Pilar (boat)

Ernest Hemingway owned a 38-foot fishing boat named Pilar. It was acquired in April 1934 from Wheeler Shipbuilding in Brooklyn, New York, for $7,495. "Pilar" was a nickname for Hemingway's wife Pauline and also the name of the woman leader of the partisan band in his 1940 novel of the Spanish Civil War, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway regularly fished off the boat in the waters of Key West, Florida, Marquesas Keys, and the Gulf Stream off the Cuban coast. He made three trips with the boat to the Bimini islands wherein his fishing, drinking, and fighting exploits drew much attention and remain part of the history of the islands. In addition to fishing trips on Pilar, Hemingway contributed to scientific research which included collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution. Several of Hemingway's books were influenced by time spent on the boat, most notably, The Old Man and the Sea and Islands in the Stream. The yacht also inspired the name of Playa Pilar on Cayo Guillermo. A smaller replica of the boat is depicted in the opening and other scenes in the TV Movie Hemingway & Gellhorn. Hemingway acquired the boat in April 18, 1934 after returning from safari in Africa. The boat was a modified version of the Wheeler Playmate line. The final price for the boat was $7,495 which included modifications such as a livewell to contain fish, dual-engine set-up, lowering the boat's transom by twelve inches and adding a full-width roller on the stern to aid in hauling large fish onto the boat. A flying bridge was added at a later date, but not by Wheeler. The boat's hull was painted black as opposed to the stock white color. The boat was constructed in the Coney Island yard of the Wheeler company and delivered to Hemingway at Miami, attached to a wooden cradle which was part of the purchase price. Hemingway, a Wheeler representative, and a friend of Hemingway then delivered the boat under its own power from Miami to Key West along and a few miles to the east of the Florida Keys, via a semi-protected passage known as Hawk Channel. In addition to hunting, Hemingway was an avid fisherman and a great contributor to the development of the sport. He also contributed to the knowledge of Atlantic marine life. During his first visit to Cuba with Pilar, Hemingway hosted Charles Cadwalader who was the director of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural History and Henry Fowler, who was the Academy’s chief ichthyologist. These two scientists were in Cuba trying to determine the taxonomy of marlin species. They were attempting to determine if white, blue, black, or striped marlin were different species, or just color variants of the same species. As a result of their efforts on the boat, they reclassified the North Atlantic marlin variants. During World War II, Hemingway used his boat to search for German U-boats in the Caribbean waters. Pilar was outfitted with communications gear including HF/DF or “Huff-Duff” direction-finding equipment. He had minimal weapons which included a Thompson sub machine gun and hand grenades. Most accounts state that any effort to attack a submarine would be futile. Hemingway wrote about his intent to attack if he spotted a sub. Other accounts of these patrols imply that they were a farce and that he did them in return for extra gas rations and immunity from Cuban police for driving drunk. His hunting for U-Boats was inspiration for the third act, "At Sea", in his novel Islands in the Stream. Hemingway spent three summers in Bimini, starting with the first voyage in April, 1935. During the initial attempt at the crossing, he accidentally shot himself in the leg while attempting to boat a shark he caught. On a subsequent trip, he fished with Bror von Blixen-Finecke, with whom he been on Safari and whose former wife was Karen Blixen, author of Out of Africa. There are ties to him and Hemingway through his books Green Hills of Africa and Under Kilimanjaro. During the Bimini trips, Hemingway perfected fishing techniques for tuna. He was the first person to land a giant tuna unmutilated. Known as "apple-coring", it had been common for sharks to attack fish as they tired and were near to the boat. His technique involved applying constant pressure, "pump and reel", to the fish wherein previous techniques allowed the fish to run in an effort to tire it. He would attempt to boat the fish as soon as possible. He experimented with using a skiff whereby he would transfer to the smaller boat with the intent of having the fish pull the boat and then tire. He also discovered marlin had a defense mechanism in their swords and noses that made them unattractive to sharks but that tuna lacked such a defense. He found a tuna's primary defense against the sharks was speed and as the fish tired they became easy targets. He carried a Thompson sub-machine gun which he used to shoot the sharks as the tuna tired and neared the boat.