CHAPTER XXXI

BAYS AND HARBORS

Nothing is more essential to the general prosperity of a mercantile country than good harbors. They are the economic gateways to the interior, through which all foreign trade must come and go. Cuba in this sense is essentially fortunate, especially along her north coast, where sixteen large, deep, well protected bays and harbors of the first order empty into the Gulf of Mexico, and into the north Atlantic, furnishing thus direct avenues of trade to the greatest commercial centers of the world.

Four harbors and bays of the first order are distributed along the southern coast, emptying into the Caribbean, and through that great tropical sea pass the avenues of trade that connect Cuba with the republics of Central America, Colombia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine, while the Panama Canal permits direct water communication, not only with the republics of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile, but also with the west coast of Mexico, and the United States, as well as with Japan and the Orient. With North Africa and the Mediterranean are direct lines of trade through the old Bahama Channel, while central and southern Africa are reached by way of the Lesser Antilles and Barbadoes.

Most of the foreign trade at the present time is with the American ports along the eastern coast of the Atlantic and through the Gulf ports by which Cuba has access to the Mississippi Valley, while along the Gulf Stream Cuba has a direct avenue, as well as a favorable current, that carried her commerce to England, France and other countries of western Europe.

Beginning with the harbors and bays of the north coast we have the western group located in Pinar del Rio, on the Gulf of Mexico, not distant from Vera Cruz and Tampico in Mexico, or Galveston in Texas, while almost facing them we have New Orleans, Pascagoula, Mobile and Pensacola, with Tampa on the Florida coast.

On this group the first is that fine deep land locked deep-water harbor of Bahia Honda (deep bay), sixty miles west of Havana, that was first selected by the Government of the United States as a coaling station, but afterwards surrendered for Guantanamo on account of the latter’s proximity to the Panama Canal and the Pacific, to which it gives entrance. Bahia Honda has a deep, rather narrow and fairly straight channel that leads from the Gulf into a beautiful sheet of water, extending some five or six miles into the interior, where good anchorage may be found for quite a fleet of vessels. A twelve mile light is located on the western entrance of the harbor, while two fine range lights enable shipping to leave or enter at night. The little town of Bahia Honda, three miles back, is connected with the port by a fine macadam highway. Owing to the fact that this section of Pinar del Rio, although rich in minerals, has not been brought under development up to the present, most of the commerce is confined to the local trade between Bahia and Havana, sixty miles distant.

Twelve miles further east and forty-eight miles from Havana, we have the beautiful harbor of Cabanas, a large, double-purse-shaped, interior bay, that extends some ten miles from east to west and furnishes one of the most picturesque land-locked harbors on the north coast. A small island in the entrance, on which is located one of the old time forts of the 17th century, obscures the bay itself from passing vessels. The shores of Cabanas are covered with extensive sugar cane fields that furnish cane to the surrounding mills, while its commerce is at the present time almost entirely local.

Located in the same province, some 18 miles further east, and only 30 from Havana, is the harbor of Mariel, a single-purse-shaped bay, that from its narrow entrance opens out to a broad picturesque sheet of water extending southward some four or five miles, while several prolongations extend out towards the southwest, bordered with rich sugar cane plantations. The little fishing village of Mariel is located at the extreme head of the bay and connected with Havana by automobile drive, as are the two harbors previously mentioned. A high table land extends along much of the eastern shore of this harbor, on the summit of which stands the Cuban Naval Academy. Near the entrance, on the eastern shore, is located a new cement factory with a capacity of a thousand barrels a day. On the western side of the entrance is the quarantine station, to which all infested vessels are sent, and where delightful accommodations are found ashore for both passengers and crew, who may be detained by sanitary officials of the central government.

The fine deep-water harbor of Havana, which boasts of a foreign trade excelled in the western hemisphere only by that of New York City, is, of course, the most important commercial gateway of the Republic of Cuba. It is one of those deep, narrow-necked, purse-shaped harbors, so characteristic of the Island, and furnishes splendid anchorage, with well equipped modern wharves, for handling the enormous bulk of freight that comes and goes throughout every day of the year. After passing the promontories of El Morro and Cabanas, that stretch along the eastern side of the entrance for a mile or more, the remainder of the shores of the Bay of Havana are comparatively low, although high ridges and hills form a fairly close background in almost every direction. Within the last ten years a great deal of dredging and land reclaiming has taken place in this harbor, increasing greatly not only the depth of water but also the available building sites. A series of magnificent modern wharves have been built along the western shore of the harbor, furnishing splendid shipping facilities for incoming and outgoing vessels. The upper portions of these buildings are occupied by the Custom House and Quarantine authorities. The southwest extension of this bay, recently dredged, furnishes access to deep draft steamships up to the site of the old Spanish Arsenal, that in 1908 was converted into the freight and passenger yards of the United Railroads. Along the docks, where steamers of the P. & O. SS line are moored, were built and launched many of Spain’s ships that centuries ago fought with Great Britain for the dominion of the seas. On the broad topped promontory that lies along the eastern shore, southeast of Cabanas, is located Trisconia, a splendidly equipped detention camp for immigrants and passengers coming from infested ports in different parts of the world. Excellent accommodations are there provided during the period of detention, which may last anywhere from five to fifteen days. This is the “Ellis Island” of Cuba, and has been a credit to the Republic since the first year of its installment in 1902, during which time it has been under the able direction of Dr. Frank Menocal, who takes great personal pride in having Trisconia, with its floating population, running sometimes into the thousands, one of the best appointed stations of its kind in the Western Hemisphere.

