ALICE TOWN,
Bahamas -- The Ernest Hemingway Museum and The Compleat Angler bar,
a favorite haunt of Hemingway's and a famous landmark on Bimini
here, was destroyed by fire Jan. 13.
The museum at The
Compleat Angler included hundreds of photographs and memorabilia of
Hemingway.
Bimini was one of
the American novelist's haunts during the days when he stalked big
game fish, and it was said that his "Old Man and The Sea" novel was
inspired by his fishing exploits in the Bahamas and
Cuba.
Hemingway worked
on his "To Have and Have Not" in the 1930s during his visits to
Bimini. He drank at The Compleat Angler in between his fishing
trips aboard his vessel, the Pilar.
The museum and
bar were Bimini's top tourist attractions. According to published
reports, the Compleat Anglers caretaker, Julian Brown was presumed
to have perished in the fire.
The fire was
Bimini's second major disaster within a month. On Dec. 19, 11
residents of Bimini were among the 20 people killed when a Chalk's
Ocean Airways seaplane crashed into the sea near Miami.
To contact
the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to Gay Nagle Myers
at [email protected].