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A

Sloop

Story

A

SloopStory

A nAtive dAughter

returns to discover

her nAuticAl pAst

And its precArious

futureBy BoBBi Misick

PhotograPhy By

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Dad says Par (Grandpa in the Turks & Caicos;

pronounced pah) had a sailboat named the

Flying Arrow or as long as he could remem-

ber, but I would never know it. In my count-

less visits to my Grandparents home in North

I never went sailing with him. Being one o

the younger granddaughters, the option

wasnt even available to me. I wasnt allowed

beyond o the stretch between Mar and Pars

house and my Aunts Titter and Verninces

homes, just down the road. Besides, by the

time I came around Par had long since

switched to motorboats.

Even more regrettable was my oblivion to

the lineage o sailors that myand many

other Turks Islandersamily belong to. As a

little girl, my ather would tell me that we

came rom Bermudian sailors who settled inthe Turks & Caicos Islands to cultivate the salt

industry. I accepted the inormation and

never inquired urther. It wasnt until a recent

trip to Bermuda, where I was requently

asked, Are you related to so-and-so Misick

on island? that I made the connection.

When I was in primary school in the late

80s and 90s, I regretully learned more about

Englands discovery o the new world in my

social studies classes than I did o my own

countrys culture. My story is not unique to

those o many young Turks & Caicos Islanders

now in their 20s, raised in a country quite di-

erent rom that o their parents, with electric-

ity, and American television, in the height o

new development. Consequently, we ace the

extinction o a tradition that dates back to the

17th Century. One perhaps we never com-

pletely comprehended in the rst place.

As early as 1690, a large number o Bermu-

dian sloops were sold to the mainland colonies,Herman Sadler, author o Turks Islands Landall

writes in his comprehensive account o TCI set-

tlement and growth. They went to the Turks

Islands o

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My grandfatherwAsA fisherMAnfrom Bottle

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Today, the approximately 21,000 resi-

dents [o the Turks & Caicos] are enjoying a

prosperous development boom, which has

allotted them time to consider their history

and aspire to promote the preservation o their

traditions and culture, H. E. Ross, ounder o

the Maritime Heritage Foundation explains.

These aspirationsand some nagging rom

his eldest son, who wanted to build a sloop

led Maritime Heritage Federation member

James Parker Junior, to build his rst boat. Better

knows as JJ, this grandson and son to recog-

nized sloop builders, James Parker I and James

Parker II, had limited boat-building experience.

He admittedly didnt inherit his precursorsondness or wood, but with the guidance o

established builder Pastor Samuel Goldston Wil-

liams a.k.a. Pastor Gold rom Bottle Creek, JJ

learned what his ather had known years ago.

I never wanted to build a boat, JJ admits.

But I went to Pastor Gold and I said Pastor,

my son wants to build a boat. Pastor said, i

you build this boat, Ill help you. But I aint

gon build it or you.

Gold created the boats stern and transom,

the vertical surace o the stern (the rear o the

boat) rom a small cedar tree. I kept seeing

this tree at Crystal Bay road. It took me a while

beore I decided to cut it down, JJ recalls.

The boat has a counter-stern transom,

meaning that the bottom o the transom does

not sit in the water, instead the hull, the belly

o the boat, reaches out o the water to meet

the transom. Under Golds watchul eye, theboat is slowly constr ucted; the stern, the kheel,

the curved ribs carved out rom the bend in

two pieces o plywood, and nally the sides o

the boat are all painstakingly assembled.

Unlike the vessels that took my grandather

and his ellow sailors to the South Caicos shing

grounds to gather conch or trade or to the docks

o Haiti to exchange dried conch or ruits and

vegetables, JJs sloop will be used recreationally

or racing in the various regattas around the

islands. The 2007 Provo Day Regatta saw 10 boats

on the water in Blue Hills. By the end o the year

there will be about 20 boats, says Goldray

Ewing, a ounding member o the Maritime

Heritage Federation who grew up in Wheeland,

the western neighborhood o Blue Hills, known

or some o the Turks & Caicos most notable

building amilies. Culture is something that is

alive, it evolves Ewing says. Were not usingboats to work anymore, were using boats to race

and eventually boat building will evolve.

Ewing belongs to the group o TCI builders

and sailors to adapt sloop building and sailing

ater its use or livelihood became obsolete. He

built his rst boat this year with speed and orig-

inality in mind, only ater being schooled by

some more accomplished builders including

Pastor Gold, Wing Deano the well-known

Dean boat-building amily also rom Whee-

landand Albert Higgs rom North Caicos.

I wanted to use the classic boat building

principles, but I wanted my own style. So, I used

Pastor Golds beautiul skills o the ribs and I used

the lines rom Wings and Albert Higgs boats. I

tried to get everything that someone has on their

boat and then something extra. So my stern is

backwards. Its the only boat on island with abackward stern, and the rudder is inside.

