MISSING PERSONS – Swallowed by the sea

SEIBERT CALLENDER was a man of many sides.He was a master fisherman and a musician; a bus driver; a tailor; a good friend; and a family man.He was known as the conch man for his skill with the seashell instrument, and for his habit of opening the Oistins Fish Festival and announcing his return from sea, whenever his catch was plentiful, with a customary blow of one of his conch shells.He also blew a farewell to the late Sir Harold St John at his funeral in March 2004.On May 14, 2005, 82-year-old Callender and one of his sons, Edgar, set sail on their boat My Way on a routine fishing trip, something Callender would have done hundreds of times in his 50 years of experience as a fisherman. However, this trip was different because Callender was never seen again even though his son’s body was recovered. Missing Persons spoke to a couple of people who knew the man and were touched by him.“He was a nice person, very pleasant. He was good with throwing nets and with the conch shell. He used to visit us from Christ Church, or I would visit him and we would sit down and talk. I remember going with him to Oistins and watching him blow the shell,” said his niece Meta Craigg.Wilton “Chufah” Browne, 74, said he knew Callender all his life. The Weston, St James resident said they were so close he considered them family.“He used to give me tips like how to strap down bait so barracudas can’t thief them. He was born in Lower Carlton, but moved to Christ Church and he used to come from Christ Church here to Weston and would sit and talk with the boys,” he said.Browne said Callender was considered an elder statesman among the fishing community. He passed on his knowledge to younger fishermen as he said line fishing was a technique and if no one passedon the knowledge “you would starve”.He said Callender also played the drums in a tuk band and mastered the conch shell.Doing well“He would be in his 90s now. I knew him from a boy. The last time I spoke to him he told me he was doing well fishing in Christ Church and the next year I heard he had disappeared,” he said.The boat was recovered, albeit empty, on May 17 and towed to the Oistins Fishing Complex on the day the pair should have been safely returning to port.Othneil Cole, captain of the deep sea vessel Goodwill and his crew-mate Leroy Harris, had spotted the missing boat around midday the day before about 61 miles off the south-eastern coast of Barbados.“We were out fishing since Thursday and decided Monday to do some moving around when we saw the boat (My Way).“The boat was half-full of water, but there was nobody in it, so we baled out some of the water and called for assistance before bringing it home,” Cole said then.There was much speculation about the fate of Callender and his son, ranging from stories about a sea chase to others about waves and even some about them being rescued by a passing ship.Callender’s daughter Ann Layne was quoted at the time as chastising some of the fishermen in Oistins as she said they “were not their brothers’ keeper”.Even though Seibert Callender has never been found, his family believes he died at sea and a funeral was held for him in 2006. The service was held on April 22 at Mount Zion Ministries, Rock Dundo, St James. (CA)