Population: ~15,000
Area: 16km (length)
by 8 km (width)
Climate: Temperature between 26°C
(79°F) in the winter to 30° (86°F) in the summer. Water
Temperature is around 27°C (80°F). Light rain in Mai and
September/October. Hurricane Season between August and
October.
Map: Map
of the island,1700 (larger
version, click here)
Two major personalities bring Ile-a-Vache to the forefront
of History: Sir. Henry Morgan and Bernard Kock
 Cap.
Henry Morgan was a British privateer of Welsh birth, who
made a name in the Caribbean as a leader of buccaneers and
roughnecks. He set Ile-a-Vache as a base in 1668 to attack the
Spaniards fearing an attack upon Jamaica. His main ship the
Oxford exploded killing 300 of his 900 men. A privateer was a
private ship (or its captain) authorized by a country's
government to attack and seize cargo from another country's
ships.
Bernard Kock, a British citizen had the grand
plan for colonizing Ile-a-Vache (Cow Island), Haïti with 5000
black american slaves.
Read More:
- Bernard Kock: Bernard Kock was the
self-styled governor of Vache Island off the coast of Haiti.
Kock had approached Lincoln in October 1862 with a plan to
colonize the island with 5,000 former slaves from the United
States. Lincoln signed a contract with Kock in December
1862, but this contract was canceled in April 1863 and the
U. S. agreed to a new contract with three of Kock's business
partners. By the end of April 1863, nearly 500 colonists had
sailed for the island. Less than a year later the project
was an utter failure and the 350 remaining colonists on
Vache Island returned to the United States. (Source: Library
of Congress)
- Letter from Bernard Kock to
Abraham Lincoln requesting the colonization of Ile-a-Vache.
- More information can be found by Querying the US Library
of Congress at: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/malquery.html
(search for Bernard Kock)
Ile-a-Vache Currency (2 gourdes and 5 gourdes) under
Bernard Kock
We gratefully
acknowledge Ponterio & Associates, Inc. for
permission to use the above banknote photos
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