RELATIVES here have launched an investigation into the disappearance of a Guyanese tugboat captain and crew since leaving New York for Guyana close to two months ago.
The last they’d heard, relatives say, is that the vessel, the Gage Paul Thornton, had had to take shelter from hurricane Erika last month in St Kitts.

The missing captain has been identified as 67-year-old Godfrey Roberts Snr, also known as “Captain Smokey”, of 192nd Street Miami, Florida, USA. There was no information, however, on the missing crew, in terms of how many they were, nor their names.
According to Roberts’ son, Godfrey Roberts Jnr, his dad has been living in the U.S. for the past 40 years, and would visit Guyana from time to time.
He said the Gage Paul Thornton, which is owned and operated by a New Jersey company named Marine Steel Transport, left New York around the end of July, and was scheduled to arrive here in Georgetown in August.

Said he: “He was last heard from on August 27, and he said he was taking shelter in St Kitts from the hurricane; and that the next time he would make contact was when he was in the Demerara River, since he was waiting for the storm to blow over.”

SEASONED SEAMAN
Reflecting on his father’s experience as a seaman, Godfrey Jnr said: “He was the first captain to bring a trawler for the Guyana Government back in the 70s, and he has a tremendous amount of experience. This is the first occasion my father has not contacted anyone after such a long period at sea.”
After not hearing from his dad, he, too, tried making contact with him. “I contacted the US embassy, the Barbados embassy, the US embassy in Guyana… We spoke to the Coast Guard; we spoke to the State Department… We tried all over to see if any organisation may know of his whereabouts, but nothing was learnt,” young Roberts said.
Noting that the father of six may be stuck somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, he is optimistic that he will be found. “My father has sailed the seas for over 40 years,” is all he said by way of explaining his confidence.
He said his father was delivering the tug to someone here in Guyana, but had bought it in New York in his name.
“A third party was supposed to receive the tug, once he arrived in Guyana. The vessel would then be transferred to whomever the owner would be which we have not figured out yet,” Godfrey Jnr said.
He said, too, that whenever his dad was in town, he usually spent time with his sister, who lives in Georgetown.
According to the Transport and Harbours Department (T&HD), no vessel named Gage Paul Thornton was expected or scheduled to visit Guyana.

TROPICAL STORM ERIKA
Tropical Storm Erika of August 2015 was reportedly the deadliest natural disaster to have occurred in Dominica since Hurricane David in 1979.
According to reports, she encountered quite a bit of wind shear from the inception, which is what may have prevented her from developing into a full-blown hurricane.
Wind shear, it is said, effectively rips apart the structure of a tropical cyclone, causing thunderstorm convection to be displaced away from the center of circulation.
Wind shear has been consistently very strong, compared to average, in the Caribbean Sea throughout the 2015 hurricane season.
Additionally, land interaction with the higher terrain of the Dominican Republic, Haiti and finally eastern Cuba further contributed to the disruption of Erika.
And if that wasn’t enough, dry air in the western Caribbean Sea also infiltrated Erika’s circulation, helping to choke off any organised convection near its previous centre. All of these factors played a role in the ultimate dissipation of Erika.

By Rabindra Rooplall