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RUM CAY ·~ CIIY$ •A. MAN6ROV~~ ~.O· L.OH(, CAY 45Ft EAT E!)Tuma THE DECLIN~ OF BOAT BUILDING IN THE BAHk'1..4. ISLA1"DS by William G. Glover A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of the College of Social Science in Partial Fulfillment of the Re~uire=cnts for the Degree of Master of Arts Florida Atlantic University Boca Raton, Florida December 1974 -,, THE DECLI~~ OF BOAT BUILDING IN THE BAHAMA ISLM"DS by William G. Glover This thesis was prepared under the direction of the candidate's thesis advisor, Dr. Gerald '.Jeiss, Department of Anthropology, and has been approved by the members of his supervisory committee. It was submitted to the faculty of the College of Social Science and was accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of ~~ster of Arts. -.f I ., i i:t:/ '' ( (;1-a, /c ! ~""(Dean,. College Science) ced Studies (date) iii ABSTRACT Author: William G. Glover Title: The Decline of Boat Building in the Bahama Islands Institution: Florida Atlantic University Degree: Master of Arts Year: 1974 An ir~estigation of the decline of traditional boat building in the Bahama Islands was attempted. National and local level analysis indicated that the collapse of the sponging industry in the late 1930's and the introduction of development in the last two decades led to the decline. The consequences of development in the Bahamas, i.e., a changing econc~y; a complex occupational profile; urban growth and migration to the city; increases in communication, transportation, and public conveniences; ~overnment policy changes; fewer participants in traditional festivals and ceremonies; family structure changes; and value shifts, were analyzed for their contribution to the decline of boat building. Lisbon Creek and ~~ o' War Cay, two traditional centers of boat building, were the foci of local level investigation. The difference in the degree of decline in the communities was attributed to differentials in development and expcsu4c to its consequences. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. THE PROBLE."'f . 1 Introduction • • • • • 1 Background • • • • 3 Statement of project 23 !!. METHODS ••• . 26 Description of research • 26 Procedure • • • • • • • • • 27 I!I. THE COMMUNITIES • • • • 29 IV. THE ECONOMIC "SYSTEMS" 37 v. OCCUPATIONAL PROFILES • 65 VI. POPULATION 75 VII. COMMUNICATION, PUBLIC CONVENIENCES, AND TRANSPORTATION 84 VIII. COVER.\"!·ID;T POLICY • • • • • • 89 IX. FESTIVALS AND CEREMONIES •• " 92 x. FAMILY STRUCTURE AND RELATIONSHIPS. 95 XI. VALUE CHANGES • • • • • • • 101 XII. SUMMARY &~D CONCLUSIONS • . 106 APPENDIX •• 111 BIBLIOGRAPHY • • . 115 v LIST CF TA!-lL!~S Table Page I. ..~\'erage E.:!~rlings frc:1 !·:reeking II. ~reeking a~d Sponging--1865 to 1896. 13 III. Spo~ge ~!arket Activity--:r.:1ss.:.u • 38 IV. P:-oduction of Sponges-·-1935 •• 39 v. Exports of Crawfish and Scalefish. 39 VI. Tourism--1949 to 1964 ..•.. 41 VII. 'i'he :-~aj or Eco:1cnic Pursuits of the !$ah.3.ma Islands in 1965. 43 VIII. "Eard i-.'ork". 44 IX. Economic Activities by Family, Lisbon Creek-- 197 4 . 58 x. Ec.onorr.ic Activities by farr.ily, ~1an o' War Cay--1974. • • • • • . ••• 59 XI. Boat Types in Cse--l974. 62 XII. Abaco Occup.3.tional Structure 66 XIII. :~~dros Occupational Structure. 67 XI\'. Bahama Islands Occupational Structure •• 68 XV. Occupatio-;,al Profile, }~:1nz,rove Cay District. 7l )..\fl. Occupation~l Profile, Hope Tovm District 72 1.'VII. ~~le Occu?ational Profiles--1974 • . 73 XVIII. Population, Census Years--1720-1970 •• 75 ...., XIX. ?opula~ion ~cnsity • I' xx. Population 0f Andros Population cf Abaca. 79 ~-~igration--Lisbon Creek. 80 :-:·:II!. 92 X.XIV. R'ink. Order of \'ocational Prefe:::-enc2s U\' Temporal/ Spatial Gro::ps in 1'". o Out Island Cc::-_-::uni tics • . 10:? vi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page I. Map of the Bahama Islands • viii II. The Truck System. 15 III. The Truck System--Boat Building • 18 IV. Lisbon Creek--Settlement Pattern. 30 v. Man o' War Cay--Settlement Pattern. 33 VI. Exposure to Development • • • • • • • 96 Vii hJARISH IIM6t1U.IC 0 '• .... M·AN c.' WAR CAY _....A, H c~PE T'O W N ~~" 0 f.li ~40 ,...,-,RAND All ACO :;BAHAMA .. \a FlGlJitE Z 8AHAMA %SLANDS a ~0t)~UtHfRA -· o. c•' 8!1\RY : Isi.ANos , 11 i' NASSA~c'l'>~ ~ 81Mil1111 , , • CAT f N~OVIIJ~NCE •• \ .....