Tortola Sloops: Preserving BVI Maritime Heritage
Tortola sloops are a defining part of British Virgin Islands maritime heritage, representing generations of traditional boatbuilding and inter-island trade. Today, preservation efforts are bringing these iconic wooden vessels back to life, ensuring their legacy continues for future generations.
Key Questions
What are Tortola sloops?
Tortola sloops are traditionally built wooden sailing vessels unique to the British Virgin Islands, historically used for trade and transport between Caribbean islands.
Why does it matter?
They represent the cultural, economic, and maritime history of the Virgin Islands and are now being preserved as part of the region’s living heritage.
Say the surname Davies in the British Virgin Islands, and, like Frett, Penn, and many others, it’s recognized as synonymous with the iconic builders of historic Tortola sloops. It was Osmond Davies, an East End boatbuilder, who constructed the Youth Instructor in 2003. Nowadays, visitors can take a firsthand look at this 25-footer, tied up on the bulkhead in the inner docks at Nanny Cay Marina, in Tortola. Youth Instructor was one of three remaining traditionally-built Tortola boats, which sank in Hurricane Irma in 2017, and was raised, repaired, and relaunched in 2020, thanks to the work of the Virgin Islands Sloop Foundation, an organization whose aim is to preserve the maritime heritage of the Virgin Islands. Earlier this year, the foundation designated 2025 as the Year of the Sloop, as work resumed on getting other sloops back on the water and a calendar of activities was created for the public to see and experience.
A Historic Beginning
“Back in the 1800s, and even before, the most popular way of getting around was by boat. A thriving industry of inter-island trade developed around boats powered by wind. Boats were a necessity to transport people and cargo to different parts of the island and between islands,” says Jamel “Fiyah’ Davies, who learned how to build and repair sloops from his uncle, Osmond Davies, and who today is chairman of the Virgin Islands Sloop Foundation.
Tortola sloops traveled to and from Antigua, St. Kitts, St. Barts (for tyre palm as the main ingredient in straw hats and bags, straw covered bottles for the bay rum industry of the U.S. Virgin Islands, and other products), St. Martin and as far south as Trinidad, according to research compiled and shared by Rochelle Smith, director of the Virgin Islands Studies Institute at the H. Lavity Stoutt Community College in Tortola. Transported cargo included agricultural products such as vegetables, ground provisions, fruits, charcoal, fish, and salt. Livestock, including cows, goats, sheep, pigs, and chickens, were transported for sale to St. Thomas, along with passengers who worked overseas in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Aruba, and other parts of the Caribbean. Passengers were also transported for educational or health reasons to other islands, and for trial and imprisonment in Antigua when these facilities were either non-existent or inadequate in the Virgin Islands.
An Unmistakable Design
The Tortola Sloop design we know today is unique to the territory. Some of the signature characteristics include an overhanging stern and stem, considerable keel drag, a sloop rig with a strongly raking mast, and a boom extending far aft of the transom. Both mast and boom are approximately equal to the overall length of the boat. The overall length, or length on deck, is considerably greater than the length of the waterline. However, the most distinctive feature was the sheer, called a Moon Sheer, because when the hull was viewed from bow to stern, the girth in the middle looked like the shape of a full moon.
“The Moon Sheer or really high bow theoretically facilitated plowing into headwinds and waves coming in and going down to Antigua,” explains Zanti Dick-Read, a VI Sloop Foundation member. “Most of the sloops were in the 20- to 40-foot range. Larger than that and you’re talking schooner sizes.”
Boats were built by hand for generations. The Davies, Fretts, and Penns were in East End, Tortola; the Pickering family in Baugher’s Bay; the Smith family in Road Town; and the Hodge and Smith families of West End. In Virgin Gorda, there were the Flax and Vanterpool families, and the White family in Anegada, according to Smith’s research. Sloops were constructed from trees native to or growing in the Virgin Islands. Boat frames were made from white cedar – the national tree of the Virgin Islands, as well as buttonwood, and Poke-Me-Boy (Acacia anegadensis). There was greenheart for the keel, lignum vitae for blocks, cleats, and other rigging tools, and pitch apple, which has a tar that’s extracted to seal and make the boat watertight.
A Community Effort
“Building a boat was a community effort. The local masters of the boatbuilding trade would produce the design, and then everyone lent their support, from cutting down trees to bringing them down, to planing and fitting them. There was a lot of heavy labor. At the same time, the older guys would be teaching the young ones. There were a lot of apprentices,” says Davies.
Boats were often built in the shade of a Seagrape tree near or on the beach. The location proved valuable for more reasons than just facilitating an easier launch, which was a community-wide ceremonial event punctuated by a name reveal.
“When you could see the horizon, you could use that to build a level boat,” says Graham Harney, another VI Sloop Foundation member.
Racing Was a Natural Evolution
Racing Tortola Sloops began in the era of inter-island trade. “That first boat back to Road Town would get the prime spot on the dock. They’d be the first to unload and the first to sell their goods. The last boat in would be rafted out behind all the other boats that were already in and selling. There was a lot of friendly competition,” according to Martin Van Houten, a VI Sloop Foundation member.
Tortola Sloops Today
Today, there are four remaining Tortola Sloops: Youth Instructor, Intrepid, Sea Moon, and Esmie. Intrepid, a 22-footer built in 1914, is the oldest sloop. Like Youth Instructor, it sank in the 2017 hurricanes, was repaired, and relaunched in 2020, and is now also on the dock at Nanny Cay Marina. Sea Moon was built on Anegada by Watson White, while Esmie is named after Leando Nibbs’ wife, who assisted him during the build. There is a fifth hull, that of Sweet Wind, which VI Sloop Foundation members are currently working to rebuild.
In May, both Youth Instructor and Intrepid raced in the 50th Foxy’s Wooden Boat Regatta, on Jost Van Dyke.
“Before (Hurricane) Irma, there was the Annual Festival Sloop Shootout, held in August,” says Miles Sutherland-Pilch, general manager of Nanny Cay Marina. “It was great fun as our two heads of state, the Governor and Premier, raced each other on two Tortola sloops, going from Nanny Cay to Road Town and back. That’s not going to happen this year, but hopefully next.”
For more information or to help, visit virginislandssloop.com
Market Perspective
- Tortola sloops represent one of the few remaining examples of indigenous Caribbean boat design, shaped by local materials and sailing conditions.
- Preservation efforts like those led by the Virgin Islands Sloop Foundation are critical to maintaining hands-on maritime knowledge, not just historical records.
- Events such as wooden boat regattas help transition these vessels from static artifacts into living, working pieces of maritime culture.
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