facilities on the island were made by all three services, in case it was decided to expand the base, but in the event, this did not prove to be necessary.  The regular wartime complement of the atoll turned out to be no more than the flying boat squadron, a small Royal Naval party, to operate small craft, and a detachment of Indian troops to man the six-inch guns.

Life must have seemed idyllic to these men, stationed on a lonely atoll, so far from the main theaters of war, and one can only surmise the thoughts of the native population on seeing all this, to them, frenzied activity going on around their island.  Many of them would have been seeing aircraft for the first time in their lives, for Diego Garcia is far from the usual air-routes, and to have seventy five airmen suddenly billeted amongst them must have been an unnerving experience to say the least.

Nevertheless,  the life among the plantations carried on much as it always had.  There was a slight drop in production during the war years, but this is probably explained by a certain percentage of the islanders being employed to supply produce to the servicemen or to act as domestic servants.  There is certainly no evidence to suggest that the wartime activity drastically affected the island society, more likely, is was infused with new ideas, making it all the more virile.  Islander and servicemen probably co-existed amicably, each benefiting from the others' experiences.

In September, 1944,  Diego Garcia took a heavy battering, not from enemy action but from natural causes.  A violent cyclone, mercifully rare in this area, ripped across the southern half of the atoll.  The plantation, together with the R.A.F. installations suffered severe damage.  The moored Catalinas were swept onto the beach - one remains there to this day - and hundreds of coconut palms were blown down or stripped bare, but damage to buildings was luckily slight.  Worse, however, was to come.  Within a few days, a large part of the population, including most of the airmen, had succumbed to dengue, or trench fever.  Some of the islanders died from the disease, which is not normally fatal, but all the servicemen recovered.  The remainder of 1944 was spent repairing the storm damage, islanders and servicemen assisting each other, and gradually the island returned to normal.  In more than thirty years which have passed since that time, no cyclone has passed close enough to Diego Garcia to make its presence felt.

In late 1945, the Japanese were finally beaten.  The expected attacks on the Indian Ocean islands had never materialized.  The small base on Diego Garcia had played its part in insuring the security of the area, but had now become redundant.  The R.A.F. squadron was withdrawn before the end of the year, as was the Royal Naval party.  A small salvage team stayed on for a few weeks, but by mid-1946, the natives had the island to themselves once more.  Following a visit the island in 1948, it was found that service installations had all fallen into decay, the islanders having commandeered anything worthwhile for their own use.  Diego Garcia, within a few short months had reverted once more to its normal state of stability.

Chapter Nine - The Post War Years

A further ordinance was passed by the Mauritius Government in 1945, empowering the Governor to appoint all the magistrates for Mauritius and the dependencies, and to assign any one of these magistrates as the traveling magistrate for the Lesser Dependencies.  This magistrate was to have the same powers as his predecessors, but the main practical effect of the new ordinance was to make available particular talents and experience which may not have been possessed by any one magistrate.  During the late 1940's and 1950's, these magistrates continued to visit Diego Garcia on a regular basis, just as the first ones had done in the nineteenth century, dealing as they did in relatively uncomplicated cases, and inspecting water supplies and agricultural methods.  In addition, in the 1950's, technical officers were posted to the island, and school teachers and midwives paid regular visits to teach some of their skills to the local people.  Other frequent visitors included doctors, sanitary inspectors, agricultural experts, police officers and labor officials.  All these added their quota to the advancement of the islanders.

