Entrepreneuriat précoce et esprit d’innovation

Dès son plus jeune âge, Neville fit preuve d’un remarquable esprit d’entreprise. À seulement dix-sept ans, il commanda des marchandises comme de la farine au Canada, un exploit inhabituel pour un jeune homme à la Dominique au milieu du XXe siècle. Ses projets étaient variés et ambitieux : concasseurs de pierres pour la construction, services de taxi, auto-école à seulement trois dollars de l’heure, fabrication de blocs, construction de véhicules et de bennes basculantes, station-service, carrosserie et peinture au pistolet. Pourtant, de toutes ses entreprises, c’est dans la construction navale et la navigation que le génie de Neville s’exprima le plus clairement.

Premiers pas dans la mer

L’aventure maritime de Neville commença dans les années 1950. Son père possédait une petite boutique à Glanvillia, et le jeune Neville, chargé de réapprovisionner les provisions, fut fasciné par les caisses dans lesquelles arrivaient les produits importés, comme les oignons, la morue et le hareng. Il les empila soigneusement, attendant une utilité. Cette utilité se révéla lorsqu’entre huit et dix ans, il construisit son premier canot, une embarcation de trois mètres calfeutrée avec du lait d’arbre à pain mâché pour former de la colle. Traversé à la rame par Sonny Ferrara à travers la baie, ce projet d’enfant préfigurait la carrière prodigieuse qui allait suivre.

En 1965, après le lycée, Neville avait construit un bateau de 6 mètres propulsé par un moteur d’Austin transformé. Lorsque ce bateau brûla, il retourna immédiatement dans les bois pour ramasser du bois et recommencer. Cette détermination inébranlable devint sa marque de fabrique.

 https://youtu.be/5_ wGuBVY5xQ?si=51K4mo5oLiuV6bS7

Maître constructeur de bateaux et innovateur

Les années qui ont suivi ont été remplies de réalisations remarquables :

• 1966 : Construction du La Waden de 33 pieds, propulsé par un moteur diesel Land Rover reconstruit

• 1969 : Berceaux conçus pour le transport des navires vers la cale sèche

• 1974–1976 : Acquisition et aménagement de voiliers commerciaux tels que le Tesfa et le Yolanda Star

• 1979 : Il a subi la perte de ses deux navires lors de l’ouragan David, mais a continué sans se décourager.

• 1980: Salvaged a wreck left in Portsmouth market after tugs had failed, removing it entirely by hand over three months

• 1981–1983: With fellow Portsmouth seafaring magnates Cyril Hyacinth and Bernard Avril, sailed vessels from Sweden, Denmark, and England across the Atlantic to Dominica, including the M.V. Teresia and the Elizabeth Boye

• 1985: Negotiated for the Oscar Flora in Holland, Dominica’s first and only refrigerated vessel, vital for transporting farmers’ produce across the Caribbean

• 1987: Completed two Atlantic crossings, including voyages on the M.V. Pole Bear (later renamed Independence II) and Amazing Grace

• 1988: Successfully salvaged the sunken Elizabeth Boye with the assistance of other Portsmouth icons

• 1996: Purchased the M.V. Abiding Love in Maine, navigating it to Dominica

• 2008–2009: Removed wrecks from Portsmouth’s harbor, gifting his town cleaner shores and safer waters

• 2010: Purchased the motor ferry Lovely One, a vessel many had deemed hopeless

Each project reflected not only Neville’s mechanical prowess but also his vision to place Dominica on the maritime map of the Caribbean.

Navigator, Teacher, and Community Builder

Wade was not only a shipbuilder; he was a navigator whose daring Atlantic crossings testified to his seamanship. Yet, equally important was his role as a mentor and teacher. He educated young people, guided new entrepreneurs, and inspired generations to dream beyond Dominica’s shores. His life was a school in perseverance: each wreck salvaged, each vessel launched, each voyage completed proved the boundless potential of Dominican talent and grit.

Neville Wade and Rebuild Dominica Inc.

In 2022, Captain Neville Wade brought his experience and passion to Rebuild Dominica Inc., the U.S.-based nonprofit organized by Diaspora Dominicans. The organization focuses on agriculture, education, industry, community development, and university partnerships between Dominica and overseas institutions. Neville’s involvement was deeply symbolic: his life’s work embodied Rebuild Dominica’s mission to harness Dominican creativity—both at home and abroad—for nation building.

He stood firmly in the lineage of Dominica’s independence struggle, a struggle waged by Maroon and Kalinago warriors and carried forward by leaders like Portsmouth’s own Michael Douglas and Roosevelt “Rosie” Douglas. Both men envisioned a boatbuilding industry flourishing in Portsmouth as part of national development. Neville’s work, therefore, was not only personal—it was a continuation of this patriotic mandate. He believed, and Rebuild Dominica affirmed, that independence would remain incomplete unless Dominicans preserved and advanced their boatbuilding skills and technologies in the 21st century.

Legacy of Faith and Service

Neville Wade’s life cannot be measured by ships alone. It was defined by service to his community and his devotion to God. Whether negotiating overseas, salvaging wrecks by hand, or gifting his labor freely for Portsmouth’s betterment, Neville embodied humility without docility, strength tempered by courtesy. His achievements, often unrecorded in official histories, demand recognition. They remind us that our communities hold within them heroes whose labor builds nations.

Neville himself ended his account with these words: “Give glory to God. Praise be to God.”

Conclusion

Captain Neville Wade’s life is a song of the sea, written in timber, iron, and courage. His is the story of a Dominican boy who built a dinghy from grocery crates and rose to become a master mariner of the Caribbean. To honor his legacy is to honor the creativity and perseverance of a people who, like him, transform challenge into opportunity and wreckage into renewal. Portsmouth, Dominica, and the wider world owe him remembrance as one of our island’s greatest boat builders and navigators—and as a proud son of independence who kept alive the Douglas brothers’ vision of Portsmouth as a center of maritime industry.