Save de slave ship

Thanks to Hurry-Cane I-Van the Van-dal-Lie-Za, our so called ‘Slave Ship’ at Mount Young has resurfaced and is above water again. Ah few years ago when it surfaced on the beach, ah can’t remember what prevented me but ah just didn’t get to see it. This time however, ah mek sure right after Church on Sunday morning, ah head up north with the family to see this beautiful piece ah treasure. {{more}}On the way up, ah kept telling the wife ah feel ah getting ah story out ah this trip to write bout this week, even if it had to be the condition ah the road. Right now we could rename the Windward Highway to Windward Hardway! The only consolation is the reconstruction wuk on the surface in progress, going full force at “snail pace”! What is normally ah one hour run, tek an extra half hour.

STICK IN DE SAND
The scene at Mount Young was ah grand picnic, vehicles parked at the site ah the ‘Slave Ship’ and ah lot ah kids were actually in the Ship bathing like in ah swimming pool. Ah figure that by the time ah was ready to leave, the place would ah bin block-up with cars, so ah decided to park the jeep away from the path. All of ah sudden ah feel the back-wheel sinking in the sand! No big deal, ah put in the four-wheel drive, that was ah big mistake, the wheel went deeper. Same time ah lady called to me and said: “One Love, like the Slave Ship come up and yoh ah go down. Yoh ha’ foh write ‘bout that this week”! My wife smiled at me and said: “there’s your story you looking for!”
In no time ah had more add-vice than help. Some saying “go forward”! some saying “go back”! and the jeep going under! After ah bit ah sweating, ah youngster from the area brought ah piece ah rope that look like it was part ah the ship’s rigging, hooked my jeep on to ah pick-up and with all hands on deck pushing, they hauled me out.

WINSTON’S THEORY
Ah spent some time studying this so called Slave Ship; ah say “so called” because ah few years ago when the area around Harbour Club was being dredged foh the Cruise Ship Birth, they unearthed or unwatered ah similar ship that every body said was ah Slave Ship. They found ole cast iron stove and pots, but they also found huge Cannons with French insignia “Fleur de Lis” whatever that is, and when the experts checked it out, we heard it was ah French Warship! So our so called Slave Ship at Mount Young could very well be ah Warship too, and that’s according to my cousin Winston Cozier, the local Scientist that never went to ah Science Lab or University. Ah was telling Lie-Za that Winston is so skilled he could mek anything, just give him the tools, and that includes clone-in! She say ah must get him to clone ah good Pull-ah-trick-han give SVG. Ah tell she that will be too easy ah job, ah think Winston will prefer ah bigger challenge, like cloning ah pig!
Winston recalls as ah boy walking along the Mount Young Beach, when his grand-dad told him that when he Grand-dad was ah boy, there uses to be the top of ah chimney exposed in the sand in that same area and, he was told at that time that ah ship was buried-up there years ago. So we talking about ah incident that could have taken place about two hundred years ago. Winston’s theory is that if the ship had ah chimney then it follows that it also had ah steam engine, unheard of during slavery. It could ah bin ah War Ship but until we find any Cannons, he will settle foh ah cargo ship.
War Ship, Cargo Ship, Slave Ship or whatever; we have ah piece ah treasure that surface twice in five years, it begging us to build ah wall around it and save ah piece ah we History. The theory that Black Point Cave was ah warehouse is tied into that Cargo Ship; so ley we collect every available piece ah the puzzle, fit them together and present it as another Tourism package.

DANIEL VISITS
DE DEN
Daniel is my wife’s 19 year ole cousin from Manchester, England. He’s the offspring of the Caesar and Trumpet family originally from SVG, so Daniel is back in the Den to find his Roots! He just didn’t know what to expect of his grand-parents’ homeland. When he told his friends in the UK he was going to Saint Vincent, excitedly they told him : “ Man you’re lucky, Why SVG? You know that’s where Kevin Lyttle is from”! Then you should ah seen the glitter in their eyes when he told his friends: “ that’s where my Roots are”. Coming from Manchester he’s into Soccer and when he heard that Vincy Heat was in the World Cup Quarter Final Group with Mexico and Trinidad, he couldn’t believe. He saw SVG beat St. Kitts and even though we played like ah tired bunch, he still has ah lot to boast about to his English friends when he gets back, he says.
It’s interesting how the simple courtesies our youths here resenting, fascinated Daniel. Courtesies like people greeting each other with “good morning” and children addressing adults as Sir and Miss and answering “no please and yes please”. The Mini Van rides on our narrow roads terrifies him, but he loves the food here; he never had ah fresh Banana tasting so sweet and he didn’t tek long to declare war on “Roast Breadfruit and Fry Fish with Erica’s pepper sauce! Of course when he visited me, ah fixed him up with the things that will mek the Environmentalists scream: Whale, the Black Fish; “Jaws and Flipper”, that’s Shark and Porpoise, they call it Dolphin. One ah the things that caught him off-guard, was hearing dialect spoken by the local white folks. It didn’t sound right, he said.
One thing my kids learnt from Daniel is to cherish what we have here; while they out here making big thing out ah KFC and Pizza, Daniel sat down behind ah bowl ah Tri Tri cake and Roast Breadfruit and his only comment was, that he wish he could ah get our Good, Healthy Food to eat every day in England.
And with that, is gone ah gone again!
One Love Bassy!
P.S. Did yoh remember to donate something to our brothers and Sisters in Grenada? Please do so right away. Thank yuh.