by Bob Kranich
The Cayman Turtle Schooner, (Part 6, Excerpt 71)
This is a story, titled The Cayman Turtle Schooner. This story will tell about the forming and history of the Cayman Islands, the green sea turtle’s habits and life style, the building of a dugout canoe, and then a schooner, and lastly about the historic two-masted turtle schooner, A. M. Adams. Our two main characters Grandpa and Parker are building their dugout canoe.
The Cayman Turtle Schooner
Next morning: “OK, let’s see, you’ve got the lunch and water canteen, Parker?”
“Yes, Grandpa.”
“Good, I’ve got the ax. We’re off on our expedition.”
“Bye, men,” Grandma yelled.
“Bye, Grandma,” Parker answered.
They took the inland trail. Shortly they broke off of it and skirted the lagoon. In some places it was clear, and they could see the lagoon, and in other places the dense and tangled branches and dark green leaves of the mangroves blocked the view.
Parker was bringing up the rear. He could tell grandpa had been along this way before because it seemed like he was following a trail even though Parker couldn’t see one. They broke out into an open area. Parker could see way up toward the beach. He looked across the lagoon and could see their beach on the other side.
“There is the place where I found those cannon balls. Right next to that big bump. See those rocks sticking out. They're ballast rocks. This here area is known as a careening place, Parker.”
“What is a careening place, Grandpa?”
“Careening is when a ship’s bottom is scraped and repaired. Wood boats have to have this done occasionally. They attach ropes to the mast, and pull the ship up on its side. Then they scrape the barnacles off. Then a ship can go much faster because the bottom is smoother.”
“What are barnacles, Grandpa?”
“Those are small sea worms that attach to the bottom of the wood on a ship, and then make small shells around their body.”
“Now what they would do is bring the ship in the lagoon here, then throw out all the ballast rocks over there on that big pile.”
“What are ballast rocks for, Grandpa?”
“They put lots of rocks in the bottom of a sailing ship to keep it heavier on the bottom, and keep it from tipping over.”
“Do they throw out the cannon balls too, Grandpa?”
“Why yes, anything that was heavy, even the guns. Then they would hook ropes and pulleys to the top of the mast and pull the ship over on its side. They probably used the big trees right over there to hook their ropes to. In fact, that’s where we are going to get our mast, spar, and outrigger poles.”
“Look, Grandpa! I found a piece of pottery.”
“That’s so. If we were to dig around in this area we would find stuff that has been discarded for centuries!”
“Let’s go into these trees and find our wood.”
“Grandpa, we’ve got our mast and spar. How about the outrigger?”
“Sonny, I’ve got an idea. Let’s go over to the beach.”
They walked along the lagoon’s edge towards the beach. This was all an open area except for an occasional mangrove. They could see where the water was flowing into the lagoon across the coral reefs as the tide rose. It was smooth out in the center.
“There’s the channel for the lagoon, Parker. See it? It’s that part that’s smooth flowing and not bubbling over the coral.”
“I see it, Grandpa.”
They came over a dune and out onto the beach. The breeze off the Caribbean Sea caressed their bodies. They could smell the sea.
“It sure smells fresh, Grandpa. I like the sea.”
“I’m with you, Parker. Let’s walk along the beach for a ways. There’s what I’m looking for,” he said as he pointed to a long piece of drift wood. Grandpa lifted it up. “It’s light, but strong,” he exclaimed.
“Finding that was good luck. Hun Grandpa?”
“Yep, we’ll shoulder this and take it back to the careening place, leave it, and take our mast and spar home. We’ll come back tomorrow for it.”
The mast was installed way forward into the canoe, about two feet back from the front. It fit through a hole in the center of a board (which went from the top of one side to the top of the other) and attached to the inside bottom of the boat. The spar attached to the mast right above the board and ran a little past the back end.
“Well, Grandpa, what are we going to use for a sail? Our bed blankets?”
“No, Sonny, your Grandma would exile us to the very top of the island! You know that John has a sail’n dugout canoe. Well he said that he was going to make a new sail. He told me we can have his old ‘un. Tomorrow we’re going to hike the mile down to his place and get that sail. Of course we’ve got to take him something to swap. What about that old croc’ hide?”
“That would be ok, Grandpa.”
“Before we go to John’s, let’s look at Sebastian.”
They went out to the shed.
“He’s getting big! You've been feeding him real good, Parker. You know what? After our first sail canoe ride, we’ll build him his very own turtle crawl.”
It didn’t take them very long to get to John’s place, only about a half hour. It was a little slower going on the sand trail. John’s house was about three times larger than Grandpa’s. With that mule he cultivated a much bigger garden. Also, because he had a canoe he was more productive with his turtle harvesting.
“Hi, John. Came to get that sail.”
“Hi, Gramps. You and Parker are looking fine.”
“We brung you that cured croc’ hide. It will make some fine belts.”
“You didn't have to do that, Gramps. Come ‘round back to my shop and we’ll get that sail. You may have to cut her down a little. What’s your boat’s length?”
“Around twelve feet. “
“Yep, mine’s eighteen. Tell you what. Let me help you cut it down right now. That way you won’t have to carry all that extra. You can take some for patching.”
“That’s right kind of you, John. Let’s get started.”
It was just a simple triangle with loops to go up the mast and support rope on the edging. They cut it down, overlapped the edge with the rope inside and stitched it up.
“We’ll load it up on my mule, and I’ll take it back for you. But first the missus has us some lunch.”
“Thanks for bringing the sail, John.”
From the Author:
My second full-length book , Florida Keys’ Watercolor Kapers is composed of 336 pages. There are 12 stories running from 6 pages to as many as 72 pages. It is fully illustrated with 88 watercolors and sketches. The watercolors I made roaming around Key West after I finished my 750 mile hike from Georgia to Key West. (See book or Don Browne’s SouthWest Florida Online News records, A Walk Across Florida.) As you read these stories you will experience Key West, the Keys, and the Caribbean. These stories span the time of the early 1800’s to 1969. bkranich.wixsite.com/bobkranich
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