Interesting read about Tintamarre

http://thesabaislander.com/2013/07/04/tintamarre/

Wow, very interesting! Lots of stuff there. Will have to go back and re-read it later.

Great story. Read it years ago. B lent me a great book by Will Johnson about the history of Sint Maarten.
Cheers
irina

an island with a lot of history.
The King of Tintamarre was Diederick Cristiaan van Romondt, an ancestor of my husband's.
Diederick is my husband's name and is a very popular name throughout the van Romondt family.
my late father in law, Aubrey Cannegieter, is also mentioned in this article

I went to school and served in Viet Nam with Mike Voges, his family history includes SXM and a street has his fanily name in P'burg. The schooner that is no more was his cousin.

The writer is wrong about the origin of the island's name. Tintamare means "ado" or "hub-hub" in French. The island was given the name Santa Marie by the Spanish and maps of the time listed it as such. When the French took over St. Martin all they had were some old Spanish maps that were difficult to read and they mistranslated the name. I just checked my French dictionary and it translates the word as racket. I was surprised to find it since old French words that are common in the Caribbean such as marigot and ance are no longer used.

Wow. Just researched what you said and that's an Acadian term.
Not sure that applies to St Martin or Sint Maarten.
Please elaborate.
I think Will Johnson knows quite a bit about Saba and Sint Maarten.
Thanks
irina

If it was just an Acadian term I don't think it would be in a general French dictionary without a notation to that affect. I also asked French friends on St. Martin what they thought it meant in English and they said turmoil.

Thank you scubaman for an interesting read on the history of Tintamarre. our history goes back to the times when we could go there...dig around and find "special" mud to rub on our bodies and pretend we were in a high priced spa. We miss those day outings.

The ban on taking mud from Tintamarre is pretty recent. I'm sure there are a lot of folks here that miss that 'spa' experience, both long time visitors and relative newbies.

The article is very interesting though!