Boat Nuts in the Bahamas

Maynard writes:

In March of 1984, Ben Mendlowitz, Anne and I flew to the Bahamas, first to the Abacos and then to Andros. There, we spent a couple of days on Mangrove Cay where we found native working sloops in abundance—both active ones and ones that had been hauled ashore to die. We had heard about Avenger, the racing sloop built by Alfred Bain and Leroy Bannister and knew that Bain was still fishing for conchs from his working sloop Unity B. that he modeled and built himself. Avenger was no longer active, and Leroy no longer sailed, but with his wife Sylvia, rented out small camps. We chose two adjoining camps and stayed there.

This series of photos is from the then-primitive settlements of Lisbon Creek where we stayed, and of Moxey Town on the other side of the island where we visited. Boatbuilding had pretty much ceased in both places, but we found a couple of sailing dinghies being traditionally constructed at Moxey Town, and a few more were sailing from both communities. Several native sloops were anchored off the beach as well.

I loved the derelicts not only for their charming photographic composition but also because they showed how these craft were originally constructed using only basic materials and tools. I took many photos.

Ben’s Calendar of Wooden Boats sponsored that trip and, of course, Ben was shooting constantly in color for suitable calendar images. His were primarily whole-boat portraits while I focused more on details of construction.

Ben and I returned to Lisbon Creek some months later, this time at the request of WoodenBoat magazine, to do a story on Alfred Bain, his boat, and how he used her. That article, entitled “Alfred Bain and His Unity B“, was published in issue #81 of March/April 1988. Unity B also got a page in the 1995 Calendar of Wooden Boats.

Click here to view images of the project.

The 36' Bahama sloop Unity B, designed and built in 1950 by Alfred Bain in Andros, Bahamas, sits on her mooring at Lisbon Creek. She had just arrived back home from harvesting conchs at Grassy Cay, 20 or so miles south of her home at Lisbon Creek.

Here we look down into the sloop Unity B's wet well at a respectable catch; fin fish and conchs are separated from each other and stowed until sold at Nassau.

Andros designer and builder Alfred Bain furls the mainsail after returning from fishing aboard his Bahama sloop Unity B, which he designed and built.

A giant homemade sail, low boom, and a hiking board to keep this undecked Andros dinghy from capsizing, combine to make these kids early athletes.

The sailing days of this Bahama sloop lying on the shore of Lisbon Creek were over. Wooden boats are time-consuming and costly to maintain; Bray and company found a number of these derelicts during their travels.

Two men on a maritime errand pole a dinghy around the shallow waters near Lisbon Creek.

A functioning Andros dinghy lies bottom up, perhaps awaiting repairs, among junked boats. Ballasted dinghies of Andros such as this are among the most beautiful in all of the Bahamas.

The Bahama sloop Sunlight out of Nassau lies moored (or anchored) at Moxey Town, near Mangrove Cay settlement in the Bahamas (some 52 nautical miles southwest of her hailing port).

In this closer view of Sunlight, her somewhat coarse construction is discernible. The long boom which overhangs the transom is a familiar sight in Bahamian boats.

Young sailors tack in toward shore in their Bahama dinghy on a fine spring afternoon.

This dinghy, shown also in LB2013.1.324.11, is fitted with a big used sail adapted from another boat, and steered with an oar instead of a rudder, which gets these kids out on the water affordably.

A functioning Andros dinghy lies bottom up, perhaps awaiting repairs, among junked boats. Ballasted dinghies of Andros such as this are among the most beautiful in all of the Bahamas.

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