Captain Dean III in port
Source: “Island Captain, The Autobiography of Mail Boat Captain Ernest Dean of Sandy Point, Abaco, Bahamas,” with Gary W. Woodcock, White Sound Press, Decatur Illinois, 1997 p.106
MAILBOAT NAME: M/V Captain Dean III
PAST NAMES: none
DIMENSIONS: wooden hull, 90′ on keel, 18′ beam, 5′ draft. Two decks, capacity for 16 passengers, large Caterpillar diesel engine.
CONSTRUCTION: built by John Petrudis in St. Augustine, Florida
YEAR BUILT: early 1969
EARLY CAREER: Nassau to Bullock’s Harbour Berry Islands, Sandy Point Abaco, Hard Bargain, Mores Island, and Sweetings Cay Grand Bahama
BAHAMAS CAREER:
CAPTAINS: Capt. Ernest Alexander Dean and sons
FATE: sank after hitting the Mackey Shoal Buoy between Bimini and the Berry Islands at night, c. 1974.
OWNERS: Captain Ernest A. Dean, Sandy Point Abaco
In his book “Island Captain” (White Sound Press, 1997), Captain Dean writes about a terrifying delivery voyage from Florida to Sandy Point where they just barely made it to Freeport because the wood had not sealed the seams yet and the boat took on tons of water, which they could not pump overboard fast enough because of sawdust and debris in the bilge pumps. But they made it, with just two men who were not sick.
As to her fate, he says that he sold it to interests in Bimini who really liked the vessel. He writes: “The Captain Dean III did the Bimini mail service for only a little while before she got sunk. From what I was told, she ran into the Mackey Shoal buoy one dark night, down on the bank between Bimini and the Berry Islands. I don’t know if the light was out or what, but she was supposed to have hit it and gone down. As far as I know she was never recovered. That was very sad, because she was a good ship.”
Before the Captain Dean IV could be built his son James operated the mail service aboard his vessel the Miss Dean.
In his book “Island Captain” (White Sound Press, 1997), Captain Dean writes about a terrifying delivery voyage from Florida to Sandy Point where they just barely made it to Freeport because the wood had not sealed the seams yet and the boat took on tons of water, which they could not pump overboard fast enough because of sawdust and debris in the bilge pumps. But they made it, with just two men who were not sick.
As to her fate, he says that he sold it to interests in Bimini who really liked the vessel. He writes: “The Captain Dean III did the Bimini mail service for only a little while before she got sunk. From what I was told, she ran into the Mackey Shoal buoy one dark night, down on the bank between Bimini and the Berry Islands. I don’t know if the light was out or what, but she was supposed to have hit it and gone down. As far as I know she was never recovered. That was very sad, because she was a good ship.”
Before the Captain Dean IV could be built his son James operated the mail service aboard his vessel the Miss Dean.