Roatan Author makes her Book Debut

Roatan’s population needs a way to anchor itself to the history of its Garifuna, English and Spanish settlers. The book “Piece of the Puzzle,” set to launch in July 2025, provides a pivotal perspective on who shaped the Bay Islands and how over the past two centuries.

The book’s author is Keila Rochelle Thompson Gough, a Jonesville-born islander. She embarked on a path to discover her own roots. That path led her down the rabbit hole of family stories, secrets and old photographs. “When I started doing research, it was not to write a book, but then all these stories started coming alive,” Gough said. “It was then I decided to write the book.”

The book-writing process was cathartic for Thompson. “It made me realize how much more confident I am and what my family represents,” says Keila. On the book’s pages, she writes about “lives rich with industry, perseverance, success and sometimes tragedy.” We learn about people who wove the fabric that became the Bay Islands. These stories had a profound effect on how the islands are shaped today. They were fundamental to the history of the Bay Islands but also shaped the character of the Bay Islanders who walk the streets of the island.

The author has relatives throughout the British Western Caribbean—Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Belize. For many of them, and many other islanders, “Piece of the Puzzle” tied the strands of their history together. The book has been a wealth of knowledge and a source of understanding about how they are related across time and archipelagos.

Thompson Gough wrote this book as a tribute to her ancestors, her contemporaries and the children who will now have a reference for knowing where they came from. It is the kind of book you can keep open for reference or dive into to read island stories.

Culture dies without someone recording its origins.

The book’s pages not only display the author’s love and passion for her native Roatan, but also represent a work of diligent research that will serve as an invaluable source for other researchers and lovers of Caribbean culture, especially Bay Islands culture.

She searched old island cemeteries, looking at tombstones. Especially the Oak Ridge Cemetery provided a wealth of knowledge. The faded tombstones revealed their secrets to a persistent researcher.

She visited neighbors and sometimes grumpy nonagenarians. She was given treasured family documents, letters and testaments. Often, the greatest wealth of information came from nearby—her great-grandmother Cora Wood.

Thompson described them and sometimes gives them life in print within the pages of her book. “I felt very privileged to be a descendant of such a determined, resolute, and historic ancestry,” writes Thompson, who began in 2008 but had to put the project aside for so many years.

She took on the role of genealogist, contacting and visiting archives in Belize, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and the Honduran national archives in Tegucigalpa. “There was no history book in our schools to teach us specifically about the history of the Bay Islands,” writes the author.

“The Piece of the Puzzle” is a well-written, large-format book that serves as a great resource for anyone interested in the history, culture and ethnography of Roatan, the Western Caribbean, or Honduras. The 530-page, large-format “Piece of the Puzzle” is illustrated with numerous photographs of island life and interspersed with historical information and island stories.

The book is a good source for a history lesson on Roatan and the Bay Islands. It creates a record of island families and heritage. The author traces the origins and history of Roatan’s families who arrived on the island in the 1840s: the Goughs, Coopers, Thompsons, Boddens, Abbotts, Woods and many others. It is a book one can get lost in. If you love history, if you are interested in Roatan, if you appreciate a good story, this is your milieu.

Keila has launched her book, “Piece of the Puzzle: The History of My Ancestors on the Bay Island,” at GiLeis Café in Roatan. The book was released on Amazon on July 1 and became available for sale throughout Roatan in August. It is available for purchase in Roatan, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and as an e-book on Apple Books.

Robert McNab, along with his wife, Margret Crawford, immigrated to Cape Gracias a Dios on the northeast coast of Honduras. They arrived in 1835 from Edinburgh, Scotland. The English had a settlement on the cape, and there was a fort manned by British soldiers. A few settlers also tried to make a living there.

While there, Robert McNab heard about the Bay Islands to the west and decided to relocate there. The archipelago was beginning to attract British subjects from the Cayman Islands and beyond. When his party reached Roatan, they settled on one of the three cays inside the French Harbour channel.

There is an interesting account of the McNabs from a few years later. In 1840, an Englishman named Thomas Young, an employee of the British Central America Land Company, was on his way to Black River. His objective was to establish an English colony on the Mosquito Coast of Honduras. En route to Black River, Mr. Young’s schooner encountered a problem with the rudder and had to seek help in French Harbour.

Thus the town of French Harbour was started.

