Sunday Favorites: Son of a Son of a Sailor

Charles aboard his yacht "Gypsy".

PALMETTO -- Charles Hawkins suffers from dementia. He struggles to remember the extraordinary details of his life, those that his family will go on forever retaining. But on Saturdays when his wife Virginia takes him to Emerson Point on Snead Island, he will recount incidents that took place along the Manatee River. While staring out over the calm waters of Tampa Bay, something in Charles is rekindled. Whether it is specific memory or a feeling, we may never know, but when Charles goes to Emerson – he goes home.

Born on Snead Island, Charles was no stranger to coastal living. As a boy, he was given a skipjack-modeled sloop of 16 feet. He would fish, take his sisters sailing and sell his catch to Mr. Smallwood’s Fish Market at the foot of the cut-off on Snead. He also spent time diving up and down the coast searching for natural sponges to sell to wholesale dealers.

Alarm set in during WWII. When Charles was old enough, he joined the navy in 1942. While aboard the USS Fowler, he was part of a flotilla of destroyers that escorted ships to Africa – they crossed the Atlantic fourteen times. Of the eighty merchant ships in the convoy, many were lost due to the constant threat of German submarines and torpedo planes. There were times when Charles felt he would never see his Palmetto home again.  

While at the helm of the ship’s whaleboat in 1945, Charles was praised for rescuing a naval aviator from a plane crash while on patrol duty. Survivor Lt. J.H. Langrall was safely delivered to New Port, RI on June 1.

”Crewing for Captain Hawkins was a lesson in life. The water was life to him, there were no guesses, he wasn’t learning on the job, he just knew from lots and lots of experience,“ said Jeff Burton, who served as crew for Charles and his wife Virginia.

Charles’ terrifying experience didn’t spoil his love of being on the water. When he got out of the Navy in 1948, he and his friend Melvin Roberts started their own commercial fishing business with a fleet that traveled from Florida to the Yucatan. Red snapper was their catch of choice and the boats were harbored at the Bradenton Pier and offload.  He met and married his wife Virginia Mae in 1950. They raised three children on Snead Island.

While at the helm of the ship’s whaleboat in 1945, Charles was praised for rescuing a naval aviator from a plane crash while on patrol duty

”Charlie was never a day-sailor,“ said Virginia Hawkins, ”If we went aboard the boat, we were going somewhere.“

In 1977 Charles retired from fishing and purchased his dreamboat ”Gypsy“, a 76-foot ketch that he and his wife charted for decades. The assisted in Palmetto High School’s Marine Science program by booking an annual charter for the students. Charles and Virginia would take the class to the Bahamas to learn about sea life through snorkeling and diving reefs. Jeff Burton was first acquainted with the lifestyle on one such trip.

”There was no fear with Hawkins, I was afraid, but he was always calm, quiet and sure. He is a true sailor, Gypsy was his home. He and Virginia welcomed me as family. I am very fortunate to have lived that short period of time with them,“ said Burton.

The Hawkins family is a family that feels more comfortable at sea. Their genealogy is filled with open water, aquatic hostilities and offshore adventure. Charles’ grandfather, Daniel Lafayette Hawkins, moved his family to the upper Manatee River where he acquired land through the Armed Occupation Act of 1942. In 1949, he served with Captain LeRoy G. Lesley in the Florida Independent Mounted Volunteers. With the help of a Native-American guide, the group would track Seminoles through the Everglades. He joined the Confederacy in 1863, where he patrolled the Gulf Coast on large yawls, but was captured by Union troops and held as a prisoner of war. When he was released, he purchased his first sloop sailboat and named it ”Polly Ann“ – after his Native-American guide in the Everglades. He used the boat to ship citrus freight up and down the Manatee River, loading cargo on larger and more mobile steamers to be transported nationally.

When Charles was old enough, he joined the navy in 1942. While aboard the USS Fowler, he was part of a flotilla of destroyers that escorted ships to Africa.

Charles’ father, Daniel Darwin Hawkins, was the first of three boys to follow in his father’s marine footsteps. He sailed as a mate on the freight schooner ”Heron“ owned and Captained by Columbus Rye, son of Erasmus Rye whom Rye Bridge is named after. They would make trips to Key West and Cedar Key for delivery. He soon had enough money to purchase property on Terra Ceia, where he planted citrus groves, but after a freeze in 1894, he took employment under Captain Bill Collier (whom Collier County is named after) and ran one of Collier’s many schooners.

D.D. Hawkins, as he was commonly known, became the personal captain of Charles Edward Ringling’s 100-foot yacht ”Zumbrotha“ which he frequently moored off of Snead Island in the Manatee River. D.D. Hawkins commissioned the build of a new yacht for Ringling in 1922, a steel-hulled yacht of 120 feet called ”Symponia“ that he delivered as a Christmas present.

In 1925, Charles was born at D.D.’s house on Snead Island and although he voyaged elsewhere, he never left his native soil. He and Virginia raised his three children who were free to cavort about the island, whether it was in small boats, on bicycles or swinging from limbs. But their father’s lifestyle and love of the ocean seemed to rub off in one way or another.

Charles and Virginia’s only son, John Darwin Hawkins, is now a captain for U.S. United Ocean Services --- his soul still tied to the ocean, just as his ancestors’ were. Four generations of captains could be continued by his children.  Continuing that lifestyle of welcomed detachment to land and a normal life in general.

As for Charles, you might see him at the end of Emerson’s Point on Saturdays staring out at the sea and feeling more connected to it than ever before. His mental affliction disconnects him from his memories – but his time on the water severed connection from the rest of the world.

Upon a recent encounter with Virginia and Charles, Burton learned that Charles was living with Alzheimer’s, but his familiar fascination with the water struck Burton as fitting. While talking to the couple at a local restaurant, Burton noticed that Charles spent most of his time looking out the window at the Manatee River and the boats.

”I could sense he still engaged that passion of the water and sailing,“ said Burton, ”I thought, the man has seawater in his veins!“