Four young Caymanians, all with seafaring blood in their veins, will be spending six months in the United Kingdom next year following in the footsteps of their ancestors as they train to be shipbuilders.
Pierce Terry, 19; Aidan Connolly, 21; Matthew Hydes, 23; and Alex Medina, 22, will board a flight to the UK in mid-January to work at a shipyard in Gloucestershire where a historic Caymanian-built wooden schooner, Fair Weather, is being restored.
A foundation set up to repair the ship is hoping to bring it to Cayman in 2025, in time to celebrate its 75th anniversary.
In the meantime, it is undergoing extensive renovation work at T. Nielsen and Company shipbuilders in Gloucester. There, the four apprentices from Cayman, funded by a generous anonymous donation, will learn the ins and outs of what it takes to repair and operate the boat.
The four, who have known each other since childhood, come from families of mariners. For example, Medina’s grandfather Abel was a harbour pilot; Hydes’ uncle Ed Manderson was a ship’s captain, and both his grandfathers, James Scott and Edmund Hydes, were seafarers; Connolly’s great-grand-uncle, Arthur Dilbert, was a shipbuilder on Cayman Brac; and Terry’s mother’s uncle was also a seaman.
Connolly was the first to hear about the opportunity in the UK, and Terry found out more about it while undergoing International Yacht Training at the Inspire Cayman Training centre run by Michael Myles and Sean Glidden.
All four apprentices say they are looking forward to the training, and the chance to work on an old wooden boat, especially Hydes, who has been training as a woodworker.
Paul Deegan, one of the people behind the Fair Weather Foundation, which has partnered with Inspire Cayman on the apprenticeship programme, says, “What we are trying to achieve is putting Caymanian hands back on a Caymanian-built boat.”
He noted that while the four will not leave the six-month training programme as qualified shipwrights, they will learn a certain amount of skills for each particular skill set – including woodwork, electrical, mechanical, rigging and sailing.
“The whole ethos behind it is when the boat comes back, the guys will have enough knowledge that we’ll be able to maintain the boat and will be able to do specialist stuff,” he said.
Deegan says he hopes to get additional funding to pay for another four Caymanians – male or female – to undergo training in the UK later next year.
There was a time when shipbuilding was a major industry in the Cayman Islands, and the islands were renowned for building quality schooners and other boats. However, in the 1940s, National Bulk Carrier ship company came calling, attracted to Cayman’s reputation for producing talented mariners, and many of the men who had been working in the local shipyards went off to sea to work on container ships traversing the globe.
At that point, unable to find local men to work at its shipyard, Cayman Boats Ltd., owned by Sir Anthony Jenkinson and Arnold ‘Cappy’ Foster, moved much of its operations from Cayman Brac to its shipyard in Port Royal, Jamaica, which was staffed mostly by Caymanians. And that’s where Fair Weather was built in 1950.
Myles said Inspire Cayman had been intrigued with the training programme that would result in a qualification for the trainees that would last them a lifetime and be recognised internationally.
And it’s not just about arming these four young men with the skills and qualifications to land jobs. Both Myles and Deegan both hope they will be the vanguard for a new generation of shipbuilders and mariners in the Cayman Islands, re-igniting an industry for which Cayman was renowned more than half a century ago.
“They will be the first group of young people that can inspire an entire movement back to what the skills and talents were in Cayman. We were shipbuilders,” Myles said. “What they’re doing is going to be critically important to renewing the Caymanian tradition of shipbuilders in Cayman.
“This isn’t just a project for us. It’s about showing young people they can do non-traditional jobs and make a killing.”
He added, “What makes us excited is all of them love the water. I don’t need to convince them that they need to be on the water. … The important part is giving them the opportunity. With the Fair Weather team coming along with us, I think it’s going to be phenomenal.”
Deegan agreed, saying since he began this project, he’d been hearing from many people that they didn’t believe the younger generation were “interested in times gone by and the ‘old stuff’, but these guys are going to prove everybody wrong”.
Myles says this could be a historic milestone for the Cayman Islands. “We’re moving into a very new territory of training where we’re sending four young men overseas to learn a specific skill. We’ve never done that before. For them to come back and be advocates for all the things they have learned, it is unprecedented.”
With a genetic link to the sea though their forebears, it’s no surprise that each of the four say they love being out on the water. With their training, each will be able to drive boats and receive their captain’s licences, so will be able to operate vessels, as well as repair or build them, under this programme.
For most of them, other than Hydes who has resided in the US, it will be their first time living overseas, but it’s an opportunity they’re embracing.
One thing they’re not looking forward to, however, is the British winter, as they’ll be arriving in January, when temperatures can get down to 40°F or lower. But the organisers are taking care of that, too, with part of the scholarship fund including the cost of outfitting the four, to ensure they have winter clothes to combat the cold and damp.
Three of the four have their roots in Cayman Brac, where, Deegan says, the Fair Weather, which was registered in the Brac, is expected to make its first port of call when it sails here from Florida in 2025.
Their families are excited for their upcoming adventure, and proud of their sons.
Marisa Hydes, Matthew’s mom, said, “We’re so happy they’re doing something for our culture. And they’re young people. Normally they’re always forgotten and they are not given the opportunity. And the fact that they know each other so well, that’s great.”
Connolly, in a final word on what the training programme means for them, said, “I want to thank people who want to give opportunities to young people, like us – for us to get this chance to show we are not just people who play around. We’re actually dedicated.”
For more information about the Fair Weather, visit fairweather.ky. For more on Inspire Cayman Training, visit inspirecaymantraining.com.
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Wonderful! All the best to these young people and their mentors! Looking forward to seeing the finished product.