Four young Caymanian apprentices who are helping to repair Fair Weather, one of the last Cayman wooden schooners, have been making their mark on the UK shipyard where the vessel is being rebuilt.
Every morning, the four raise the Cayman Islands ensign – the maritime flag – over the workspace in the shipyard in Gloucestershire where the schooner is undergoing extensive work.
After fashioning a flagpole out of English oak in the workshop of the T. Nielsen and Company yard in Gloucester and placing it on the structure housing Fair Weather, they now raise the flag at 7:15am daily, and then lower it at 4:30pm.
Pierce Terry, 19; Aidan Connolly, 21; Matthew Hydes, 23; and Alex Medina, 22 – all from local families with seafaring backgrounds – flew to the UK in late January to begin working on the boat.
Upon landing, their first introduction to the woodwork shop was building their own toolboxes, which they have since been using on the ship.
The Fair Weather Foundation, which is currently fundraising to pay for the repairs to the ship, hope to bring it to Cayman next year, in time to celebrate its 75th anniversary.
The foundation has been working with Inspire Cayman on the six-month apprenticeship programme, which has been funded by an anonymous donor, in a bid to help reinvigorate the local tradition of shipbuilding.
Fair Weather was built in 1950 by mostly Caymanian shipwrights at Cayman Boats Ltd. at a shipyard in Jamaica, after the shipbuilding company, owned by Sir Anthony Jenkinson and Arnold ‘Cappy’ Foster, moved much of its operations from Cayman Brac to Port Royal.
The apprentices’ journey can be followed on the Fair Weather Foundation Facebook page.
To find out more about the project or to donate, visit the Fair Weather Foundation website.
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