Also raised in Wheeland, Kevin Bubba

Harvey shares a similar history to Goldray.

Bubba built Sailing Paradisea colorul beach-

ront plaza in Blue Hills that eatures island style

cooking on one end and a git shop and hair-

braiding salon on the otherto commemorate

his love o sailing. Anchored just o shore foats

two 27-oot boats, smaller replicas o his grand-

parents David and Cecilia Smiths 36 oot

vessels, the Evergreen and the Valley Stream.

As children, Bubba and Goldray were accus-

tomed to rowing (or scalling, as its termed in

the islands) boats or the older shermen heading

to the West and South Caicos shing grounds.

The only way I could go out with the bigger

boats was i I would scall, Goldray remembers.

When it was time to come back we would heist

a big bed sheet up with a pole. Thats how Ilearned about wind direction and current.

One or two o us young boys would go

on the boat to pull up the anchor while they

dove or lobster and conch and we would get

about $10 or that. We would also get money

or packing the conch. We would have to

jump on the bags to pack in the conchs,

Bubba laughs at the memory. When the

young boys werent on the boats they were

on the beach or in the elds. I you grew up

in Blue Hills you were bound to love the

water, Goldray says. We had no television

and that played a big role in the kids o yes-

teryear enjoying things outdoors.

The introduction o cable TV to the Turks

& Caicos Islands in the 80scatalyzed by

major developments in Provosigniied a

major shit in the values and desires o the

islands youth and by the time Bubba andGoldray graduated rom high school in 1984,

Provo had transormed dramatically. That

same year, the all-inclusive resort Club Med

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Turquoise opened its doors on Grace Bay,

prompting the construction o large importdocks and the Providenciales International

Airport out o necessity.

Provo became more prominent as it became

a port o entry. People rom Provo didnt have to

go to Grand Turk and shop keepers on the other

islands could import directly to Provo and then

carry their goods over to North Caicos and other

Caicos Islands (a much shorter distance than

traveling to South or Grand Turk as was custom-

ary), says North Caicos native, ormer Chie

Minister, C. Washington Misick.

Prior to Provos growth boom, many young

Turks & Caicos Islanders let the islands to seek

employment in neighboring countries. They

went to the Bahamas to work in the tourism

industry. They were the bartenders, the garden-

ers, the kitchen help and the construction

workers. Misick says. Many Turks & Caicos

Islanders with sailing experience navigatedcargo boats, carrying goods around the Carib-

bean and in some cases around the world.

Pringle Dean, a prominent boat builder

rom Wheeland, made deliveries in Venezu-

ela, Peru, the United States, and the Bahamasas a boat captain. Pringle is Wing Deans older

brother and son to esteemed sailor John

Algeiron Dean. John Dean was the mail and

goods carrier between Grand Turk and Provi-

denciales or many years. Ater sailing around

the Caribbean and South America, Pringle

settled in the Bahamas, working as a captain

in the water sports industry beore returning

to his native Turks & Caicos.

Pastor Gold let North Caicos and set sail

or work as well, transporting uel around

the Bahamas and throughout the Caribbean

or Shell Bahamas LTD. He eventually ound

himsel sailing throughout Central America,

the Mediteranean, and Asia working or the

West India Shipping Company.

By the time sailors like Pringle and Gold

let home, the shing trade had made the shit

rom a subsidiary level to an industrial one,driving the prices o seaood in the Turks &

Caicos up dramatically. Most sh and conch i s

caught or exportin order to buy it at home

i wAnted to use the classicBoAt-principles, But i wAnted my own

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Pastor Gold remembers with enthusiasm.

There would be singing and rip-saw playing;

thats how we got that whole rake-and-scrape

culture you know.

To launch the boats, the men created a

pulley system, tying logs together and placing

skids under the logs so that the boat could

launch into the creek once it was close enough

to the shore. As they went down to the creek,

people would be dancing to the natural rhythm

o the logs and as the stern hit the skids, shes

launched into the water and they would

announce the name while shes in the air,

Pastor Gold recalls. Back then the names

werent painted on the sides like they are now.In those days, Gold details, builders used

whatever paints they could nd at TIMCO, a

wholesale supplier in Grand Turk, to paint their

boats. They would burn ants nests and take

the ashes and mix it with the paint to putty the

boat. And the sails would come rom Haiti and

we would have to sew them by hand, he goes

on. Today sails are made in the United States.

They come and you just put them on.

Back in Bottle Creek, Gold built his rst boat

ater leaving primary school at 14. It was

common or young men to leave primary school

in search o a trade; high school was reserved or

those who could aord to send their children to

Grand Turk or abroad or schooling. In those

days none o the Caicos Islands had high schools

and it was hard to send kids to Grand Turk to go

to school, he says. Gold always had an inclina-

tion to cut wood, and he learned by apprentic-ing with his athers cousin, Alred Smith,

sneaking out ater his aternoon chores to hand

Cousin Alred his tools.

