Manjack Mining in Barbados

MANJAK MINING IN BARBADOS

By, Sylvan Spooner

In light of the current global dependence on fossil fuel, this article looks briefly at one segment of this island’s history of fossil fuel exploration as it examines, in brief, the history of manjak exploration on the island from 1894 to 1939. Profiled in 1657 by Richard Ligon as ‘hard and black as pitch’[1] and by Sir Hans Slone in 1707 as ‘a sort of pit coal,[2] this naturally occurring hydrocarbon has been referred to by numerous names, including: Munjak, Mountjack, Barbados Tar or simply as Barbados manjak. Found deep within slopes along the Scotland District which comprises an estimated 14% of the island’s land mass, some manjak mines reached depths of between 30 to a referenced maximum of 150 ft. Mining at such depths was often a treacherous affair even though the records indicate that they were no major mining incidents on the island.

Barbados Manjack

Two of the island’s early mine operators were Mr. R.H Emtage and Mr. Walter Merivale and these two for decades retained ownership of the most productive mines. After mining operations commenced in 1894/5, manjak’s use as a source of fuel was not instantly apparent; indeed, the practice of inserting huge blocks of manjak directly into plantation furnaces was largely unsuccessful since in that form its fuel potential was not maximized.

It took the intervention of a Boston businessman by the name of Mr. T.J Pinny to convince Marivale that manjak, if processed correctly, could act as a viable source of fuel. Pinny himself had become interested in manjak only after having received samples in 1893 which were sent to him in New York by a Mr. C. J Greenidge from Barbados.[3] It is highly likely that this was the same C.J Greenidge who a year later in 1894 would build the Mutual building and soon after that the St. Michael Alms House.[4]

Manjak became, for a time, a local export product and was first exported to the United States of America in 1895.[5] So important was Marivale’s dominance of the industry that it was shipped to North America under the name Marivale Manjak. By the turn of the century, other players had entered the manjak business; one of these was Barbados Manjak Mines ltd which employed between 70-100 men and women in various capacities.[6] Other than Emptage and Marivale, by 1908 Mr. T. W Whitchal also owned two mines at Irish Town.[7] Exports continued chiefly to the United States and between 1898 and 1908 over 9,000 tons were shipped to the US for use not as fuel, but as building and roofing material. The decline of manjak from around 1915 was a slow lingering process and by 1917 only one mine, under the ownership of Emptage at Springvale was in operation on the island. This mine produced 76 tons of manjak that year valued a mere £1,292.[8]  The Barbados Blue Books indicate that manjak exploration continued until the outbreak of WWII with production decreasing annually to that point. However, by 1940, with the world at war, manjak exploration came to an end.

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[1] Richard Ligon. A true and Exact History of the island of Barbadoes. p 101

[2] Hans Slone. A Voyage to the land  of Barbados, Barbados, Nieves and Jamaica. p33.

[3] R.H Emptage. The Barbados Handbook. p195.

[4] Warren Alleyne. Historic Bridgetown. p53.

[5] RH Emptage. “Manjak” Journal Of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, 1943. p59

[6] Sessional Papers, Vol. 64. House of Commons Report on Barbados 1902-1903, p15.

[7] Barbados Blue Book, 1908. J137b2. Manufactures, Mines Oil wells and Fisheries. Zip.2.

[8] Barbados Blue Book, 1917.