Roatan’s Beauty, Truth & Wisdom

Dullie Hole – An Islander with Grit (Part I)

In 1958, my dad owned the property at the entrance to French Harbour lagoon. From French Cay channel to where the bluff of big blue rocks… He had a small wharf where the blue rocks were surrounded by mangroves, where the dory could be in the shade. As a boy, only 12 years old, I was very curious and would go exploring around the blue rocks. Once I came across a hole in the rocks and climbed into it. The hole itself was about six feet by four feet. From inside the hole it had three holes, almost like little windows that you could look out from. First view was looking towards French Cay, the second was a view of the lagoon and the 3rd was a view of the public road. When I returned home and told my dad about it, he told me that was Dullie’s Hole.

Dullie’s ancestors were from Plymouth, Massachusetts dating back to 1752. They sided with the colonists and fought against the British for their independence. His grandfather was born around 1810 in Plymouth, Massachusetts arriving to Roatan around 1840.

Dullie was born in 1889, in French Cay, Roatan. During the start of World War I in Europe, there were some English soldiers stationed in Belize and some volunteers that were supposed to be shipped out to Europe. Dullie heard about this so he took a dory with a sail and sailed to Belize where he volunteered for the fight. The group was shipped to Jamaica B.W.I. and then on to battle fields of WWI. With a little training in Jamaica and Egypt before seeing action in France.

He came back up with two sticks of M-90 Dynamite.

He was captured at some point during the War and spent time in Kaiser Wilhelm jail as a POW. Upon the end of the War, they were shipped back to Jamaica, how many returned is unclear, but Dullie made it back. Some people said the war changed him, saying he was shell-shocked, now known today as PTSD.

He owned some property in the French Cay area, where he started farming and buying coconuts to make copra. He also opened a small store and raised his family. He obtained a small sailing boat that he would use to make trips to Belize and back bringing supplies for his store. The local officials said that he was smuggling.

He would arrive in French Cay at night. On one of these trips coming back the wind was not in his favor, by morning he only made it to the area, where the airport is today. He did not make it to French Cay during the night like before. The officials in Coxen Hole could see the boat out there, so they sent a captain and two soldiers out in a small power boat to intercept him. When they arrived they didn’t see anyone aboard so they started to call out – “is there anyone aboard?”

Dullie had gone below in the hold of the boat, he came back up with two sticks of M-90 Dynamite, one in each hand and both were lit. Dullie fired one of them at the boat, the captain saw this and turned the boat to avoid it causing it to land in the water next to them. This scared them causing them to flee.

As they were leaving, Dullie threw the second stick of dynamite at them. In a fright, when they arrived to Coxen Hole, they ran their boat’s bow aground on the beach where the public park is located today. The Captain was from Coxen Hole along with two soldiers. When they got back to land, they tried to tell the officials what had taken place, but all that was understood was gibberish because they were so scared.

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