In his memoirs published in 1990, Howard Reynold Penn (1903-1994), who in 1956 was a member of the Virgin Islands government, recalled then-governor Sir Kenneth Blackburne seeking funding for “H.R. Penn’s” proposal to construct a motorable road from Road Town to East End, which was (originally) named the Blackburne Road.
In part 24 of this series, published last Thursday, I wrote that Mabel Wagner’s book describes her husband Wladek Wagner agreeing to extend credit to the VI government to build at the airstrip so he could start the project. Governor Blackburne would otherwise have found it hard to raise funds for another major project when he was about to demit office.
Beef Island ferry
I shall draw on Ms. Wagner’s account for the rest of Part 25 of this series. She recalls the Public Works Department’s bulldozer travelling bumpily from Road Town along the new road to the East End side of the channel, where Mr. Wagner had it push some large boulders into the water as a solid foundation for the headland and shelter for the ferry.
After the stonework was up to 2.5 feet above sea level, the headland was surfaced with concrete strong enough to carry great weight and withstand most hurricanes. The landing on the Beef Island side was extended into deeper water by filling used galvanised oil drums with stones and topping them with a cement platform.
The new ferry was built at Trellis Bay from thick planking mounted on an iron frame with a double keel of timber and iron strapping. The deck had two lines of stanchions under it to carry a weight up to 10 tons, with a two-foot extension each side for the endless length of rope on the hand winch.
The launch
In preparation for the ferry’s launch, the bulldozer operator had filled its tank, and the pontoon at Trellis Bay was loaded on deck with four 12-by-12-inch beams from the remnants of the Hassell Island bunkering pier (see my Nov. 1, 2023, commentary, “More Trellis Bay history shared”).
Then Mr. Wagner and four men used the dinghy with a five-horsepower outboard engine to tow the pontoon from Trellis Bay to the landing some two miles away. After that, the ferry was tied down and the four beams pushed underneath its overhang to strengthen it and reduce its chance of capsizing under the weight of the eight-ton bulldozer.
Several onlookers from East End watched the operator start the engine, drive slowly onto the ferry’s deck, stop precisely when signaled to do so, and cut the engine to reduce vibration. Then he sat back to enjoy the ride atop the new ferry, which would connect East End and Beef Island.
Hand pullies
The men placed four-by-four-inch timbers under both sides of the bulldozer tracks, nailed them slightly to ensure they would not move, and then pulled the ferry by hand across the channel to Beef Island using a system of ropes and pulleys. Everyone quietly watched the ferry move over the water.
There was clapping and cheering when the bulldozer revved its engine and drove onto the Beef Island landing. Mr. Wagner and Glanville Penn towed the four beams from the ferry back to Trellis Bay in the dinghy while the bulldozer began to cut a road from the ferry landing to the airstrip site, which it also cleared.
Then the workers placed posts at strategic spots as guidance markers visible from a distance, with a 150-foot safety belt on each side of the runway. The eastern boundary turned due east up to Trellis Bay, providing ample space for plane parking, the terminal building and a police officer’s cottage.
The airstrip area’s view was then unobstructed except for three sizeable ridges of hills and valleys on the southwest end, which was largely hidden by overgrowth. One rose to 16 feet, dipped, then rose to 20 feet, dipped again and then rose another 12 feet before tapering off towards the northeast at Conch Shell Beach.
Every hill was covered with large rocks and granite boulders. Their tops would need to be cut down, the debris used to fill the valleys and surplus earth moved towards the low land approaching Conch Shell Beach. Such an ambitious undertaking would require a second, more reliable, bulldozer.
Mammoth job
Mr. Wagner often got up early to repair the government’s machine before one of its drivers arrived. As PWD employees, they were paid in Road Town. Few officials really understood that building an airstrip in the middle of nowhere with hardly any skilled labour, machinery or equipment was a mammoth job.
The government could not afford to buy formal surveying equipment, so Mr. Wagner improvised his own from a three-foot builder’s level on a wooden base he could set up anywhere. Ms. Wagner commented on his remarkable ability to overcome any obstacle and wrote that she had learned to be inventive herself just by watching him.
She commended the East End workers’ loyalty, dependability and enthusiasm. She did not say so, but they must have valued Mr. Wagner’s concern for their welfare. He provided their drinking water; a place to rest or eat their lunch and shelter from the weather; somewhere to store their tools; and electricity for light and power.
To continue “The Wagners of Trellis Bay,” click here.
To start from the beginning, click here.