Today, on what would have been the 99th birthday of this remarkable Abaco mariner, we remember Everette Roberts.
As international trade expanded in the early to mid-1800s, many ships traveling between Europe, North America, and ports along the U.S. Gulf Coast passed through Bahamian waters on their way to distant destinations.
There were no buoys, lighthouses, or accurate maps and charts to guide vessels, and the prevailing northeast winds often pushed them toward reefs that were invisible at night. Countless lives, vessels, and cargoes were lost along our rocky shores.
During the mid-19th century, in response to growing concerns from the shipping industry, the British Imperial Lighthouse Service constructed light stations to guide mariners through the treacherous waters of The Bahamas.
Aside from the Elbow Reef Lightstation in the populated settlement of Hope Town, most of the lighthouses were “rock stations,” located in the remotest reaches of Bimini, the Berry Islands, Abaco, San Salvador, Crooked Island, Acklins, Inagua, and Cay Lobos.
Operating each station required two or three dedicated lighthouse keepers. Though many were accompanied by their families, theirs was, by and large, an isolated existence. Everything they needed to survive and keep the lights burning had to be delivered by sea.
From 1967 to 1973, the man responsible for resupplying these outposts was Abaco’s own Everette Roberts. Under contract with the government, Captain Roberts served as Deputy Port Director with responsibility for the lighthouses.
Aboard first the Goldfinger and later the Anna Patricia, he traveled a regular circuit between lightstations, frequently accompanied by his wife, Peggy, and their four children.
“It took weeks of full running, night and day,” Captain Roberts told Abaco Life‘s Jim Kerr in 2010. “You wanted to be at each station at daylight, and while you tried to leave in good weather, it didn’t always stay that way. It was rough. There were a lot of sleepless nights.”
His monthly route included a week-long voyage to Cay Lobos, located just a few miles from eastern Cuba. On a second excursion, he visited four stations in the southeastern Bahamas, and on a third, he supplied lighthouses in Bimini, the Berry Islands, and Abaco.
As Annie Potts of the Elbow Reef Lighthouse Society noted on Facebook, “He traveled hundreds of miles, often into strong headwinds and rough seas, without the benefit of GPS, Loran, radar, or even the most basic electronics.”
But Captain Roberts’ work was vital and his resolve unwavering. Month after month, through fair weather and foul, he supplied Bahamian lighthouse keepers and their families with food, fuel, supplies, mail, and rare human contact from the outside world.
When The Bahamas gained independence from Britain in 1973, responsibility for the light stations transferred to the Bahamian government. Over time, most of the formerly manned lighthouses were automated.
Captain Roberts retired from his post and, in 1977, he and his family returned home to Green Turtle Cay. There, alongside daughter Crystal and son Scott, he operated Abaco Yacht Services for the next 25 years.
Though he passed away in 2015 at the age of 87, Everette Roberts will long be remembered for his professionalism, tenacity, and willingness to answer the call when others could not.
Who knows how many lives he helped save by keeping the lights burning throughout The Bahamas?
As one man said after Captain Roberts’ passing, “Mr. Everette was one of the toughest men I have ever met. There was no doubt who the big dog was when he was around.”
A Personal Connection
Tales of Everette Roberts’ perseverance and courage can be found throughout The Bahamas. My own family has one of those stories.
One Sunday afternoon in 1968, my Dad, Rudy Diedrick, and two friends, Dennis Knowles and Roy Cash, left Nassau in an 18-foot boat for a day of fishing near Rose Island. Before departing, they told their families they planned to be home by 6 p.m.
When they failed to return, concern soon turned to alarm. Around 7:45 that evening, family members contacted BASRA, which launched a search boat. Unfortunately, a cold front was moving in. As darkness fell and sea conditions deteriorated, the search was suspended without success.
It was a long and anxious night for my mother, Roy’s wife Gail, and Dennis’ wife Elizabeth (Tipper.) As the hours passed, the winds strengthened and temperatures dropped. There was nothing they could do except wait and hope.
By morning, conditions remained severe. Someone with a private aircraft agreed to assist in the search, and eventually the plane located the missing boat, stranded on the northeastern end of Rose Island. The three men were cold and exhausted, but alive.
Finding them, however, was only part of the challenge. The aircraft could not land on Rose Island, and rough conditions kept other rescue vessels in port.
In the end, only one captain was brave enough to make the trip through the heavy seas to bring them home. That captain was Everette Roberts.
I only met Captain Roberts once or twice, but Tom and I have had the pleasure of knowing his children and grandchildren. On what would have been his 99th birthday, we’re thinking of his loved ones, and of a man whose steady presence helped keep mariners safe for many years.
More than half a century later, our family remains grateful that when three stranded fishermen needed help, Everette Roberts answered the call.
