One of the most celebrated national attractions on Anguilla Day happens to be our national sport, boat racing. It is by far the crowning event of our national holiday’s pride and, at the end of the day, every boat racing enthusiast perks up the ear to hear “who win” and what were the frontline positions.
Following the boat race this past Anguilla Day, though, I was astounded over the expressions of acrimony that a few people have launch against the race being dubbed The Sir Emile Gumbs Anguilla Day Boat Race. Now, everybody has his or her own views on matters of national proportions like this. For some, an amendment to the name of the national sporting event is a no-brainer — who cares; for others, it is considered a befitting honor; and yet for others, adapting the designated title can hit a raw nerve which appears to be quite irritable. It is this latter group whom I wish to admonish.
Whatever our opinions might be, I dare say that we Anguillians are an ambitious, patriotic people. We are proud of our heritage and our achievements and, particularly so, we are forever grateful for the indomitable courage and bravery of our national hero, the “father of our nation”, the Hon. James Ronald Webster. He has our greatest honor.
However, it would be important to realize that our beloved Mr. Webster is not the only hero of Anguilla to whom honor must be ascribed. There are so many others. No one man is an island; no one stands alone. And no matter which side of the political spectrum one may hail from, regardless of which political party might garner your loyalty or your vote, whether you are left wing or right, Anguilla is, by traditional virtue, one people. And if I may, I’d like to adopt the national motto of our Caribbean neighbor Jamaica for the purpose of my argument: “Out of many, One people”.
I remember the days when our national park was enclosed with a wire fence. The main entrance at the south-western corner consisted of two hefty concrete pillars bearing a green wooden overhead arch which was boldly inscribed with the name “Burrowes Park”. Even though I did not realize it then, that name was rife with respect for a St. Kitts administrator, Mr. Hugh Burrowes. But as a ten-year-old lad, I had the awesome privilege of witnessing the Webster-led Revolution swiftly revolutionizing everything, including the name of that very park, which, in no time was changed to Ronald Webster’s Park.
Ironically, it was on that same Burrowes Park that a noteworthy national meeting was held on the afternoon of Monday, May 29th, 1967, to devise the plot for the overthrow of the local St. Kitts regime. The following day, May 30th, quick action was taken by Webster and his forces to mark the beginning of an anxious period of notoriety — the real revolution had begun.
How befitting, therefore, that in respect of Webster’s remarkable feat, the national park should bear his triumphant name. How befitting, likewise, that the founder of our national Social Security system should have a building in the middle of our capital named the James Ronald Webster Building in his honor. And, again, how befitting is it for our national House of Assembly to bear the name of Atlin Noraldo Harrigan, Webster’s close compadre and “partner in crime” for Anguilla’s cherished liberation. But by the same token how belittling it is when, in that same House of Assembly, a suggestion was made, and later approved by the Executive Council, to adopt the name Sir Emile Gumbs for the Anguilla Day Boat Race, and that adoption is objected to by pundits who seem to display a semblance of inciting political dissent.
Well, let us give Jack his jacket. Sir Emile Gumbs was the second Chief Minister of Anguilla, ascending to his leadership position in 1977 in succession to the Hon. James Ronald Webster. He governed with an extraordinary humble kind of demeanor, and he was well appreciated and beloved not only by his own constituents, but by Anguillians at large who paid credence to his astute leadership qualities. Mr. Gumbs was reelected to office in 1984, and the confidence that the electorate had in him drove them to reelect him to office for a third stint in 1989 until his term ended in 1994. As such, he has been Anguilla’s longest reigning Chief Minister — thirteen years.
But even before his call to office, Mr. Gumbs demonstrated a passion for the political wellbeing of his people. The missions which he accomplished on behalf of Anguillians in the aftermath of the Revolution deserve much more than the noteworthy designation of his name to the Anguilla Day Boat Race. Like Christopher Columbus, we may say that Mr. Webster was a great admiral, but a not-so-great administrator. I would dare say that without the stellar diplomatic instrumentality of Sir Emile, Mr. Webster’s work could not have been fulfilled. The two men complemented one another. Let’s hear it from a special tribute given on Sir Emile’s behalf by Mr. David Carty:
“When the revolution started in 1967, he was the natural representative for his area and worked with the peace keeping committee to manage the islands affairs. He felt that his most important contribution in that tumultuous year was his mission to Barbados on August Monday and Tuesday 1967 to try and persuade Caribbean peace keeping forces backed by British armed forces from invading Anguilla. Arriving first in Antigua where he spent hours ensuring that he would be received by the Gov’t of Barbados, he then flew on to Barbados and met with Sir Cameron Tudor the Deputy PM in the VIP lounge at the airport .
“There some tense and nerve racking hours were spent, with Tudor breaking off from time to time to brief PM Errol Barrow. The back and forth went on into the early hours of morning and to quote directly from his notes: ‘at 2 a.m. Mr. Tudor came in and said, ‘I have good news. The Prime Minister has asked me to assure you that no uniformed officers of the Government of Barbados will be going to Anguilla.’ With tears streaming from my face I sprang forward put my arms around him and exclaimed: ‘We have won! Thank God we have won!’ Bloodshed had been averted.
That is the kind of dedicated mission which marked the service of Sir Emile for the good of his beloved Anguilla. Mr. Carty called Emile “Captain Dicky”. The name denotes his love for the sea, and his career as captain, at a time when Anguilla was striving to make a place of prominence among the other islands which dot the Caribbean sea. Through his devotion to his tasks at sea, he was in a position to depict a representation of Anguilla on the face of Eastern Caribbean Currency. Mr. Carty alludes to this fact by saying: “On the ten dollar note Admiralty Bay in St. Lucia is on the left and the Warspite Anguilla on the right. The depiction honors Anguilla’s unique heritage in the boat building arts and uses an image of the Warspite as a representation of that history. This schooner, built by his (Sir Emile’s) grandfather in 1917 became a legend in its lifetime as a schooner built for speed.”
Speed..speed. Speed boating was always in the blood of Sir Emile. Hailing from the seafaring village of Sandy Ground, the very site from which the Anguilla Day Boat Race is launched every year, “Captain Dicky” relished his role as Captain of the Warspite and made no apologies for boasting of her “speed”. So, after all! After all the novelty of his career as sea captain; after all this passion for speed on the seas, to whom else should the title of Anguilla Day Boat Race be appropriately attributed other than the legendary “Captain Dickie”?
Fate would have it that Sir Emile died exactly twenty (20) days prior to Anguilla’s 51st birthday. As we enter the second half-century of our patriotic liberation, wouldn’t it be befitting to give Anguilla’s only designated knight the noble honor that is affiliated with what was one of his heart’s dearest passions?
May we as a people be always cognizant of the fact that it is not how much we talk and contend that gives us recognition in life — it is what we do. Sir Emile, like Mr. Webster, was a man of action. He too has done a great deal for the “birth of our nation”. So then, why make a fuss about the designation Sir Emile Gumbs Anguilla Day Boat Race? It is all to the memory of a worthy sea captain who had speed on the waves and boat racing at heart.
