Times of the Islands Winter 2020/21

astrolabe newsletter of the Turks & Caicos National Museum
Dawn Irvine was nine when she left for East Caicos.
Little is know other than she married Melvin Thompson
in March 1945. Dawn is alive today.
James Irvine, or “King” as he was known as a child,
was 18 months old when he went to the East Caicos. He
suffered from infected insect bites and the lack of appropriate
food while there. James worked as a policeman in
Torrence, California and later in the insurance business
in Fresno. Little else is known about James.
James and Grace Lake were the last people on East
Caicos. Grace left in 1942—James left 14 months later.
Both returned to Massachusetts, their home before moving
out West. Sometime between 1943 and 1949, Grace
conveyed ownership of the land she had inherited on East
Caicos to her daughter Alice Christensen, a Bermudian by
marriage. James Lake may have returned to the insurance
business when he returned home in 1943, however, he
would have been 72 years old. Both James and Grace died
in 1950 and were buried near Boston.
Ned Read returned to California in April 1940. He
went to trade school and then worked as a riveter at
Lockheed Martin. In 1941 he enlisted in the Army Air
Corps. Ned met his wife-to-be, Cindy Morgan, while stationed
in Ohio—they were married in 1943.
After the military, Ned completed his education at
Ohio State University, obtaining an engineering degree.
Ned and Cindy moved back to California where Ned
worked at Lockheed as an efficiency engineer. After he
retired, they moved to Oregon and raised Christmas
trees and built energy-efficient homes. Later, looking
for a warmer climate, the couple moved to a retirement
community in Southern California. Cindy passed away in
2008. Ned died in 2015.
Ned Read’s granddaughter said that her grandfather
did not talk about his experience on East Caicos, perhaps
because it was such an unpleasant one. She said that he
despised seafood for the rest of his life.
The Lorntsen family left East Caicos by August
7, 1940, leaving Grace and James Lake the only
remaining members of the group on the island.
Mr. and Mrs. Lorntsen and their daughter traveled
to Nassau where they took up permanent residency.
They remained there until at least 1959 when
Andreas passed away. In 1941, Sam Robinson
of Grand Turk wrote in a letter to the Irvine family
that Olaf, the Lorntsen’s 22-year-old son, was
working on a Norwegian salt vessel, a job he probably
secured before his parents left East Caicos. Olaf registered
for the draft in New York in February, 1942.
The other six members of the East Caicos Trading
Company returned to California after leaving East
Caicos. The men registered for the military and most
served in the army. Later, many of them returned to
the professions they left behind when they departed
California on January 17, 1940 for what they thought
would be a new life on a deserted island in the British
West Indies. Little else is known about them. a
READ FAMILY PHOTOGRAPH
Author Jeffrey Dodge has published a fascinating book
detailing the story of the modern Crusoes entitled,
Californians Seek Utopia on East Caicos Island. If you
are interested in a copy, please contact Mr. Dodge at
tinqua1512@gmail.com.
These are Cindy and Ned Read as newlyweds in 1943. They married
after Ned’s return from East Caicos.
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