Times of the Islands Spring 2022

Actually, the story
itself is simple: Beryl
Nelson, who grew up in
Michigan and Indiana,
decided when he came
of age that he did not
want to live in the turbulent
and violent American
culture of the late 1960s
and resettled himself on
Providenciales. Simple,
right? Ah, but the details
of his journey between
1969 and 1985 make for
a more complicated tale,
involving anti-war protests,
trips abroad, work
in The Bahamas and many
boats.
The boats are the
standouts when Beryl,
now 77 years old, retired
and living in Long Bay,
talks about his life. He
A young Beryl Nelson navigates at the helm of the schooner America.
punctuates his stories
with details of the sailboats he has captained, refurbished
and lived aboard, describing them with the spark in his
eye that marks a true sailor. The boats and the trips are
jumbled in with Beryl’s Quaker roots, political activism
and the desire for a peaceful life. “Classic hippie stuff,”
he comments.
various places. In Philadelphia, visiting his sister Marjorie,
he saw a film on the Phoenix activities and became a volunteer
for A Quaker Action Group. He spent 1968 on the
Phoenix, and on his return continued anti-war activities.
“That was when I decided I didn’t want to live in the U.S.,”
he says. “I figured my only option was to build a sailboat
and sail away.”
Phoenix
While even his earlier days involved working around boats
and on the water, perhaps the start of his 17-year journey
to Provo was aboard the Phoenix of Hiroshima in 1968.
The 50-foot, 30-ton yacht was designed and owned by
anthropologist Dr. Earle Reynolds, who in the late 1950s
became interested in protests against nuclear weapons
For several years Beryl shuttled between Michigan,
where he was building a boat (never completed) on his
father’s property, and Florida, where he was working
at a shipyard and “learning more about boats.” He also
became involved in salvage operations and delivering
boats to The Bahamas. Those first tastes of The Bahamas
made him start thinking about emigrating, which lent
tests. Inspired by Quaker activists, Reynolds put his more reality to his “sail away” fantasies.
yacht to use in those protests and other anti-war activities.
In 1967–68, the Phoenix delivered medical supplies
to civilians in both North and South Vietnam. (Reynolds
Sheila A
Then he fell in love . . . with a boat. During a delivery trip
recounted those stories in his book, The Forbidden stop in Georgetown, Great Exuma, he saw the Sheila A,
Voyage.)
Enter Beryl Nelson, who had been knocking about
among jobs at a Fort Lauderdale shipyard and with the
“and I thought she was very pretty.” The 22-foot wooden
sailboat with canvas sails was a Bahamian “B Class” racing
sloop. Beryl borrowed money to buy her and lived on the
Michigan State Waterways Commission; following an beach while he emptied and cleaned the boat. “I ended up
interest in underwater archaeology; and visiting friends in at the Out Island Inn. They let me tie up to their dock, and
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