In current days, the old ship Pascual, manufactured by the Pacific Marine Construction of San Francisco, California, used to transport honey and permanently stranded in the keys of central Cuba in the distant 1933, exactly 90 years ago, is a bit of everything and more years.
With her hull in apparent good condition, taking into account the devastating action of the elements, time and possible predators of yesteryear, the ship has resisted defiantly, perhaps due to its atypical reinforced concrete structure. It is said that she is the only one of the 4 ships built of this material by the shipping company in 1920 that is still standing. For this reason, it is a kind of naval navigation museum.
She was dedicated to civilian operations while underway, but after running aground she was used by the US government during World War II to detect incursions by the German military. There is a lot of legend, mixed with history within the framework of it.
She then established herself as a storage base for molasses from 14 sugar mills, which deposited the ones that were going to be exported to the north.
It is located very close to Cayo Francés and its similar Las Brujas, two islets currently successfully dedicated to international tourism, as part of the Jardines del Rey emporium. And that changed the solitary fate of the downed ship, which emulated the Flying Dutchman.
That is why she could have the halo of an apparition. This relic of naval engineering, also called El Pontón by Cubans, in recent years has received the benefits of promoting tourism in the area and currently boasts a hotel, with its 10 cabins equipped to serve guests and a bar -restaurant.
Those passengers to nowhere, who decide to live that experience in an old wrecked ship, may seem somewhat bizarre. There are always very imaginative or sensitive people who prefer to sleep cradled by the force of the waves and leave early in the morning to discover, with a jump from bed, the wonders of the underwater platform of the tropics.
The unbeatable Pascual still retains the original gear, as well as the bell, steam boilers, rudder mechanisms and those that raise the anchor. With the peculiarity of having the engine room at the stern and not in the center, as is usual.
It also treasures between myth and reality anecdotes about the passage of the writer Ernest Hemingway in his frequent forays in the area, coinciding with World War II. Although far from the main war scene, the writer could not escape the resonances of the atrocious conflict and lived it from here as one of his fabulous novels.
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