During the service Christmas Eve, an older man got up to read the Old Testament Lesson.   You would recognize it; from Isaiah 9 “for unto us a child is born”   It was read with a deep conviction and drama; so much so that you would think that the author himself was rehearsing it.   As we passed the peace later in the service I spoke to the man and told him what a blessing it was for us to hear him read.   I said that we had sailed down from Canada.  He said; That is good.   I build boats.  I told him that I was an amature boat builder as well.   After the service Ansil invited me to come to his Boat Shop.   I protested and said; but tomorrow is Christmas day.    He assured me that he would be there from around 9 to 4.   That is his routine, Christmas or not.

I spoke to him again at the fellowship time, just to make sure and then said that I would be over in the morning.

He had given me the instructions that his boat shop was north of the power plant, down by the basket ball court, right out on the water.   I found it easily.   Ansil comes from 5 generations of Boat Builders and is the last boat builder on Bimini.  He has not been able to find an apprentice.   He says that they might acquire the skills, but they don’t have the heart and passion for it and quit after a short while saying it it two hard.

Boat building for Ansil has really just been a part time thing for him.   His real passion is Bone Fish.  You have to hunt them and stalk them like deer he says.   You must see them first and cast the bait just in front of them or else you will spook them and they run.   He built a boat for himself so that he could become the best bone fish guide in the area, and indeed he has been dubbed “Bone Fish Legend”

Indeed he did become that and lead a client to catch the biggest bone fish ever.   Still unsurpassed.   This in my mind, though a great story was not what impressed me the most.  It is well known that Martin Luther King used to come to Bimini to write his speeches.    Ansil was asked to take Dr. King to as secluded place so that he could write (as it turned out, his last speech)   I will not try to describe this myself but refer you on to some videos that I have also posted on FB    The one by the fishing show I think gives one of the best accounts of this relationship and encounter.

With regard to his boat building he designed and built the perfect boat for bone fishing and had build and sold a good many of these at florida boat shows.   He has one order to go and also he needs to repair his own.  It came to an untimely end as he was navigating a canal at speed and hit a rock or concrete block that had been dumped in the waterway.    It holed the boat and sunk her.   She rolled over under the weight of the engine and tore her transoom off.   The boat sits in his shop now awaiting some materials.    He has a sale for her, but must repair her and likely replace her engine.   I will post below some other interviews with Ansil.   He told me many other things about the history of Bimini.  About Hemingway, Shark research, Conch, the Sport Fishing industry and family.     And as it turns out Ashley (the Dolphin house) is his brother!   He has another brother Tommy who makes jewelry.   Three brothers whose ancestors arrived centuries before from Scotland and married Bahamian women.

 

 

 

For more about Ansil Saunders look in youtube