Fort Patience
Fort Patience (Dutch: Fort Lijdzaamheid, or Fort Leydsaemheyt in 17th-century spelling) is a Dutch-built fort in the township of Apam, Central Region.
History
The fort was first built in 1697 as a stone trade lodge at the request of King Acron, with whom the Dutch had a treaty, and which was located between the kingdoms of Fante and Agona, with whom the British had a treaty. The Dutch West India Company’s executives were hesitant to build a fort in an area with little trade and only agreed on the condition that it be erected at a low cost. The Acron were not pleased and threatened to expel the Dutch if the defenses were not extended. As a result, the Dutch waited five years to complete the structure, earning it the name Fort Patience.
The lodge had been turned into a defensive structure by 1721, and it lay on a rugged peninsula just south of the township, with a commanding view of Apam’s harbor to the north and the Gulf of Guinea coast to the south, east, and west.
Captain Thomas Shirley traveled to the Dutch Gold Coast with the 50-gun ship Leander and the sloop-of-war Alligator in early 1782. Shirley took the small Dutch forts at Moree (Fort Nassau – 20 guns), Kormantin (Courmantyne or Fort Amsterdam – 32 guns), Apam (Fort Lijdzaamheid or Fort Patience – 22 guns), Senya Beraku (Fort Goede Hoop – 18 guns), and Accra (Fort Crêvecoeur – 32 guns) while Britain was at war with the Netherlands.
Physical Structure
The fort was originally built as a tiny two-story stone cabin. The Dutch built a demi-bastion on the northwest and southeast sides of the fort between 1701 and 1721. It was a police station as well as a post office.
Call for Rehabilitation
The Apam Youth and Development Association petitioned the National Museums and Monuments Board, the Dutch Embassy in Ghana, the Gomoa District Assembly, and other stakeholders on April 9, 2008 to take immediate action to save Fort Patience from further deterioration.