Thomas Merrigan

Tom Merrigan hails from Florida but now lives in a house in Pleasant Valley near Nanny Cay, Tortola, not far from the ruins of the plantation buildings of Dr. William Thornton – designer of the U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C.

Tom is now a maritime lawyer with his own company, Maritime Chambers, but he took a circuitous route to reach this stage in his life. His story begins in the late 1960s when he attended the US Merchant Marine Academy (USMMA), in King’s Point, New York ( http://www.usmma.edu/ ). The USMMA is one of five federal services academies which include West Point, and the US Naval Academy at Annapolis. He graduated with a BSc. In Marine Engineering in 1973, also obtaining “unlimited tonnage licenses” for merchant shipping. As part of “the deal” for getting his degree he worked in U.S. flagged vessels for three years out of San Juan, Puerto Rico, more specifically in a tug and barge company.

By 1977 he found himself in St. Thomas, USVI, with a 26’ sailboat, having been to most of the Caribbean and surrounding Latin American countries. Most of the islands, he knew, would be difficult to make a living in. He had first come to Tortola in 1974/75 “for a day, to look around”. He found an island that was very different to today, with few roads, a limited airport, and a capital city, Roadtown with very little in it. But it stuck in his mind as an interesting place to live and work. In 1977 he left Puerto Rico, spent some time in St. John in 1978, and by 1979 was a skipper with a fledgling bareboat company known as The Moorings which had recently located to Wickhams Cay II.

The Moorings needed some licensed skippers in its ”Crewed Yachts Division” on boats that had a captain and maybe a cook. He had a one year contract that was tough work as the yachts operated with a 24 hour turnaround in a country where supplies and spare parts were not easy to come by. Tom often had to get his boat fixed and supplied while he picked up passengers in St. Thomas. It was a low salaried job that depended on keeping the passengers happy and living on tips. One year was enough. By a stroke of good fortune, however, Tom met a fellow employee who was selling a small house and a piece of land for $3000 in Pleasant Valley. He got his Land Holders License in January 1980.

He then worked (1981 on) as an engineer for Texaco Overseas Tankships, a London, UK based tanker operating company of Texaco. They ran supertankers that were owned by Saudi businessmen, and Tom was away from the BVI for four months at a time. This worked for a while, but in 1984 he married a nurse from Florida who was living in the BVI, and wanted to spend more time ‘at home’. So he got a job with a Woodshop in West End/Frenchman’s Cay. His wife worked for the neighbouring West End Slipway. This worked for a few years but in 1987 he took a job as an engineer to the US Navy’s Military Sealift Command, an organization that controls most of the replenishment and military transport ships of the Navy. He was once again off island for long periods of time. Successive jobs with Roll On Roll Off (RORO) vessels, and Sun Oil (Sunoco) ‘product tankers’ on the west coast of the USA didn’t change this situation. Tensions grew in his marriage and he and his wife split in 1988 (and were divorced in 1990).

From1988 to1995 he worked with Bill Hirst and John Cope (see other entries in this “Builders” collection) as a junior marine surveyor. Marine tourism was at this time a major money earner in the BVI and only lost some of its relative importance after the passing of a business companies Act in 1990 that marked the beginning of the financial services pillar of the BVI economy. He liked the work, and was soon to be part of a major life change for the BVI and himself as a result of Hurricane Hugo in September 1989, which devastated much of the island and its marine industry. Some of these problems resulted from the ad hoc growth of the industry. Many companies had moved from St. Thomas to the BVI when US government and Coast Guard regulations were changed. As there had not been a hurricane in the BVI for some time, many people were unprepared and left their boats unattended and badly moored. Subsequently the industry was reorganised and the Paraquita Bay hurricane shelter was devised.

These various changes on the BVI business front had a number of implications, especially as the financial sector overtook tourism as a money earner, including an influx of lawyers to the BVI, an increase in the number of companies operating in the islands, and an increase in the number of job opportunities – and significantly jobs for women – available to BV Islanders. Recognising the potential significance of these developments, Tom left Bill Hirst’s company in 1995 so that he could get more directly involved in these changes – and tie his future to them.

Tom Merrigan, marine engineer and marine surveyor thus decided to become a lawyer, and in the mid 1990s set to work to pass the Common Professional Examination (CPE), a postgraduate “law conversion course” in England and Wales. This is taken by non-law graduates (graduates who have a degree in a discipline that is not law or not a qualifying law degree for legal practice) who wish to become either a solicitor or a barrister in the UK, or countries with a UK legal system – like the BVI. It is designed to bring lawyers into the legal system who have a greater variety of educational backgrounds (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Professional_Examination).  He did his work at the BPP (once Brierley Price Prior) Law School in Holborn, London, ironically perhaps taking classes in the Cable and Wireless Building (http://www.bpplawschool.com/). The CPE enrolls students from all over the world, but especially from countries from the old “British Empire”. He entered in 1995, at 45 years of age, passing his Diploma of Law exam in 1996. After spending some time back in Tortola, he then took a bar exam prep course in 1997, articled in “Lincoln’s Inn” – one of the four Inns of Court in London - and passed his examinations to became a barrister.

Returning to the British Virgin Islands he was hired for a year at Harneys International, the oldest and largest law firm in the BVI. He was called to the bar in October 1998, and then went out on his own, getting a trade license in early 1999 as Maritime Chambers, specializing now in Marine Law, Admiralty Law, and Vessel Registration. So Thomas Merrigan began the new century offering niche legal services to marine businesses including charter companies, boatyards, and service companies.

In addition to practicing law, Tom continues to be involved in sailing yachts and is a Caribbean Sailing Association “measurer” for the CSA handicap rule - giving him extra income and personal involvement during the racing season. The CSA promotes amateur yacht racing throughout the Caribbean. The CSA racing rule is a measurement rule that uses various hull, keel, rudder, rigging, materials, sail area measurements and evaluations to create a handicap that regatta organizers can use to develop racing classes from all who enter (http://www.rolexcupregatta.com/regatta/csa.php).

Tom has seen many changes in the thirty-five years since he first sighted the BVI. These changes include a large increase in the size and influence of the BVI government. This has resulted from economic changes in the country, which have also led to an increase in the number of educated professionals in the BVI – mostly employed in the financial services sector. There have also been major increases in the construction of roads and buildings as the economy has grown and developed. Infrastructure has generally improved – perhaps most notably in recent years on the outer islands. Tom also believes that there has been a noticeable and important increase in the number of jobs for women.

Although the outer islands have been improved a lot, Tom sees numerous challenges on Tortola – related to traffic and population growth. He feels that some kind of limit should be put on the number of vehicles on Tortola. In addition he believes that government has perhaps grown too much in some areas and is now being a challenge for those running the country.

Generally, Tom Merrigan is satisfied with his life on Tortola, although he wishes he had bought more land when he had the opportunity. He likes his job here, plus the recreational opportunities available in sailing, surfing, windsurfing and mountain biking. Although his future is health dependent, he doesn’t see and major changes in the near future.
 
 

Draft of September 18th, 2010 of interview of August 26th, 201

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