Existing comment:
From the Ocean:
"There is no industry in the Cayman Islands except banking the money which the Caymanian seamen send back from all round the world. It is time the encyclopaedias and guide books get these things right."
-- Ian Flemming: Sunday Times, April 1957
To talk to Caymanians from the era of the merchant marine is to discern that the reputation of the Caymanian men as good seamen was based on their nautical skills but also from their character with a resolve that had been moulded from their spartan existence and on the lack of opportunity at home. They showed, time and again, a willingness to take instruction well, to put up with long hours, or even double duty, and to persist in conditions where other seamen would complain or drop out. In the words of Captain Paul Hulrston, "They didn't make trouble for the people who employed them."
Said one ex-seaman, "We came out of this hard tough existence that made you realise the need for discipline and to hang in there, so when the Caymanian men went to sea they had the perfect background to be good seamen -- patient, determined, deal with hardship, and most of all for a ship's crew, be dependable. They knew there were no sweet jobs waiting for them at home, so [they were willing to] keep this one." A US ... |