A Leopard Came Calling On My Island Of Desroches

By: Rosemary Pothin Ludwig

21st November 1959 a ‘leopard’ came calling to our fair island of Desroches in the Seychelles Islands. Well I called it ‘ours’ but actually in those days it was owned by the Delhomme family.

My father, Antonio, was hired by Mr. Andre Delhomme to manage the island for him. As a young girl, 14years of age, at the time living at the manager’s quarters, La Maison Blanche, I recall with fondness the time that I spent there with my mother Marie-Ange and at times my younger brothers Harold and Nicholas.

Life was not easy but we made it our home and shared what we had with the other families who lived there as well working on the island farm.

Once every 3 months we would be visited by the either the schooner ‘MV Anne’ or ‘MV de Quincy’ bringing supplies such as sugar, flour, rice, lentils, and the like, perhaps some live animals, books, medical supplies, alcohol, cloth, and other needed items, from the main island of Mahe. In return the schooners would be filled with copra and other crops which were grown on the island. If the wind was right the schooners could expect to make it back to Mahe some 24 hours after leaving our shores.

Indeed a visit by the schooners was the talking point by all and for many days after the memory of them anchored offshore seared hot on the mind. Now with them gone we would all watch and mark off on the calendar each passing day so as to prepare for their next return.

On this particular morning however it was not the arrival of a schooner from Mahe which had grabbed the attention of all of us. Rather it was the sight and sound of a much larger vessel, the HMS Leopard, with the marking ‘F14’ on her bow. Officers from the ship had made it ashore and had been met by my father in his capacity as the manager of the island.

I recall it being a brief but friendly visit as the captain of the ship explained the reason for the visit. Having visited Poivre island the day before this ship of the Royal Navy would next visit Praslin and Mahe where they would stay for a few days before heading off to Mauritius and later South Africa. “Showing the colours”, I recall one of the younger officers saying.

After a delicious meal prepared by my mother it was left to me to show some of the officers the beach and perhaps showing off some of my ‘local’ knowledge of the island to them as well.

On the beach walking and sharing stories with my mother in tow, there we happened upon several beautiful shells freshly brought ashore by the surf, which were almost immediately picked up by the captain looking at them briefly and placing them ‘safely’ in his pockets.

“Captain”, I said, “Perhaps it would be wiser to first clean out the shells before placing them in your trouser pocket”, I dared to suggest. My mother was quick to excuse my remarks to this most seasoned officer of Her Majesty’s service with a quick and clever retort back, my suggestion was politely ignored and our walk continued.

It was not but a few minutes later did we notice the mighty ‘Leopard’ looking strangely and removing the ‘innocent’ shells from his pocket. “Whatever was the matter?” asked the ship’s medical officer to his senior. Puzzled they all looked at the shells while the captain explained that something had been nipping at him and this was most puzzling?

Ever the expert I recall stepping in to explain that there was a simple reason for this. Taking one of the shells in hand I began to gently blow into one of the openings to persuade the occupant to come out. Indeed it did, a small crab, extending its claw and almost instantly grabbing hold of my upper lip! How embarrassed I was!

Indeed the mighty ‘leopard’ had gone from having a ‘crab’ in his pocket and being confused as to what it could possibly be, to a young teenage girl scurrying off down the beach with the very same crab now dangling off of her lip, screaming! What a log entry this would make I later thought to myself.

My father was not too amused ‘yanking’ the small animal from my lip causing a gash at the same time.

Later as the officers from the HMS Leopard paid their respects to my family I was nowhere to be seen. The mighty ‘leopard’ had landed and met his crab but I was the worse off for it!

More information on the island of Desroches:-

Desroches was named by Chevalier de Roslan, commander of the ship L'Heure du Berger, after the Chevalier des Roches, the Governor of Mauritius (then Île de France) and Réunion (then Bourbon) from 1767 to 1772. [1] It was explored by the Chevalier de la Billioère in 1771. The British had originally named it Wood Island because of its dense tree vegetation. The island was an important producer of copra.

Along with the remaining Amirante Islands, Desroches had been a part of the Seychelles since it became a separate colony in 1909. On November 8, 1965, the United Kingdom split Desroches from the Seychelles to become part of the newly created the British Indian Ocean Territory together with Farquhar, Aldabra and the Chagos Archipelago, but returned it to the Seychelles with the first two. The purpose was to allow the construction of military facilities for the mutual benefit of the United Kingdom and the United States. On June 23, 1976, Desroches was returned to Seychelles as a result of it attaining independence.

Desroches has a population of about 50, a settlement in the middle of the northwestern shore (looking to the lagoon), a small luxury hotel with 20 rooms in the south (Desroches Island Resort), built in 1988[2] and a paved airstrip 1372 m long in the southern part. It is located 36 km east of the Amirantes Bank, and separated from it by water over 1300 meters deep. It lies on the southern edge of a reef of atoll character.

At the northern edge of the atoll are the Shark Rocks, with least depths between 3 and 6 meters. There is a lighthouse on the northeast end of the Desroches Island. The island is fringed by a drying reef which extends 1.6 km offshore from the northeastern extremity and 0.8 km from the southwestern extremity.

The island is low and is covered with coconut palms and tall hardwood trees. A deep channel, about 1.6 km wide, leads into the lagoon. The least depth in the channel is 18.3 m, and it crosses the atoll in a position about 11 km northwest of Desroches.

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Rosemary Pothin Ludwig is the owner of 'UniqueOffersSeychelles!LLC'