Mr. Young states in his writings that a Scotsman with a large family was the only person living there. The Scotsman that Mr. Young refers to in his writings can only be Robert McNab. Young describes the family as well-established in French Harbour. Since the Scotsman was a boat builder by trade, he repaired the schooner for Mr. Young. Mr. Young’s account states that the family was in the process of building a small schooner to trade with Belize, the Cayman Islands and other ports.

Around this time, the Jones family also settled in the town. The two island families began to marry into each other. Thus, the town of French Harbour was founded. Curiously, no one seems to know for sure why the town was called French Harbour, since it was settled by Scots. There is an old, commonly heard story that two Frenchmen were the first people to live there, and thus the place became known as French Harbour.

Robert and Margaret had a total of seven children: five boys and two girls. From 1840 to the present day, descendants of Robert McNab and Margaret Crawford have owned and operated all types of boats. They owned commercial fishing boats, such as shrimp trawlers, lobster boats, and conch boats, as well as general cargo vessels, freighters and, lastly, passenger ferries.

His first memory as a child was a church celebration. As Methodist’ Church in Coxen Hole celebrated its harvest festival, children were carrying gifts. “I had my offering, and when they came to get it, I didn’t want to give it. They said: ‘He’s going to be a mean fellow,’” said Mr. Sam.

When his mother begun working at Vincente D’Antoni Hospital in La Ceiba, the young Sam followed her there in 1947. “All the doctors came from the States, so they couldn’t speak Spanish. They would hire young ladies from the islands who could speak English,” remembers Mr. Sam. While on Roatan, he received tutoring classes. He had four years of schooling at Methodist School in La Ceiba.

In 1952, he went out to sea as an OS (Ordinary Sailor) and graduated to AB (Able Sailor). Then he went to work in the pump room. In 1955, he had saved enough money to enroll in a technical course in diesel, at a technical school in Chicago. “I always was yearning to further my education,” remembers Mr. Sam.

He saved for three years to afford a course that offered opportunities for advancement. He went to a school in Chicago that offered six months intensive courses in “diesel” technology.

After the course, Mr. Sam came back to Roatan and began working at Casa Warren, Coxen Hole’s biggest supermarket. In 1961, he met his wife, Myrel Anderson from Sandy Bay through work. “I had been running for a long time,” says Mr. Sam. The couple tied the knot and began their long life together.

He was a personable, intelligent young man, and some people were surprised to see him living on a small island. A casual acquaintance – an American doctor visiting from Oklahoma – helped Mr. Sam secure a work visa in the United States. “That is why it’s good to have a little diploma,” remembers Mr. Sam.

When he arrived in the US, he immediately applied for a job at Ford Motor Company in New Jersey. Before long, he was working in Manhattan. Mr. Sam sent for his wife to join him, and before long he was enjoying what was one of the greatest boom decades in US history – 1961-1964 – in New York City.

Eventually, island life called, and Mr. Sam came back to Roatan. “I promised him I would come back,” said Mr. Sam. He worked at Casa Warren in Coxen Hole, the island’s biggest grocery store.

The island was small, but growing, and opportunities were all around. The airline industry was connecting major locations around Honduras, and Roatan was one of them. When an airline came calling to open a regular connection with Roatan, Mr. Sam was there.

The first airline that came to the island with a connection to La Ceiba, in 1947, was Transportes Aéreos Nacionales. Soon after, LANSA came in with their service between Roatan and the coast, and Mr. Sam became its Roatan agent.

Mr. Sam remembers Bill Earle, the owner of LANSA who knew a man named Robert Webster, a licensed pilot from Guanaja, and the two went into business together. “They buckled up together and became partners,” said Mr. Grant.

He saved for three years to afford a course.

The airline needed at least one passenger to stay profitable on the Roatan route, and Mr. Sam made sure there was always someone wanting to visit la Ceiba. He worked out of his desk at Casa Warren selling the Roatan-La Ceiba tickets for 12 Lempiras (82 cents). “Within six months, we had five planes,” remembers Mr. Grant.

Mr. Sam recalls the original landing strip located on the side of the road just east of Coxen Hole. “On one side, there were coconuts, on the other, there was a road. (…) The cows, the cats, and the dogs were all running,” remembers Mr. Grant. Eventually, the nearby “Church hill” – part of the Methodist Mission – and graveyard were both leveled in order to enlarge the landing strip. “The terminal was out of thatched roof,” remembers Mr. Sam.

