Hammerton Killick

Hammerton Killick (April 18, 1856 – September 6, 1902) was an admiral in the Haitian Navy. He was killed in the 1902 Firmin rebellion when he refused to surrender his ship to the German warship . A naval base in Port-au-Prince is named after him. A 1943 Haitian postage stamp commemorated his role in the rebellion.

Early life

Killick was an Anglo-Haitian mulatto. His father was of either Scottish At any given time, the number of ships in the Navy ranged between two and four. and often had little, poor quality food. There were rumors that the Natalie was carrying arms and ammunition to be used in a plot to overthrow Hyppolite, but her captain denied that there were any weapons on board, and claimed the trip was just a pleasure cruise. The Natalie was spotted near Long Cay, Bahamas in February. roughly $25,000. The Natalie was retrofitted in Savannah and added to the Haitian Navy.

Rebellion and death

In May 1902, Haitian President Tirésias Simon Sam resigned in embarrassment over Haiti's inability to assert itself in the international community after the Emil Lüders incident. The 1889 constitution provided for the National Assembly to name a president, but there was an uprising demanding direct elections. and his support meant that although Alexis had the support of the military, Firmin had the support of the navy, and full control of the coast. As of 15 May, Killick had not only declared for Firmin, but taken the flagship of the Haitian Navy, the Crête-à-Pierrot, to Cap-Haïtien to pick up Firminist troops and transport them to Port-au-Prince. After the fighting broke out Firmin embarked on the Crête-à-Pierrot and sailed to Gonaïves. There he continued to protest against the way the elections were being conducted. Meanwhile, Jean Jumeau marched on Port-au-Prince by land.

Due to his role in the conflict between Firmin and Alexis, Killick was decommissioned by July 12.

Although the disrupted, disputed elections were still on-going in July,

Eventually, Killick attempted to establish a blockade of the harbor at Cap-Haïtien. rather than let the Germans take her. Killick and the remaining four crew members went down with the ship.

An hour later, the Panther fired thirty shots at the Crête-à-Pierrot to finish it off, then sailed away. The ship's rifles and machine guns were salvaged. Killick's body was recovered and buried that same day.

Killick's sacrifice was seen as the ultimate act of patriotism, yet Firmin's struggling revolution was doomed to failure by the loss of the Crête-à-Pierrot and the support of Haiti's navy. Within a month, Firmin went into exile in Saint Thomas, Danish West Indies, where he died in 1911.

Gallery