As I recounted in part 19 of this series on July 25, Polish Captain Wladek Wagner and his wife Mabel wanted to hold the grand opening of their clubhouse on Bellamy Cay on Sept. 30, 1956, their daughter Suzanna’s birthday, but they had to postpone it until Nov. 17.
They had to do all the training, supervision and decision-making themselves, and on their chosen day Mr. Wagner was still trying to follow the instructions that came with the ice cube machine. He did not have time to install waste pipes in the bar, so he hid a large bucket under its sink. They had bought a large amount of food in St. Thomas, but Ms. Wagner had asked Myrtle Penn to arrange for Thomas Hodge, the butcher in East End, to deliver some fresh pork and lamb, which was slowly roasting over the barbecue by noon.
In the afternoon, they heard boat engines approaching, anchors dropping and people calling their names. The cay was soon teeming with excited guests chatting loudly as 7-year-old Suzanna proudly led them around the clubhouse and its surroundings (her younger brother Michael was too shy to join them). Mr. Wagner was relieved to detect the faint sound of ice cubes dropping into a bin. He had never before seen a machine making ice, let alone installed one.
Speeches
Herbert Lee’s opening speech was followed by others greeting the completion of another project at Trellis Bay. The guests were having such a good time on Bellamy Cay that they ignored the rain clouds.
Ms. Wagner hadn’t thought to provide a book to sign and had left her camera behind. She could not remember everyone’s name, but some had braved adverse weather and strong winds to come from Puerto Rico by boat.
The 25-30 partygoers who attended included Geoffrey Allsebrook, the new administrator; Mr. Lee’s friend Alan Hickock, of Hickock Manufacturing Company of Rochester, New York; and Ed and Mildred Hellmich from St. Thomas. In the evening, the guests were served a leisurely dinner at their tables by the graceful, smiling young women from East End in colourful uniforms, while Ms. Wagner switched her attention between the guests, overseeing the kitchen, and caring for her children.
Mr. Hickock managed the self-service bar with great aplomb. He eagerly demonstrated to city people accustomed to modern conveniences Mr. Wagner’s “invention” of a bar sink without pipes, which never clogged. After dinner, Ms. Wagner played calypso songs on a hand-wound record player a guest had given them, and everyone chatted or leisurely swayed on the dance floor. There was no end in sight for the party.
Late party
Ms. Wagner eventually took her children, dozing in another room, back to Tamarind House and settled them into bed. Then she sat on the front terrace with their dog Russie beside her, gazing across at the cay ablaze with lights and hearing distant conversation and laughter over the roar of the generator. By midnight, the partygoers had thinned out. A handful stayed in the guestroom at the cay, some spent the night on the Wagners’ yacht Rubicon, and others returned to their powerboats and yachts.
Mr. Wagner switched the generator to half power, leaving lights on for those not wanting their evening to end. The Wagners were glad that their friends had enjoyed the party in such simple surroundings, but they were utterly exhausted themselves. They were up again at the crack of dawn, with Ms. Wagner setting their sleepy staff to clean up Bellamy Cay until it was spic and span again, with coffee brewing and the early risers beginning to stir.
Breakfast was served without mishap, but all that she could remember about the lunch was not having enough rice for everyone, even though her family had taken macaroni instead. She apologised to three or four guests, but they weren’t upset and accepted macaroni too.
Congratulations
By early afternoon, everyone was preparing to go home and congratulating the Wagners on the successful opening of the clubhouse and how much they had enjoyed being there. The Wagner family waved to the boats as they left. Their staff and boatyard workers had been given the next two days off, leaving only the family at Trellis Bay. Ms. Wagner was tired and dispirited after the long-awaited event. She felt that her miscalculation of the amount of food needed had let Mr. Wagner down.
He became preoccupied with managing the boatyard as its business revived, leaving her to cope with the arrival at the club of two boatloads of fee-paying visitors. She really wasn’t ready for a regular flow of guests.
The club had been set up as a one-man-and-his-helpmate-do-all operation. They were short of supplies, with no easy way of getting them without labourious, time-consuming trips to St. Thomas and Road Town on Rubicon.
Powerboat
Eventually, some friends helped Mr. Wagner find a 39-foot powerboat in Puerto Rico. He bought it in December 1956 for $8,000 and drove it back to Trellis Bay. It was registered in Road Town as the MV Trellissa, a name suggested by Ms. Wagner. Its power, speed and manoeuvrability lifted a great burden from their lives.
To start from the beginning, click here.