mudcat.org: ADD: Bally Mena (from Harry Belafonte)

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ADD: Bally Mena (from Harry Belafonte)

DigiTrad:
BANANA BOAT SONG
BELAMENA
CHOUCOUNE
COME BACK, LIZA
EDEN WAS JUST LIKE THIS
JAMAICA FAREWELL
TURN AROUND
YELLOW BIRD

GUEST,leeneia	06 Jan 21 - 01:51 PM
GUEST,Phil d'Conch	03 Mar 25 - 07:05 AM
GUEST,Phil d'Conch	04 Mar 25 - 05:39 AM

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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bally Mena (from Harry Belafonte)
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 06 Jan 21 - 01:51 PM

more geography from the song:

"Inagua is the southernmost district of the Bahamas, comprising the islands of Great Inagua and Little Inagua."

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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Bally Mena (from Harry Belafonte)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 03 Mar 25 - 07:05 AM

“RUM ROW OBLITERATED
Hurricane Wipes Out Gun Cay Liquor Fleet; Vessels Scattered and Destroyed.

…The PERCELER, according to reliable information from Gun Cay, now lies a wreck on the shore of Cay Key [sic]*. Her largest companion in the station, the old steam yacht Bellamena, lies on a sunken rock and of the rest, a dozen ships which ordinarily were on station, not one is left….

...The native crews on the liquor ships had a song that sounded the minor key in which all life in the out islands and particularly at Gun Cay, was attuned. It started, “My mammy ain't got no corn or rice or coconut oil,” and it had no particular end or rhyme, being merely one of the mournful plaints of the Bahama negro.

They sang it nightly, on the Perceler, that and other songs. “Ballamena in the Harbor,” which was worded around the Ballamena which sank there, was one of them.”
[The Herald, (Miami, FL,) Friday, July 30, 1926, p.6]

Last word on the Perceler:
“Rum Row Busy Fishing Lost Cargoes from Ocean's Floor
...Gun Cay's industry is not easily discouraged. The largest of the rum schooners, although cast ashore and rendered unfit for further sailing**, was passing liquor over the side to a trio of small speedboats.”
[Miami Daily News (FL,) Friday, July 30, 1926, p.1]

Conchy Notes:
*These days, the old Gun Cay 'road' is most often listed as: "Honeymoon Harbour." It's a regular tourist run for the Bimini locals. The Perceler, Bellamena and most of the others finally came to grief a good bit south of there at North Cat Cay.

**The half dozen so-called 'mother ships' were towed to there as hulks. ie: Already "unfit for further sailing" on arrival.

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Subject: RE: ADD: Bally Mena (from Harry Belafonte)
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 04 Mar 25 - 05:39 AM

This was supposed to go with that last post's notes. I'm not sure who owned Bellamena when she went down. Might have been the same fellow.

The Perceler was owned by South Bimini/Gun Cay folk legend Bruce Stanley Bethell (1883-1951.) His replacement mother ship was none other than the hulk SS Sapona.

Towed to Gun Cay from Miami in late August; holed in the September hurricane and had her stern snapped off by the October storm. She's still there too. Probably one of the most famous wrecks on the Banks. Rough season '26. Bethell never really recovered and didn't even get a song out of it.

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