Captain Roy Arthur Anslyn (23 December 1944–7 October 2017), formally known as Arthur Anslyn or Captain Anslyn, and informally known as "Brother" Anslyn, was a recognized expert in marine knowledge who, from 1999 to his death, served as Marine Consultant to the Premier's Ministry, Nevis Air and Sea Ports Authority, Nevis Island Administration (NIA), and Marine Advisor to the Premier's Ministry, NIA. Over the years, Anslyn received numerous awards, both for his service to the community and for his bravery in saving lives and property in extreme situations.
Anslyn was born on the island of Nevis in the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis, Leeward Islands, Lesser Antilles, West Indies.
Anslyn was honoured with the insignia of a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 1985. He was very active over the years in search and rescue, marine ambulance service, and other marine emergency services on Nevis. Using scuba, he took part in the underwater survey for the official inquiry after the 1970 Christena disaster, a ferry boat shipwreck which involved a great loss of life. Anslyn was captain of the Carib Queen ferryboat for 19 years, and was subsequently the Director of Fisheries at the NIA for many years. Anslyn was also an active member of Nevis Historical and Conservation Society.
Brother Anslyn lived in Charlestown, the capital of Nevis. His family name was originally Anslijn, of Dutch extraction: he had family ties to Saba, a Dutch island which lies north of Sint Eustatius.
In 1995, a reporter for the St. Kitts and Nevis Observer commented, "...he's one of those rare individuals who not only performs a public service...but also touch[es] the lives of so many of us" and, "We are fortunate to have someone like Brother among us".
Overview
Anslyn was an expert on marine matters. He was a highly experienced fisher and scuba diver. In 2000, Anslyn became Director of Fisheries at the NIA, a position which he held for many years. Anslyn also helped create and organize a Fishermen's Cooperative on Nevis.
For 19 years, from 1980 to 1999, Anslyn was Master of the Carib Queen, one of several St. Kitts and Nevis ferry boats. During this time period, Anslyn was given an award by the St. Kitts-Nevis Chamber of Industry and Commerce for his actions in saving the Carib Queen from being wrecked during the passage of Hurricane Klaus in 1984. The hurricane struck without prior warning while the Carib Queen was at dock in St. Kitts, getting an engine overhauled. As the storm intensified, Anslyn took the boat offshore, anchored it, and went and got one other crew member. They then both swam out to the boat, climbed aboard and rode the hurricane out at sea, with only one engine intact. In 1989, Anslyn once again saved the Carib Queen from destruction during the passage of Hurricane Hugo, by taking the ship to a slightly more sheltered area in Sint Maarten. Although he had successfully saved the Carib Queen, he subsequently found out that his own boat back on Nevis had been destroyed by the hurricane, which caused great damage to Nevis.
Anslyn piloted and worked on numerous sail boats and motor craft, both freight and passenger vessels, and studied marine topics at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and other marine science centers.
History
Family background and influences
The paternal grandfather of Arthur Anslyn was Dr. Nicolas Anslijn, who was born in 1823 on the southern Caribbean Dutch colonial island of Curaçao, part of the Leeward Antilles. Nicolas Anslijn came north to the small Dutch colonial island of Saba as a government physician. He was a "pensioned officer of health of the first class" and was also made a Knight of the Order of the Netherlands Lion. His father had been a Dutch schoolteacher, also named Nicolas Anslijn, and his mother had been the daughter of a Venezuelan general who had fought alongside Simon Bolivar. At 54, after his first wife died, Dr. Nicolas Anslijn married 19-year-old Esther Zipporah Benjamin Hassell on Saba; they had two sons, Edward John Arthur Anslyn and William Carl Anslyn. In 1863, when slavery was abolished in the Dutch colonies, Nicolas Anslijn was the official who read the Dutch colonial emancipation proclamation in the settlement of Windwardside on Saba. He died during a visit to Sint Maarten, and was buried there at Little Bay.