In 1957, the traveler Robert Scott visited Diego Garcia, aboard HMS Loch Killisport.  He wrote at length of his impressions of the island.  He described East Point village as looking like "a French coastal village,  miraculously transferred whole to this shore,....the architecture, the touches of old fashioned ostentation in the 'chateau' and its relation to the church; the disposition of trees and flowering shrubs across the ample green....all contribute towards giving the village this quality".  Scott was equally enthusiastic about the welcome he received from the villagers, commenting particularly on the small Union Jacks being waved by each child.  He saw the village itself as an attractive oasis, almost overwhelmed by the dark green gloom of the surrounding jungle, but this impression turned out to be only surface deep.  At a closer look, the village appeared to be inundated with chickens and infested with flies, nuisances which were largely ignored by the natives.  The chickens were so numerous that a party of ratings from the 'Loch Killisport' found the asking price for stewing fowls to be three English cigarettes each.  Outside the village, other introduced animal life made its presence felt.  Rats were everywhere,  appearing particularly acrobatic as they jumped through the trees like squirrels, and bands of wild donkeys fed on just about everything in sight, including after dark, the vegetables and flowers of the village gardens.  Donkeys were still used for turning the mill - a limited amount of oil being produced for local use - but transport throughout the island had now become mechanized.  Tractors were used extensively for clearance work in the plantations and for hauling carts full of coconuts back to the drying sheds.

One small change had occurred in the island's economy during the 1950's.  With fertilizers fetching a high price throughout the world, it had become an economical proposition to exploit some guano deposits in the northwestern part of the island.  By 1957, one-third of the total value of exports from Diego Garcia were in the form of guano shipments.

Another small source of income for the islanders during this period was the manufacture of brooms and brushes for export to Mauritius.  There was no shortage of raw materials and many housewives earned a useful extra income this way.  Also any grain, usually maize, grown by the islanders, which was surplus to their own requirements would be purchased by the company.  The dried fish industry underwent a revival on Diego Garcia, although Mauritians were very wary of any fish caught at the island, regarding many species as poisonous.

The islanders claimed, with some justification, that in this post-war period, their shop at East Point had become the best in the Lesser Dependencies.  Certainly it appeared to carry an amazing stock, covering all possibilities from births to deaths.  There were cradles for infants, trousseaus for brides and headstones for corpses.  All the basic necessities for life were stocked and Scott records that it was almost impossible to move within the confines of the building.

The impression given by Scott is of a virile community, contentedly proceeding along a course set so many years before.  The islanders wanted for little, basic needs being supplied by the company and the little extras being available at the store or in the gardens and jungle.  The laborers were able to save between a quarter and a half of their pay.  The island was extremely healthy, old age being the most common cause of death,  and diseases were virtually non existent.  The people, although apparently set in their ways,  were receptive to new ideas and trends, and were not averse to change, particularly if they thought anything good would come of it.  The temporary laborers at this time were mainly from the Seychelles as opposed to Mauritius, so were already accustomed to small island life, and they appeared to be able to fit into the community with very little effort.  Many of them brought their families, with the intention of settling permanently on the island.  The managers were still Mauritians, appointed by the company, but invariably they were trained in administrative duties before being sent to the island, so were easily capable of dealing with the usual day-to-day affairs of the population.

Scott looked for possible effects on the character of the islanders by what he called "the dark green oppressiveness of their luxuriant surroundings", but was unable to detect any characteristics, apart from the dubious ones of dourness and hardheadedness, and it is doubtful whether the people were overly affected by the conditions, which were in any case not unique to Diego Garcia.

During the 1950's, the manager of the Diego Garcia plantation started running regular boat trips to Egmont Atoll, which had been uninhabited for some years, in order to gather that island's coconut crop.  This contributed a fair percentage to the overall yield of the plantation for a while, but by 1960, these trips had ceased, probably because the poor anchorage and difficult terrain on Egmont made the enterprise risky and unprofitable.

Numerous scientific expeditions visited Diego Garcia during the 1950's and 1960's,  collectively studying all aspects of the zoology, botany and geomorphology of the island.  Because of its remoteness, the atoll was ideal for studying the migratory habits of sea birds and also certain land birds.  In addition, the marine life found in the lagoon and surrounding seas is representative of the Indian Ocean in general.  The islanders, as are all people who live close to nature, were keen observers of the life around them and were able to offer considerable aid to the various scientists who were trying to establish past and future trends as regards bird and other animal migration and populations.

