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Eleuthera Byways: Edwin’s Fishlake

Eleuthera Byways: Edwin’s Fishlake

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First pub­lished in The Eleuther­an, Sep­tem­ber 2008; Edwin’s Tur­tle Lake Marine Pre­serve, with a fine new dock and the bot­tle shack restored in Decem­ber 2014.

Edwin’s of old

Three miles south of Governor’s Har­bour, on the right side at the S-bends as the road plunges toward Pal­met­to Point, is a large salt­wa­ter lake. Passers­by who stop to inves­ti­gate will find the remains of a curi­ous shed built of mor­tar and beer bot­tles, the amber, green and clear glass sort­ed by colour, bot­toms fac­ing out. A few yards away, obscured by bush and weath­ered by the years, was a wood­en sign whose words were just legible:

Edwin’s Fish­ing Lake

Estab­lished March 10th 1954

The First Fish­lake of the Bahamas

Over 20,000 fish of 32 vari­eties have

been placed in this lake.…

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Australia
American Embassy, Canberra. U.S. Ambassador to Washington after laying the cornerstone, 7 December 1941: “What do we do now?” State Department to Ambassador: “Keep building the thing or the Aussies will think we’re on the run.” (Photo by T. Luxwolda, Creative Commons)
Australia Stories: Peace in 1918, War in 1941

Australia Stories: Peace in 1918, War in 1941

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1918: "If the peace which we are going to make in Europe should lead, as I trust it will, to the​ liberation of captive nationalities...it will remove for ever most of the causes of possible wars. The only sure foundation for a State is a Government freely elected by millions of people, and as many millions as possible. It is fatal to swerve from that conception." This brief letter abounds with Churchillian wisdom. Had only we followed it. If only we were following it today....

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bombing
WSC with General Eisenhower during a tour of Allied invasion forces near Lydd and Hastings. Kent, 12 May 1944. (Capt. Horton, War Office, public domain)
Did Eisenhower Offer to Quit Over WW2 Bombing Policy?

Did Eisenhower Offer to Quit Over WW2 Bombing Policy?

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As supporters of Israel argue over the civilian casualties in Gaza, this history lesson is relevant. It seems that civilian casualties only occur to leaders of civilized governments. Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein, and certainly Hamas never worried about them. In 1944, the arguments, heart searchings and constant changes of targets continued almost up to D-Day. In 1945, the battle of Manila resulted in 250,000 civilian casualties including 100,000 deaths. When told that statistic recently, Prime Minister Netanyahu was astonished. "100,000...well, we have incurred considerably fewer."

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Sesquicentennial
“No, I don’t think it was Mr. Churchill. It’s been like that quite a long time.” (Punch, 14 August 1940, by kind permission of Gary Stiles and Topfoto)
Get Ready for Churchill’s Anti-Sesquicentennial

Get Ready for Churchill’s Anti-Sesquicentennial

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"Don't worry about attacks on Churchill. He is alive and kicking and haunts the British imagination like no other. He will always be caricatured, as he was in his lifetime. But freedom of speech and expression was one of the things he fought for, and in his time he gave as good as he got. The more provocative comments about him are a backhanded tribute, as they work on the assumption that most people admire him." —Paul Addison

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Nye
Churchill broadcasting on VE-Day, 8 May 1945. On national health he earlier told Lord Moran: “The doctors aren’t going to dictate to the country, they tried that with Lloyd George.” (Imperial War Museum, public domain)
Gotcher in the Nye: Winston Churchill on the National Health

Gotcher in the Nye: Winston Churchill on the National Health

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Winston Churchill was fighting for national health services when Nye Bevan was still in short pants. After July 1945, national health policy fell to Labour, Robert Colville writes: "In other words, we owe to Bevan not THE National Health Service but THIS National Health Service—the one that turned the existing profusion of provision into something regimented, standardised, centralised and nationalised.... Bevan’s role in persuading America to enter the war is grossly overblown; his enthusiasm for Soviet Russia completely unmentioned. In John Bew’s biography of Attlee, Bevan’s index entry starts with 'tries to undermine Attlee and his supporters,' and goes on from there."

