One of the biggest stories emanating out of the Bahamas ever, was the 1943 murder of Canadian mining millionaire, Sir Harry Oakes -- the richest man in the British Empire. The murder mystery managed to knock off World War Two off the pages of the newspaper. Sir Harry made all of his money by discovering the largest gold mine ever in Canadian history. To this day, officially the murder is unsolved. But Nassau being the tight community that it is, everyone knows who did it.
The author is John Marquis. He was for years the managing editor of the Tribune newspaper here in Nassau, and he has just recently retired. I have always admired Mr. Marquis, because he called a spade a spade. He revealed the corruption, the hypocrisy, the criminality of the political ruling class and the peccadilloes of the people in power who hoodwink the working classes every day in the Bahamas. Those people tried to get his working permit revoked and tried to get him out of the country, because he dared to put the truth in print.
I have always wanted to read this book, but at $39.95 (US dollars) it really wasn't worth it. However, recently a local book store was selling it at $19.95 and I relented and bought it.
Essentially everyone in the Bahamas knows that Sir Harry Oakes was murdered by his "friend", Harry H.G. Christie who went on to found the biggest most prestigious real estate company in the Bahamas that exists to this day. HG Christie eventually got a knighthood in spite of being an unmasked murderer.
What the author details in this book and adds to the knowledge of, is the complicity and the criminality in the cover up involving Edward VIII, the Duke of Windsor and the abdicated King of England. The Duke gave up the English throne in December of 1936 for American divorcee Wallace Simpson. The Duke was sent to France with his new re-treaded wife, but they were an embarrassment to the British because they were frigging Nazis. To get them out of the way, the Duke was appointed Governor of the Bahamas for the duration of the war.
Oakes was murdered by HG Christie in association with a Walter Foskett who was Oakes' Florida lawyer. Oakes had just discovered that Foskett was embezzling and double dealing with Christie. Oakes was going to set them straight. Marquis the author contends that Oakes also had a stash of gold destined for one of his Mexican banks, and that gold disappeared after Sir Harry was murdered. HG Christie also got very rich after the demise of Oakes. When the Oakes will was probated, there was only $12 million dollars, while when he was alive, it was estimated that his worth was $200 million. There is speculation that Sir Harry converted a lot of his cash to gold, and it disappeared after his murder.
The book contends that the Duke of Windsor was of the belief that the Germans would win the war, and he started to illegally move his money into Oakes' bank in Mexico. This would be a felony as it contravened the war time restrictions of moving currency outside of Britain and her allies.
The Duke was also a friend of HG Christie -- who was also illegally moving money into Oakes' bank as well as screwing Oakes in property deals, all the while maintaining a facade of friendship. Just before his murder, Oakes became aware of Foskett's criminality, but no one knows if he knew that Christie was double dealing against him. This would certainly come out if Oakes straightened out Foskett. If Christie was unmasked as the murderer, the Duke's criminality and currency transactions were to be exposed. Hence the Duke was involved in the cover up of the murder of Sir Harry Oakes. The Duke went to great lengths to pin the murder on de Marigny, the hated son-in-law of Sir Harry. They even ordered the rope for his hanging.
The frame-up involving the Duke of Windsor never worked out, because the detectives that were hired by the Duke to frame de Marigny were caught out in court faking fingerprint evidence.
The book also contends that there was a string of mysterious deaths of people investigating the murder after the fact.
Even after all of these years in Nassau, the truth is elusive. The author contends that skewing and subversion of truth seems to be a hallmark of the Bahamas to this day.
If you find yourself in the Bahamas on Thursday, and are looking for something to do, you can take in this presentation by the Bahamas National Trust on a biological living treasure in the tropics -- Bay Rush or zamia lucayana. It is perhaps the only plant that is indigenous to the Bahamas.
A tornado spout forms in Southern New Providence, the main island of the Bahamas where Nassau is located. It is unclear whether the tornado touched down, but it is highly unlikely.
My friend Yves is a cigar aficionado. We were idly chatting and I asked him about cigars and where he bought them in Nassau. He told me that most of the cigars in Nassau were fakes. It was shocking. Then he provided me with a link. You can find it yourself. Open a Google browser and type in "Fake Cuban Cigars in Nassau". You will get a whole bunch of references.
I was on the harbour bridge. Immediately below me was a mailboat called "The North Cat Island Special II". The back of this mailboat is flat vertical. The front of it has a ramp like a ferry to carry cars. In the back, there is an opening where the lifeboat is stowed. A sailor was settling down for a nap in the lifeboat. A perfect hiding place from the captain. I wouldn't want to be on that mailboat in an emergency. Look at the crates and junk in the lifeboat.
Freeport is the second city of the Bahamas, and economically it is suffering. It still has not recuperated from Hurricanes Frances and Jean. This further adds to the woe and misery of that island in the sun.
This is one of the ferry from Eleuthera to Spanish Wells. There are (were) many.
Above, I catch the town taxi stand at a less busy moment. It was a less busy moment for the entire day.
The "Welcome to Exuma" sign is posted at the town center. The building in the back is the government building and town hub (police, post office, fire, customs, courts, etc). Generally, any large building painted pink in the Bahamas is a government building.
The biggest thing that ever goes on in Georgetown, is the regatta. The judging stand pictured above is painted in the national colours of the Bahamas.
The city park on the harbour front provides a relaxing place to cogitate. However, as you can see in the photo, sometimes the crowds are hell.
Please patronize the local businesses.
And the Exuma sunrise on the Palm Bay is an amazingly beautiful sight.
I was preparing dinner last night at around 6:00 PM and I received a phone call at my Paradise Island home. It was our friend Monika. She told me to turn to channel 32 which is CNN in the Bahamas. There was a tsunami watch issued for the Bahamas. It was a chiller.
One of the biggest stories emanating out of the Bahamas ever, was the 1943 murder of Canadian mining millionaire, Sir Harry Oakes -- the richest man in the British Empire. The murder mystery managed to knock off World War Two off the pages of the newspaper. Sir Harry made all of his money by discovering the largest gold mine ever in Canadian history. To this day, officially the murder is unsolved. But Nassau being the tight community that it is, everyone knows who did it.
The expert explained that this was definitely not for public eyes yet. It was a new type of engine called a pulsed detonation system. This type of engine was not in production, and being tested secretly by the US. Apparently the detonation produces the scram jet effect. This was supposedly the propulsion system for the new class of super spy plane called the Aurora TR-3B.
The contrail was interrupted by a huge cloud. X marks the edge of the huge cloud, and the contrail continued to the left (south) of the huge cloud.
I zoomed in on it. It definitely was not an ordinary jet contrail.
Further magnification showed that I in fact was seeing the contrail of a pulsed detonation propulsion system. I was fascinated and snapped many pics of it. So the rumors of the Aurora TR-3B seemed to be true. It would be a natural to test it over the Bahamas. After all, there is already a military facility called AUTEC, and every once in a while after AUTEC activities, whales are found dead on Bahamian beaches.
Oh the irony. Every year, the Bahamas National Trust has Christmas Jollification. I had never heard of the word Jollification before I landed in the Bahamas. I attended Jollification last year. It is one huge Christmas festival and craft sale. It is held in the National Trust Retreat which is an acreage in the middle of Nassau chock-a-block full of tropical trees and plants resembling a botanical gardens mixed with a jungle. I am a member of the Bahamas National Trust, and the weekend is always a blast. 
