The Dory

Within his dory, whether in smooth lagoon or rough seas, the islander is at home. He is a master at keeping such a frail craft afloat, having learned the art as a child.

Royal Navy Monday Evening Toast: "Here’s to our ships at sea"

By Jorge Agurcia Fasquelle
I would like to dedicate this article to the Volkswagen of Honduran watercraft: the dory. According to D.K. Evans, Honduras Bay Islands anthropologist and writer, a dory is carved from a single great tree, often mahogany or cedar. Sails are made of unbleached flour sacks, or whatever else comes in handy. Completing the necessary gear we have a hand carved paddle, a calabash for bailing, and a thwart or two for sitting. The size of the craft may vary, ranging between eight and thirty feet, and will, naturally, depend on the size of the original tree.

Those who can afford it will have a carpenter finish the dory and possibly add a motor. The sides may be raised, the bow and the stern decked in, and a motor box built aft, with a sliding hatch to house the small engine. Such motor dories are known in the Bay Islands as "took-tooks", because of their characteristic chugging sound. A well-finished dory does not have a single nail or screw in her hull. All her trimming and decking will be finished with wooden pegs called "trunnels" (tree nails), a time-honored method.

The finished craft is generally painted a glossy white, with gunwale accents in blue, green or red trim.

Dories -- known as cayucos on the mainland -- are used extensively in the islands. Since there are few roads, they serve as a primary means of transport from village to village or along the coast. In them, islanders fish in the harbor, the lagoon and even in the open sea. They also serve to move goods and merchandise -- as well as several full-grown hogs -- from place to place.

Within his dory, whether in smooth lagoon or rough seas, the islander is at home. He is a master at keeping such a frail craft afloat, having learned the art as a child.

In the harbors of the Bay Islands, dories can be seen dotting the wharves and quays, or took-tooking along channel by-ways. They are as ubiquitous as the Beetle once was on the roads. I've personally witnessed dories under sail making the crossing between the Bay Islands and the North Coast, and have marveled at such audacious wanderlust. Even if it is only a 30-mile stretch, the Trades can often whip up nasty seas in the relative shallows of the continental shelf.

Their larger cousins, the graceful island schooners have all but disappeared from sight. From Evans' account, we know of the famous "Julie-B" and the "Dalphia", as well as the "Racer" so swift it often overhauled and glided past many steamships en route from French Harbour to New Orleans in days past. In the history of the Islands, these craft are said to have run slaves into southern ports, guns into Haiti and Cuba, and later, rum into Florida. Of the latter, some were sunk during Prohibition by American Coast Guard guns. One story has it that a salty old dog once proclaimed, "Many a one got troo, dumped 'ore rum, and got to hell an’ home a'gin 'fore the first cork was even pulled!" (1/27/12) (photo courtesy Internet)

Note: The author is a free-lance writer. He was a permanent contributor to Honduras This Week, under the by-line "The Leeward Course." Editor of the INCAE student magazine, "Vínculo," retired banker, taught business ethics at university, Knight of the Order of Malta, and was awarded the Commander's Cross of the Order Pro Merito Melitense in 2001 for his volunteer work; he lives in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.