The Tribune

By ERIC WIBERG

WHEN folklore and fact intersect, often the truth is lost in the resulting haze. However, in several key songs originating in the Bahamas, we find a surprisingly high concentration of real vessels. These include Hoist up the John B Sails (1903), Ballymena (1926), and Zelma Rose (1954). Verified vessels include the John B, Ballymena, and Zelma Rose. John B, was a sponger named for John Bethel. Another ship verified is Mystery J, which features in the Ballymena song popularised by Harry Belafonte and others.

The story of the legendary song Hoist Up the John B Sails is laudably chronicled by Edgar Seligman in Eleuthera. He relays how “Eddy Warner Prouty, an orchestra conductor from Spencer, Massachusetts in 1899 accepted the offer to play at the Colonial and Royal Victoria hotels. Although Prouty did not write the music for Hoist the John B Sails, in 1903 he became the first person to publish the song.” Next enter “John McCutcheon, owner of Blue Lagoon aka Salt Cay who in January 1927 printed The Island Song Book.” Regarding the actual sloop named John B, McCutcheon wrote “the weathered ribs of the historic craft lie imbedded in the sand at Governor’s Harbour, whence an expedition, especially sent up for the purpose in 1926, extracted a knee of horseflesh and a ring-bolt. These relics are now preserved and built into the Watch Tower” at Blue Lagoon Cay, off Paradise Island.

The Nassau Guardian of May 5, 1903, notes that the song was “respectfully dedicated to the citizens of Nassau, NP,” by Mr Prouty who called it home for seven years. A strong candidate for writing Bally Mena in 1926 also wrote the classic 1921 song about burning of the Colonial Hotel which goes Do Aun’ Nan-ny. He was police band director 1917-1935 (with a three-year break) and served in the West India Regiment, writing their key recruitment song and a spiritual.

An organist at St Agnes Anglican Church, in 1927 he published lyrics as Grants Town Melodies, Four Original Melodies of Bahamian Airs arranged by Austin Destoup. This is held at the British Library and includes the songs Ballymena and His’up the John B Sail. Is it likely that Austin Ira Destoup (1883-1956) penned the song at age 20, as well as the Ballymena, only to have credit for them go overseas. The creators of Bahamianology suggests that racism in the period may have prevented Destoup from getting due credit. Certainly, Destoup has the demonstrative if not unique local knowledge, musical talent, and created similar classics, with even fellow Bahamians claiming credit for his work.

Wooden boat expert Bill Johnson, the artist and author living in Abaco, knew Blind Blake Higgs very well from the waterfront and music scene in Nassau going back to the 1950s. He says that Higgs claimed his family owned the sponging sloop John B. However, Mr. Higgs claimed credit and copyright to other work, like Run Come See Jerusalem, written in Andros in 1929 when Higgs, from Inagua, was 14, and the Bethel family are believed to have owned her and it for John Bethel, so the claim is unverified at best. No doubt this is an iconic name nationally: Bobby Symonette named all of his 5.5M Class sailing yachts John B and won World Championships in Australia and France in them. In 1998 John B once again raced and won for The Bahamas in the Netherlands, Germany and Finland, and it still races.

The best approach to dissect each song, the artist, and the vessels, is by date. The song Ballymena is based upon the pedigreed yacht Ballymena, which entered the Eleuthera mailboat route in 1922. The ship was built in of steel in Bristol, Rhode Island by the renowned designer Nat Herreshoff in October, 1888. Powered by engines as well as sails, she was 148’ long, 18’ wide, 140 tons, and developed 1,050 horsepower. Herreshoff had to be woken at 2.30am by the nightwatchman to prevent the hull being crushed by ice. Named for a district in north Ireland, her owners included J Nicholas Brown of Newport, George Brown of Baltimore, the Slaters, who named it Ballymere, the Neidlingers, and Downeys. The ship lasted 37 years until 1925 when her fate is last recorded by MIT and other renowned museums.

Historian van der Linde recorded in 2017 that “…Ballymena ended her days as a supplier for rum runners in Gun Cay Harbour (Bimini). In the earlier 1920s … reportedly in decrepit condition, she had transported passengers between Miami and Nassau … under the British flag. In 1925, she was photographed (painted black) by William Greenough in his privately printed book “The Log of the Ventura in the Bahamas.” The image is captioned ‘Old Yacht Ballymena Loaded with Rum Anchored in Gun Cay Harbour,’ and shows her surrounded by a dozen or so sailing smacks. During this time or shortly after, a calypso song about the Ballymena and other rum-running vessels became well known. It later was recorded by Gordon Bok, Harry Belafonte and others. It describes how the Ballymena, Mystery J, an auxiliary yacht carrying about 40 passengers between Nassau and Miami, and Inagua/Inua were repainted from white to black to prevent her recognition and how the Inua got in trouble in New York Harbour with the authorities. In 1923, Ballymena was also sued by the United States, probably related to her rum-running.”

Austin Destoup was a constable, composer, and pianist. He composed, published, distributed and with Harry Belafonte popularized the song Bally Mena in 1927. The ship was closed from the registry in 1926. Lyrics include “Put the Belamena on the dock / And paint the Belamena black, black, black / Paint the Belamena black, black / When she come back, she was white.” During the Prohibition, in order to throw off the US Coast Guard and law enforcement in the US, ships would repaint themselves often. The final fate of this historic steam yacht owned by the founders of Brown University would be of national significance.

The cargo boat Zelma Rose was immortalised by the Percentie Brothers of Harbour Island following her tragic sinking. Built of wood by a Mr Roberts in Marsh Harbour in 1947, she was a 30-ton motor vessel. While under the command of Captain Edison Higgs, at 2.50am on 1 June, 1952, whilst transporting passengers from Nassau to Spanish Wells, she was overwhelmed by 15-foot seas near Fleeming Channel. The seas caused the cargo of lumber, furniture, and canisters of gasoline to shift suddenly, and she capsized quickly. Among six persons who drowned were a 23-year-old nurse, Oona Newbold, her 18-year-old sister Carol, a 61-year-old Sunday school teacher from the UK, crew Welbourn Pinder, Ephraim (last name not known) from Andros, and Charles Algreen, age 44, of Current. A sloop named Sally managed to rescue 17 survivors clinging to flotsam.

Remarkably an 18-month-old child named Terrance Lightbourn survived. His father Paul managed to find the infant in a submerged cabin and pull him out by a little foot. Oona Newbold directed the parents in successfully resuscitating the child, then she drowned soon thereafter. The survivors then got by clinging to the wreck and a dinghy until some eight hours later, when the boat sank and rescue arrived.

It was rumoured that Captain Higgs swam five miles to Current Island and ran another six to the community to summon help, however this is unlikely to have been the case given the distances and available time. Fourth-generation musicians The Percentie Brothers wrote, performed, and recorded their song Zelma Rose on at least one album: Songs in Calypso recounting the wreck, around 1954, popularizing awareness of this tragic incident. A dive site locates this wreck at “just north of the Quintus Rock pole beacon on the 1984 NGIA nautical chart Eleuthera – West Part”.