Ater school, we would have to get water

rom the well. We had to take the Ankle

Express that means we had to walk to the

well. I would take two or three trips or water

and ater I was nished I used to slip out and

go see Cousin Alred. I built my rst boat in

my backyard, Pastor Gold continues.

Anytime my daddy (who was a mason)

would put down his saw and his hammer.

When Gold was a youngster, his amily

worked in the elds o a North Caicos settle-

ment called Smith, north o Major Hill (pro-

nounced like Madgie Hill by TC Islanders)

with other local amilies. They not only used

their boats to go shing, but also to travel

rom the creek to Smith, as there were nomotor vehicles or paved roads in North

Caicos until the early 70s. Gold used his boat

on these daily trips to Smith.

My little boat was aster than my daddys

boatI used to take it out to the eld so I

could race him. One day we were coming

back to the creek and my sisters saw the boat

and named it The Strange Mosquito, because

thats what it looked like.

Around the same time, George Dean and

his brother Shadrack were sailing with their

ather John, scalling the boat to South and West

Caicos to catch conch and lobster using what

George calls a bucket glass to see their quarry.

In lieu o the modern mask, a bucket glass is a

small wooden pail with glass at the bottom or

divers to look through. We would go to West

Caicos or a week at a time and spend all daycatching conch, beating conch, shucking conch,

and placing conch on metal scaolds. The next

day we would bruise the conch and string it up

to dry. But sometimes external actors would

interere with the catch o the day. I remember

one day we went back to the scaold and the

laughing birds (seagulls) ate all the conch! That

was a whole days work gone, George laughs.

While George and Shadrack did travel with

their ather to Grand Turk to trade dried conch

or groceries, they never let the country on the

boat to trade with Haitian understandable

exclusion. JJ Parker remembers, One time I

went rom here to Haiti and I didnt want to go

again that ocean was r ude out there.

The trip to and rom Haiti could take up to

seven days depending on who you talk to. When

the boats returned they would be laden with

mangoes, pears, plantains, oranges, red peas, redand yellow corn and sweet treats. When they

were coming back rom Haiti, theyd announce

it on the radio [when the boats reached Grand

Turk] and it was only about a days trip [rom

Grand Turk to Provo] and you would see all the

local amilies lined up on the beach, Bubba

Harvey, a relative o the Deans, narrates. When

they would go to Haiti your whole lie used to

stop because you had no ood.

It was an experience back in those

daysthings were tough but we could go

through the tough times. I always tell my

children, you come in the good days, when

they got lots o ood, lots o clothes and lots

o shoes, Harvey explains.

Indeed, we are living in the good days. In

recent years, the Turks & Caicos Islands have

seen a rapid growth in the tourism industry.

Grace Bay Beach is now lined with resorts andupcoming condo-tels; West Caicos, uninhabited

or quite some time, is the location or a new

Ritz Carleton Resort; and the privately owned

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Dellis Cay has attracted the renowned Mandarin

Oriental Hotel and the creativity o amedarchitects like Zaha Hadid and Shigeru Ban.

Unortunately, not unlike many other emergent

Caribbean countries, the risk o losing distinc-

tive components o our nations culture grows

with the increase o an i nternational presence.

With all the major development that has

taken place, people have re-ocused, Hon.

Carlton Mills explains. And in speaking with

the sloop builders o the islands, one comment

continued to surace. Sailing is a part o our

culture and Im araid its going to die, says

Pastor Gold. It would be a shame to see us

allow the tradition to end. Its ading away and

when this (mid-aged) generation goes it

might be lost, Pringle Dean reiterates.

Turks & Caicos Islanders have long depended

on oral tradition to pass down recipes rom

making Johnny Cakes to building sailboats. This

poses a denite threat o extinction to culturesthat cannot conorm to the new o rder. There are

no text books to instruct a younger generation

just how to build a customary Middle Caicos

Sloop when the Forbes o Bambarra, Middle

Caicos are no longer with us, or how to cratthe impeccable lines perected by North Caicos

Albert Higgs. Its a privilege to have a culture

as rich as ours, Goldray Ewing emphasizes.

But culture is a delicate chain, loose a link and

you could be in d eep water.

The weakest link is young adults like me,

raised with no true understanding o how

rich our culture really is. Luckily, when re-

structuring society, a counter-culture almost

always arisesone that reminds us to hold

on to the ways o the past and carry them

into our uture. With the support o the gov-

ernment, the Maritime Heritage Foundation

has taken on this responsibility, sensitizing

the primary school students o the tradition

through classroom visits and eldtrips. Most

o the kids enjoy the sailing program,

Goldray says, with only two noted dissenters

out o the more than 400 students they havetaken to sea. I would like to see a Junior

Program like a Junior Regatta though that can

sail in the morning beore the regular Regat-

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