Chapter
One – Havana, Cuba, 1925
The
ancient, rusty freighter slid past the El Moro Castle two hours after
sunset on September 19, 1925. and entered Havana Harbor where it
dropped anchor and as required by international law and custom,
raised the yellow quarantine flag. Another smaller flag, no bigger
than an ensign, was hoisted on a second yardarm. The Captain raised
his binoculars and searched the empty ramparts of the castle for his
signal. Nothing. He went below to his cabin, opened a greasy
porthole and lit the Cuban cigar he had been saving since leaving
Cadiz Harbor, Spain.
The
next morning he woke to a brilliant sunrise, went on deck and waited
for the harbormaster and his assistant to come aboard to clear
customs. After the usual pleasantries and a perfunctory greeting
they glanced at the manifest listing the cargo, shrugged, smiled and
accepted a significant “harbor clearance fee” and left the ship.
No more than 15 minutes had elapsed to inspect the vessel and its
cargo. That evening, at the dock in Havana, four men came aboard to
claim three large wooden crates. The crates contained over 100
priceless works of art and sculptures by masters from France, Italy,
Germany and the Netherlands dating back to the 16th
century.
They were not
seen again until May, 1935 when they were produced to satisfy a debt
owed by Salvatore Buffardi, Italian art critic, to a Severino
Marrozos y Andrade. In 1937, they were smuggled out of Cuba on a
diplomatic flight to Miami, Florida. From 1937 until 2014 they
remained hidden in the garage of a small townhouse in the suburbs of
Philadelphia. The house was owned by my maternal grandfather,
Nicholas E. Meneses, Cuban Consul General of Philadelphia.
Nicholas E Meneses (left) inspecting a cargo of sugar shipped to Philadelphia, PA from Cuba, 1948.
No comments:
Post a Comment