If you knew of a seafarer, or were a seafarer, then Celebrate Cayman is inviting you to add to the list of names of local mariners in the National Seafarers Registry, which is set to become a “living” online commemoration of the islands’ sailors.
Celebrate Cayman, an agency set up by government to mark historic milestones, is making an open call to former seafarers and their families to put their names forward for the National Seafarers Registry so that they can be recognised in upcoming celebrations and to ensure their names are retained for posterity.
Executive chairman of Celebrate Cayman, Alfonso Wright, told the Compass that the registry already has about 1,200 names, but that there are at least 3,500 mariners whose names are recorded by the Cayman Islands National Archive or with the Cayman Islands Seafarers Association or other sources.
And there may also be many more, he said.
While there is a deadline of 28 Oct. to submit names for the registry in the run-up to a series of district events in November to honour local seafarers, Wright said, “We still believe there will be names out there that won’t be listed by this deadline, so the registry is going to be a living thing. As long as names continue to come in, they will be registered and recognised.”
The registry, he hopes, will be an avenue through which future generations will be able to get some insight into the people who lived during the heyday of Cayman’s seafaring past.
“One hundred years from now,” he said, “my grandchildren will be able to see what my father and uncles, who all went to sea, did.”
Cayman’s backbone
For generations, seafarers were the backbone of Cayman’s economy, going to sea to work on cargo ships around the globe and sending money home, and before that, fishing and turtling to feed the island.
To honour Cayman’s seafaring heritage, last year’s National Heroes Day celebrated hundreds of the islands’ seafarers. Also in 2021, Harbour Road on the George Town waterfront was renamed Seafarers Way, and a groundbreaking ceremony was held at the site of a new Seafarers Park, at the old Tower building, in George Town.
The mariner’s legacy is also visible daily in the centre of George Town, where a 14-tonne statue and base called ‘Tradition’ was erected at Heroes Square in 2003 as a symbol of national pride that celebrates the relationship of Caymanians with the sea, along with a memorial wall carrying the names of 450 Caymanians who lost their lives at sea.
Recognising contributions
The National Seafarers Registry was first developed in 2020, to collect and document information about the lives of the men and women who served as seafarers and supported Cayman’s seafaring heritage.
“This registry is a critical component in the Cayman Islands Government’s mission to recognise the contributions made by seafarers, highlight our seafaring heritage, and celebrate the industry’s impact on the history and culture,” a press release issued by government stated.
Wright said seafaring has played “an incredible role in the development of our country”, and it’s important that the brave men and women who served in the industry are recorded in Cayman Islands’ history.
The events planned for November, throughout the districts, including the Sister Islands, will be an opportunity to recognise some of the seafarers who would have been honoured as part of last year’s National Heroes Day celebrations, which were curtailed due to COVID-19 restrictions.
During the Heroes Day event that took place in January 2021, early pioneers and seafarers who were captains or engineers and of other high ranks were honoured. District days that had been planned for later in the year had to be postponed.
Now, the upcoming events in the various districts, and the registry, will seek to honour all ranks of seafarer. “We want to recognise every single person that went to sea,” Wright said.
Rather than depending solely on submissions to the website, Celebrate Cayman is using a variety of sources to populate the registry, including stories told by members of the Seafarers Association. “There are quite a few older seafarers who kept records, who have their own lists. We sit down with them, and some have very good memories still, and can give us a long list of names from their own districts.”
Currently, a search of the registry just shows individuals’ names, but once it is fully operational, it will include details such as their home districts, the names of the vessels the mariners worked on, and their area of expertise, such as boat or ship building, seafaring, turtling, or shipping administration.
To add a name to the list, visit https://seafarersregistry.ky.
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