There were some setbacks with the airlines as well. There was an accident with a 10-seater plane coming from Cayman Islands, stopping over on Roatan on its way to Tegucigalpa. It dropped to the sea in Dixon Cove. “They just ran out of fuel. It was an error by the pilots,” remembers Mr. Sam. Two pilots and two passengers died in the crash.

Mr. Grant knew three Americans that saw Roatan’s potential and invested their money in land and projects that benefited the island. “The government didn’t start tourism here, the foreigners did,” remembers Mr. Sam. In 1960 there were three Americans that were pioneers. There was Mr. Roy Anderson on the east side of Roatan, Paul Adams on the west end of the island, and John Henley, from Birmingham, Alabama, who focused his efforts on the middle of Roatan. “He went into leasing instead of buying, and the government changed the law and foreigners couldn’t [invest any longer],” remembers Mr. Grant.

The first tourist hotels appeared on the island soon thereafter – Spyglass Hill in Punta Gorda was the first, AKR the second, and CocoView the third. As the island grew, it also found itself in the path of three powerful Hurricanes in less than a decade: Francelia in 1969, Fifi in 1974, and Greta in 1978.

The terminal was out of the thatched roof.

In 1990 Mr. Sam began working at the Roatan Municipality with Mayor Allan Hyde as his “number two man, [that] now it is called vice-alcalde… or ‘official mayor’,” remembers Mr. Sam. “I would work for him under one condition: I would work under one boss – Allan Hyde,” said Mr. Sam. “I didn’t take ‘mordida,’ I didn’t want any handout.”

The Roatan municipal budget was small, but sufficient to finance some badly needed construction projects. Mr. Sam helped to build a Coxen Hole municipal market and new City hall building. “The last one didn’t even have a good bathroom, no conference table,” said Mr. Sam.

The Roatan municipal budget was small, but sufficient to finance some badly needed construction projects. Mr. Sam helped to build a Coxen Hole municipal market and new City hall building. “The last one didn’t even have a good bathroom, no conference table,” said Mr. Sam.

He continued to preach on the island and look after his five children. Looking back, Mr. Sam sees that the biggest difference he made was that of following the true and narrow path of life. “’Let the people remember you for good, not walls, not statues,’ this is what my mother told me, and now I understand it,” says Mr. Grant.

The Smiling Sandy Bay’s Entertainment Duo

Both Walter and Dwin were born in Sandy Bay, a place where many island musicians have their roots. “My father was a music man. I watched them play and I just kept right on,” says Walter about Norman James, his saxophone-playing father. James speaks with a soft, cracked voice. Walter started playing music in his teens. He played the drums, then moved to playing the guitar and eventually lead guitar.

On 1970s Roatan there was no TV or internet, but sounds of musical instruments were all around. One of Walter’s brothers was a trumpet player, and the other played the guitar and banjo. After his brother passed away, their sons: Jimmy, Joseph and Jonny continued the family tradition on music.

As a young man, Walter ran away from the Honduran army and settled back on the island and begun performing. Saturdays were dance nights on the island back then. In the 1970s, he already played for tourists at AKR. “We had Allan Flowers; Polin Galindo wrote songs,” remembers the old times Walter.

In the 1970 and 80s, many island one-man bands or two-man groups entertained the entire Roatan population. There were many solo artists and bands playing all over the island, especially on Saturdays.

Dwin Osly Bodden was born in 1991 in what he believes is Roatan’s music center – Sandy Bay. “If you dig down deep you will find that 80% of musicians are from Sandy Bay.”

At 13-14 years of age he started at 13-14 years old with gospel music at the church of God, “My maternal grandfather, Robert Gorfry, played bass guitar,” recalls Dwin who now sings both gospel and secular music.

If you dig down deep you will find that 80% of musicians are from Sandy Bay.

The Happy Boys due have been together four years. They play at the regular tourist spots: La Placita, Sol y Mar, AKR for the tourists and charity events. Roatan music scene is heading for tourist entertainment route.

The Happy Boys also travel. They have been to Cayman Islands several times, they performed on Utila, Guanaja, and the Mosquito coast. “We play reggae, soca, country and western, Merengue, Cumbia, we are quite versatile,” says Dwin. They don’t write their own songs however. “We mostly follow music, not writing,” adds James.

By Truman Jones

Captain Scott navigated numerous ports across the Caribbean, such as Jamaica, the Cayman Islands, the Isles of Pines, Roatan, Havana, Key West, Tampa, Mobile, Cozumel, and Belize.

