Everyone living on Bequia knows the Friendship Rose. Every adult brought up on the island has a story to tell about her and so do many people on St Vincent. Three brothers built her by hand from local wood on Friendship Bay between 1963 and 1967. When she was finished, Calvin Lewis was her captain.
After she was launched, Friendship Rose was a mail boat for The Grenadines, a cargo boat and then a ferry, running people and goods between Bequia and St Vincent.
She only stopped when steel Norwegian ferries were imported to service the 9-mile crossing.
Her fate was uncertain until she was renovated and restyled as a pleasure cruiser, running day trips for visitors around The Grenadines. She is still sailed completely by hand and still skippered by the octogenarian Captain Lewis.
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