Noel Thompson, Freelance Writer

( L - R ) Bennett, Williamson, Robinson

WESTERN BUREAU:

Black cloth lined the entrance to the home of Gary Bennett in Newcombe Valley, St Elizabeth, yesterday.

Bennett is one of four fishermen from the parish who are feared dead at sea.

The others are Wayne Robinson, 41, of Little Park; Omar Williamson, 24, of Newcombe Valley; and Kevin James, 30, of Treasure Beach.

Bennett's grandmother, Deloris Crowe, was in a sombre mood as she sipped ice-cold water from an enamel mug yesterday.

"I believe he might be dead," said Crowe. "It no seem real though."

Speechless

Bennett's aunt, Vera Crowe, wept bitterly, while other relatives looked on speechless.

The four fishermen left Treasure Beach, St Elizabeth, at 5:30 p.m. last Thursday for the Pedro Bank. The boat was discovered missing Saturday morning about 3:30 by other fishermen who were fishing a short distance away.

Efforts by the Jamaica Defence Force Coastguard to locate the men have failed.

Last night, a team of fishermen was expected to make another voyage to continue the search.

The homes of Bennett and Williamson are only a few metres apart.

Williamson's girlfriend, Claudia Murray, had just hushed their eight-month-old son to bed and was sitting on the veranda with friends and relatives when the Gleaner team arrived at her house.

"Him no dead, him out deh. Mi know him nah give up," she said. Williamson's mother, Hyacinth Crowe, was also clinging to the possibility that her son is alive.

Trying to be brave

"My hope is to hear some good news. I can't eat or sleep," she said.

Dawn Moxam, James' com-mon-law wife and mother of his two children, smiled as she tried to hide her feelings.

Minutes later, she broke down. The smiles were gone and she went speechless.

Over in the community of Little Park, Melissa, 17, Kemar Robinson, 13, Wayne Robinson's children, sat on a wall at their grandmother's house.

Weeping for her father

They chatted quietly about their dad's mysterious disappearance.

Her voice cracking, Melissa muttered: "It's complicated. We just don't understand what happened. My father was a good dad; it would be painful to lose my father at such young age."

On July 2, 1963, a boat called Snow Boy went missing with more than 60 men near the Pedro Bank. They were never seen again.