The following story is by Professor Whitman Browne, a Nevitian teaching in St. Thomas, USVI.
Professor Brown is known to a number of persons in Anguilla, including Historian Colville Petty and Mrs Sylvene Petty.

There are events in time, which can haunt societies forever. Quite often this is the case even as the citizens, whom it affects, move away from such painful situations and aspire towards new, more rewarding experiences. This is the reality, which plagues society in St. Kitts-Nevis since August 1, 1970.

Now, every year on the first of August, at about four o’clock in the afternoon, many Nevisians, wherever they are throughout the world, reach back in time to Nevis and the Christena tragedy. Some travel physically. Others travel only in their minds’ eyes to a place off Nags Head in St Kitts, where the ferry Christena floundered. About 250 persons died at sea in that sudden, heart-wrenching event.
The incident terrorized and threatened the sanity of Nevisians and Kittitians everywhere, when it occurred in 1970. Its suddenness caught both islands unawares. Many persons in St. Kitts and Nevis had sailed safely on Christena for thirteen years on trips between the islands. Some had even begun to cherish the myth that

Professor Whitman Brown speaking in St. Kitts

Christena was unsinkable. On most of its week-end trips from St. Kitts to Nevis, the ferry was overloaded. The afternoon when it sank there were almost 350 passengers aboard, on a ferry registered to carry 155 passengers. Those who paid attention knew it was often loaded with more than that number. Unfortunately, few persons sensed or saw any danger until that fateful afternoon.
It is now August, 2008, thirty-eight years beyond the Christena tragedy. Yet, the actual number of those who died, and of those who survived, remain uncertain. The official record shows the survivors of the incident to be about 90. However, every now and then one meets another person who claims, “I was on the Christena.” Presently the official list of those who died is 233. More than 160 of them were Nevisians. An initial guesstimate of 250 persons dead, appeared in, The Christena Disaster in Retrospect (Browne, 1985). That number was reproduced in the second book on the incident (Browne, 2001). Concern continues to exist about persons who were seen on the boat; but their names are not on any of the two lists. Neither have these persons been seen anywhere since the Christena incident. There are also cases where two persons with the same name appear on the lists. One is listed as being from Nevis, the other from St. Kitts. These can be duplicates.
On August 1, 2008, the Sea Hustler, captained by Sonny Skeete, made the journey to the area where the Christena lies in somber quietness. Members of the Nevis Island Administration were aboard. Family and friends of the dead were there. Survivors and visitors to the island were also there. The ride was solemn, reflective, and agonizing. Before the trip began I asked a young man waiting, with a bouquet of flowers in his hand, “Did you have someone on the Christena?” His sad response was, “Yes, my mother.” So I asked, “How old were you when she died?” He responded, “Six years old.” I could not help trying to fathom what my life would have been like, had my mother died when I was six, instead of 39. I would have been profoundly dwarfed – forever. Quietly, I cried inside. That man is just one of the many adult Nevisians, who lost mothers or fathers on the Christena – parents they will never see again in this life. What a haunting reality to live with?
After Christena sank, the pain for Nevisians was powerful and disorienting. They wanted to forget that cruel incident. It brought tears from the stern, unyielding Bradshaw. It gave birth to a new, independent politics in Nevis - The Nevis Reformation Party (NRP). However, at a time when Nevisians wanted to forget the Christena incident, two things kept it alive. That informal wreath-laying ceremony at sea, by Sonny Skeete, every August 1, caught the attention of Nevisians and Kittitians. So too, did two books on the incident (Browne, 1985 & 2001). Now, there is also the Christena Monument at the waterfront in Charlestown. Seemingly, too, Skeete’s wreath laying has now caught the attention of the Nevis government. Maybe an annual boat-ride to the Christena spot for a memorial service can be institutionalized.
Interestingly, the passenger overload was not the major cause of the ferry’s sinking. Rather, it was the fact that one or two of the five air-tight hatches within the boat were left open accidentally. The ferry’s exhaust pipe was repaired that Thursday before the accident. Despite deflecting action, most of the blame for the accident was charged to the then St. Kitts-Nevis Government. Now, the loud whisper on Nevis, is that St. Kitts has not bought into the Christena Memorial idea. Claims are that the wooden markers erected at the sight of the Christena mass grave in Springfield Cemetery have disappeared. Other bodies are now being buried in the same area. However, even if time heals, none of us should really forget Christena – a haunting Caribbean tragedy.
Condolences to all those in St. Kitts - Nevis who still mourn the loss of their loved ones in this terrible Caribbean tragedy as articulated by Professor Browne.

Rain clouds obscure Nevis Peak (Anguillian Photo)

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News