Hemingway's Hurricane

by Phil Scott

Everyone knew it was coming: The Weather Bureau broadcast hurricane warnings. Keys residents boarded up their shacks under an ominous sky and sank their skiffs in the mangroves. Atlantic tarpon raced between the Keys to the relative safety of the Gulf of Mexico. In Key West, Ernest Hemingway secured his stone house and his 38-foot boat Pilar against the oncoming storm. And yet, through the long Labor Day Weekend of 1935, the superintendents of three government work camps in the Florida Keys, which housed more than 600 World War I veterans building a highway across the islands, did virtually nothing to evacuate the men in their charge.

In Hemingway's Hurricane, author Phil Scott chronicles the days of calamity when the low-lying Upper Florida Keys were stripped bare and submerged by the most powerful hurricane ever to hit the United States. From eyewitness accounts and depositions, he reconstructs the events in each camp as the hurricane made landfall—the terror, bravery, and sacrifices of men left to fend for themselves. He also explores why the train promised from Miami arrived too late to evacuate the men, and why those who tried to escape in their own vehicles were turned back by the National Guard. And he reveals Hemingway's horror when the novelist arrived in his boat two days after the storm to aid the veterans, only to discover that more than 250 had died in the storm, some sand-blasted by fierce winds, others skewered by flying timbers, and many simply blown out to sea.

Ernest Hemingway's very public outrage over so many needless deaths spurred a congressional investigation that was widely dismissed as a whitewash. It was also a key factor in landing Hemingway on an FBI watch list, which contributed to his suicide twenty-six years later. In Hemingway's Hurricane, the Depression, bureaucratic failure, the cast-aside soldiers of an earlier war, a great novelist, and a killing storm come together in an American tragedy.

The Final Blow

They were the forgotten members of the Lost Generation, traumatized veterans of the Great War who had struggled for years to claw their way back into the American Dream. Described by one journalist as "shell-shocked, Depression-shocked, and whiskey-shocked," they grasped for one last chance at redemption under Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. Six hundred of them were shuffled off to the Florida Keys to build a highway to Key West. On Labor Day Weekend 1935, the most intense hurricane ever to strike the U.S. took aim on their flimsy shacks, and the two men responsible for evacuating the veterans from harm's way waited too long.

After the storm, Ernest Hemingway took his boat from his home in Key West to aid the veterans in the Upper Keys. But he found few survivors among the wreckage and bloated corpses, and his public cries of outrage bound him forever to the storm.

"Hemingway's Hurricane brilliantly and compellingly captures the events surrounding the 1935 storm, showing how human factors compounded the awful force of sky and sea."

Genres: History, Nonfiction, American History, Historical

245 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2005

About the author

Award-winning writer Phil Scott has been published in such magazines as Air & Space/Smithsonian, Scientific American, Boating and Popular Science. Scott is also the author of seven nonfiction books: Hemingway's Hurricane, The Shoulders of Giants, The Pioneers of Flight, 21st Century Soldier, The Wrong Stuff, Deadly, and Then and Now. He lives in Manhattan.

Reviews

[John Gurney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Despite the misleading title, this is a quick, enjoyable read about the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane, perhaps the most powerful in US history.

Ernest Hemingway lived in nearby Key West and had to moor his boat, Pilar, in a Navy submarine pen to save it. Hemingway was appalled by the US government cover-up about why 450 veterans, building a Florida Key highway under one of the Roosevelt make-work programs, were left in the storm's way due to bureaucratic inertia, despite the availability of a relief train that could have saved their lives. With that, you know all about Hemingway's involvement in the storm; the title catches your attention but is a stretch.

Still, the real story about the incredibly powerful hurricane that demolished everything in its upper Florida Keys path is worth reading. The tragic, unnecessary deaths and the surrounding media silence stand out in contrast to the saturation, adversarial coverage today (think Hurricane Katrina).

[Ruth York · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had remembered seeing a special on some channel on tv a number of years ago. And when finding this book at some sale or thrift store, I grabbed it up. The writing was well done and concise. The history of the "how" or "why" the veterans came to be in the path of this storm was well done. The lack of accountability of most of those in charge in taking care of the workers left out on those islands is amazing. One can only imagine the horror the survivors witnessed. Which was further amplified when their own National Guard, sent to "protect" them, often was looting. Such depravity never ceases to amaze me.

