Schooner disappears with 67 on board

No wreckage was ever found. no luggage discovered. No one survived to tell the tale of what happened. Sounds like a scene from a horror movie, doesn’t it? Think again. It’s real. It’s the mind-boggling question that has been plaguing West Indians for decades: What ever happened to the Island Queen?{{more}}

On August 5, 1944, during World War II, an excursion had been arranged to St Vincent from Grenada over the Emancipation Holiday on board two schooners: The Island Queen and the Providence Mark.

Among the excursionists was a number of young people going to attend the wedding of a popular Vincentian whose two sisters had been married into prominent families in Grenada. According to a research paper “How Grenada won World War II” by Beverley A. Steele, “The St. George’s pier was filled with holiday atmosphere as families waved goodbye …. Most of the young people wanted to travel on the Island Queen, as there was every possibility of gaiety and feting on the boat during the entire journey.” The youngsters opted for the Island Queen rather than the Providence Mark, whose passengers were much older or quieter. Even up to the last minute people were seen exchanging places, and one young man hopped from the Providence Mark to the Island Queen while the boats were moving, almost falling into the water, the research paper said.

Both vessels were of the same power and speed, but the Island Queen had the edge, research suggests. “The boats pulled out almost together, and stayed on a parallel course for a long time, the Island Queen traveling out further than the Providence Mark, which hugged the coastline. Night fell and the weather became blustery. An eyewitness on the Providence Mark recalled seeing the lights of the Island Queen as the boats passed Duquesne (Grenada) between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m. After that, the lights disappeared and the boats had separated,” Steele’s paper said.

Lucy De Riggs lost on the Island Queen, along with 66 other persons.

When the Providence Mark docked at the harbour in St Vincent next morning, the passengers were delighted to find that they had beaten the Island Queen. According to Steele’s paper, all of the passengers cleared customs by 8 a.m. After that, most of them waited around for their friends on the Island Queen, expecting that it would not be far behind. Among those waiting expectantly was 23-year-old Vincentian Eileen Fraser-Punnett.

Punnett’s two teenage sisters, 16-year-old Jean Fraser and 14-year-old Patricia Fraser were at the time pursuing their secondary level studies at St. Joseph’s Convent in Grenada. They were coming home to see their new-born nephew, Punnett’s second son, Christopher Robin Punnett.

Sadly, the Island Queen never docked.

The search for Punnett’s two sisters and the others on board the Island Queen went on for weeks, but official reports are that no wreckage from the Island Queen was ever found. However, there were rumours that hats, shoes and other clothing were found on the north coast of Grenada.

Some experts believe that schooner was torpedoed by an Allied submarine, but nothing plausible to support this view has ever been presented. The Island Queen had a relatively new German engine, which could have made the vessel a target of a torpedo from an Allied submarine.

Dr Jan Lindsay, of the Seismic Unit of the University of the West Indies, has theorized that the Island Queen passed over the “Kick ‘em Jenny” submarine volcano at a time when the volcano was producing methane gas. The bubbles of the methane gas could have changed the water density enough to suck the Island Queen with all its passengers down into a watery grave at the foot of the volcano.

Steele’s paper also mentioned the possibility that the Island Queen had been struck by a floating mine and exploded, blowing everything to shreds, with debris too fine to be recognized. “The harbours at St Lucia and Martinique had been heavily mined during the war and one of those mines may have worked itself loose and floated into the Grenadines,” the paper said.

Just two weeks ago, on September 4, 2008, a British bomb from the World War II era was detonated by a US Naval team just off Cane Garden after it had been discovered in 2006. Could that bomb have been one of those mines, or connected in any way with the Island Queen’s disappearance?

No one knows.

Sixty-four years later and with no definite answers, Eileen Punnett still carries a heavy heart. “I couldn’t believe what had happened, so I still think about them to this day,” 87-year-old Punnett told Searchlight.

With a home quietly nestled in the hills of Queensbury in Vermont, Punnett recalled that her sisters were extremely happy when their father, Alexander Fraser, gave them permission to travel. “Daddy didn’t want the girls to come up, but when he heard that his good friend and ship owner Lester Hazell was going to be on board, he gladly consented,” Punnett recalled.

With a deep sigh, Punnett said that she misses the fun times she spent with her sisters in those days when singing songs and playing games was their only source of entertainment. “Back then, we didn’t have television or any of the modern day things to entertain us, so we just formed circles and sang to each other,” she reminisced. With Brutus (one of her 21 dogs) snuggled closely at her feet, Punnett confided that hearing the song “Danny Boy” recently, brought back memories. “Oh my God, I was listening to BBC Radio just the other day and I heard that song and Jean came to my mind, because she was the one who had a beautiful voice.”

Not too long after search efforts came to a halt, Punnett said her father Alexander Fraser went into a deep depression and died soon after.

These days, Punnett occupies her time by looking after her dogs, cats, turtles and other animals. She also enjoys viewing her favourite soap opera “The Bold and the Beautiful”, as well as the run-up to presidential election in the United States.

Although Eileen Punnett has lived a full and happy life, thoughts of her sisters Jean and Patricia, and their mysterious disappearance on the Island Queen are never far from her mind. “I guess its just one of those things we may just never know,” she said with a sombre tone.

Bibliography:
How Grenada Won World War II
Beverley A. Steele
http://www.cavehill.uwi.edu/bnccde/grenada/conference/papers/Steele.html