Dr Rita Pemberton
From the dawn of the 20th century, one of the main complaints from all sectors in Tobago was the lack of regular contact with the rest of the world.
During the last two decades of the 19th century, decreasing activity on the Scarborough port heralded the stark reality of the final downward spiral of the island's sugar industry.
The steamers which called in Tobago included the subsidised service of the Royal Mail Steamer and Packet Company. It called at Scarborough once a month, and there were merchant ships which belonged to Messrs AM Gillespie and Company, John McCall and Company. These provided shipping space for imported plantation essentials and exporting plantation produce.
Intercolonial schooners, sloops, steamers and small craft handled goods for the smaller farming and business community and gave the island contact within the region. There were also two English lines and one American, introduced during the 1880s.
With the crash of Gillespie and Company and the demise of the sugar industry, both trade and the island's communication with the outside world were significantly reduced.
As a consequence of union with Trinidad, between 1889 and 1899, Trinidad was the conduit for most of Tobago's trade, although some direct links were maintained with other British Caribbean possessions and, via Barbados, with North America and Europe.
When, in his attempts to diversify agricultural production in Trinidad, Governor Sir William Robinson established the fruit trade, Messrs Turnbull and Company was contracted to provide a round-the-island service to collect fruit to be exported to New York. A fortnightly service to Tobago was included.
Royal Mail steamers called fortnightly on the journey from Trinidad to Venezuela and Margarita, but that connection was terminated in 1903. Tobago was then served by the Royal Mail's Grenada/St Vincent/Barbados/Trinidad route. The steamers of the Canadian company Pickford and Black passed into Tobago twice monthly on their way to and from Guyana, and sloops from Grenada and Carriacou established a regular profitable trade with Tobago and Trinidad, while Tobago's direct trade with Barbados was reduced.
In March 1901, the first coastal steamer service between the islands was established, with two ships. It was initiated by the Kennet, which called at Scarborough. The second ship, the Spey, arrived in October 1901. They provided a fortnightly round-the-island service.
The Spey, which was also intended for passenger transport, was fitted with cabins and had an ice chamber to transport fish caught off Tobago to Trinidad.
This placed trade and movement to Trinidad on an acceptable level and facilitated contact with the Caribbean, North America and Europe, while the coastal steamer services enabled the movement of goods from the northern parts of Tobago, which had poor communications with the rest of the island.
But in 1905, the Royal Mail steamers ceased calling at Tobago, severing the island's connections with the northern islands and