During his frequent visits to French Harbour, he crossed paths with Mary McNab, a descendant of one of the pioneering families in the area. Captain Scott gained recognition as one of the foremost schooner captains in the Caribbean during this era.

In 1903, Captain Scott and Mary McNab joined in matrimony. Then, on October 15, 1904, they welcomed their first child, a lovely, blonde-haired girl named Selma Hellen Scott, who would later become my mother. Captain Scott made a pivotal decision to establish French Harbour as his primary home port.

Within French Harbour, he undertook the construction of a three-story residence complete with a dock adjacent to the Harbour. The first floor served as storage for the cedar lumber he had transported all the way from Mobile, Alabama. Captain Scott, alongside Captain William C. Borden, earned recognition for their significant contributions in supplying the lumber that went into building many of the homes throughout the Bay Islands.

Tragedy struck the schooner Maggie G Williams.

In 1907, another girl was born, Leila May Scott. William C. Jones, a businessman in French Harbour, owned a store and a schooner. He offered Captain Scott a job on the schooner. By 1910, yet another girl was born, Edna P. Scott. It was at this point that Captain Scott decided to inform William to seek another captain, as he desired to stay closer to his family. Captain Scott, in collaboration with his cousin, acquired a schooner of their own in Mobile, Alabama.

Captain Scott assumed command of the newly acquired schooner in July 1911. Earlier, in February 1911, he had handed over the reins of the schooner Maggie G Williams to its new captain. However, due to illness from Malaria, the designated captain couldn’t embark on the voyage. The owner then sought out Captain Scott and requested him to undertake the favor of sailing the schooner on one final journey. Captain Scott accepted the task.

All went well in the beginning, but in May, tragedy struck the schooner Maggie G Williams. Departing from Key West with Captain Scott and ten other sailors aboard, they vanished without a trace. Captain Scott was just a few months shy of his 30th birthday.

In my opinion, as a captain myself, the weather in Florida during May contributed to the tragic incident. In May, these waters can be prone to sudden, monstrous storms that pop up out of nowhere. These storms can produce water spouts and tornadoes, and create winds upwards of 70 mph. I firmly believe it was a storm that claimed the lives of Maggie G. Williams, Captain Scott, and the ten sailors, consigning them to a sailor’s watery grave.

As I stood on the porch of my home in Brick Bay, I watched the ship carrying my grandfather’s headstone enter the French Harbour channel. The sun was shining her rays onto the ship from just above the horizon. I thought to myself: “Captain Scott, you finally made it back to your home port, on the other side of the sea that you sailed across so many times in 112 years.”

A Lady with a Smile Reflects on the Past

Mrs. Catherine Delilah Dilbert Tatum was born on the Hill in Diamond Hill on May 26, 1926. She was the seventh and final child of her mother, Belkis Tatum, from Diamond Rock. Her father, Nicodimus Dilbert, a farmer, was born in the Cayman Islands in 1882 and sailed to Roatan with his parents when he was just three years old.

When her mother passed away from pneumonia in 1933, seven-year-old Mrs. Catherine, along with two other young siblings, had to go live with relatives. She moved to West End to live with her mother’s relatives.

A neighbor, a young boy named John Jay Wood, taught young Catherine the alphabet and how to read and write. Less than ten years later, Mr. John Jay would marry Mrs. Catherine. She received three years of primary education from Victor Stanley, who taught children at the Auntie Blanch Hill Schoolhouse.

Life was simple but filled with work and sadness for young Catherine, as she saw very little of her father and siblings. To earn her keep, she had to grate 50 coconuts a day, working alongside others. Once everyone else was in bed, she would unroll her plantain trash mattress and sleep in the corridor of the small house. These simple mattresses were used throughout the island and made from recycled burlap sacks filled with soft and dry plantain leaves.

In 1941, the family that took her in purchased a store in Coxen Hole, and young Catherine followed them to work there. However, her mind was already elsewhere. In 1943, at the age of seventeen, Mrs. Catherine eloped. She traveled on a night boat to La Ceiba and married her 24-year-old neighbor, Mr. John Jay Wood, who had just finished working at the United Fruit Company in La Lima, Cortés.

Mrs. Catherine offered her help whenever she could.

The couple returned to Coxen Hole and took on the responsibility of managing the Litrico Store. Mrs. Catherine’s young husband managed the store, and every few weeks, he embarked on a round-the-island three-to-four-day journey to buy coconuts and plantains from farmers, some as far as Saint Helene. Litrico owned boats named Melly, Blanquita, and Seven Sisters, which were used to transport the produce from Roatan to Tampa.