< ~ @SIIH $/II.WADOR ..... ..... ' ''· ··~ E)(UMA 0 ~ RUM CAY ·~ CIIY$ •a._ MAN6ROV~~ ~.o· l.OH(, CAY 45ft EAT E!)tUMA D FIGURE I ~~~c;\ BAHAMA ISLANDS : ') /;/ACitUNS 0 RAGGED c-o 6 CHAPTER I THE PROBLEM Introduction The Bahamas retain the only vestige of 19th Century boat building in North America. The Bahamians depend entirely on the wind. Each Bahamian is his o;m ship's carpenter, sailmaker, rigger, and mastmaker. Bahamians don't just sail their boats. They go to the woods to find trees to build them. They cut the trees, haul or float them to· their building sites, and shape them into finished hulls with adzes, axes, and planes. This whole division of the arts of the sea--designing and building--which in most maritime societies is confined to a small class of specialists, is widespread among them. Bradley 1969:213 The above quotation was based on Bradley's visit to Lisbo~ Creek, Andros, in 1964 (see Figure I). Although his description is based on generalizations about boat building from his visit, at one time the description could have applied to any community in the Bahama Islands where the activity was present. _ .... _ \.,,.. .... ___ .... ..l '-'Q.A..£ uc;. '-LO.'-C.U. Century ln tne ~~itings cf ~.~ early travelers in the Bahama Islands. wylly provides evidence that certain cultural features associated with boat building were present as early as 1789. He states: The Dye Woods are found in these islands. They have a variety of hard woods; and a small, but excellent species of ~~hogany. Pine, of tolerable size, and much harder than that of the continent, is found upon some of the islands, particularly Abaco; ancl ship timber, equal to any in the world, for vessels as far as 200 tons burthen, is inexhaustible on the Northernmost islands (1789:3). 1 2 Schoepf, in his description of the Bahama Islands in 1788, states: "In the West Indies much mahogany is used in ship building. At the time, a brigg was lying here on the stocks, of which the lower part was made entirely of mahogany" (1911:274). He further states that Lignum vitae is "used in mechanical apparatus. A great traffic in it is particularly furthered by its use on ships, where the pulleys and blocks for the rigging are made solely of this wood" (1911:275). He provides a description of the turtle catching technique still used today: "At other times they are hunted in little open boats, and caught by means of a very simple kedge-iron. An iron punch 4 to 5 inches long, with a cord attached, is fixed to the end of a wooden staff" (1911:281). Another artifact associated with boats in the Bahama Islands is described. He states that: "V."hen they sail about aQOng the islands to look cut sunken w.ares, in order to see more clearly through th~ water they m~~e use of a square box at the bottom of which is set a common panP of glass. This device serves merely to prevent the rays of light coming from the side, enabling the eye to catch more readily those springing fro~ the deep" {19il:282). The practice of boat buildi=g ~~s apparently been presenc in the Bahama Islands without interruption for approximately two hundred years. However, boat building is, for the ~ost part, in its last few years of existence. Whereas in the past it was a ~~d~spr~u ~conom1c activity, today only a few boat builders remain. Also, chere ap~~ars to be a differantial degree of decline in the activity. This raises questions concerning variation in receptivity to cultural change due to specific local circuostances. 3 This research atte~pts to investigate the circumstances that have brought about the decline of boat building, and to compare the decline between Lisbon Creek and ~~n o' War Cay, two traditional centers of boat building and sea related activities. In such an undertaking, there were certain limitations known prior to the commencement of the research. The first of these has already been mentioned, i.e., that the era of boat building has passed and much information had to be obtained from ethnohistorical statements of informants and secondary source analysis. A second limitation was that the geographical dispersion of the contemporary boat builders prevented investigation of all locations where the practice still exists. Another limitation was the available time and resources for the research. Also, the strong dependency of boat building on sea related economic activities requires analysis of this "sea complex" before the actual boat building activities can be understood. These limitations must be taken into consideration in this research. The validity of the results depends on minimizing their effects. Background Cultural change has become a way of life in most of the world's societies today. Therefore, it is important to understand the conditions that bring about this change. There are many writers who have been concerned with this aspect of anthropology. However, most of the emphasis on the study of cultural change has been concentrated in local villages or communities with little regard to those factors operating at the national or international levels. Nevertheless, 4 recently so~e anthropologists have argued for the study of both local and supralocal levels in a complex society (Adams 1970; Steward 1955; C-eertz 1962; Leeds 1973). These arguments were taken into consider- ation in this research. According to Herskovits, change is a universal cultural phenomenon, and the processes of change over a period of time constitute the dynamics of culture.
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