by Bob Kranich
The Cayman Turtle Schooner, (Part 11, Excerpt 76)
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. Parker has designed a boat he calls the Turtle Boat. They have just finished it and are going to sail it.
A week later…
“The planking took us a lot of fitting, Grandpa.”
“Yes, but that is what will keep it from leaking. That, and the glue, and pitch sealer. All we’ve got left is to put a couple of cross planks to sit on and a real stiff plank out front with a hole in it to accept the mast. We’ll have go back to find and cut a mast and a boom.”
“Also, Grandpa, we’ll have to make us two more paddles. Do we need an outrigger?”
“Parker, this boat is wider than the dugout canoe, let’s try without it.”
“There it is, Parker, all finished. What were you going to call it?”
“A turtle boat, Grandpa. Now I’d like to paint it.”
“What color and why?”
“Well blue, naturally, Grandpa. It will look real nice and will camouflage the bottom of the boat so the fish and turtles won’t see us when they look up.”
“Makes sense. Tell you what, when we go to town and try it out, we’ll buy some. What color did you say?”
Blue, Grandpa, turtle boat blue.”
Out on the sea…
“She sure sails great! What do you think, Parker?”
“Yes, Grandpa. I love it!”
Sebastian had been free for a whole month now. He had paddled fast and furious for a couple of days and then slowed down. He had headed north, paddling leisurely at his own comfortable speed. Occasionally he would run into patches of seaweed floating on the top of the water. This gave him some nourishment, but he longed for some of that tender sweet sea grass that was just off shore.
He knew he had been swimming in real deep water, because when he had dived down, he couldn’t find a bottom. That never really bothered him because he could just float whenever he tired. He did want to find that sea grass, but he needed shallows off shore for that. Sebastian was rewarded when he ran into a large land mass. Of course he didn’t know that it was south central Cuba.
He had gone into the shallows and found the food he was looking for. He then saw some other green turtles. Since he was wary and kind of a loner, he kept his distance. He did notice that some turtles would congregate together.
One day he saw two boats put out from shore and head towards the turtles. He didn’t like the look of things, and he headed out. He then saw men in the boats throw nets over some of the turtles. He took a deep breath and dove. Sebastian decided to go down to the bottom and stay. He thought, I’ll just lodge my shell under a rock and slow down, maybe just sleep. It worked, and his heartbeat slowed down to once every nine minutes.
After a couple of hours he came up to the surface. It was dark. He paddled around and grazed on that sweet tender sea grass he loved so. His serrated jaw was made especially to cut sea grass and other sea plants. Occasionally he also ate algae. In fact all adult green sea turtles are herbivores.*
When it got light he saw a couple of green sea turtles. They had come up from a dive close to him. He saw they were females. He paid them no mind. He would not be interested in female green sea turtles for at least another ten years. Males don’t breed until they are fifteen to twenty years old.
Sebastian decided to move farther west along the coast. Using his very keen sense of smell he knew he would find the sea grass up that way also. He also didn’t want to see any more of those small boats.
At Channel Bay, Grandpa and Parker found some of that turtle boat blue paint they wanted, as Parker had named it. When they came out of the small combination food, clothing, and hardware store they saw a group of people were on the dock admiring their turtle boat. One of the men was Captain James Green of the sloop Mable Jane.
“Hi, Grandpa. Hi, Parker, Is this your boat? It looks sturdy but light. Where did you get it?” Captain James asked.
“Why, my grandson here designed it, and we built it,” Grandpa answered.
“This young fella is very intelligent and a good idea man. I saw you two come into the harbor. It sails right smart! Would you want to sell it?”
“Grandpa answered, “No, but we’ll build you one.”
Then the owner of the store who had followed them out said, “Hey, make me one!”
A turtle fisherman standing by said, “Me too! I mean one for me also!”
Grandpa said, “Whoa...we’ll make each of yours in the order you asked. But we need a month apiece. Don’t want to kill ourselves. Besides we want to sail this boat some too!”
On the way out of the bay, Parker said to Grandpa, “How we going to make all of those boats, Grandpa?”
“Well, Sonny, it looks like we got a boat building business started, thanks to you. I guess John and his friend will be busy getting us mahogany boards. With the down payment each of those three gave us we can build the first one and when we get paid for it we’ll be able to build the other two. Wait until Grandma hears about this!”
As they were rounding the part of the island a two-masted sailing ship came into view. It was out farther and passing them, heading in the general direction they were going.
“What’s that ship, Grandpa?”
“It’s called a schooner, Parker. Remember, Captain James’ ship is a sloop, one-masted. That there ship has two masts, two main jib sails, and booms. Now in front is an additional sail just like the sloop has.
“I like that boat, Grandpa. The next time I build a different kind boat it will be one of those! Where did it come from and where is it going?”
“That schooner is probably a turtle schooner out of George Town in the Grand Cayman island. It’s two islands west of here, about seventy-five miles. It is probably going to the turtle grounds off Cuba or Nicaragua. If they go up to Cuba they will have to watch out. You never know just how the Spanish who run that island will react. They're starting to restrict turtling around their island.”
“Grandpa, sometime can we go to George Town and see some schooners?”
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 Online Florida 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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