BAHAMIAN SHIP GRAFFITI a Thesis by GRACE S. R. TURNER
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BAHAMIAN SHIP GRAFFITI A Thesis by GRACE S. R. TURNER Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS December 2004 Major Subject: Anthropology BAHAMIAN SHIP GRAFFITI A Thesis by GRACE S. R. TURNER Submitted to Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Approved as to style and content by: __________________________________ ______________________________ C. Wayne Smith Sylvia Grider (Chair of Committee) (Member) _________________________________ ______________________________ David Woodcock David Carlson (Member) (Head of Department) December 2004 Major Subject: Anthropology iii ABSTRACT Bahamian Ship Graffiti. (December 2004) Grace S. R. Turner, B.A., Elmira College; M.A., Rutgers University; M.A., Ohio State University Chair of Advisory Committee: Dr. C. Wayne Smith The Bahamian archipelago covers over 5,000 square miles of the Atlantic Ocean at the northwestern edge of the Caribbean Sea. In the Age of Sail, from the late 15th to early 20th centuries, these islands were on major sailing routes between the Caribbean, Central America, and Europe. Bahamians developed life-ways using their islands’ location to their advantage. Archaeological evidence of the significance of shipping activity is quite lacking. This research aimed to help fill the void by documenting examples of ship graffiti throughout the Bahamas. Examples of ship graffiti were documented with photographs and tracings. The Bahamian examples all date to the 19th and 20th centuries, 100 years later than other examples from the Caribbean and North America. They are also unique in being incised into the stone surfaces of building walls, caves, stones on a hillside, even on a slate fragment. It is possible that ship graffiti were also engraved on wooden surfaces but these have not survived in the archaeological record. Images depict locally- built vessels such as sloops and schooners as well as larger, ocean-going vessels. Ship graffiti are at sites associated mainly with people of African heritage, another possible social grouping being persons of lower economic status. Graffiti details consistently indicate that the artists were familiar with ship construction and rigging. iv This analysis of ship graffiti gives some understanding of the significance of ships and shipping in the Bahamian economy. v This thesis is dedicated to Josiah, of Cheshire Hall estate, Providenciales, Turks & Caicos Islands, and to all the un-named artists who created the graffiti that became the subject of my research. May this work serve as a lasting memory of appreciation to all of them. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my Committee members: Wayne Smith, chair, Sylvia Grider (Anthropology Department), and David Woodcock (College of Architecture) for their invaluable support and assistance throughout the time I spent researching and writing this thesis. My thanks also to Helen de Wolf for advice on how best to record eroded, faint images of ship graffiti. Thanks for the travel support from my home office, the Bahamas’ Antiquities, Monuments & Museums Corporation under Director, Keith Tinker. Thanks also to Gary Larsen, Executive Director of the Bahamas National Trust, for permission to conduct research at Great Hope plantation, Crooked Island. Thanks to Don and June MacMillan for hosting me in their home on Crooked Island and to June for driving me to the site and patiently trekking deep into the bush and clambering over ruins in search of the elusive ship graffiti. Thanks to Ethlyn Gibbs-Williams, Colette Robinson, and Bryan Manco of the Turks & Caicos Islands National Trust for accommodating my research requests with little prior notice. My thanks to Gail Saunders, Chairperson of the Board of Trustees, and Mrs. Murphy, chief librarian, of the Nassau Public Library, for permission to document the ship graffiti in the basement cell of that building. Thanks to David Cates, president of the Bahamas Historical Society, for permission to document ship graffiti from Tusculum estate, and to photograph ship models in the Society’s museum collection. Thanks as well to Dr. Paul Farnsworth for permission to use site maps from excavations at Clifton, on New Providence, and Great Hope and Marine Farm, on Crooked Island. Thanks also vii to Robert Carr for permission to use maps and images of the ship graffito from the New Plymouth jail site, Green Turtle Cay, Abaco. Thanks also to the Research Room staff of the Department of Archives: Queenie Butler, Lulamae Gray, Edith Stirrup, and Karen Dorsett. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... iii DEDICATION .................................................................................................. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................. viii LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................... x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION – REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .............. 1 The Research Challenge ................................................................. 1 Theoretical Approach ..................................................................... 6 Relevance of Folklore Sources ....................................................... 9 Sources from the Field of History ................................................... 13 Research Hypothesis ....................................................................... 14 II HISTORY OF THE BAHAMIAN MARITIME LANDSCAPE ................................................................................. 16 Introduction ..................................................................................... 16 Lucayans ......................................................................................... 18 European Settlement ....................................................................... 22 Piracy .............................................................................................. 24 Plantations ....................................................................................... 27 Wrecking ......................................................................................... 29 Other Maritime Activity ................................................................. 33 III SURVEY OF THE SHIP GRAFFITI – FORMULATING QUESTIONS .................................................... 35 Examples of Graffiti First Noted .................................................... 35 Research Possibilities ...................................................................... 36 Historic Period Ship Graffiti Elsewhere in the Americas ............... 38 Assessment of the Research Potential ............................................. 42 Bahamian Sites Examined .............................................................. 44 New Providence ............................................................ 44 San Salvador ................................................................. 51 Turks & Caicos Islands ................................................. 55 ix CHAPTER Page Crooked Island .............................................................. 57 The Abacos ................................................................... 59 Research Implications ................................................... 61 IV CATALOGUE OF BAHAMIAN SHIP GRAFFITI ................. 64 Methodology ............................................................................. 64 New Providence ........................................................................ 67 San Salvador ............................................................................. 102 Turks & Caicos Islands ............................................................. 140 Crooked Island .......................................................................... 155 The Abacos ............................................................................... 166 V CONCLUSIONS AND INTERPRETATIONS ........................ 178 REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 184 APPENDIX A GLOSSARY OF NAUTICAL TERMINOLOGY ................. 195 VITA ................................................................................................................. 199 x LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1 Map of the Bahamas, including the Turks & Caicos Islands ...............17 Figure 2 Half model of the Marie J. Thompson, a four-masted schooner launched at Harbour Island, 1928 ........................................................34 Figure 3 Model of a Bahamian sloop .................................................................34 Figure 4 Taino mural depicting forced tribute ..................................................38 Figure 5 Detail of a Spanish vessel within the mural .........................................39 Figure 6 A spritsail mast on this three-masted Spanish ship suggests a terminus ante quem date ca. 1720 ........................................................40 Figure 7 Tracing of a late 17th/early 18th century sloop, Red Farm, Martha’s Vineyard ...............................................................................41 Figure 8 Graffito of a contemporary Bermuda sloop, also from Red Farm .............................................................................................41