The Battle of the Saints, fought in April 1782 in the channel between Dominica and Guadeloupe, was the decisive naval engagement of the Caribbean theater of the American Revolutionary War. Admiral Rodney's defeat of the French fleet under de Grasse effectively ended France's ambitions to capture Jamaica and reversed the momentum that had seen Saint Lucia itself change hands multiple times during the conflict. Saint Lucia issued this coin on the bicentennial of that battle — an unusual choice, given that the island had been French at the time Rodney fought.
The Battle of the Saints, fought in April 1782 in the channel between Dominica and Guadeloupe, was the decisive naval engagement of the Caribbean theater of the American Revolutionary War. Admiral Rodney's defeat of the French fleet under de Grasse effectively ended France's ambitions to capture Jamaica and reversed the momentum that had seen Saint Lucia itself change hands multiple times during the conflict. Saint Lucia issued this coin on the bicentennial of that battle — an unusual choice, given that the island had been French at the time Rodney fought.