The gift that kept on giving…

An intriguing chapter in the recent maritime history of the Caribbean began in January 1958 when the short-lived West Indies Federation was formed by islands that were British colonies. A symbol of those idealistic times was the two handsome, brand-new multipurpose ships – ‘Federal Palm’ and ‘Federal Maple’ – that were gifted by Canada to the fledgling federation to boost intra-regional shipping services. Prominent CSA member Roland Malins-Smith, who has fond memories of a voyage in the ‘Federal Palm’, offers CM readers this ‘short history’ of the sister ships.

It is said that the British colonial administration initiated an inter-island shipping service in the Eastern Caribbean with chartered coasters in 1947, of which little is known today. Some 10 years later, when the West Indies Federation was being conceived, the importance of strengthening regional shipping appeared to be critical to the success of integration efforts and so the Canadian government stepped in and offered to custom-build two cargo/passenger ships as gifts to the federation. These two ships were named ‘Federal Palm’ and ‘Federal Maple’.

Both ships were launched in 1961, the ‘Federal Palm’ built by Port Weller Docks [in Ontario] and the ‘Federal Maple’ by Vickers Engineering, Montreal. With but minor variation, each ship was about 3,171 gross tons, 1,930 summer deadweight, an LOA of 91 meters and a speed of 14 knots. The ships carried 50 cabin passengers, 200 deck passengers and 1,500 tons of breakbulk cargo, which was handled by two 3 ton electric cranes, two 5 ton derricks and a heavy lift derrick of 20 tons. They were smart ships in their day, [with] very comfortable passenger accommodation and functional gear, given the state of our ports and the prevailing technology. I had the personal pleasure of sailing on the ‘Federal Palm’ in 1968 as a student, returning home to Grenada from Jamaica, briefly visiting several intermediate ports.

When the ships were handed over to the federal authorities in 1961, Furness Withy & Co, Trinidad, were initially assigned to manage them. Later that year the federal government passed the West Indies Shipping Corporation Act of 1961 establishing a statutory corporation to operate the donated ships. It is my belief that when the federation collapsed in 1962, the management passed to the corporation, which continued operating under enabling legislation of member states, specifically that of Trinidad & Tobago, where the head office of the corporation was located.

Integration

Despite the failure of the federation, it is felt that the ships contributed handsomely to the development of regional trade, travel and functional integration during the sixties and early seventies. Certainly, the perceived value of the service grew with the initiation of trade and economic integration discussions in 1965, leading to the formation of the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) in 1968. This Free Trade Association evolved into the Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) with the Treaty of Chaguaramas of July 1973. Under both CARIFTA and CARICOM, the West Indies Shipping Corporation (WISCO) was treated as a related regional institution, a vital part of the integration mechanism, which required policy direction and development.

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