The young couple rented a house a few hundred meters west of the store in Goat Hill, Coxen Hole. They were blessed with three children: Mary Lynn, John Wilmer, and Dainie Marie.

The municipal clock tower served as a reminder of the passing time, chiming every quarter of an hour. Sam Webster, the clock keeper, diligently oiled and wound the clock every few days. However, due to his occasional indulgence in alcohol, the clock would sometimes be neglected and stop.

In 1961, the couple acquired the Litrico store located across from Juan Brooks school, and they expanded its offerings. At Catherine D General Store, one could purchase not only foodstuffs but also gasoline, building supplies, and more. Mrs. Catherine also offered a unique service, capturing people’s photographs with her Polaroid camera.

There were five Coxen Hole stores that carried food staples, but only one was a general store. In 1950, the streets of Coxen Hole boasted five stores: the Catherine D Store, Warren Grocery, Litrico Grocery, Pollard James Store, and Maud Wilmuth Store.

Mrs. Catherine offered her help whenever she could, expecting nothing in return. Sometimes, it was during a medical emergency when Doc Polo was off the island; other times, it was when someone passed away, and the family had little money for funeral arrangements. In the 1950s, a young boy named Jack “Seven” McField suffered extensive burns from an explosion on a boat. Mrs. Catherine cared for his burns, applying burned motor oil with a chicken feather, and remarkably, the wounds healed well.

After her husband passed away in 2000, Mrs. Catherine carried on with running the store until 2006. “For some reason, I am still here,” she reflects in her soft, quiet voice. Since 2006, she has resided with her daughter, Dainie, and her son-in-law, Bill, in a property next door to where she lived back in 1933.

Today, she sits on a porch, gazing at the bustling and busy streets of West End, just across from Sundowners Bar. Her connection with West End dates all the way back to 1933.

“Life was great back then,” remembers Mr. Austin nostalgically. “My first memory is of playing maypole and playing baseball on the same spot where the baseball field now is.”
Little Austin received little basic education on Utila and as a teenager he was sent to a high school run by Jamaicans in San Francisco ‘Frisco,’ Colón. The mainland school had an island flair as it employed teachers from Roatan and Bonacca. Mr. Austin graduated with a diploma and soon was offered a job at the United Fruit Company.

He was there for four years, graduated with a degree and was soon working as a “timekeeper” for United Fruit Company in La Lima, Cortés. His boss was the infamous Walter Turnbull, of the United Fruit Company. Mr. Austin decided to increase the pay rate of the workers from 19 to 20 Lempiras, he said Turnbull was furious. “He shouted: “Boys you cannot do that,” says Mr. Austin.

He lasted two years until the general strikes of 1954. The civil disorder began when President Juan Manuel Gálvez proposed a national eight hour workday and extra pay for work on holidays. The workers labor strike first began in Tela in April of 1954 then spread to the docks of Puerto Cortés. The protests eventually halted 25,000 of the company’s workers in Honduras and 15,000 workers from Standard Fruit. After 69 days the strike was resolved with increased pay and recognition of labor unions.

Mr. Austin eventually married Jane Bodden, an Utilan, but was hardly home. The absentee marriage never really worked, and Mrs. Jane moved to Miami.

He landed a passage on a boat heading to the US from Tela. Mr. Austin started working on “five hatcher ship” running passengers and cargo between Florida and Brazil, Buenos Aires and Tierra del Fuego. “I had 22 birthdays in Tierra del Fuego,” says Mr. Austin. He worked on the ship as AB (able seaman) sailor until 1976.

In 1959 his ship was docked in Havana harbor when the Cuban Revolution broke out. Castros “Barberos” were entering Havana and Mr. Austin found himself in a middle of a shootout. “There were bullets flying everywhere,” remembers Mr. Austin. “We hid under the bed of the hotel than sneak out back to the ship.” To give him a better chance at reaching safety Mr. Austin dressed up in woman’s shawl.

I am most proud of my children.

When he finally returned to Honduras, he found work at a cattle farm in Limoncito, Colón. After two years he arrived with 62 heads of cattle on Utila. He married and ended up having nine children.
“The bible says honor your father and your mother,” says Mr. Austin pensively. He has a wrinkled, white skin and deeply set-in eyes. “I am most proud of my children,” says Mr. Austin. “I have nothing to regret.”

