A British deckhand aged 18 has died after she fell from the mast of the modern replica classic schooner Germania Nova, at Errol Flynn Marina in Port Antonio, Jamaica, WI, on Tuesday, March 14.
Bethany Smith, 18, from Denbighshire in N Wales fell to the deck when ropes holding her aloft came undone as she was cleaning the mast, according to local authorities. She died in hospital after suffering multiple injuries from the fall. She had been working on the 195ft (60m) schooner for nearly a year. The vessel was berthed in port when the accident happened.
Bethany Smith kept a blog (www.flutingtootingbethany.com) – she played the flute, and was described as “a ray of sunshine” who brought laughter and music into the lives of those she met. Her family – father, Dave, working in the Netherlands, mother, Sarah, in Trinidad and younger brother, Bryn, in Antigua have started a funding page (HERE) to help pay for her funeral costs.
Bethany had grown up sailing, with her family aboard their sailing vessel Cape. She was known in the Mediterranean classic circuit having crewed on Rowdy in 2015.
The German-owned Germania Nova, is a replica of the famous Max Oertz designed schooner of 1908, owned and raced by Alfried Krupp who was one of Kaiser Willem’s friends. She was built to prove that Germany could build yachts to rival the British – such as King George V’s Britannia, the racing schooner Westward and others. The original Germania sank in a storm and lies half covered by coral and sand off the coast of Florida.
Germania Nova, launched in 2011