A Good Look to the Past
Will Jackson
Entering the 20th century things began tochange somewhat around the Islands; although there was one thingthat could not be changed: survival by the sea.
There was nothing else whereby a familycould find continuous support. Those hard old turtling days mayyet be remembered by many old timers who are yet alive.
One old turtler says there was no accountantaround in those days; it was ot for ot, figure for figure, allfor the white man and none for the nigger.
You see the men worked on shares in thosetimes. The vessel owner claimed the half of whatever the voyagewas worth. The other half had to pay the food bills for the trip;the captain then got a share and a half and the remainder wasshared between the other members of the crew. No one ever gotwealthy from sailing locally.
There were really no rich people in GrandCayman in those days of struggle. The Merrens were the biggestbusiness people in the Island. They operated the most little businessesin and around the Island, but according to the words of an originalfamily member, they hardly ever reached above the stage of survival.
They owned and operated sailing vessels;the Mizpah being a very classed vessel of her time that workedin the banana trade; The Merco sailed the islands and U.S.A, movingfreight and passengers. There was the Bodmer on the off shorelumber trade, and the Antarus filled in the gap in the turtletrade while it lasted.
Dr. Roy McTaggart, many people believe,was the nearest to being the richest of the islanders. He operateda fleet of schooners for a while, and operated a business in thesection of George Town, yet it was not until late in the centurywhen we began hearing of Cayman millionaires:
The early settlers of Cayman Brac, of course,were sea minded men, and with the population there being few innumber, there was little they could obtain from doing businesson the island.
Nevertheless, the Kirkconnells who wereearly birds could not be discouraged in their business ventures.They built vessels and got off shore charters for them. Then theybuilt stores from whence the families of the men who sailed theirvessels could credit their groceries while the husbands were atsea.
Today, as we glance at the business sceneof Grand Cayman, the Kirkconnells and Fosters who made their smallbeginnings on Cayman Brac are the dominating figures on the businessscene worth many millions of dollars.
One may wonder about the early businessmenof Grand Cayman, such as the Merrens and the McTaggarts, thattheir names have been blotted from the public's service in theisland. Except for a grand son of Merren, Hurley, who deceasedat a young age leaving his wife and sons with a business to improveupon or to close out, as they see fit.
Businesses in the Island of Grand Caymanhave sprung up, as it were overnight. The Island has fast turnedfrom an ocean hideaway to a thriving modern country, those wholived and died half a century ago, were they permitted to havea look around the island today, would never find where they usedto know.
So vast and many are the changes made inGrand Cayman in about the quarter of a century that even thosepeople who grew up in the old home land and are still alive, manyfind it hard to get around in areas they once knew;
An old lady of 90 years, when her daughtertakes her out to places she once knew, has to keep on asking,"where are we now?" She said she couldn't find her wayto and from the hospital if she had to. Such is the situationthat exists in the island once forgotten by time.
Hardly is there any thing of the past tobe remembered in this age; All of the beautiful schooners, thelifeline of the islands have been discarded as useless tools ofthe past. There is not even one of those treasures preserved todaywhereby the past may be kept in remembrance.
It is so shameful on the Island, shall Isay the people or the government concerning the schooner Goldfield;even though such a great step was taken to reclaim her and bringher from foreign waters, yet it was only to bury her in the NorthSound;.
Didn't the government know how that theGoldfield could have been turned into a gold mine for the country?
By fixing that hull up and setting her upin an area alongside the museum, having a snack bar or Caymanstyle restaurant in operation there on her and charging touristsa visitors fee there could be no doubt of that being a very profitableenterprise, being used as an historic occasion, of the old turtlersof the island.
The Goldfield has a history of her own inkeeping the island supplied with American goods during the daysof World War 2, and moving passengers between the island and theU.S.
There was a time when she was cast adriftin a storm over George Town, with just a custom watchman aboard,she being fully laden with goods just in from Tampa, Florida.She was salvaged a couple of days later by an English war shipout of Belize, and was towed back into George Town quite safely.
Another interesting item of the old Caymanworth talking about is the catboats, of which there is some talkabout reviving the new Cayman. The catboat was invented in CaymanBrac and Little Cayman, not just as a pass time, but was meantto be a source of income to the owner.
Hawksbill shell was in those days gold tothose who could obtain it. So the Brackers invented a method oftrapping the turtles, but found out that they needed a craft thatcould be handled more smoothly than the type of canoes that theyhad then.
The cat boat, being sharp on both ends andmeasuring not more than twenty feet long, with a wide belly, wasfound to be the ideal trappers craft.
My father owned the second catboat in GrandCayman, built in 1916, because he had learned the art of trappinghawksbill in the Brac. Unfortunately the 1917 hurricane blew theboat away, landing herein a large wall pigpen where she killedthree hogs.
Well, in 1921 daddy had another boat buildin the Brac; a real working thing that was, and made many tripsto the southern reef causing the death of numberless Hawksbill.I grew from a small kid to a man in my own shoe in that boat.She too was destroyed by a freak storm one night in the 1970s.
In East End there were many catboats thatwere used locally for trapping and fishing; there were even afew racers in the old days.
There were many ways of survival that wereknown by the old settlers, Life was not easy, but when there'sa will, a way is always found. The fathers in their times hada way of watching for sails over the horizon, and chasing theships to sell them turtles, pigs and produce which worked verywell in their interest.
The story was told of six East Enders whochased a ship in one of their large craft; doing business, thatby the time they were ready to return ashore they were out thesight of the land, and missed their mark, bringing up in Cubathe next day.
Being gone for over a week, they were givenup as lost at sea when on Sunday morning, while church servicewas in progress, they sailed right into East End with much goodiesgiven to them in Cuba, and having been towed behind a full riggedship in the sight of the island, from whence they made it safelyhome.
So it was, all this was done in an effortto survive the hard times that surrounded their days. But thefathers were men of courage who in the midst of great trials,built their strength on strong hopes. They never gave up untilthere was nothing left to hold on to.
In the storm infested land in which theylived often lost every thing to severe hurricanes, but they werewilling to try all over; by this attitude they succeeded in preservinga beautiful trust for their posterities to improve on.
From the fathers' persistent courage, andfirm endurance, in a land of hardships, the Caymanian people maybe grateful for what they have received and are able to call sucha wonderful place home.
Once again may I remind us to give thanksunto the God of Heaven for a great gift, first our noble ancestorsand secondly, for that which they have secured, and handed overto us.
May God bless Cayman and all her people.
Will Jackson
Seafarer and noted
Caymanian Historian