In 1960, Laurance Rockefeller, the owner of the world-famous Caneel Bay Resort in St. John, began the construction of yet another resort on Virgin Gorda. Little Dix Bay Resort was built by Taylor Woodrow Construction Company, which originated from Great Britain. At that time, it was one of the largest construction companies in the world. Workers were brought in from the Caribbean, Puerto Rico and Great Britain.

 

In 1962, at age 12, I began to work there too. My mother, a single parent at that time, could not afford the $6 needed to pay for transportation to take me to high school, so I had to seek employment. (Today, the government provides half-price transportation, yet children are dropping out of school.)

My brother-in-law, Victor Taylor, and I were hired at the same time. He was hired as a carpenter and I as a labourer. I was too skinny and weak to fetch cement, sand and gravel, so my job was to provide the workers with water. I had to fill a 50-gallon metal drum with four bags of ice and water. I was the designated water boy.

Two camps

We were housed in two camps. Workers from the Virgin Islands and other parts of the Caribbean lived in the camp east of Spanish Town, and those from Britain and Puerto Rico lived in tents inside Spanish Town.

Those of us from East End would leave early Monday morning in a local boat to get to the camp, and we would return on Friday evenings. The workers from North Sound also came by boat, but they would sometimes have to walk over the hill, depending on the sea tide. There were no roads to North Sound in those days. The boats were usually left safely tied up in Spanish Town Bay.

When United States President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, all of the workers were given time off to observe the funeral. At the end of the construction project, many of the Caribbean workers remained in the VI.

The many men with whom I worked on this project treated me with care and taught me about the trade. I respect them to this day. Many of us had nicknames: Mine was “Spaghetti” because of my size.

Other workers

I clearly remember many of the other workers. Brother Dixon, head of the Church of God of Holiness, was in charge of our camp, which housed close to 300 workers. Collin Fred Penn and George Malone were the cooks. The food was very good, and I was charged half the price for my meals because I was the smallest worker.

Other workers were brought in from Trinidad to build the dock. Uriha “Half and Eye” Martin from Antigua and Vern Lavien were truck drivers. Vanroy O’Neal was a storeroom clerk. Waldo O’Neal, Halden Davies, Henry Josh Stevens and Exenal Thomas were carpenters. Charles Penn, Clement Frett and Herman Thomas were masons. Garfield “Batol” Pickering was an electrician, and Mondrow Penn an electrician assistant. Ellis from Barbados was the number one electrician. Eunel “Hawk” Maduro was an equipment operator, and Conrad Maduro operated the power plant.

Remy Smith was a plumber and a storekeeper. “Pepper Sauce” Malone was in charge of the laying of large pipes for sewage and water. Philip Thomas, Peter Read, Gill Adams and Cupid from Montserrat were labour foreman, and Levey Daneil and Willis Ashby were carpenter foreman.

Arthur Merell and Clyde Corbin were plumbers, and Winston Duke from Barbados was a welder. Harlan Bishop was the site engineer who laid out the job, and Tolaly from St. Kitts was the blacksmith. McCooler from Great Britain was the plumber foreman, and Fred Gengel was the carpenter foreman.

The resident engineer was Robert Crowly, and the company’s supervisor was Mr. Graham. “Mugs,” Junior Stevens of VG, Gafford Potter, Kenneth Potter and Romie Frett were also part of the work team.