The ups and downs of the sisal industry on the Caicos Islands.

By Jeff Dodge

The production of sisal fibre on the Caicos Islands in the mid to late 19th century was an effort to find a crop that would grow on land Loyalists from America had originally planted in cotton. In addition, the government in 1889 vigorously promoted sisal cultivation, hoping it would become a second industry to salt raking.

What is sisal?

Sisal fibre comes from the agave plant (Agave sisalana), which still grows abundantly across the Caicos Islands.

There are over 200 species of agave plants and the leaves of all species contain fibres. However, the fibres from each species differ in strength and quality. It is Agave sisalana that was the most popular species because its fibres were high in quality and quantity. Agave sisalana is a succulent plant native to Mexico, but was grown in many other countries including the Bahamas. Agave sisalana is a plant with smooth, sword-like leaves four to about six feet in length. Each leaf contains approximately 1,000 fibres. 

Over the years, sisal fibre has been called by various names such as pita, sisal hemp, henequen, and Manila fibre. The true sisal plant is Agave sisalana. Sisal fibres are used to make rope, twine, cloth, rugs, paper, and other items.

Agave sisalana was the primary species cultivated on the Caicos Islands in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. This species had advantages such as superior quality, high yield, drought tolerance, and low maintenance. It also matured faster than other species and its smooth leaves made handling them easier than those species with leaves having sharp spiny margins.

In the early days fibre was decorticated or extracted from agave leaves by scraping them manually with a sharp blade or knife then soaking them in water and drying. By the end of the 19th century, machines were used for this time-consuming task. After fibre was extracted from the leaves of the agave plant and washed in water, it was dried in the sun.

Machines such as the Todd Fibre-Cleaning Machine and the T. Albee Smith Fibre Machine were both used on the Caicos Islands by 1891.

Not surprisingly, agave plants flourished across the Caicos Islands after the sisal industry failed. North Caicos natives Winston Gardiner and his nephew Gary Lightbourne recall, “No one worked more ‘manila’ fields than the Gardiners did back in the days. We would cut the leaves in the field, strip them (cutting down the middle), bundle them up, and carry them to the ‘crawl.’ This was like a pen in the ocean where we would soak the leaves for about two weeks. Then we would take out the leaves and beat the green coating off on a rock. You’d have pieces of fibre that we would dry in the sun. We used the fibre to make rope for the boats in Salt Cay and Grand Turk. We would start to plait it, then put it on a ‘jack’ that turned as we plaited it to make the rope. It stood on a stand called a ‘mop.’ We also used the ‘manila’ to make floor mats. You know, there are still some of the old plants growing in our field.”

Why produce sisal in Turks & Caicos? 

The salt industry was the primary and practically the only enterprise on the Turks & Caicos Islands from the mid 1600s to the early 1950s. However, salt production had its ups and downs—good years and bad years—depending on the weather. For example, too much rain ruined salt in salt ponds (salinas) while undergoing the evaporation process and it ruined salt stored in open piles waiting to be exported by ship. 

This is what the sisal fibre looks like after it is extracted from the leaves of the agave plant and dried in the sun.

The benefits of pita [sic] (sisal)

Henry M. Jackson, Commissioner of the Turks & Caicos Islands, writing in his 1889 Annual Report described the precarious nature of salt raking. Jackson wrote“The fibre industry offers no such uncertainty.” He went on to describe the benefits of pita [sic], which would grow readily in the poor soils of the Caicos Islands and wouldn’t be damaged by rain or drought.

Early sisal production

But I get ahead of myself because one or more species of the agave plant was grown on the Caicos Islands before Commissioner Jackson’s 1889 report. Fibre production began on North and Middle Caicos in the mid to late 1800s. 

Commissioner F. H. Watkins’ 1907 “Colonial Report on the Turks and Caicos Islands” featuring the development of the sisal industry credits Horatio Stubbs with  bringing the “sisal plant” (Agave sisalana) to these Islands from the Bahamas in the mid 1800s. 

Horatio was the great-nephew of Loyalist Wade Stubbs, who in 1789 and 1791 received land grants totaling 960 acres on North Caicos from the British Government. He named his land “Wades Green.” Wade Stubbs was one of about 40 Loyalists to receive land grants on the Caicos Islands in the late 18th century.

Most Loyalists grew cotton on their Caicos plantations. However, by 1813 insect infestations, worn out soil, low prices, and a hurricane that year, put an end to cotton cultivation on these Islands. Most Loyalists abandoned their plantations and moved away.

Wade Stubbs not only stayed, but increased his holdings by acquiring Haulover Plantation on Middle Caicos and Cheshire Plantation on Providence Caicos (Providenciales). Sisal production offered a viable replacement crop for cotton and experimental sisal production took place on North and Middle Caicos on land that had once belonged to the Loyalists, including Wade Stubbs.  Unfortunately, details on the success or failure of these efforts are few.

Wade Stubbs not only remained on the Caicos Islands, but increased his holds by acquiring Haulover Plantation on Middle Caicos.

Alfred Stubbs, the great-great-nephew of Wade Stubbs and the owner of Haulover Plantation (as well as salt works at Cockburn Harbour), developed a system whereby he leased small plots of land at Haulover to local farmers (or planters as they called themselves) at an annual cost of $2 per acre on the condition they plant a certain number of “pita” plants each year. By 1889 about 300 acres had been planted in fibre plants, probably Agave sisalana. The following year Alfred Stubbs leased about 1,000 acres at Haulover to U.S. Consul Joseph Hance for the production of sisal.

It is not known if any efforts by Albert Stubbs to produce sisal at Haulover Plantation ever paid off. Alfred was also a heavy investor in the early efforts to produce sisal on West Caicos, but that tragic tale will be discussed in the final part of this story.

Sisal becomes a serious enterprise 

The final part of this story will cover the two important companies formed In 1890 for the production of sisal. The West Caicos Fibre Company, Ltd. and the East Caicos Company, Ltd. were formed in 1890 and registered under the new Companies Ordinance in 1891. One of these enterprises had a very interesting but troubled history, while the other was successfully operated until sisal fibre became unprofitable when it was displaced by Manila hemp from the Philippines in 1919.

The author wishes to thank Lisa Talbot of the Turks & Caicos National Museum and Linda Abend for locating original documents from the Turks & Caicos in the Bermuda archives.