Original Item. One-of-a-Kind. This is a tremendous example of a pike head with an interesting backstory. This pike head was purportedly found on Tortuga Island, a West Indian island that forms part of Haiti, in 1943 by a U.S. Navy sailor. It was found by the sailor when digging for a possible gun placement.

The pike head measures roughly 11” overall, with a 7” pike. The construction is entirely evident of the period, with the attachment line of the base still very visible. This piece was obviously well-cared for during the past 82 years since its discovery.

This is a tremendous piece of Haitian history with a great WWII backstory, ready for further research and display.

The first Europeans to land on Tortuga were the Spanish in 1492 during the first voyage of Christopher Columbus into the New World. On December 6, 1492, three Spanish ships entered the Windward Passage that separates Cuba and Haiti. At sunrise, Columbus noticed an island whose contours emerged from the morning mist. Because the shape reminded him of a turtle's shell, he chose the name of Tortuga.

Tortuga was originally settled by a few Spanish colonists under the Captaincy General of Santo Domingo. In 1625, French and English colonists from Saint Kitts arrived on the island of Tortuga after initially planning to settle on mainland Hispaniola. They were attacked in 1629 by Spanish forces commanded by Don Fadrique de Toledo, who expelled them before building a fort on the island and garrisoning it. As most of the garrison eventually left for Hispaniola to expel French colonists residing there, other French settlers returned in 1630, occupying and expanding the fort.

From 1630 onward, the island of Tortuga was divided into French and English colonies, allowing buccaneers to use the island as their main base of operations. In 1633, the first slaves were imported from Africa to aid in the plantations. However, by 1635 the use of slaves had ended. The slaves were said to be out of control on the island, while at the same time there had been continuous disagreements and fighting between French and English colonists on Tortuga.

In 1635, the Spanish expelled the French and English colonists from Tortuga before leaving. As more English and French settlers soon returned, the Spanish returned to expel them again, only to leave because the island was too small to be of major importance. This allowed the return of both French and English colonists. In 1638, the Spanish returned for a third time to secure their claim to the island and expel the French and Dutch settlers on Tortuga. They occupied the island, but were eventually expelled by the French and Dutch colonists in 1640, at which time the French built Fort de Rocher in a natural harbour; the fort enabled the French to defeat a Spanish invasion force the following year.

By 1640, the buccaneers of Tortuga were calling themselves the Brethren of the Coast. The buccaneers population was mostly made up of French and Englishmen, along with a small number of Dutchmen. In 1654, the Spanish attacked the island for the fourth and last time, defeating a Franco-English force.

In 1655, Tortuga was settled again by English and French colonists under Elias Watts, who secured a commission from Col. William Brayne, the governor of Jamaica, to serve as governor of Tortuga. In 1664, French buccaneer Jeremie Dechamps sold the island for 15,000 livres to the French West India Company after having tried to sell it to the English for 6,000 pounds following an initial offer of 10,000 pounds by the French.[9] In the same year, 400 French colonists came to Tortuga from Anjou, and they established Hispaniola's first sugar plantations since the first wave of European colonization. This group of colonists spread to the coast of the mainland and became the nexus of the French colony of Saint-Domingue.