During WW II, the Bahamas were part of the British Empire. By the 1940s, many wealthy Brits had bought islands or cays here and built large homes with full-time staff who provided for their every need. Some of them visited their island homes periodically and others lived here full time. One of the full-timers was a gentleman named Sir Baxter Darby. He was reportedly an eccentric and a Nazi sympathizer, and he built a large castle-like home at the highest point of the island now called Darby Island. He employed hundreds of local people to build rock walls all over his island. When the war came he also did something else. He created a deep water channel from the nearest “cut”, or navigable entrance from the ocean, into the protected waters around his island. The story is that it was used to bring in German U-Boats that were hunting on the east coast of the US so they could resupply and continue their patrols without a long transit back to German-friendly territory.
We visited this island and in spite of a pretty intimidating no trespassing sign (it warned that trespassers would go to jail and their passports would be confiscated and returned at their trial!), we explored the “castle” as well. I’ll come back to the castle, but the most convincing thing we saw that this story is true is the very deep channel that was dredged and carved out of the coral right next to the concrete pier for the castle. We snorkeled in the channel, drifting in the current alongside the dinghy. Somebody went to the trouble to cut sheer cliffs deep enough and wide enough to easily get a German U Boat up to that pier. All the normal supply boats, going back to those for the first inhabitants of these islands, have been very shallow draft because that is what is needed to get to most of the Bahamas islands. We ask ourselves: Why else would somebody dig this channel and the U Boat story is really the only thing that makes sense. The sides of the channel are clearly man-made because they are exactly vertical.The channel is simply not needed to get supplies and materials via the normal commercial boat traffic.
Snorkeling the channel was a little spooky. It is very deep with many good sized fish just hovering near the bottom. We also saw a very large (8’ wing span probably) spotted eagle ray swimming about 10 feet deep very close to us. It was kind of murky in this canal due to the current that rips through here. The big black shape slowly rose up out of the depths towards us…very eerie!
We of course went ashore in spite of the sign and hiked up a well-worn trail to the house. It’s clear that a lot of people still come up here, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they are now in jail. The island must have been spectacular in its day and the house is amazing. It is probably still salvageable since much of it is made of carved stone (probably coral). It had running water and electricity which surprised me since it was built well before the war. It has been abandoned since the end of the war and much of the wood bits are collapsing and decaying, so if you decide to buy it you will have some work to do! The island and castle are offered for sale for just $39M! The views from the balconies are some of the best we’ve seen here, and the large stone patio (more of a plaza really) would be a beautiful place to enjoy a lunch or an afternoon drink. It must have been a wonderful place to live.
We do wonder how Sir Baxter could get away with this. Part of the answer is that these islands were very remote at the time so there were few people around in the middle of the night to see this. The other piece of the puzzle is that the British governor of the Bahamas at the time was Edward VIII; the same royal who abdicated the throne so he could marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson. He was given the top spot in the Bahamas. It was and still is strongly rumored that he was a Nazi sympathizer, with the kindest interpretation being that he did not believe the allies could win so he believed the best course for the long-term prospects of Britain was making a deal with Germany. I obviously don’t know all that much about this, but that is one explanation for how Sir Baxter could get away with his submarine support work.
Baxter was no dummy, and he had a plan in place to save his skin in the event things did not go his way. He disappeared right before the end of the war and his whereabouts were never determined. It seems he had money, property and a new name all lined up for a tolerable future in spite of Germany’s loss.
While we did manage to avoid jail, I’m still wondering if all the previous trespassers are still locked up awaiting trial.
Unlike some of my blogs, this one really is historical, with the following disclaimer: The above is based on a few things we’ve read and some web searching, such as it is with our phones from the boat. Based on what we’ve read and what we saw, Mary Beth and I think this is probably pretty close to the truth.
Thanks for reading!
Below is a picture of a cave that was right next to where we were anchored off Rudder Cay (owned by the magician David Copperfield). More beautiful scenery!
