William ALBERT Lowe was born on February 19, 1901, in Green Turtle Cay, Abaco to William Irwin Lowe (1873-1951) and Alice Lowe (1873-1932).

His siblings included…

• Mildred Eliza (1896)
• Alice Ruby (1898)
• Hilma Lenora (1906)
• Inez Louise (1910)

On August 17, 1929, at Green Turtle Cay, Albert married Annie Estell Curry (1910-1979) from Green Turtle Cay, Abaco. She is the daughter of Ladford Ezekiel Curry and Gracie Selina Saunders Curry.

Their children included…

• Vertrum Albert (1933)
• Iva Alice (1935)
• Alton Roland
• Leonard Augustus

The 1825 New Plymouth home lived in by Albert and Annie is now the settlement’s Albert Lowe Museum. Located on Parliament Street, it showcases three centuries’ worth of paintings, sculptures, writings, models, photographs and other Bahamian artifacts.

ALBERT LOWE Original oil painting by Alton R. Lowe

Albert Lowe, known simply as “Pa” by most of his friends and acquaintances, was born at New Plymouth, Green Turtle Cay on February 19, 1901 to Irwin and Alice Lowe.  He attended school at New Plymouth but spent much of his time with his family at their farm at Sand Banks (near what is now Treasure Cay) helping to work the farm, which was originally started by his great grandparents. Most of the produce from the farm was sold at Norman’s Castle on the west coast of Great Abaco. Some was also sold at New Plymouth.  Albert, along with the rest of his family, would spend time at New Plymouth when his father went off on sponging voyages, and then they would return to their farm at Sand Banks.

At that time Abaco’s lumber industry was flourishing, and young Albert went to sea in his early twenties as a crew member on some of the three-masted schooners which transported freight, mainly lumber, from the saw mills at Norman’s Castle to Cuba and ports in the United States.  During one of these voyages, Albert was aboard the Arawak, which burned and sank after leaving Jacksonville, Florida bound for Cross Harbour, Abaco.  The passengers and crew were safely rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard after escaping in a lifeboat.

Albert also turned to the sea for his livelihood as a sponge fisherman.  He fished on “The Muds” near Williams’ Cay, Andros aboard the schooners Edna M (owned by the late Capt. Augustus Roberts) and Resolve (owned by the late Harrison Russell).  Later, Albert purchased his own boat, a twenty-two foot sloop named the J.L. Civic.  This was one of the first sailboats built by the late William Albury, the well-known boatbuilder from Man-O-War Cay. 

With a crew of five, Albert would take the J.L. Civic to fish the sponge beds in the area around Great Sales Cay.  Each sponging trip lasted from four to six weeks, after which the fishermen returned to Green Turtle Cay with their catch.  Here, they soaked the sponges to enable them to get as many as possible into a sack, then these large sacks would be loaded aboard the mailboat to be shipped to Nassau for sale at the Nassau Sponge Exchange.  Often, Albert would make the trip to Nassau to sell the sponges himself, as they were sold by private tender and each fisherman wanted to ensure the best possible price for his sponges.

When disease destroyed the sponge beds in the Bahamas in 1938, Albert, like many others, was forced to find some other means of making a living.  About this time sharkfishing was the principal industry in Abaco, and Albert engaged in this for a while.  The sharks were caught with nets and chains, and the skins, fins, teeth, and livers were sold to local buyers who exported them to the United States.  However, in the late 1950s the advent of crawfishing with its greater profits brought an end to sharkfishing. 

Albert did some crawfishing around Green Turtle Cay, but later he went as crew on some of the boats such as M.V. Lindo and M.V. Stanba IV, transporting the crawfish from New Plymouth to the Florida market. He was also recognized as an excellent carpenter,and built a number of native dinghies.

Since early childhood, Albert displayed an interest in woodcarving, and throughout his sponging days he built models of the sponging boats and schooners he had sailed on.  During the sponging period, many of the men would spend their idle hours carving models out of wood.  However, Albert showed a natural ability for woodcarving and excelled in this art, improving in workmanship and increasing the size of his models over the years.  He became very versatile, carving various types and sizes of sailing ships. With one exception, all the model ships on display in this museum were hand-carved by him.  

The four-master displayed here is the largest model Albert ever made. It is fully rigged and completely workable.  Albert was paid a great tribute when His Royal Highness Prince Philip expressed admiration for one of his models which was on display in Nassau during the official visit of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth in 1966.  All his models were carved without blueprints and built completely from his memory and experience working on these ships. 

Albert married Annie Curry in 1929, and their marriage produced three sons and one daughter.  The second son, Alton, is the founder of this museum and has gained fame as the Bahamas’ most outstanding artist.  Albert played an important role in the establishment of this museum, giving encouragement and devoting much of his time to restoring the house and preparing his models for exhibit.  It is fitting that the museum is named in honour of this soft-spoken, gentle and patient man.

This painting, which shows his wrinkled and weathered face, and rough and callused hands are visible signs of the way of life of which he was so much a part, preserves him for future generations as a symbol of a people and a way of life which make up an important part of this nation’s history.

Albert Lowe, master model boat builder, passed away August 11, 1985 at Green Turtle Cay, Abaco.

The Model Ships of Albert Lowe – Abaco Sun