[Terry · Rating 3 out of 5]

In "Hemingway's Hurricane" Scott describes the historical aspect of what happened to the Florida Keys during the 1935 hurricane. However, he goes one step further by introducing the reader to many of the men who lived and died during the storm. Scott introduces the reader to each of the men(Frenchy, Capt. Ed and the others)who were building a highway across the islands. You end up hoping that perhaps they did make it through the storm. Of course many of them did not. In a lot of ways the impact of this 1935 hurricane on the war veterans in the Florida Keys was similar to that of Hurricane Katrina (2005)on people in New Orleans, Louisiana. During both hurricanes, the lack of government communications resulted in the loss of several hundred lives. I had never heard about this storm until I read "Hemingway's Hurricane," so I found it very informative and interesting. The title of this book leads one to believe that there is a great connection between this hurricane and Ernst Hemingway. Disappointingly, there is not. Hemingway is mentioned briefly because he wrote an searing essay entitled "Who Murdered the Vets?" which was published by the Communist Party in New Masses. In it, he blames the the U.S. government for the veterans' deaths. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in reading about history, the weather, and Florida's highway system.

See also: Erik Larson's

[Jerry Borrowman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fairly good treatment of the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935. But it is a stretch to call it "Hemingway's Hurricane" given that he was on Key West during the storm, not in the path of the storm. He did campaign for reparations to the World War I vets who were working on the Oversea Highway and whose leaders did not evacuate them. I'm not sure the title matches the content very well.

[Missy LeBlanc Ivey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author first lays out some interesting history of the railroad, and eventually, the highway that ran parallel to that railroad, down the center of the Keys all the way to Key West. He also set the stage for the injustices placed on the Veterans of WWI by our own government, a bonus which was promised to each one for signing up for the war, but was never given out. These were the men who would be hired to build this new highway, and this would also get them off President Franklin Roosevelt’s (FDR) hands about the money he owed them.

This hurricane was the first Category 5 hurricane of the 20th century, known by the islanders as the Great Hurricane, or the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane by the National Weather Service. This author calls it “Hemmingway’s Hurricane” because….why?

They approximate that of the 405 people lost, 245 were veterans left behind on the island. They would like to blame someone, but it appears the lack of communication was the culprit. If I had to point a finger at anyone, it would be Fred Ghent, the man who headed over all the Veteran Camps in the US. The biggest rumor that spread was that Ghent didn’t want to pay the railroad company $300 to send the rescue train down to the Keys to pick up the men and they argued all morning long until finally they came to a resolution and the train was readied and sent out around 5:30pm the evening of the storm. A little too late! The winds were already at 60 mph, and picking up speed, and the roads and tracks were flooded. But, the train did make it down to the camps, it just didn’t make it back up. There was a lot of secrecy and suspicion around the government and what happened here.

The author collected many written stories from testimonies from the men who survived out in the storm while waiting on that train, and there are some interesting photos of the island ravished to pieces with a few pictures of the dead bodies.

Ernest Hemmingway was barely even mentioned in this book. I find it a pretty far stretch to call this “Hemmingway’s Hurricane”. Yes! He lived on the island (which his house still exists today and is open for tours), and yes, he tied up his yacht, PILAR, in a submarine cage in the Navy Yard and rode out the storm safely on the yacht. The winds down at Key West only reached about 45-50 mph, while the brunt of the storm hit the middle of the keys, the 15-foot storm surge and winds upward of 200-225 mph, laid waste to Upper and Lower Matecumbe Key where Veteran Camps 1, 3, and 5 were located.

After the storm, he and a couple of other men rode the yacht around the keys to access the damage and found dead people all over, hanging naked from trees, in the brush, peppered all over the ground. He did recognize a few because he was a WWI Veteran, himself and used to go to the taverns in the Keys and drink and talk war stories with them. Like most of the men of WWI, he may have experienced a bit of PTSD, which didn’t have a name back then. He was an alcoholic, and eventually went psychotic and committed suicide…but that wasn’t until 1961 while in Ketchum, Idaho. He suffered from depression and numerous physical declining conditions. This book suggests that he was a communist and believed he was being followed by the FBI because of his stance against the government’s carelessness regarding these Veterans. He sure was a good looking man. I’ll have to find a good biography where research was actually done about him and read it one day.

