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Part VI - Launch Day
"...The launching of the schooners in those days was likea big picnic, because they used manpower". - Lawrence Bodden,Cayman Islands National Archive
Normally a ship launching was a specialday in the Cayman Islands. A carnival atmosphere visited upona staunchly religious people. Calendars would be watched untilthe day of the launch was officially announced by the shipyard.Food would be gathered.
Cooking would begin and people would findthemselves at the launch site on the announced morning in highspirits. Singing and dancing could be heard amongst the gatheringcrowds. According to Gwendolyn Thompson Wood, 93. That was a greattime. We didn't miss a trick.
Everybody cooked from the day before, ifthey were going to cook at all, because the day of the launchingyou had to feed the people. The next morning, they would get upand get dressed and by nine o'clock they were all in position.A bunch of us girls used to go together, to see what was happening,and to have a good time.
Since there were no cars in those days tospeak of, folks were up early in order to make the set launchingtime. By foot, people were on their way to Town from every cornerof the Island. A familiar scene was people walking barefoot withshoes strung over their shoulders on the paths and roads. Whenthey arrived in town they would go down to the ironshore and washtheir feet and put their shoes on ready for the party.
"There were some pretty good (music)groups then. Some of them couldn't sing and they would just behollering and it felt good that they were hollering.
James Thomas, my uncle John (Eden) usedto play also. The songs they used to sing... like Lucy Ann.
The music for launches was supplied freeof charge, usually by a West Bay group. Ducksey Ebanks was onename that comes up as a head fiddler, Whiskey goes and I go too.Whiskey, oh my Johnny. Sometimes the rope would break and theywould fall down on their backs.
They would just start all over again. Inthe condition most of them were in... if they were hurt they probablywouldn't have known it. Some would have had been drinking allthe night before... and I guess most of them slept wherever thenight caught them.
A ship launching was a community affairwith everybody interested taking a part in the process... alsowithout pay. The food would be prepared free and distributed toall who were hungry. Hard drink, sometimes referred to as whiskey,but actually red and white rum, was to hearten the workers andwas an extra incentive to work. Women wore their finest and menall would criticise the launch technique and the virtues of thevessel design.
The man in charge would tell what to do.
They had groups taking care of each thing.They didn't get paid at all for that. Well, they were paid inliquor and food. In food, they never missed beef and pork. Theyhad big pots, kettles, big pots on legs. They cooked it on a caboose.The pork was cooked with the beef. It is a Christmas dish here,too. It's a lost art now. And heavy cake, coconut milk corn bread,tapioca pudding.
People were dressed in their best. Theywould be trying to see what was happening, and gossip, a lot oftalking. Gossip was important then, you didn't have a telephoneto get out news. Everybody would be eating... I think they neverstopped from the night before. They kept the food warmed up andthey would be standing and many a time they would put the foodon a grape leaf. In the excitement you might go home without anyplates, so they didn't bring them. People did what they felt like.There weren't any set rules during things like that.
They would shout: "She's going thistime, she's going". Many a time you would think she was goingthis time, but she just wasn't going, and you've got to do somethingelse. A whole bunch of little boys would be hanging around theline waiting for a chance. I would bet they didn't have anythingless than fifty to seventy-five people pulling.
Sometimes there would be some little thingsto be fixed. When they made that adjustment she would make anotherroll. It might have been evening by the time she reached there.
But, eventually they made it with a bighooray and a definite plunge.
The launching of the Goldfield was differentin that everybody was in agreement that she was as close to aperfect creation as had ever happened in the Cayman Islands.
This is quite a statement in a communitywhere craftsman rivalry was a cut under extreme. Even the BoddenBrothers admitted that the lines of the Goldfield were close toperfect. And though Roland Bodden was a great builder and bothhe and his brother Captain Rayal tried to do a one better, theywere never able to compete with the Goldfield for speed and manoeuvrability.
The Goldfield was the sixth vessel launchedin the Cayman Islands in 1930.
It took months to complete her construction,with no electricity and only hand tools. The launch date is notrecorded but she was registered on 31 July 1930. It took a recordnine being constructed with her revolutionary spoon bow (the Wilsonand the Goldfield were being built side by side with both sportingthe new spoon or curved bow) there would always be a small crowdobserving the other developments at the Arch Shipyard concerningher. Her transom ,with its wine-glass shape, was a bewildermentto many an old timer.
And her yacht-like lines underwater wasthought to be unpractical from the cargo- carrying perspective.But, they all agreed that both Goldfield and the Lydia E. Wilsonwere beautiful.
The boat was built in an upright position.A cradle was built around the ship while it was on the launchways, called groundways. Heavy timbers used to protect the broadbow and beam. She was then laid on her side by chopping away atprogressively lower support legs. When she was on her side, bilge,in her cradle she was ready for launching It was done this way so there wouldn't be any chance of it toppling over and beingdamaged. The groundways planks were heavily greased for ease ofdescent. Thatch palm trunks were used as rollers under the protectivegroundways planks.
Keith Thompson remembers, you could hearthe screeching of the cradle on the greased timbers and smellit.
An eight part block and tackle was rovebetween an anchored-in-coral eyebolt and the Goldfield. The drinklubricated the pullers and after a bottle of champagne was struckby Mrs. Watler a signal was given by the Arches. The bow wedgewas knocked out of place and the pullers would take up on theline and start the launching process of getting the vessel toinitiate momentum.
A stern line was also used to attempt tomaintain control of her slippage.
Once she started to go toward her naturalelement, it was next to impossible to stop her.
The technique of side launching is not peculiarto the Cayman Islands. It was a relatively safe method of launching,noting that of the 3000 vessels side launched in Essex, Massachusettsin the 19th Century, there has been no reported serious damageto any vessel. The same can be said for the over 280 vessels launchedbetween 1903 and 1951 in the Cayman Islands.
The following vessels were launched andregistered between 1929 and 1932, the heyday of shipbuilding inthe Cayman Islands:
1929 Escupe Fuego
1929 Primero
1929 C.C. Acme
1930 La Emperatriz
1930 Oriel
1930 Olga
1930 Rembro
1930 Goldfield
1930 Armistice
1931 Armida
1931 Vindico
1931 Miss C.B.
1931 Kirk B
1931 C.M. Laura
1931 R.L. Hustler
1931 Lydia E. Wilson
1932 Valiente
1932 Maryland (Ziroma)
1932 Carmina
1932 Meltonian
1932 A.A. Radium
Next - Cayman Pride: Part VII- The ReturnOf The Goldfield