My 3-year-old niece was bragging to her fellow daycare inmates about her upcoming trip to the Cayman Islands for the Holidays. It sounds pretty, it evokes images of white sand beaches and piñas coladas. There are the sting rays and picturesque boating and diving activities. My mother tells me tales of the Cayman of old and how they would import pineapples from us here in the Bay islands. Their fresh produce was scarce and there was nothing there.

So how did they come so far so fast and why we in the Bay Islands, while we have much more to offer, we just have gone backwards. Maybe the answer lies in the fact that they are miles away from the country to which they are tied to. Or perhaps it’s that a developed nation such as the United Kingdom recognizes the jewel that Cayman Islands are.

I’m unsure of the answer. The truth is that the Caymans have left us in the dust. Having no hills, no water sources beyond a few wells and desalination facilities, no agriculture. Their biggest island is smaller than Guanaja, yet they have managed to have global appeal.

The Cayman Islands citizens are well cared for and their government works for them. I had forgotten the date of my last visit when I arrived at immigration in Cayman over the Christmas break. Their entry system was quick and suggested I had been there last in 2017 on a business trip.

They handle this information at the touch of a button, while we can’t even stop criminals with warrants for their arrest from coming across on the ferry, or the plane from the mainland.

Cayman Islands require stating who you are visiting or name the hotel where you are staying with a reservation. Now that is an immigration control that works.

While we belong to Honduras, we cannot stop the mainlanders from coming over or ask them where they will be staying or what is the purpose of their visit. I know I’m harping about the same issues over and over.

The Colombian government owns two small islands off the coast of Nicaragua: San Andres and Providencia. The Colombian government is aware these islands have limited natural resources and limited jobs, so they do the logical thing and restrict access to them. You may visit San Andres to vacation at any time, or enter with a job offer or as an investor. This is logical, not like our mass influx of people who have no place to stay and no job to come to.

We don’t have the infrastructure necessary to even begin to compete with Caymans. They have branched themselves into medical tourism now with their Health City. Here on Roatan, we can’t even get our hospital built. In brief words: the government has no interest in developing our Islands.

Why should they care if we represent less than 2% of the country’s population? Voting wise we are insignificant. I’m told we also represent very little for them tax wise. They would have us believe that the taxes brought in by the cruise ship passengers, airline passengers, ferry passengers, real estate sale tax, capital gains tax, and security tax don’t represent a significant contribution to the country’s economy. Well, I for one don’t think that is true. I want some transparency and accountability with these numbers. I want transparency.

I want to know what the actual amount of taxes is paid by Bay Islands to Tegucigalpa’s coffers. If we don’t, who has this information and why can’t we access it?

Bottom line is we have an albatross tied to our neck. The stench of corruption and mismanagement of funds reaches across the small stretch of sea that separates us from the continent. If we represent so little to Tegucigalpa both financially and democratically why not release us? I think we could manage just fine.

Pirates careen a boat to do small repairs. Port Royal and its Careening Cay was perfect for such a job.

Local Talent of Turning Wood into Ships Dates Back Centuries

The history of boat building on Roatan is as long as the history of the island’s inhabitants. Paya Indians used to make large cayucos, dug out canoes up to 30 feet in length. These boats were used for turtling, fishing, and transport of goods & people.

In the 16th and 17th centuries pirates used to careen and fix their boats on the biggest of the Bay Islands. There was plenty of fresh water, game and fish to eat and the Paya Indians helped with cutting of wood for boat repair and shelter. Careening Cay in Port Royal was one such place. Roatan, and especially Port Royal, was full of 100 foot tall Honduran Pine trees. Two men were barely able to wrap their arms around them.

When the Spanish forcibly removed the Paya from Bay Islands in 1650 boat building on the island stopped for almost two centuries. Very few people lived on the island and boats would only occasionally stop by to replenish supplies of water and wild fruit.

According to the December 31, 1831 census count of the Cayman Population, the islands had 2,000 both white and black inhabitants. The black slaves outnumbered the whites 5 to 1 in the Cayman Islands and many plantation owners there were afraid following the events that shook Haiti in 1804 after France abolished slavery and the entire white population was massacred.

The Cayman Island slave owners were also offered land grant in the Bay Islands. Displaced white settlers were eligible for a three acre land grant and ex-slaves were eligible for one-acre land allotment from the British Crown. Dozens of Cayman islanders left for the virgin land south and began arriving on Roatan in 1831. By 1843, 24 White Cayman families arrived in the Bay Islands, most of them decided on Roatan and by 1855 a census showed 700 ex-Caymanians living in the Bay Islands Archipelago.

