His Father built a boat in 1945 named the MA Kern. There were three boys and one girl in the Hyde Family. The three boys all helped their dad sail this vessel weekly to La Ceiba, bringing back freight. When it came time for further education than what was available in Roatan at the time, the two oldest brothers – Meade and Allan – were sent to the USA to study.
Allan finished high school in Orlando, Florida first and studied engineering from Caterpillar in Tampa. The young Allan returned home to Roatan to work with his dad in his growing business. They built a bigger boat in 1958 and named her M/V Judy. The boat was built to run coconuts from the Bay Islands to the USA.
Allan’s uncle, Hersel Elwin, also had a boat, which he later turned control over to Allan to operate. Allan named this boat the Altear and put it to work running coconuts to Miami. On one of his trips picking up coconuts in Bonacca, he saw a beautiful girl named Yvette Kirkconnell. He decided it was time for him to get a wife – not long thereafter, couple were married.
At that time, the first shrimp boats had arrived from the USA and were operating out of Bonacca. Allan saw this as a new business opportunity, and in June 1963 he brought the first Roatan shrimp boat named Lady E to French Harbour.
Two years later, the three Hyde brothers purchased a second boat named Mr. B. The three brothers purchased a few more shrimp boats, and Allan decided it was time to build their seafood packing plant. They broke ground in 1968, and the building was due to open for operations in September 1969.
His strength was not only physical but was from within.
Unfortunately, a few days before the scheduled opening, Hurricane Francelia hit the Bay Islands on September 1, 1969, and destroyed the nearly- ready packing plant. The day after the hurricane, I accompanied Allan as he walked around and assessed the wreckage that was left. With tears in his eyes, he said to me: “Truman, the only thing I can do is to start all over again and rebuild.” As I looked at him, I realized that his strength was not only physical but was from within, the strength of determination and resilience. The seafood packing plant was rebuilt, and a year later, in 1970, it opened. At the height of the seafood industry in Roatan, he employed about three hundred people.
Allan Hyde was the pioneer who started the seafood business in Roatan. The industry was our largest employer for many years.
Allan’s accomplishments spanned a broad range. The Hyde family brought the first refrigerated ship to the Bay Islands to transport frozen seafood to the USA. This was the beginning of what is now Hybur and Hyde Shipping. Today, the companies operate a fleet of container ships that sail from Florida to four countries in the Western Caribbean.
Allan brought the first well drilling equipment to Roatan to drill deep wells, enabling the island to have a more reliable water supply. Before that, the population relied on rainwater cisterns, shallow wells, and gullies for their water supply. After drilling some personal wells, he asked for donations to install windmills to operate the wells around the island. At the time, the road to Flowers Bay was so bad that he had to walk barefoot in knee-deep mud to get to the area where the well was to be drilled.
Allan donated free electricity for many years to operate the well for the town of French Harbour. He also owned a small bulldozer and maintained the road to French Harbour whenever it got washed out from heavy rains, ensuring that it always remained drivable.
For many years, he was instrumental in providing 24-hour electricity to the town of French Harbour. Later on, during the presidential term of Rafael Leonardo Callejas, he was instrumental in getting island-wide 24-hour electricity generated with the installation of RECO.
He went on to become mayor of Roatan, and a congressman for the Bay Islands. While serving in these roles, he tried hard to get many projects approved that would modernize the islands. This was key in bringing in the first cruise ships to Roatan. To accomplish this, he took several Honduran politicians to Cozumel, Mexico, and Grand Cayman at his own expense, aiming to impress upon them the need to develop the islands for tourism. He told me that if you asked a politician something, you might get it, but if you demonstrated it to them, you stood a better chance of getting it accomplished.
Allan was the driving force of the National Party in the Bay Islands, where he met all of the incoming presidents. It started with General Oswaldo López, and he continued lifelong relations with many of these men. These relationships had lead directly to getting a modern airport and cruise ship dock built in Roatan during the presidency of Leonardo Rafael Callejas.
One of Allan’s employees, Sammy Gayle, started calling Allan ‘The Colonel’ back in 1963. I asked Sammy why he called him that. Sammy replied that whatever Allan set out to do, he accomplished. I, along with many of his friends, continued to call Allan ‘The Colonel’ throughout his life.
Allan Hyde passed away in December 2023, and during his lifetime he was truly a patriot of Roatan. He accomplished many things that we enjoy and take for granted. He left some big shoes to fill, and I hope that in the future we will have many more Roatan patriots like him – men of vision and determination who work to make their lives and our communities a better place to live.