[Ali Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am not usually a non-fiction reader but I picked this up at the recommendation of my dad. The author does an excellent job of describing the mental state and struggles of WWI veterans and why there were so many of them working in the keys at this time. He also does a great job explaining why Hemingway is so connected to these vets and why he wanted to help them and save them. The attention to detail leading up to the storm is imperative. Although there was probably enough blame to go around for the lack of preparedness and warning before this storm hit, the author does a good job of explaining that it was not really anyone's fault. I think in nonfiction sometimes the human element can get lost and not always easy to make the connection but that is not the case in Hemingway's Hurricane.

[Lynette Lark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book really pissed me off mainly because we treat our American veterans like crap!

FDR sends around 400 vets to the Keys to work on projects and, along with the vets, he sent "Officials" to muck things up.

Unfortunately, after serving in the Great War they are hit with the Great Hurricane of 1935 which kills almost all of the vets but, more unfortunately, none of the Officials.

Once the Officials hear about the hurricane, they send for the National Guard to keep the vets from leaving the Keys. Which made absolutely no frickin sense.

In the aftermath, the Officials aren't found liable. Of course, they weren't! This book made me start to despise FDR. What a coddled man he was. Good grief.

READ THIS BOOK!

[Michael Werner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not much of Hemingway in this narrative, although it does do a good job of describing the storm and it's impact on a personal level. A few typos distracted from the narrative, as did the incorrect attribution of the origin of the word "hurricane" to the Maya. Tiano coined the term, the Maya got it from them.
The ending felt rushed, without enough detail on the larger impacts; opportunity missed here. But the real annoyance was that the author had to put in the junk science global warming BS at the end.

There are several other narratives on this storm, I'd go with one of them over this one if I had to choose again.

[Amanda Ashley · Rating 5 out of 5]

OH MY GOSH WHAT A GOOD BOOK! My jaw was dropped the whole entire time! I read all the Chanel Cleeton books of the sisters in Havana Cuba and how they left and went to Florida. Anyways they got me onto this book cause she referenced it a lot. Now I know why… there’s sooooo many details about the 1935 hurricane and why the veterans were all in camps down there on the Keys, and how no one cared to get them off before any after the hurricane. And how the Coast Guard were extremely disrespectful to the vets and everyone coming and going off the islands. Sad and shocking book of how greedy humans can be.

[Amanda | Techabooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is ideal for those interested in Florida’s history, US Government and hurricanes. Very little of this book is about Hemingway. That being said, I really appreciated this historical account of the largest hurricane in recorded history. Thanks to depositions submitted by survivors, first person accounts of the people and events tragically impacted by the storm are recorded.

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve read several books on this hurricane. This was okay. Did not hold my attention, thus the long reading time!

[Tina Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Amazing that we learned nothing from this to Katrina.

[Deedee]

Dewey 975.941

[Misty Griffin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learned more than I thought possible while being completely enveloped in a story. I cannot wait to read this again.

[Rebecca Rivera · Rating 5 out of 5]

A well written account of personal stories and the history surrounding the Labor Day Florida Keys Hurricane of 1935 and its aftermath.

[Mary Shafer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m not sure it’s fair to judge this book against its predecessors, the excellent “Storm of the Century: The Labor Day Hurricane of 1935” by Willie Drye and “Category 5: The 1935 Labor Day Hurricane” by Thomas Neil Knowles, but unfortunately, it’s unavoidable.

On its own, “Hemingway’s Hurricane” stands as an adequate piece of journalism; well-researched, well-written and comprehensive. Certainly a worthy reference volume. But two things bothered me about this book.

The first was that the promise of its title was that the reader might learn something previously undiscovered about Ernest Hemingway’s involvement with this great storm. I therefore expected the story of the storm itself to be richly cradled in the context of Hemingway’s life on Key West and possibly in other ways. That was the biggest reason I even bothered to read this book, which covers the same territory as the two aforementioned books. Disappointingly, I found little if any new information regarding the famous author and his relationship to this hurricane. It left me feeling cheated, like the publisher used the title to grab readers but then didn’t fulfill that promise -- kind of the worst thing a publisher and author can do, right?