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Teague
Dick Teague in his Packard studio. (Photo courtesy Stuart Blond and The Packard Cormorant)
Facing Disaster with a Smile: The Dick Teague I Knew

Facing Disaster with a Smile: The Dick Teague I Knew

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"So I told Red Lux to cut up the last Packard prototype. This welder had been there since the cornerstone, and was hanging on by his thumbnails. I came back and the pieces were lying all around like a bomb had gone off. It was probably the dirtiest trick I ever played but I said: 'My God, Red, what have you done? Not this one, man—the one over in the corner!' The poor guy had to have had a strong heart, because if he didn’t, he would have died right there. His face drained, and when I told him I was just kidding he chased me around the room. You’ve got to have a sense of humor in this business." —Dick Teague

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Bowman
US Coast Guard-manned LCVP disembarks First Army Division troops at Normandy. Don’t even think of D-Day without thinking Churchill. (Photo by CPHOM Robert F. Sargent USCG, Wikimedia Commons)
“Empire First”: the Bowman War on Churchill’s D-Day

“Empire First”: the Bowman War on Churchill’s D-Day

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Greenock, Scotland, played a noble part in Britain’s war effort. Perhaps its historians might now busy themselves with a travelogue. They could tell of an old man’s courageous journeys from Greenock into U-boat-infested seas in pursuit of victory in a global war. Or they could describe the ships and munitions built in Greenock to support the “lodgment on the continent” the old man had supported since 1941. They might even mention the Mulberry Harbors, the old man’s conception that made possible a successful D-Day. 

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State of Israel
“No more yielding than a dream.” Camp David, 2000: Israel Prime Minister Barak, President Clinton, Palestine Authority Chairman Arafat pondered the eighth Two-State Solution. It proved no more acceptable than its predecessors. (Wikimedia Commons; the quote is from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”)
Churchill, Palestine and the State of Israel, Part 2: 1945-1951

Churchill, Palestine and the State of Israel, Part 2: 1945-1951

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"The Middle East is one of the hardest-hearted areas in the world. It has always been fought over, and peace has only reigned when a major power has established firm influence and shown that it would maintain its will. Your friends must be supported with every vigour and if necessary they must be avenged. Force, or perhaps force and bribery, are the only things that will be respected.... At present our friendship is not valued, and our enmity is not feared." —WSC, 1958

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Palestine
West Palestine over time. (איתמראשפר Creative Commons)
Churchill, Palestine and Israel, Part 1: 1917-1945

Churchill, Palestine and Israel, Part 1: 1917-1945

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Churchill and Palestine had a long association, spanning two world wars and thirty years. It began in 1917, when British Foreign Secretary Arthur Balfour promised a “Jewish National Home” in Palestine. Almost simultaneously, Lawrence of Arabia was offering the Arabs sovereignty over a Middle East ruled for nearly half a millennium by the Turks. By war’s end, the Ottoman Empire was a shambles. “At this truly horrendous moment,” Professor Fromkin told us, “Prime Minister David Lloyd George turned to his Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill and said in effect, ‘You deal with it.’”

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Lusitania
RMS Lusitania speeding past Fastnet Light, probably outward bound for New York on her maiden voyage. Near there eight years later, she met her tragic end. (Painting by Norman Wilkinson, pubic domain)
No, Churchill Didn’t Sink the Lusitania, Either

No, Churchill Didn’t Sink the Lusitania, Either

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The scholar Harry V. Jaffa placed most of the blame on human error: “Not only was Lusitania's steam reduced; her crew was also. The best men had been taken by the Royal Navy; lifeboat drills were listless…. The davits by which they had to be lowered were virtually unworkable from the moment the ship began to list. But the greatest of all the failures was the captain’s, since he navigated almost exactly as he would have done in peacetime.” Captain Turner had slowed down after striking the Irish coast, in order to arrive with the tide at Merseyside. 

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