Lyonel Arch at his boat yard in French Cay. He has been building fiber glass boats since 1980’s.

All these islanders needed reliable boats and in 1840 Roatan’s first boat was built. According to Truman Jones, a Roatan shrimp boat captain and business owner, it was a 50’ schooner. In the 1800’s many other 40’-50’ schooners were build in French Harbour and Oak Ridge. In the late 1800’s a boat called Rubicon was built to transport copra from Roatan to the US. Some boats were meant to be used to travel between communities on Roatan: Oak Ridge, French Harbour and Coxen Hole. Other boats were built for journeys to places further like Belize or Honduran Coast. Some vessels were big enough, 100 foot or more, to brave the 1,000 mile passage to the US coast.

The first boat building families on Roatan were the Arches, Elwins, Coopers and Goughs. Henry Arch was a known boat builder in the Cayman Islands and he brought his skills and knowledge to Roatan. “Back then when the father was building a boat, the son was helping him,” said Jones. In 1900 a 100 foot boat called Racer was constructed in French Harbour. “She could carry one million coconuts,” explained Jones. Back in the day and even until 1960 many Roatan coconut groves would produce over 1,000 coconuts a week. Racer was build for the Roatan to US run, but her destiny led her to a Colorado reef north-west of Cuba where she ran aground in the 1940’s.

One of the more curious boat building commissions was a Mexican coast guard boat built on Roatan in 1910. The vessel, according to Truman Jones, was built by the Cooper family.

Oak Ridge harbor was bustling with activity in 1900. (1981 drawing by Ann Jennings Brown).

In 1941, a 90 foot Gwendolyn was built by Bob Forchie, a Roatan born son of a German-American immigrant. While Gwendolyn, commissioned by Winfield McNab was being build, a powerful hurricane hit French Harbour from the South-East. After the hurricane “we didn’t know if the boat was washed out or not,” said Jones. While the braces got washed out the boat stayed in place. Other parts of French Harbour weren’t so lucky: 20 houses, or nearly one-third of town, were destroyed.

In 1952 a 45 foot wood vessel called Mensajero was build to aid evangelization efforts of the Seventh Day Adventists in the Americas. Mensajero sailed towards Orinoco River.

In 1958, where Romeo’s restaurant now stands in French Harbour, a boat called MV Judy was built for Myrl Hyde. “All her ribs were built from Roatan wood: red mahogany and moho,” said Jones. The pieces had to be bent not cut to form the base for the hull of the vessel being constructed. “This was our first boat that we used for international cargo,” recalls Kern Hyde, who’s uncle, Hersel Elwin, build the boat. French Harbour townspeople came out to witness the launch of the MV Judy in April 1958 along with the architect and builder, Hersel Elwin and Cardy Elwin, Homer Wood and Charlie Thompson, Robie Woods, Irwin Jones, Cleary Dixon, Harry Dixon, Dick Dixon, the main carpenters. “Several days before the launch, the vessel was turned 45 degrees with the bow crossways the main road. The only wheels in town were a few wheel barrows and bicycles,” Kern Hyde remembers. “Signal was given to ‘release and pull’ and in a few minutes the Judy was off.” She transported cargo between US and Caribbean for many years.

Wood used in the ship building was Honduran pine

In 1965 Hersel Elwin build the first shrimp boat on Roatan. It was a 65 foot wood vessel christened Captain Ted. For the first few years islanders would sell their shrimps to American shrimp vessels fishing in the nearby waters. “The [Honduran] government didn’t care whose shrimp it was back then,” explained Jones. Around the same time Lloyd Cooper build another shrimp boat for Jack Abbott.

El Pato being built in Oak Ridge.

Hurricane Francelia damaged the island in 1969 and Fifi hit Roatan hard in 1974. “Back then we had no warning of hurricanes. We would see the water recede and then just got ready for the storm,” said Jones. In this days, boat travel was also a risky affair. “We would go to Caymans and we would get lost for days on the way there and even longer coming back.

Navigation was so bad,” remembers Lyonel Arch, a boat builder from French Key. The Arches are now into their fifth generation of boat builders on the island. It all started with Henry Arch who came to Roatan from Liverpool. His son Wilson Leo Arch continued to build boats on Ezekiel Cay now called Fantasy Island. “He build a giant wheel that six men would use to pull boats up to work,” remembers Sherman Arch, a boat builder in French Cay.