Secondarily, as journalism, this piece felt workmanlike to me. All bases were covered, all information was imparted, but I felt nothing inspiring in its delivery. And when the book followed the two others listed above, that was nearly unforgivable. Enough time passed between the publication of those volumes and this one, that any acquisitions editor should have done their homework to press the author about what new information this one brought to the table. Once there are existing books on a subject that have given it thorough, compelling treatment, it’s not enough for an author simply to have interest in the story—he must bring something new to its telling, and I just don’t feel this one did that job.

Both previous books not only provided all the facts, but the writing was engagingly full of personal anecdotes and otherwise obscure facts that served to bring the story to life. They both did a great job of putting this event into its sprawling and important historical and political contexts, while making sure the story never overshadowed the humanity of the disaster. The latter is what’s lacking in “Hemingway’s Hurricane,” at least to this reader. I kept waiting for what felt like a rather dry recitation of facts to turn into a gripping narrative, but it just never happened.

As a writer myself, I am completely sympathetic with the difficulty of coming up with a fresh angle on a story already well-told, but I just don’t think this book met the challenge.

[Barbara Nutting · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detailed and informative. Just like Katrina, Galveston, New England etc. hundreds of lives were lost because of poor planning and conflicting directions - won't we ever learn? Hurricane warnings should be heeded and evacuation done asap. Better safe than sorry. I just came back from a trip to the Florida Reef Lighthouses that included Homestead, Flamingo in the Everglades and Key Largo to Matecumbe - I sure wish I had read this book first!! It covers all these locations and I would liked to have seen the memorial erected to those lost in the hurricane - next time!! Hemingway is barely mentioned and has nothing to do with the story - he was off at Sloppy Joe's and Key West was not damaged!!

[Della O'Shea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved reading this after visiting the Keys a few months ago. I only regret I hadn't read it before-hand, since I would have paid more attention to the monument commemorating the storm, which I saw only during a drive-by. The author's choice to title his book, and therefore the storm, as "Hemingway's Hurricane" seemed to be a misnomer intended to capitalize on that other author's name. The historical accounts of Hemingway's connection in the narrative did not justify that designation, and left a sour note on an otherwise interesting read.

[Edi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hemingway criticized highly the U.S. government's response to the plight of the WWI vets who died by the hundreds in the Labor Day Hurricane that hit the Florida Keys in 1935. This book is a thorough and detailed account taken largely from the testimony of survivors, of the terrible cost of a storm for which the Keys and the government were poorly prepared, and did not take steps which could have prevented some of the loss of life.
Very well written and gripping story.

[Chris Edmonson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was really disappointed that this book and the hurricane had very little to do with Hemingway. Hemingway's name is mentioned on probably less than 5% of the pages and even those mentions weren't that interesting. The book did however give some interesting history about Florida, Henry Flagler, the Keys and a major hurricane that I previously knew very little about.

[Jan Brooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a lot to do with Hemingway, but perhaps even more interesting that it was about the WWI veterans who lost their lives during Labor Day Weekend 1935. Camped in the Florida Keys, trying to earn a living during a depression, and waiting on the government to save them from an approaching storm. Only the government didn't. Tragedy just waiting to happen.

[Doug Page · Rating 3 out of 5]

Where FEMA learned its incompetence.

[Sharon McSweeney]

Terrific recollection of seldom cited hurricane history.

[Lisa James · Rating 4 out of 5]

really interesting account of the hurricane in the Keys, complete with documentary photographs & accounts from the survivors.

[Caroline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Robinn lent us this. Jim read it and liked it and now it is my turn.

[Leslie Angel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Florida hurricane of 1935. Plus ca change. . . Johnstown flood, Katrina, same politics. Interesting read, though.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Compelling, powerfully sad depiction of the monster storm and the bureaucratic failures that contributed to the deaths of several hundred. Hemingway is more of a sidebar to the story.

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Barely mentions Hemingway at all.

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully researched. A scathing indictment of how WWI vets were treated, that too sadly, has been played out ever since.

[Melba · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative, well worth a read for those interested in Keys history.