I recently came across the fascinating account of Antony Agar— Australian ringer, Caribbean sea-captain and schooner builder—in the Ti Dominik Tales blog. Besides leading a most exciting life of travel and adventure, Agar has dedicated himself to writing, and is the author of the 2009 mystery novel The Puerto Rico Connection among other work. [Many thanks to Jo Spalburg for bringing this item to our attention.] Gwen “Dominica” writes:

Over the years, I have met some fascinating people in Dominica. One of them is a friendly long-time neighbour named Antony Agar, who has a most unassuming demeanor. I have gradually learned that he has done some amazing things in his life, to date. To me, it’s the stuff of novels and he has managed to fictionalize some of his experiences, add real-life places for the settings, mix in a healthy dose of imagination and serve up two fascinating books (so far): Queensland Ringer (2007) and The Puerto Rico Connection (2009).

Although I had previously written a piece about Antony’s original design and construction of a 100′ long schooner called the Carmela (see Caribbean Compass July 2001, p.29), my curiosity was piqued even more after I read these two books. I was prompted to probe a bit deeper into this humble man’s extraordinary adventures. Antony kindly consented by giving me some background about his life and work.

After Antony completed secondary school in Barbados in 1955, he accompanied his mother Daphne Agar (a Dominican of British extraction) to England. He thought carefully about what he should do at that point. An English teacher at his Barbados boarding school had tried to talk him into going into journalism, as he enjoyed reading and had a flair for writing. But at the age of 18 or so, he resisted as he “thought it would be boring!” As a young man, he really had ‘adventure’ on his mind. [. . .] As he was already familiar with farming on the family estate in Dominica, ‘down under’ was perhaps the more obvious choice. He landed there in 1956, where he took up increasingly responsible positions as a ringer (aka cowboy or gaucho in other countries) at stations in isolated areas of Queensland, Australia. [. . .]

“I only planned to go for two years,” he recalls. When he returned to Dominica in 1959 with the intention of running his family’s estate, he only stayed for a couple of months as his mother was comfortably managing the farms on her own. So he went back for another five years! [. . .] After he finally returned to Dominica in 1963, he never went back! “But I think of Australia a lot,” Antony admitted with some nostalgia.

He wasted no time in starting a dairy farm along with limes and bananas on the family estate. Although he loved the land, boats had always been a part of his life in Dominica. He owned a Carriacou (Grenadian Grenadines)-built cargo schooner in the 1970′s. It was called the Mayflower C. As a sea-captain, he regularly transported agricultural produce from Dominica to Barbados. [. . .]

Antony wanted to build a cargo schooner much the same as his previous boat, only larger. Eventually, he came up with his own design. Then there were many unanticipated hurdles during its construction. After a very traumatic two-day launching, he managed to put his 100′ long schooner called the Carmela (named after Carmel, his Canadian-born wife of more than 45 years) into the sea off Rockaway Beach near Roseau in 1992.

One of the outstanding memories of that era was the Carmela’s participation in an expedition called the Gli Gli in 1997. A group of indigenous Kalinagos from Dominica sailed for 800 miles in a traditional dug-out canoe to South America to retrace their original ancestral voyage a thousand years earlier. The schooner, as the mother-ship, provided support for crew and housed all the necessary equipment. Antony recalled that it was a very successful journey which took over two months. [. . .] At about that time, he and his family decided to offer tourism and excursion services from Dominica. The Carmela was subsequently remodeled so that it could be used as an overnight and weekend charter boat.

[. . .] “I was very much at loose ends after having sold the boat. It was probably already in my mind to write a book,” he reflected.

[. . .] The Puerto Rico Connection is an intriguing murder mystery which is set in Dominica and other Caribbean islands. Antony had always liked to read mysteries and he had held onto an idea for a long time about how he would begin the book. “Once I started it, it just came out. I didn’t have any plan,” he confesses. As a seasoned sailor, he was fascinated with a scenario where a fugitive stows-away on a schooner and suddenly tries to hijack the captain. He incorporated this “vision” into this novel which evolved from Antony’s imagination. While the settings and cultural context accurately reflect life on several West Indian islands, the characters are completely fictitious. The production of this book was again a family affair, with Antony’s wife Carmel working alongside as proofreader and cousin Dr. Lennox Honychurch creating the beautiful cover art island scene.

As to other plans, Antony says he is “keen to see what happens next.” There are some short stories in the works, which are set in both Australia and Dominica.

For full article, see http://gwenithwhitford.wordpress.com/2013/03/18/dominicas-antony-agar-australian-ringer-caribbean-sea-captain-schooner-builder-author/

[Photo above, Agar’s boat, Carmela.]