Dear Editor,
During my school days, I did history on Christopher Columbus and Sir Walter Ralegh, and many other historical foreigners. As I grew into adulthood, I became fascinated with practical history which stimulated my interest, especially on local heritage sites. Santayana said that “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” My understanding of that statement is that history must be taught to babes and sucklings.
To date, I’ve made models or representations of the MV Independence, a cargo boat or ship, with a hull made of aluminium which was constructed by Guyanese in Guyana and which plied between Georgetown and the town of Linden many years ago; the Christianburg water wheel which was owned and operated by a Scottish engineer whose name was John Dalgleish Patterson in the year 1855; and the Son Chapman launch owned by Mr Norman Chapman, a resident of Mackenzie, which was blown to pieces at Hurudala, Demerara River in 1964. I also have extracts from speeches made by President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham; President Dr Cheddi Jagan; President Nelson Mandela; Dr Martin Luther King Jr; President Barack Obama and others that can be seen posted publicly within Lindentown to bring historic awareness to my fellow citizens and countrymen.
With respect to the steamboat SS R H Carr, she was named after Mr Ralph Hamilton Carr, who was Chairman of Messrs Sprostons Ltd. Its first name was SS Potaro, but it was renamed after Mr Carr died in the year 1926. The SS R H Carr came to British Guiana in 1927 after it was launched at the shipyard of Messrs James Crichton & Co Ltd at Saltney, Liverpool. It was built mainly to operate between Georgetown and the river districts of Wismar, Christianburg and Mackenzie. During its operation between the years 1927-1969 it had its share of mechanical and other problems.
After the introduction of the Soesdyke-Linden Highway in 1969, the faithful ship was removed from the river; she had travelled tirelessly for 42 years and was seen no more by many Lindeners.
Quite recently, I was in conversation with friends, discussing the Berbice River issue and the introduction of the river taxis, when someone made mention of the SS R H Carr. That name sounded foreign to many. Those of us who travelled frequently on that boat started to recapture the good and bad, and the many hours we took to arrive at our destination. Then, the sad news was broken, the SS R H Carr is at Skull Point on the Mazaruni River in ruins. It sounded like the plot for the Pirates of the Caribbean film, but it’s true. I was shocked and very disturbed to learn that the boat ‒ the first one I had travelled on at the age of six ‒ was derelict, and that no one in authority seems interested in publishing something historical about it.
History is life, and so let’s teach it and learn it, because people without a history are like zombies walking aimlessly. We leave our beautiful Guyana to visit other countries only to return to brag about the good times we had and historic sites we visited, but do we as a people really know what occurred on the 23rd of February, the date Guyanese celebrate Mashramani? Do we really know why Guyana was named the Co-operative Republic of Guyana? Do we know why some time ago the opposition party was called the minority party?
Let’s not forget, politics corrupts our mind and business people eat what is in people’s pockets. History and culture are surely dying slowly. Preservation is so important to all of us, so let us try.
Yours faithfully,
B Winslow Parris
