Hammerton Killick

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.^[14] The 1889 constitution provided for the National Assembly to name a president, but there was an uprising demanding direct elections.^[14] A provisional government was created to oversee the election of deputies who, together with the National Assembly would appoint the president.^[15] Anténor Firmin soon emerged as a popular favorite, but he was opposed by the military and the provisional government, which both supported Pierre Nord Alexis.^[14] By June 1902 a civil war had broken out between the supporters of Firmin and the supporters of Alexis.^[14]

Admiral Killick declared his support for Firmin very early on,^[16][17] 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.^[4] 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.^[16][17] Meanwhile, the rest of the Haitian Navy, comprising a single ship, the Toussaint Louverture, was in Gonaïves,^[16] where Firmin had many supporters.^[15]

Firmin campaigned to be elected deputy of both his hometown Cap-Haïtien, and Gonaïves.^[15] He was elected deputy for Gonaïves, but on June 28 fighting broke out in Cap-Haïtien between his supporters and troops controlled by Alexis, who had been sent there to supervise the elections.^[15][18] After the fighting broke out Firmin embarked on the Crête-à-Pierrot and sailed to Gonaïves.^[15] There he continued to protest against the way the elections were being conducted.^[15]

Killick, meanwhile, proceeded to bombard Cap-Haïtien with both ships.^[3] When he left Cap-Haïtien he accidentally ran the Toussaint Louverture aground on a reef,^[3][4] but through the rest of the summer Killick and the Crête-à-Pierrot transported soldiers for the Firminist cause, attacked coastal towns, and isolated and slowly demobilized Alexis' forces.^[4][19] Meanwhile, Jean Jumeau marched on Port-au-Prince by land.^[5]

Due to his role in the conflict between Firmin and Alexis, Killick was decommissioned by July 12.^[20]

Although the disrupted, disputed elections were still on-going in July,^[20] by July 26, Firmin had been declared president by inhabitants of Artibonite and several other regions of Haiti, Jumeau's land forces were reported to be within one day's march of Port-au-Prince, and the Crête-à-Pierrot was in the harbor at Port-au-Prince.^[21]

Eventually, Killick attempted to establish a blockade of the harbor at Cap-Haïtien.^[4] On September 2, 1902,^[15] Killick and his crew seized a German ammunition ship, the Markomannia en route to Cape Haitian to provide ammunition to Alexis' forces.^[5] Alexis asked Germany for help subduing a pirate ship.^[14] In response, Germany sent the gunboat SMS Panther to find and capture the Crête-à-Pierrot.^[5]

On September 6, the Crête-à-Pierrot was in port at Gonaïves, with Killick and most of the crew on shore leave when the Panther appeared.^[1] Killick rushed on-board and ordered his crew to abandon ship.^[1] When all but four crew members had evacuated the ship^[5] Killick, inspired by the tale of Captain LaPorte, wrapped himself in a Haitian flag, fired the aft magazine, and blew up the ship, along with the arms that were supplied by German merchants,^[22] rather than let the Germans take her.^[1][23] Killick and the remaining four crew members went down with the ship.^[1]

An hour later, the Panther fired thirty shots at the Crête-à-Pierrot to finish it off, then sailed away.^[23] The ship's rifles and machine guns were salvaged.^[23] Killick's body was recovered and buried that same day.^[23]

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.^[19] Within a month, Firmin went into exile in Saint Thomas, Barbados, where he died in 1911.^[19]

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  Killick's ship, the Crête-à-Pierrot.
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  SMS Panther, a German ship sent to capture the Crête-à-Pierrot.
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  Pierre Nord Alexis, the 19th President of Haiti.
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  Anténor Firmin. Killick died supporting Firmin instead of Alexis in the civil war over who would become the 19th President of Haiti.
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  In 1943 Killick was honored with a postage stamp depicting his death.
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  Haitian gunboat Crête-à-Pierrot on September 6, 1902, at the Port of Gonaives shortly before the sinking by SMS Panther.
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  The Haitian gunboat Crete-à-Pierrot sinking after bombardment by SMS Panther in the port of Gonaives September 6, 1902.
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  Wreck of the Haitian gunboat Crete-à-Pierrot in the port of Gonaives on September 6, 1902.