Volcanic pinnacles and a shelf edge falling from 10m to 180m, with wahoo, mackerel and sharks off the drop. In the shallows…Volcanic pinnacles and a shelf edge falling from 10m to 180m, with wahoo, mackerel and sharks off the drop. In the shallows, the submerged warehouses and sea walls of an 18th-century free port, with ballast stones, anchors and blue trade beads still in the sand. Statia was the busiest trading port in the Atlantic in the 1770s, so rich it was called the Golden Rock, and it fired the first foreign salute to the American flag in 1776. British Admiral Rodney sacked it in 1781 and the port never recovered. Half the old lower town is now underwater. Anchorage: Open roadstead off Oranjestad, rolly and exposed. Statia is a stop rather than a shelter. Hazards: Exposed roadstead anchorage; swell makes landing difficult. Walls drop very deep. Meer