Lost in Time

"Lost in Time" painting by Alton R. Lowe

It seems strange that today virtually all of these sailing boats are gone. When I was a boy, dozens of these boats could be seen at the wharf in downtown Nassau. All the major Bahamian islands built these boats which carried everything including baskets of salt from Ragged Island, benne seeds, cassava, sugarcane, tamarinds, hog plums, papaya, sweet potatoes, corned fish, Old Sour sauce, and many other items. These boats also often carried the mail between Nassau and the Out Islands.

This painting shows the “Civic”, a Green Turtle Cay built boat. It was used for sponging and crawfishing and carrying supplies into Nassau. Normally, three or four men would be aboard working the boat. I remember men doing sponging complaining about the terrible smell of the sponges. In those days, making a living was hard and often dangerous. As the saying went, these were "Iron Men in Wooden Ships". What good fortune to have known some of these hardy men and to have seen their sturdy boats. - Alton