Deborah Whitcraft and Gretchen Coyle, authors of Inferno at Sea: Stories of Death and Survival Aboard the Morro Castle, are back on Long Beach Island after spending eight days in Cuba, where they were the only Americans honored for their book at the 2015 Havana International Book Fair. The event, which draws over 600,000 people worldwide, began in 1982 to promote literacy in the Caribbean nation.
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| Photo via Gretchen Coyle The authors sit under the columns at Hotel Armadores de Satander in Havana Vieja. |
“The young people were pouring into the book fair,” Coyle said.
This year’s event was held at La Cabana, Fidel Castro’s infamous former prison.
“It was hailed as a fortress of books for the book fair,” Coyle added. “For a week, it was all about Inferno at Sea. We talked, we signed, and people seemed to love the once happy relationship between the U.S. and Cuba.”
Whitcraft, founder and president of the New Jersey Maritime Museum in Beach Haven (which boasts the largest Morro Castle exhibit in the world), and Coyle, a museum docent, have been dedicated to uncovering the mysteries surrounding the S.S. Morro Castle. It became engulfed in flames 8 nautical miles off LBI, killing 137 passengers and crew members in September 1934. The book discusses the close ties between the United States and Cuba during the 1930s, the effect of the Great Depression on both countries and issues of safety aboard ships at the time – a problem most people thought had been remedied after the Titanic disaster.
During their book fair presentation, which was executed via a Cuban translator, the authors discussed the time when Americans looking to escape the horrors of the Depression traveled to the island country to party and gamble.
“We wanted the Cuban people who were in attendance to understand the Cuban connection,” Whitcraft said. “... We wanted them to understand that we were doing this research not only for the Americans who lost their lives aboard the Morro Castle, but for the approximate 60 Cuban passengers whose lives were lost in this disaster. And we wanted them to understand how the two countries worked together. From 1930 to ’34, the relationship between the U.S. and Cuba was excellent.”
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| Photo via Gretchen Coyle The view of the Havana Harbor is 'breathtaking.' |
Although the emphasis of the authors’ trip focused on the past, it also gave them a chance to view history in the making as Cuba’s more than 50-year travel ban against most U.S. citizens begins to loosen.
In December, President Barack Obama said he wants to normalize America’s diplomatic relations with Cuba. A month later, the government announced travel rule changes, allowing U.S. airlines to look into opening routes between American hubs and Havana.
During the authors’ travels, they took 150 pounds of books as excess luggage on their flight via American Airlines, one of a handful of airlines in the Cuban charter business. Because of the U.S. embargo, which is still on in spite of supposed travel restrictions being somewhat lifted, this was the cheapest way (about $240) to bring their books with them, the authors said. The extra baggage, however, created a stir during arrival at Havana’s José Martí Airport.
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| Photo via Gretchen Coyle An old mansion along Havana's famed Malecon now houses about seven families. |
“I was singled out by the Cuban police and customs, Aduana, and kept for one hour,” Coyle recounted. “When the first Aduana lady opened the book, the page of dead bodies at the Bogan Dock in Point Pleasant popped up. I was told they needed to be sure we were not spies. In Spanish I explained that the ship sank before the Aduana lady’s grandmother was born.”
Despite the mishap, the authors said they felt comfortable traveling the area. Their passports were even stamped at the airport, a practice they did not encounter during their first trip.
“Most Americans never go to Cuba, let alone have complete freedom. We now have two trips under our belt,” Coyle said.
Before their book was published by Down The Shore Publishing in 2012, the authors spent 10 days in Cuba conducting interviews and research regarding the infamous fire. They obtained a special license from Cuba International Travel, one legal route around the travel ban. During both trips, the U.S. government denied the authors a visa license to travel through Cuba.
As horrible as it sounds, Whitcraft said, the Cuban government – a communist country – has been more cooperative than the U.S government regarding the authors’ research. Two-thirds of the documentation the authors received from the U.S. has been blackened out or redacted.
The authors’ recent trip to Cuba was even more productive than their first trip four years ago, they said. After being denied access to Cuba’s National Archives and National Library in 2011, Whitcraft and Coyle were finally permitted access to a wealth of new documents and photographs at both locations.
Although travel restrictions may be relaxing, there were no more planes or charter flights going into the Havana airport than before, the authors noted. However, Cuba is gearing up for tourists. The authors said the airport seemed better organized with a nice restaurant and a few shops; it had also been repainted.
While there, the authors met just a handful of Americans – fewer than on their first trip – who were part of educational tour groups.
“That’s one thing we never wanted to enter the country as because when you’re on a regimented tour – I call it the Stepford Wives Tour – you’re very, very restricted on where you’re permitted, and you only go where they take you,” Whitcraft said. “When Gretchen and I go there, this time and four years ago, we have unfettered access to just about anywhere we want to go. So we see Cuba in all its good, bad and indifferent.”
Although American tourists are uncommon, Cuba’s tourism is booming with Europeans and Canadians, Coyle said. The authors noticed, however, that the standard of living has gone down for the average Cuban. Houses are falling to pieces, and people are going without basics such as food and electricity and the now-sought-after Internet.
“Buildings are crumbling, windows and doors missing. Electricity and water are scarce,” Coyle recounted. “The communist government has concentrated on education and the arts, not on maintenance of any sort. The young and those in the service industry are the new money makers. Their salaries and tips allow them to thrive.”
“They’re poorer than ever, if that’s possible,” Whitcraft agreed. “... Whatever money is being provided for infrastructure changes, it’s going only to those areas that tourists see.”
Although Coyle wants to go back to Cuba, Whitcraft says she does not think it is necessary. She believes that whatever information available to them regarding the Morro Castle has already been acquired. However, Whitcraft said there will definitely be a follow-up book to Inferno at Sea.
–Kelley Anne Essinger
This article was published in The SandPaper.
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