Page 495 - The British Big Four

he restoration features a porch, cook other versions say that the king gave the is- enough of heavenly bliss on our lovely
lands freedom from taxation. Travel to East beaches, take a break and Go to Hell!
T room with caboose, cistern, natural
well, native coral stone fences and path- End on Grand Cayman and you can still see
ways lined with conch shells. Some of the the remains of this legend in the seas. E AST END LIGHTHOUSE PARK - The reefs
original fixtures remain inside. Planning the at the eastern end of Grand Cayman

Heritage Garden involved years of research H ELL - Thousands of tourists go to have long been a hazard to shipping. In the
on existing old gardens in the Cayman Hell each year. They stare, awed by past, East End was known as the “Grave-
Islands. yard of the Caribbean”. The most notable

T HE WRECK OF TEN SAILS - In 1794, a the blackened and jagged rock formation wreck was that of the Ten Sail, in February
great maritime tragedy took place on that gives the little district in West Bay its 1794, when ten ships foundered off what
unusual name. They send letters and cards is now known as Gun Bay. Perhaps if there

the East End of Grand Cayman. “The Wreck to friends with the HELL postmark clearly had been a system of lights in place at

of the Ten Sails” is still legendary on Grand stamped on the back - and greetings like that time, the accident might have been

Cayman, recalling the tragedy of the Cord- “This is a Hell of a place” or “You saw me avoided, but it would be another 100 years

elia, part of a convoy of merchant ships in Hell first.” Hell’s intriguing formation, before the first lighthouse was built. Today,

headed to Britain from Jamaica. Cordelia which resembles the charred remains of a the lighthouse is administered by the Cay-

ran aground on the reef at the East End and hell fire, is a weathered form of the local man Islands’ Port Authority who has given

frantically sent a signal to other ships to rock called ironshore. Common around the permission for the National Trust for the

warn them off the dangerous coral. Sadly, island, but in less dramatic form, ironshore Cayman Islands to enhance the site for visi-

the signal was misunderstood and, one by has been estimated at 1.5 million years old. tors. The Trust’s East End District Committee

one, they all ran into the reef. Residents The formation looks like volcanic rock but and numerous volunteers constructed the

of East End were credited with their quick is actually made up of very hard limestone, 37 steps that lead up to the summit. Work

actions that left no life unsaved, an act that at one time snow white, now blackened by on the Park is still underway, but visitors

King George III later recognized. Various a surface coating of the algae which are will find the spectacular view at the top

stories explain that King George III granted secreting acid and eroding the rock into well worth the climb.

the islands freedom from conscription and these unusual shapes. So, if you have had