The Mona Marie at Diamond Rock

The Mona Marie. Captain Ben Hassell owned this schooner, bought in the United States by his brother Captain Abraham Hassell, his brother, and the first Captain under new ownership was the 19-year-old Laurie Hassell son of Captain Ben. Captain Ben had another brother as well who was a sea captain in Thomas Hassell.

The Mona Marie was 142 feet long and 26 feet wide and could carry up to 230 tons. On June 28th, 1942 the Mona Marie left Barbados for Trinidad and was first shot at and then finally torpedoed by a German submarine. Captain Ben’s son was captain at the time and his incredible full account can be found in the Captain’s Log Book. They all managed to escape in rowboats and after rowing all night crashed ashore in St. Vincent.

E starr jones at Saba Island

The E. Starr Jones. Her Captain was Herbert Lockland Heyliger. He lived in the United States and spent his last years in Snug Harbour in New Jersey. The E. Starr Jones transported asphalt between New York and Trinidad and would make stops at Saba for the crew to visit with their families. David Donker, father of Nurse Lizzy in The Bottom, told my father that he had once got a “lift” to New York with this large schooner and came back with her. He had gone there to buy leather as he was a cobbler by trade.

Bessie A. Crooks at Wells Bay, Saba

The Bessie A. Crooks. This schooner was owned by a Captain Arthur Crooks of Liscomb Canada and she was named after his wife. My grandfather Daniel had lost four of his first cousins on this schooner when it was torpedoed on January 26t h , 1917 in the Gulf of Pernambuco in Brazil. This story was well known on Saba by the families of those who lost relatives on this schooner but not until 2011, nearly 100 years later, were the families in Nova Scotia, Canada, able to discover what had happened to their loved ones. In church the residents would often discuss “What ever had happened to the Bessie Crooks?” and had hoped that they were at least captured alive if the boat were indeed lost. A lady doing a history of the town discovered the story written on Saba and was finally able to bring closure to their descendants.

Blue Peter, Saba

The “Blue Peter” was the government owned schooner which brought mail and passengers to the islands of the Dutch Windward Islands and St. Kitts. She was a yacht bought from some tourists in Curacao in 1946 and traded between the islands from 1947 to 1962. Her Captains were Captain Austin Hodge of St. Maarten and Captain John “Butchie” Craane of Bonaire. One of her sailors was Nasha Jones of St. John’s who was a brother of the famous Rebecca Levenstone.

She was sold to a family on Bonaire who took off her masts and she sadly was lost off the coast of Curacao with the loss of a number of people from Bonaire on board some years later.

Margareth Truph at Booby Hill, Saba

The Margareth Truph had two Captains from Saba namely Capt. Lockland Heyliger and Capt. Arthur Wallace Simmons of The Bottom. Most of the crew was also from Saba. There exists in the museum an original painting of this schooner.

T.N. Barndell at Cove Bay. Saba

The Margareth Truph had two Captains from Saba namely Capt. Lockland Heyliger and Capt. Arthur Wallace Simmons of The Bottom. Most of the crew was also from Saba. There exists in the museum an original painting of this schooner.