M/V Cavalier I, an inter-island freighter if not a mail carrier, as photographed by Capt. Calum Legget at Potter’s Cay Dock, Nassau (looking southwest towards BASRA), c 2000. The ship had a loyal 20+ years in Bahamas and is now in Honduras.
MAILBOAT NAME: M/V Cavalier I (so named 1983 – 2003)
PAST NAMES: presently Island Breeze (2008-present), before that Hydra I (2003-2008). Previous flags were Belize until 2006 and Panama 2006 – 2008
DIMENSIONS: 172 feet long by 36 feet wide, 371 gross tons, 600 DWT (GT), IMO # 8301864, Callsign HQX39
CONSTRUCTION: Breton Industrial & Marine in Port Hawkesbury, Canada, yard # 19, delivered August 1st 1983.
YEAR BUILT: 1983
EARLY CAREER: so far as is known she has been serving the Bahamas since her construction
BAHAMAS CAREER: traded throughout the Bahamas as required by Cavalier Shipping, part of a Bahamian construction concern
CAPTAINS: not known
FATE: presently named “Island Breeze” and trading in Honduras – as of April 27 2014 the ship was in Miami, Florida, and the photograph of her at www.marinetraffic.com shows her under tow, presumably in the Miami River.
OWNERS: “Eleuthera” Coral Gables, Florida
NOTES: Though this ship was not strictly speaking a mail boat, she was rather an inter-island commercial freight carrier for private concerns. Because she was photographed with mailboats in 2000 and because the ship contributed 20 years towards moving goods around the archipelago, I include this short entry and photo.