Cuban Refugee Raft Found On Texas Beach
November 19th, 2016 - Houston, TX
CUBAN REFUGEE RAFT FOUND ON TEXAS COAST 6/25/2015
We found this Cuban refugee raft washed up on a Texas beach Sunday 6/28/2015 and the story it tells is compelling. The raft showed up Thursday 6/25/2015, just 9 days after Tropical storm Bill, which started 6/13/2015 off the coast of Honduras, where I used to live, and made landfall in Matagorda County Texas on 6/16/2015. We don’t know who was on it; however we surmise that they were Cuban due to a leather glove with CUBA THABA on the label and a dropper bottle of Bactivec labiofam that was found on board the raft, but their journey must have been incredible!
This photo shows how the raft appeared on Friday and the people who took the pictures said it looked like people had just gotten off of the raft. By Sunday when we saw it, and called authorities, many items had already been removed. However there were still T-shirts and other clothing, dried up food in the bottom half of a water bottle, half full water bottles, a pair of smashed black shoes, a leather belt, a big sack of rice, a foam mattress, a light fixture attached to the rebar awning framework, a leather glove, a green raincoat, a blue blanket, two towels, two large pieces of hand sewn together burlap sacks, a U joint, the mast, a drive shaft, rudder, tiller and a number of smaller items we were able to salvage, including what was left of the propeller.
Everyone who stopped by and looked at the raft commented on how well engineered it was, and of the sheer determination of whoever built it. Basically it was a 9 ft. by 20 ft. Styrofoam catamaran, held together with wood planking, pine trees that had gone through a band saw, and tree limbs to 2 -8 inches in diameter. Small scraps of rebar were welded together to hold all the Styrofoam sides of the raft together, and there were sheets of metal covering the Styrofoam in the bow. The mast was gone, (perhaps cut off with a machete after it broke during tropical storm Bill), however there was a large piece of blue sail cloth that was hanging from the starboard side of the raft. There were remnants of a white plastic awning attached to the rebar framework, and each piece of rebar was bent in the middle, perhaps when the mast came down. The Rudder was intact and attached to a drive shaft with a three bladed propeller (there was only one blade remaining on Sunday but the pictures taken on Friday showed three blades). It appeared that some of the pine tree boards were lashed with plastic web straps and electrical wire on both sides of the Rudder, perhaps to act as stabilizers. Many of the large bolts that protruded above the deck had chunks of Styrofoam stuck over them, to prevent tripping on over the bolts.
One of the T-shirts, a plain gray Fruit of the Loom with chest pocket was inside out, and I noticed where both of the arm pits had been repaired by sewing a dart through the material. It struck me to the core that here in the USA, that T-shirt would have just been thrown in the trash, and here was solid evidence of how, in another country, an old T-shirt with armpit holes would be lovingly repaired and continued to be used rather than be disposed of in the trash. The whole raft was constructed in the same painstaking manner and when I think of the people who got on that raft in the hopes of finding their way to the United States and perhaps a better life, I am incredibly grateful for what we have here in the United States. Americans sometimes need reminders to appreciate what we have and the freedom we can take for granted. The brave and desperate individuals who made this raft clearly wanted what we already have.
I met a woman found the boat at 10 AM on Thursday, June 25. Thrs is the earliest documented photos that I have found. She sent me pictures of the two machetes, two straw hats, a spoon that has Hecho en Cuba written on it and a homemade 3 gallon tin bucket that she has removed from the boat.
I am an artist in Houston Texas, and my mixed media art is almost exclusively items found on beaches.I displayed an art piece / exhibit made from about half of what was salvaged from this raft and it was exhibited at Galerie Spectra, Suite 822 at Memorial City Mall Houston TX from July 10, 2015 until September 10, 2015. The raft exhibit was then moved to Affaire d’Art Gallery 2227 Postoffice Galveston, TX 77550 where was displayed from September 11, 2015 to October 19, 2015. On October 22, 2015 the Cuban refugee raft exhibit was moved once again to The Marketplace at the Peanut Butter Warehouse 102 20th St., Galveston, TX 77550 where it remained on display until November 19, 2016.
Currently the raft is in storage in Galveston Texas as we look for the next venue for this historic art sculpture /exhibit. Please contact Maureen ”Mo” Huddleston at MoHuddleston@Gmail.com if you are interested in exhibiting the Cuban refugee raft at your location.