Negotiations to build a Dutch fort on the site began in 1610, but did not bear fruit until much later. Fort Crèvecœur was built in 1642 as a simple
factory and then enlarged in 1649 by the
Dutch West India Company. It was named after Fort Crèvecœur in
's-Hertogenbosch in the
Dutch Republic, which had played a crucial role in the
Siege of 's-Hertogenbosch. One of the Dutch representatives,
Henry Caerlof, developed good relations with the Dey of Fetu, who gave Caerlof permission to build Osu Castle in 1652 for the Swedish Africa company. Fort Crèvecœur and
Fort James were neither as imposing nor as important from the political point of view as Elmina or
Cape Coast Castle, built 150 kilometers further west. Still, they brought their owners significant revenue. At the end of 1781 Captain
Thomas Shirley in the frigate , together with the
sloop-of-war Alligator, sailed for the
Dutch Gold Coast with a convoy consisting of a few merchant-vessels and transports. Britain was
at war with the
Dutch Republic and
Shirley launched an unsuccessful attack on 17 February on the Dutch outpost at
Elmina, which the Dutch repulsed four days later.
Leander and Shirley then went on to capture the small Dutch forts at
Mouri (
Fort Nassau - 20 guns), Kormantine (Courmantyne or
Fort Amsterdam - 32 guns),
Apam (
Fort Lijdzaamheid or Fort Patience - 22 guns),
Senya Beraku (Berricoe, Berku, Fort Barracco or
Fort Goede Hoop - 18 guns), and
Accra (Fort Crèvecœur - 32 guns). Shirley garrisoned those facilities with personnel from
Cape Coast Castle. Fort Crèvecoeur was completely destroyed, and rebuilt in 1839 by Dutch master of works
Hubertus Varlet. Fort Crèvecœur, which lies to the east of the present port, became known in time as Ussher Fort in honour of the then Administrator of the Gold Coast,
Herbert Taylor Ussher. ==Currently==