Buck Island, StX

I was interested in how Buck Island got its name. There are numerous stories. One boat captain told me that Buck was where they put "young buck" soldiers and slaves who were acting up. Some say it is a shortened version of "buccaneer" island, or "buccan" island (buccan being the Taino word for the smoking of meat, aka, bbq). And of course, many believe that is was named after male "buck" goats or rams living there.

Retired National Park historian Bill Cissel sent me this fascinating and almost certainly true explanation, and I thought I'd share it here. It's a story that mirrors the multiple cultures and languages that have come to these islands.

In [BRACKETS] are my additions based on some follow-up research.

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The first maps of St. Croix to name its off-lying cay and island date from the period of French ownership. Maps by Francois Blondel (1667) and Francois Lapointe (1671) both refer to what we now know as Green Cay as Isle a Cabrits (Goat Island), -- and Buck Island as Isle Vert (Green Island).

Isle Vert (known to us as Buck Island) was so called because it was ORIGINALLY forested with lignum vitae trees, which have very dark green leaves. From a distance, the island would have a dark green appearance.

In 1750, the first map of St. Croix under Danish ownership was drawn by two surveyors by the names of Jaegersborg and Cronenborg. Isle Vert was now renamed Pocken-Eyland, but the meaning was the same. Until the mid-1700s, German was the language of educated Danes. The German word for lignum vitae is Pockholz, so Pocken-Eyland literally meant "Lignum Vitae Island."

[[ Pocken is the German Dutch word for "pox". The resin from the Lignum Vitae, aka "Pockholz or Pocken" trees, was used by Taino indians and Europeans as a treatment for smallpox, syphyllis, and all manner of skin diseases. It was heavily harvested following European conquest of the West Indies.

The Taino word for the resin was "guaiac" (gu-ay-ak). If you take a cold medicine with the expectorant "guaifenesin" in it , you are taking an old Taino remedy! ...and it may cure your syphyllis too 😉 ]]

Jens Mikkelsen Beck (1754) and Paul Kueffner (1767) printed early maps of St. Croix. Kueffner re-named the former Isle a Cabrits (goats) as Gruenkey (German for 'Green' Cay), which has continued in its English form to this day. [see explanation below of how that mistake could have been made.]

[The spelling on their map label] "Pocken-Eyland" became Boekeneyland.

[So two map makers renamed Isla Vert to Pocken Eyland, and another map maker moved the name Isla Vert over to the former Isla Cabrits where it forever became known as Green Cay. Here's how that probably happened...]

In the 1700s, maps and illustrations were printed from engraved copper plates. Everything was engraved in reverse (like a negative) so that it would print positive on the paper. One can see how mistakes could occasionally happen. [Thus, this could explain how Isla Cabrits co-opted the name Isla Vert]. The change from Pocken-Eyland to Bockeneyland simply involved changing the "P" to a "B."

[In addition to the reverse plates theory of how P became B. The letters "P" and "B" in German Gothic script are nearly identical and easily mistaken. And linguistically, they sound nearly the same. And if you didn't catch it... When you contract the two words "pocken eyland" into one word, you get "pockeneyland." Change the Gothic script P to B and you get "Bockeneyland" which begins to appear on some maps. Drop the "en" and you get "Buck Eyland." Cool, huh?]

By the time of Kueffner's map (1767), Pocken-Eyland had either been leased to or purchased by a Dane with the last name of Diedrich, who was the Town Clerk (recorder of deeds) at Christiansted, which was capital of the "Danish Islands in America." Contrary to popular legend, Diedrich was not a pirate or a privateer, nor did he live on the island.

Diedrich established a small settlement of slaves there to cut down the lignum vitae trees for export. This ecological disaster was made worse when goats were introduced to the island in the last quarter of the 1700s.

[Within 20 years Dedrich had cut down all the lignum vitae trees. How his goats got water on a dry island is a mystery.]

It was the presence of goats that caused subsequent mapmakers to assume that the name Bock-Eyland had its origin in an identical Dutch word for ram-goat, instead of a misspelling [and connection to the Pocken "lignum vitae" tree's pox-soothing capabilities]. It was a simple step to convert Bock [the German/Danish word for male goat] to the English "Buck" in maps beginning in 1824.

Place names on Buck Island, such as "West Beach," "Turtle Bay," and "Diedrich's Point" were invented for the benefit of tourists within the last 40 years!

[Lignum Vitae was exported not only for its resin, but for its wood. It's one of the hardest, most dense and rot-resistant woods, and was used in boat making (for things such as pulleys) and furniture making.]

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So there you have it. Isla Vert = Lignum Vitae Island the cure for pox ...aka... "Pocken Eyland" ...which contracted to Pockeneyland, ...then the Gothic letter P was misspelled as B ....and appeared as Bockeney Island, ...which the English contracted to "Buck island. "

Seven Flags indeed!