“There was a gentleman down here that used to work at MBT Divers by the name of Jim Phillips, and he had been doing some research into the Russian freighter,” Hood said. “A friend or a customer of his went to the Spy Museum up in Washington D.C., where they had a video of this recently declassified OSS test on the San Pablo that was on loop. “This man came back and told Phillips about it. That is how they found out about the video and linked it to the San Pablo here in Florida.”
Some of the mystery surrounding this vessel harkens back to its first sinking during the war. “She was part of what they called the ‘Great White Fleet,’ which was United Fruit Company’s shipping fleet,” Hood said. “United Fruit Company was a Boston-based fruit company that had huge land holdings in Central America and throughout the Caribbean and for a long time really dominated the banana market throughout the region. “I think at one point they controlled about 90 percent of the region’s banana output. Their shipping fleet was at one time the largest private-owned fleet in the world. They had all the vessels painted up white.” “A lot of United Fruit’s fleet was lost during the Second World War at the hand of U-boats ,” Hood said. “There were German and Italian interests operating in Costa Rica as well that would have been competing with United Fruit for business. United Fruit acted as a practical monopoly down there for a while.” Why would a German U-Boat sink a privately owned fruiter that was docked and offloading supplies? This and other questions are what drives Hood in his research of the vessel. “The ship is listed at present on the Florida Shipwreck Trail,” Hood said. “What I would really like to do is just see if we can get some archaeology completed on it and get some attention to it. “I think it’s kind of a unique piece of Florida history. It’s a really cool site given its kind of shady history and some of the dynamics that have gone around that. It’s a very popular dive spot around here and a really big fishing spot as well, and I think it will probably continue in that capacity.”
There is a new kind of energy that I feel now when divers come to see me. There are many more of them, and when they come they spend more time. They carefully dredge away debris and attentively measure and record information about me. Lovingly, they unearth my secrets and treasures and record them on film for posterity. I am not forgotten after all. They have discovered the secret of what happened to me. I played an important role, on the side of good, during a time in which the whole world seemed to be on fire. I went down in honor, for the future of many, and now everyone will know. If I had known the reasons behind why I had to suffer such terror for a second time, I would have done it willingly.
43. spring 2014 / issue iv
Photography by Alison Walton-Wollnik
DR. BRATTEN:
UWF’S CLIVE CUSSLER H
is office is exactly what you would expect for a marine archaeologist, a comfortable and masculine treasure trove of artifact look-alikes. The walls are adorned with traditional English fox-hunt paintings and a Persian rug covers the floor. An eclectic book collection fills glass-fronted bookcases, beckoning one’s imagination into the vast realm of possibilities and ancient civilizations. John Bratten, however, is not exactly what you would expect as the chair of the department of anthropology at University of West Florida. Although stacks of papers surrounding his desk await him, he smiles and welcomes unexpected visitors into his office. He apologizes when his phone rings and helps the person on the other end. His soft-spoken voice never changes or seems to reflect any stress. He is 56 years old and married to Dana, who is responsible for decorating his office to remind him of the things he loves in life. He lists among his favorite hobbies playing with his 7-year-old daughter,