Stephen Crane's boat to Cuba sank in rough seas off Florida's coast on this day in 1897

On this day in 1897, Stephen Crane, a young reporter for the New York Press, was on his way to Cuba to cover the Cuban battle for independence from Spain. Crane made a deal with the captain of the SS Commodore, former harbor tugboat serving as a gun-runner to aid the Cuban rebels.

Crane hired on as an able-bodied seaman to get to Cuba. Unfortunately for Crane, the steamboat sank in heavy seas 12 miles off the coast of Florida. The crew and Cuban rebel passengers boarded lifeboats but didn't fare well in the storm. Crane joined the captain and a couple of crew members in a 10-foot dinghy. Crane's harrowing account of the 30-hour ordeal at sea was widely published at the time and became the short story The Open Boat, that remains a favorite in American literature.

Crane was already well known for his war novel, The Red Badge of Courage, that had been published a couple of years before. Readers marveled at how real his story seemed – chock-full as it was of astonishing detail – but Crane never experienced war first-hand. With The Open Boat, Crane had plenty of first-hand experience.

Fast-forward almost 100 years, and a Jacksonville University English professor, who was also a diver, set into motion a search for the wreck of the SS Commodore. That effort eventually led to three seasons of professional archaeological field work in 2002-2004 that established the location of the wreck and positive identification of artifacts from the steamboat.

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A documentary tribute to Hemingway

For Ernest Hemingway's birthday, pause to view this amazing documentary. It's worth the time. Then take some time to read or reread Hemingway's books.

Dictator Batista ran Cuba until 1959

It is the birthday of Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista (1901), who was first elected president of the island nation in 1940, but who had run the government behind the scenes since a coup in 1933. After serving as president for four years and instituting progressive reforms, Batista moved to the United States, where he divided his time between the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City and a home in Daytona Beach.

In 1952, Batista returned to Cuba to run for president again but when it became clear he wasn’t going to win, he staged a military coup and seized power. Batista made deals with Mafia figures Lucky Luciano and Meyer Lansky, allowing them to run gambling, prostitution, and drug operations in exchange for kickbacks. He aligned himself with wealthy landowners and U.S. corporations that had made huge investments in Cuba. He censored the media, and used violence, and public executions to put down any protests.

Fidel Castro and Che Guevara led a rebellion that brought Castro to power in 1959. Batista fled to the Dominican Republic (run by fellow dictator Rafael Trujillo), and eventually settled in Portugal, living off the millions in his Swiss bank accounts that he had siphoned off during his years in power. 

Happy birthday, Stephen Crane

It is the birthday of writer Stephen Crane (1871), who is best remembered for his Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage (1895), a detailed account of a young Union deserter, which Crane wrote having had no actual battle experience. Crane had a long-term relationship with Cora Taylor, a Jacksonville, Florida, brothel owner, who became a writer and war correspondent. Crane wrote The Open Boat, a short story describing his ordeal in a lifeboat after his Cuba-bound ship sank off the coast of Florida.

Happy birthday, Juan Ponce de Leon

Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon was born in 1460 but the date of his birth seems to be lost to history. It is known, however, that he died in July 1521, after a second visit to Florida with the intention of establishing a colony. Calusas didn't view positively his arrival with soldiers, priests and settlers, and a clear intention to move in. In the ensuing battle, Ponce de Leon was shot in the leg with a poisoned arrow. He died later in Cuba. Here's an excellent video from the television show Biography about Juan Ponce de Leon.