Wilson Leo Arch’s six sons continued his legacy. “I watched my father build boats and never seen him draw down a contract. His only contract was a handshake,” remembers Sherman Arch. “A man’s handshake was his bond.” Soft-spoken, with blue eyes and a gray moustache, Mr. Sherman is quintessentially what Roatan used to be – hard work and honesty.

A boat on the dry dock in Oak Ridge.

Wilson Leo Arch sold Ezekiel Cay to Albert Jackson in 1967 and Arch family boat building operation moved westward to French Cay. The timing was fortuitous as on September 2, 1969 a devastating hurricane hit Roatan from the south. “For eight hours it hammered the island. It devastated the entire south side,” says Sherman Arch recalling the massive category five hurricane. “She had more force than any hurricane before, or after.” Roatan got hit again in 1974 by Fifi and in 1978 by Greta, both coming on shore on September 12.

Sherman Arch, 64, has been working on building boats since he was nine. “I would work in the afternoon and go to school in the morning,” reminisces Mr. Sherman. In 1978 he build his first wood boat – Flamingo 1.There was plenty of wood used in the construction: mahogany, cider, Santa Maria,” remembers Mr. Sherman. We used to do sailboat repairs,” says Mr. Sherman. “That was their way of living. They had to buy boats or build boats.” “Over the years they even build entire boats about of mahogany when it was plentiful and not so expensive,” remembers Lyonel Arch. The wood construction eventually gave way to fiberglass. “I started doing fiberglass around 1980-81. It was at first just for myself,” remembers Mr. Lyonel.

It all started with Henry Arch who came to Roatan from Liverpool

Today the leafy mangroves of French Cay provide shade and a good anchor points for the dozens of semi-finished, and salvaged boat hulls. Sherman’s biggest project to date is a 67 foot long and 24 foot catamaran. What he really enjoys is building fast narrow boats, 37 foot Pangas are the optimum in speed and comfort. “You could go 50 miles an hour in it or faster,” says Mr. Sherman. He is building two small glass bottom boats and fixes up old boats, like a neglected Boston Whaler. His boat yard is full of dozens of hulls, boats in different states of construction. “The materials are cheaper in the States. Here the government wants to rip you off,” says Mr. Sherman who’s current favorite boat he built is Miss French Cay a 36 foot boat with eight foot beam that he takes fishing and patrolling for poachers at night.

Oak Ridge was a boat building center run by the Coopers since mid XIX century. “There was a wood shop to mill the wood – pine, Rosita and mahogany that came from Mosquito Coast,” says Mrs. Cooper. The Roatan oak was used mostly for planking. Roatan grown sun-wood, one of the toughest woods around, was also used. The Coopers came from England via Jamaica, Cayman Islands and Belize and eventually settled on a Cay across from Coxen Hole. As John and Thomas Cooper were into boat building they looked for a more suitable place to build boats and found it on the other side of the island in Oak Ridge. “Calabash Bight had the Cooks and Greenwoods, in Fidler’s Bight it was the Boddens, Oak Ridge it was the Coopers and the Goughs and Jonesville had the Joneses,” says Oak Ridge’s Jessie Cooper, now 93, remembering the old days. She remembers when the Oak Ridge dry dock was used to do boat modifications. In one such refitting a boat called Albert was cut in half and extended 10 feet.

Most of the wood used in the ship building was Honduran pine. Mahogany was used for interiors. The boat building was a matter of trust. “You could mail a letter in US and it would get in French Harbour in six days,” says Truman Jones. There were no banks and one would give cash to a boat-crew for them to purchase engines and boat equipment in the US and bring it back with the next transport. It took about a year to complete a boat. The caterpillar motors would arrive via boat and would be fitted onto the hull.

Some from the younger generation of boat builders are also leaving its mark on the tradition of boat building on the island. Darcy Martinez is another Roatan boat builder who has made molds of the Edwardoño hull, a quality Colombian boat maker. “My boats are different than the Edwardoño. We don’t put as much reinforcement in them,” says Martinez who operates a boat building business in French Harbour. “Martinez boats are built well, they hold their value,” says Autie McVicker, owner of Mango Creek Lodge in Port Royal, who owns seven boats built by Martinez. “He produces quality product without any of the technology available in the US. If he had that he could compete with anybody.” The next generation of Arches is not quite jumping into the boat building business. “They like to use them, but they don’t like to build them,” says Mr. Sherman Arch.