Another branch of science represented on the island during the post war period was meteorology.  A weather station was established near East Point in 1946 and worked in conjunction with stations on many other islands of the Lesser Dependencies.  Their prime purpose was to examine conditions leading to cyclone formation and to plot the courses of the cyclones once they had formed.  Many of the Indian Ocean cyclones come into being in the vicinity of Diego Garcia, subsequently swinging south, then west, to threaten the Mauritius area.  Every once in a while, as in 1944, a cyclone will double back along its track and pass over Diego Garcia, but as has already been mentioned, this is an extremely rare occurrence.

The island society which entered the 1960's was virtually indistinguishable from the one which existed at the turn of the century.  There was, it is true, a tendency for the population to decrease.  As with rural communities the world over, young people were being attracted by the bright lights of the cities and moving to more urban areas, the urban area in this case being Port Louis.  Whether this would have had any far reaching effects on the island society is difficult to decide, for in many parts of the world, this trend has reversed during the seventies.  In the case of Diego Garcia, the discussion has turned out to be academic only, for the great powers have taken a hand in the island's destiny.  Within a short space of time, the island communities were to disappear, possibly forever, and we must look further afield to find the cause of this situation.  In fact, to London and Washington.

Chapter Ten - End of an Era

In 1963,  preliminary discussions were held between Britain and the United States.  The subject - The Chagos Archipelago.  Due to the impending loss of Aden and the possible eventual closure of Gan, the R.A.F. station in the Maldive Islands, the British Government was casting around for an alternative base in the Indian Ocean areas.  The Americans were also interested in establishing some sort of presence in the region - they had no facilities between Asmara in Ethiopia and the Philippines - and the discussions hinged upon the possible use of one of Chagos islands, preferably Diego Garcia, as a joint base.

It seems that some sort of decision, at least in principle, emerged from these talks, for when, in 1965, the then Colonial Secretary, Mr. Anthony Greenwood, traveled to Port Louis to negotiate Mauritian independence, the question of the Chagos Archipelago was again brought up.  During these independence talks, it was agreed that Mauritius would give up all claim to the islands, which would then become part of the newly formed British Indian Ocean Territory, to be administered from the Seychelles.  Britain is reported to have paid Mauritius 3 million pounds in compensation for the loss of sovereignty over the islands.

At this time, the Soviet Union was beginning to establish a large presence in the Indian ocean.  Many Russian warships were being sent  into the area, operating from a base in Somalia, and both Britain and the United States were understandably concerned about this development.  It was therefore decided to establish a joint communication facility at Diego Garcia, as a first step towards opposing Russian intentions, and plans were immediately put into effect to make the island available for this.

The British Government decided, in May, 1966, to resettle the population of the Chagos Archipelago in Mauritius.  This, it was felt, would be in the interests of both the islanders and the respective military authorities.  Accordingly, more than half a million pounds was paid to the Mauritius Government to be used for the resettlement of the islanders.  In addition, the plantation company was bought out for just over a million pounds, the freehold of the islands then passing to the Commissioners of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Between 1966 and 1971, the population of Diego Garcia gradually dwindled.  As contracts expired, they were not renewed, so the workers returned to their respective homes in Mauritius and the Seychelles.  The semi-native population was moved back to Port Louis and became the responsibility of the Mauritius authorities.  At the same time,  an agreement was signed between the British and United States Governments to the effect that Diego Garcia would 'remain available for the defense purposes for fifty years'.  (1)

However,  problems arose out of the plans to settle the islanders at Mauritius.  Firstly,  many of them fell ill, being in contact with the world's diseases for the first time in their lives.  Some died from influenza, a particularly virulent form which was sweeping the world at the time of their move.  There were also some deaths from diphtheria, against which they had never been inoculated.  Secondly, the cultural shock of moving from the atoll to the crowded and humid town of Port Louis induced a feeling of helplessness and resignation.  Thirdly, Cyclone Gervaise struck Mauritius early in 1975, leaving 10,000 Mauritians homeless, and leaving the Mauritius Government in a dilemma; whether to first resettle the islanders, or rehouse their own people.