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Log #40a Antigua and the Tot Club Written at: Portsmouth, Dominica April 2, 2006 Hi Folks, We are still in Dominica, being hounded by loud music from shore. We re-anchored a half mile down the bay and can still hear it. It has been blaring for 18 hours out of the past 24! We will leave tomorrow for Martinique. I include four pictures from our time in Antigua, of the trans-Atlantic row boats and the Tot club which I have joined. All the best, Aubrey  Log #40a Antigua and the Tot Club Feb. 14, upon entering English Harbour at 1430, after our 2196 mile passage from the Cape Verdes (Mindelo 16 53.21N, 024 59.47W), we motored up to the end of it, past the marina at the historic Nelson’s Dockyard and into a couple of mangrove edged bays (They would make good hurricane holes.). There were dozens of boats at anchor and some megayachts at the marina and the Slipway boat yard. Murphy’s Law, our depth sounder was not working properly but our pilot book chartlets indicated general depths. We decided not to anchor in the upper bays as there might not be sufficient breeze and possibly a surplus of mosquitos, and so went back to Freeman Bay, the one at the entrance, and dropped anchor off Freeman Point in about 15 feet of water, 17 00.33N, 061 45.68W by 1515, about 200 metres from Nelson’s Dockyard. No motion! The boat was still! We had completed our second ocean crossing, safely! We had anchored behind Ngoma, a British catamaran with Robin and Sandra on board. They are originally from Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) and we had some interesting talks about the exodus of the whites from that beleaguered country when we had them over for drinks. Next day we checked in with customs and immigration, conveniently located side by side at Nelson’s Dockyard. We paid the entry charge of $10.00 EC, the cruising permit charge of $20.00 EC, and one week’s anchoring fee of $8.00 US. The local currency is in Eastern Caribbean dollars (EC) and the current exchange rate is $1.00 US = 2.50 EC, or $1.00 Canadian = $2.20 EC. Local stores use EC dollars, but many tourist services use US dollars. We have found most things quite expensive in Antigua, from vegetables to marina and chandlery services. Antigua is an independent country consisting of two major islands of Antigua and Barbuda. They were formerly British colonies and still drive on the left hand side of the road. Antigua was an important naval base in the 18th and 19th centuries. It was important as a colony for first tobacco, then the sugarcane industry requiring slave labour. As the sugarcane industry collapsed the white colonists left and the blacks who compose over 95% of the population were emancipated in 1834, and Nelson’s Dockyard closed in 1854. There are two large bays on this south coast of Antigua (east side), Falmouth Bay and English Harbour, separated by the community of English Harbour. These two bays are large well protected anchorage areas that were used by the Royal Navy from 1725 until the late 1800's. Nelson’s Dockyard is the only remaining naval dockyard of that period in the world, originally used for maintaining, resupply, repair, and careening of wooden sailing warships so the British West Indies fleet did not have to return to the 13 colonies or across the Atlantic for major repairs. Many of the buildings have been restored, their original uses noted on explanatory plaques, but now serving as the customs and immigration offices, internet sites, restaurants, yacht service businesses, charter yacht offices, a package store, banking service, the Admiral’s Inn Hotel, and a large administrative area for yacht rally registration. The dockyard has been reconstructed to serve as a major tourist attraction, port of entry, marina and yachting centre, the focus of many yacht rallies. While we were there, it was hosting the end point of a trans-Atlantic single and double rowing race. There were several of these ocean rowboats moored at the Dockyard. (Now these people are crazy!) One morning we sounded our air horn to welcome one of the double row boats into the harbour, its Irish and Canadian flags proudly flying as the two intrepid athletes sculled their way to the Dockyard finish line. They had left La Gomera in the Canaries in late November (a few weeks before we were there), and had been at sea rowing across for over 100 days! Judy and I met the two, an Irishman and an attractive slip of a young Canadian woman. Her family were here from Canada to welcome her crossing and we had a pleasant time talking with them. It was a great achievement for the young couple. Pictures of their entry and their boat are attached. The Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda