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Last Updated: Feb 13, 2017 - 1:45:37 AM |
Captain Tellis A. Bethel, Sr., Acting Commodore, Royal Bahamas Defense Force, meets with sailing legend Sir Durward ‘Sea Wolf’ Knowles to discuss naming the still un-named waters of The Bahamas the Lucayan Sea. Sir Durward, who brought home the country’s first Olympic Gold medal in 1964 from the Tokyo Summer Olympics, readily endorsed the idea and the two men of the sea, both authors, exchanged stories and the books they had written. Also pictured, writer Diane Phillips who arranged the introduction. (Photo: Kyle Smith)
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At 98, The Bahamas’ best-loved sailing legend and the country’s first Olympic Gold Medal winner Sir Durward Knowles knows a thing or two about the Bahamian sea.
Now, he says, the time has come to name it.
This week, he signed on to the campaign to name the waters around The Bahamas The Lucayan Sea.
“I think it’s an excellent idea,” said the legendary sailor known as Sea Wolf. “The waters around The Bahamas should be named -- just so long as they don’t rename any of the places that already have names like Exuma Sound.”
The campaign to name the waters the Lucayan Sea was the brainchild of Royal Bahamas Defense Force Acting Commodore Tellis A. Bethel, Sr. As a captain who has spent countless hours at sea, he was troubled by the fact that the very thing that defines The Bahamas, the waters, have never been officially named.
“The Caribbean Sea is a very well-defined area that was named after the Carib Indians. But the archipelagic waters of The Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos lie outside the boundaries of the Caribbean Sea and they have never been named,” said Captain Bethel. “That’s 100,000-plus square miles of water – the beauty and magic that make The Bahamas what we are – and we still say the waters of The Bahamas or the waters of the Turks & Caicos which are part of the Atlantic Ocean.”
Sir Durward Knowles (Photo: Kyle Smith)
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Bethel thinks those sparkling blue waters deserve better. And he thinks the most appropriate name is Lucayan Sea, a moniker that pays homage to the Lucayan Indians who inhabited these islands when Christopher Columbus discovered the lands in the late 15th Century. In May, his well-researched and documented book, The Lucayan Sea, Birthplace of the Modern Americas (Outskirts Press), was published.
“The Lucayans were a peaceful people who respected the land and the sea and were tragically wiped out by enslavement, displacement and disease,” said Captain Bethel. “I believe that if we name the waters the Lucayan Sea we will not only be recognizing the principles for which these gentle people stood, but the identity will give us as Bahamians a new sense of who we are. It will be a new beginning, starting our journey toward restoring the peaceful nature of our people.”
The two men shared their love of the sea when they met in Sir Durward’s office, East Bay Street on August 14.
Surrounded by plaques, trophies, press clippings and memorabilia from a career that spanned more than seven decades from his first Gold medal win in Star class sailing with crew member the late Cecil Cooke in 1964, Sir Durward congratulated Bethel on the concept of naming the waters and what he has accomplished in the Defense Force. That, said a humbled Bethel, included being the Commodore of the Sir Durward Knowles Festival of Lights holiday boat parade last year.
The two men of the sea are expected to meet again on Friday when Captain Bethel addresses the Rotary Club of East Nassau at the organisation’s weekly meeting at the Nassau Yacht Club.
© Copyright 2015 by thebahamasweekly.com
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