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By Will Johnson
In this article I would like to highlight two well known captains from the village of Hell's Gate (also known as Zion's Hill).
They were the sons of Captain Charles Simmons brother of my grandfather James Horton Simmons.
The village of Hell's Gate was not known for producing sea captains. They were the farmers and the fishermen of Saba. They stayed close to Saba and fished the Saba Bank.
When others left the island for good it was the Hell's Gate people who repopulated the island and still do. With the ever declining local population I tell the young people of Hell's Gate that they have a sacred mission to repopulate the island.
In the beginning of the last century many men from Hell's Gate went to Bermuda and worked there for awhile and also to the United States. Yet after a few years many of them including my father returned from Bermuda and remained here on the island.
Captain Charles Simmons, born 1863 was the son of Charles Simmons Sr. ('Mas' Charlie) and his wife Alice Eliza Horton.
Captain Charles Simmons had only two children by his wife Peter Ann Every (born 1864 died 28th February 1932). Her parents were Daniel Every and Eliza Hassell.
The two children were Charles Reuben Simmons born 27th September 1895, and James Knight Simmons, born 26 October 1897.
On my mothers side they were her first cousins, but they all lived like brothers and sisters. As in so many cases on Saba formerly, Charles Reuben was married to my father's sister, Sylvia Ottilia Johnson, and so to me he was my 'Uncle Reuben'.
I remember once as a young child putting off a cow for Uncle Reuben. That involved going from house to house announcing that a cow was to be butchered on such and such a date and would you want a share. There was no refrigeration back then. When enough shares were put off the cow was butchered. The meat was divided up into the number of shares ordered. You either cooked and ate it all the same day or salted (corned) it for future use. Most households had a barrel with pickle for that purpose.
All went well so Uncle Reuben owed me one. I came home one day from my wandering around the village and found my mother all upset. Captain Frank Hassell was visiting here from Barbados with his schooner 'Francis W.Smith'. As was the custom back then a local retired captain would be asked to carry out the schooner and 'lay to', which involved cruising around the islands until the visiting captain was finished vacationing. Uncle Reuben had been looking all over for me to go and spend three days on the schooner cruising around the islands. I
tried to catch Uncle Reuben but by the time I got to St.John's the schooner was already headed out to sea. No cell phones back then, so I lost out on that trip and up until today after having traveled the world I still lament missing out on that schooner trip. In my minds eye I can still see the schooner in the distance headed in the direction of St.Kitts.
I remember visiting Captain Knight and his wife Helen in Hempstead, New York. They were the only white people living in the apartment building so that people in the lobby would say to me;" I guess you came to see Captain Simmons."
It was on one of those trips that he told me of the death of his father. He said that if he lived to be a thousand years old he would never forget what happened. He was only seventeen years of age. He had been sailing since the age of thirteen which was the custom back then. They were on a schooner called the 'Meteor' and sailing from Guyana to Barbados his father developed a high fever and they decided to continue on to Saba. However on June 19th, 1915 he died just outside of Saba. The sea was so calm and there was no wind so they decided to bury him at sea. As soon as the body went beneath the waves a strong breeze sprang up and within half an hour they made it into port. It was his dad duty to go home and inform his mother of his father's death.
Captain James Knight Simmons went to the Navigation School on Saba and then moved on to the United States. He was captain for the Grace Lines company for many years and sailed mostly between New York and South America. During World War II he took part in D-Day and his ship was scuttled at Omaha Beach in France.
Among the Grace Line ships he was captain of were the 'Santa Rosa', the 'Santa Barbara' and the' Santa Clara'. His last command was the 'S.S. Margarita.'
The Grace Lines were started by an Irish boy William Russell who went to Peru in the 1840's, got himself a job in Lima. He saw a future in the guano trade and together with his brother Michael he got into shipping through discipline and hard work.
The Grace Lines named after him eventually owned the Santa ships which carried passengers and cargo between North America and South America.
Captain Knight used to call in with the 'Santa Rosa' to Aruba and Curacao as well. He sailed as captain with the company for over thirty years. The old 'Santa Rosa' carried about 50 passengers in storage and 209 in first class. She started sailing on November 26th, 1932. Late 1936 Grace Lines acquired the Red D. Line, which line also had a number of Saba captains in its day. The service was between New York, Venezuela, Curacao, Colombia, Cristobal Panama and Haiti. The 'Santa Clara' renamed the Susan B. Anthony was sunk in the Normandy invasion. I don't know if he was captain of her at the time.
After World War II the 'Santa Rosa' served the Caribbean calling at Curacao, La Guaira, Aruba, Kingston, Port-au-Prince and Port Everglades sailing from New York every two weeks.
Captain Knight was married to a German lady named Helen. They had a son and a daughter who live in the United States. He lived to be 95 and died in 1992.
Captain Charles Reuben Simmons was born on September 27th, 1895 and died in 1993 at the ripe old age of 98. He married Sylvia Otilia Johnson on November 20th, 1917 and they had one daughter Mary Estelle who was born on November 27th, 1919. She is still alive and lives in her parent's home on Hell's Gate. Her house is a gathering place for the few old timers who remember fondly the days of farming and fishing.
Uncle Reuben left Saba as a young man for the United States. There he attended navigation school at White Hall Street in New York City. He obtained his license as second mate, later on he became first mate, and then he obtained his Masters license.
He returned later on to the West Indies and the first schooner under his command was the very large schooner the 'Mayflower', owned by Captain Thomas C. Vanterpool.
Before that he sailed out of the United States. While quarter master on board of the 'Missouri', he was torpedoed of Genoa in the Mediterranean on April 4th, 1917 and spent several days at sea before being rescued. The ship was under the command of Captain Hilton Simmons of The Bottom and which ship belonged to the American Hawaiian Lines. Menthor Hassell of Windwardside was first mate, Earl Simmons of The Bottom was quarter master and' Pietie' Johnson was a sailor.
Other ships on which he sailed were the 'Sea Breeze' and the 'Steadfast.' He was also First Mate on the five master schooner the 'T.N.Barnsdell', under the command of legendary Captain Ernest Alfred Johnson.
Between 1940 and 1944 he was a pilot on the rivers in Demerara.
After his sea faring days he lived on Saba. He used to own the former Utilities building in The Bottom. He sold it to Chief Police constable the late Bernard Halley, and when he died the family sold it to Mr. Claude Wathey.
Uncle Reuben then built his house on Hell's Gate close to the former home of his deceased parents. He had good farm land close to his house and he supported himself with farming the land in his old age. He was called out of retirement briefly to be a Mate on the government owned MV 'Antilia'. By that time he had his cows and had gotten the sea life out of his system, so that he did not stay long on the 'Antilia,' and returned home.
He was community minded and I seem to remember him always dressed in his suit going to one funeral or the other. He and his brother even though far apart were loving brothers and always kept in contact with each other. There is a plaque on the wall opposite the Roman Catholic Church on Hell's Gate in remembrance of him. In his old age he used to sit on that same spot contemplating a life of adventure spent on the high seas.
Uncle Reuben told me many stories of his days as a schooner captain carrying as many as 450 passengers to Curacao from the British islands to work for the Shell Company. Just a few weeks ago former Commissioner Peter Granger who is now 92 was telling me that when he was going to Aruba to work that Uncle Reuben had told his father that he had a suitcase for him. 'Cessie' claims he still has that suitcase from seventy five years ago.
They are gone but not forgotten as they were the only two natives of Hell's Gate who went on to the big league of being captain of not only large schooners but also of large cruise ships as well.
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