Fort Amsterdam

— Emergency repair for one of the oldest forts in the Caribbean

Fort Amsterdam is one of the oldest forts in the Caribbean. It’s unique in it’s form as a hybrid design of Spanish and Dutch fort architecture. Due to centuries of erosion the footing of one bastions got undermined, resulting at the structure almost collapsing in the Caribbean Sea.

Over many years, during archaeological research by SIMARC, serious cracks were noted in the fort walls. In 2008 an emergency repair and stabilization request was made by Jay Haviser via the Ministry VROMI, which could not find financial support from the Sint Maarten government.

In early 2014, the Sint Maarten Government requested “The Port of Sint Maarten” to execute a survey on the Fort to determine the structural integrity and stability. DAM Caribbean executed this first survey on behalf of the Port of Sint Maarten. The report concluded that without any stabilization the fort was soon to collapse into the Great Bay.

With the funding secured, Divi Little Bay Resort as the property owner, requested the Ministry of OCJS Department of Culture, for a monument permit, which was granted in June 2016.

With a contract agreement between the Divi Little Bay Resort authorities and SIMARC, emergency repairs begun in July 2016 and completed in December, by LICCOM n.v., advise from restoration expert Wim de Jong and under supervision of DAM Caribbean n.v.