🇩🇲Dominica
Fort Shirley at First Light
Fort Shirley, placed with perfection on the peninsula that is Cabrits National Park in the north of Dominica is steeped in history. Home to a Kalinago settlement for thousands of years, the fort saw initial construction in the mid-1700’s under the British only to be finished by the French. It also saw the pivotal Caribbean naval clash The Battle of The Saints off its shores in 1782, the slave revolt of the 8th West India Regiment in 1802 which forever changed the role of black soldiers in the British Empire, the comings and goings of pirates during their golden age, being decommissioned in the mid-1800’s, its restoration which began in 1982, and on to today where every morning it catches the first rays of light over Portsmouth.