We met another Canadian boat in Freeman Bay, Fido, with Fiona and Don from Calgary. They invited us to join them one evening at the Tot Club meeting at the Calabash a bar/restaurant on Freeman Bay beach. They and Mike Rose the Chairman of the Tot Club sponsored me for membership. We had heard of the Tot Club in December from Clare Cupples, the skipper of the tall ship Lord Nelson, when we were alongside it at Christmas over in La Palma in the Canary Islands. This group meets daily at 1800 to socialize and have a tot of Pusser’s Rum, following the old navy tradition of “Up Spirits” which was discontinued in the RN July 31, 1970, and around the same time in the Canadian Navy. The daily ceremony consist of the members and guests having a straight tot of cold Pusser’s Rum in their right hands, and a glass of water in their left. They gather in a circle, a group of ten to thirty individuals, glasses in hands, and are asked to clean their palates by drinking from the water glass. Then introductions are made of any guests, announcements of anything nautical related, and then a reading from a historical reference book on exploits of the RN for that date throughout history. Appropriate comments, corrections or additions may be spontaneously made depending on the success or lack thereof of the ships involved. Other Commonwealth ships may also be included in these actions, as I heard of several involving HMC ships in WW II. After this is the “Toast of the Day”, a naval toast for each day of the week, immediately followed by the standing toast of the RN lower deck, “The Queen, God Bless Her”, after which everyone drinks the tot in one swig! The circle then breaks up and continues socializing. The club has official recognition from the Royal Navy and is entitled to fly the Nelsonian pre1801 White Ensign, and use the pennant on their regalia. It has several chapters in Britain, and possibly elsewhere. However to join, one must be invited and sponsored here in Antigua. The requirements are an interest in the life of Nelson and the Royal Navy, attend for seven tots in a 14 day period, and pass an oral test on the history of Nelson, his battles and other traditions of the Tot Club, including the Mismuster, and the Black Mass. A set of notes on these aspects are given to prospective members. Upon being accepted, the new member will call a Mismuster, and will then invite all members present to have another tot on him (or her), after the traditional tot has been consumed. There is another stand by toast given at the Mismuster, “To the wind that blows, the ship that goes, and the lass that loves a sailor, and the Queen, God bless her.” There is a joining fee, and a ”Happy Hour” price is paid for the Tot, which is only $5.00 EC each night. The regalia I purchased includes a Tot Club ship’s crest (picture attached), golf shirt, hat, and tie, all with the White Ensign. I value tradition, and when I first joined the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve (RCNR) in the 1950's, Canada was still using the defaced Red Ensign with the Canadian coat of arms in the fly, the flag that represented Canada from WW I, through WW II and the Korean conflict, up until our new Maple Leaf flag which was inaugurated in 1964. I grew up under the Canadian Red Ensign, and took my Oath of Loyalty to the Queen of Canada and her Dominions. In the Royal Canadian Navy, our ships flew the White Ensign as well as the Canadian Blue Ensign. Unfortunately when the Maple Leaf flag was adopted, the Canadian Red Ensign and the Canadian Blue Ensign had no more official recognition, and many other Canadian naval and other military traditions were thrown out by the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau and his Defense Minister, Paul Hellyer on the altar of UNIFICATION. That was the horrible time when sailors were put into green uniforms (as were the soldiers and airmen) and attempts were made by the government to expunge naval ranks, so that we did not have Ordinary Seamen or Able Seamen, instead they were Privates and Corporals. Ugh!!! In addition to the daily tot, the club has an exercise every Sunday where volunteers help maintain many of the historic trails in the area. I joined in a few times on these excursions, hacking and clearing bushes and cacti from overgrowing the trails to the historic fort areas. This is a volunteer service provided to the National Parks organization as indicated in the attached photo. Thanks to Clare for recommending the Tot Club when we met her in the Canary islands and to Don and Fiona, and Mike Rose for sponsoring me. I know whenever I return to Antigua I will have a group of friends to reconnect with.
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