The harbor of Matanzas, sixty miles east of Havana, is a beautiful wide mouthed bay, or open roadstead, facing on the Gulf Stream as it sweeps between northern Cuba and southern Florida. This picturesque sheet of water reaches back into the land some six or eight miles, and although not noted for its depth, nevertheless furnishes safe anchorage for the fleet of tramp steamers found there during the larger part of the year, loading sugar from the many centrals scattered throughout the Province of Matanzas. Into this harbor, from the west, opens the Yumuri gorge, through which runs the river whose waters in ages past carved out the famous valley of the Yumuri, whose beauty was extolled by Alexander Von Humboldt during his travels in the western world. Covering the western shores of the bay, that slope down from the top of the hills to the water’s edge, lies the city of Matanzas, while off to the east and south may be seen great fields of sugar cane and henequen, that form two of the important industries of the Province.

Forty miles further east we find the beautiful landlocked bay of Cardenas, whose northwestern shore is formed by a long sandy strip of land extending in a curve out into the sea and known as the Punta de Hicacos. Cardenas Bay is some thirty miles in length from east to west, by ten or twelve from north to south, and is protected from the outside sea by a chain of small keys or islands, through which a deep ship channel was dredged during the first decade of this century. This furnishes entrance to one of the largest sugar exporting points of Cuba, the City of Cardenas.

East of the harbor of Cardenas lies Santa Clara Bay, also protected by outlying keys, but without deep water anchorage. These island dotted bays, separated from each other only by islands, and connected by comparatively shallow channels, extend from Punta Hicacos, some 300 miles eastward, to the Harbor of Nuevitas.

Seventy-five miles east of Cardenas we find the bay of Sagua, very similar to the others, and with a depth not exceeding twelve or fifteen feet. This harbor is located on the northern shore of the Province of Santa Clara, and its port, Isabela de Sagua, is the shipping point for a large amount of the sugar produced along the north coast of the province. The rivers emptying into the bay of Sagua, as well as the bay itself, are noted for their splendid fishing ground, tarpon being especially abundant; also for the small delightfully flavored native oyster.

Still further east we have another important shipping port known as Caibarien, located on Buena Vista Bay, that unfortunately has an average depth of only 12 or 15 feet, necessitating lighterage out to the anchorage at Cayo Frances, 18 miles distant, where ships of the deepest draft find perfect protection while loading.

On the north shore of the Province of Camaguey we have but one harbor of the first order, the Bay of Nuevitas, but this harbor may easily lay claim to being one of the best in the world. Its entrance is narrow, resembling a river, some six miles in length and with a rather swift running current, depending upon the flow of tide, as it passes in or out. The Bay itself is a beautiful sheet of water of circular form, with an extension of deep water reaching out towards the west some 15 miles, and connected with the Bay of Carabelas, Guajaba and Guanaja, forty or fifty miles further west. Along these quiet landlocked lagoons are located the American colonies of La Gloria, Columbia, Punta Pelota and Guanaja.

There are many reasons for believing that the entrance to this harbor was the place where Columbus spent several days scraping and cleaning the bottom of his caravels, while a few of his companions made a journey into the interior, finding very agreeable natives but no indications of gold. From Nuevitas is shipped nearly all of the sugar made in the Province of Camaguey, together with a great deal of fine hardwood, cut in the Sierra de Cubitas Mountains.

The north shore railroad, beginning at Caibarien some 300 kilometers distant, has its eastern terminus on Nuevitas Bay, and will, when completed, greatly increase the trade of splendid sugar and vegetable land, as well as the mining zone, rich in iron and chrome, that lies just south of the Sierras.

Thirty miles further east we have the harbor of Manati, with a narrow but comparatively deep and easy entrance, which soon opens out into the usual long pouch shaped bay, on the shore of which are the sugar mills of Manati. This harbor, although not ranked among the largest, nevertheless can accommodate a large fleet of merchant ships or tramp steamers waiting for their cargoes of sugar and hardwood timber.

Malageta, some ten miles east of Manati, cannot be properly ranked as a harbor of the first class, although it furnishes protection for vessels of moderate draft.

Puerto Padre, 20 miles east of Manati, is another large pouch-shaped deep water harbor like nearly all those of the north coast, and owing to the location on its southern shore of two of the largest sugar mills in the world, Chaparra and Las Delicias, with a combined production of over a million bags a year, it may be justly ranked as one of the most important harbors of Oriente.

Fifty miles further east we have the open roadstead of Gibara, a deep indentation of the sea that gives, unfortunately, but little protection from northerly gales, but since Gibara is the exit for the rich Holguin district of northern Oriente, its commerce is extensive.

Sixty miles further east, after rounding Lucrecia Point, where the coast for the first time faces due east, we have another fine deep water harbor known as Banes, on whose shores is located a large sugar mill known as “Boston,” with an annual output of 500,000 bags.

Some ten miles southeast of Banes we enter the Bay of Nipe, the largest landlocked harbor in Cuba. Nipe is a beautiful sheet of water, whose southern and western shores are low, although mountains can be seen in the distance in almost any direction. Nipe contains forty square miles of deep water anchorage, with a width from east to west of twelve miles and from north to south of seven to eight miles. The Mayari River, one of the most important streams of the north coast of Oriente Province, empties into Nipe. On the north shore of the bay the little town of Antilla forms the northeastern terminus of the Cuba Company’s railroad, connecting Orient with Havana and the western end of the Island. The land surrounding the bay is exceptionally rich and is owned largely by the United Fruit Company. Here they originally cultivated large fields of bananas, but owing to their extensive plantations in Costa Rica, and to the high price of sugar brought about by the war, their Cuban properties have been converted into sugar plantations. The splendid mills of Preston are located on Nipe Bay, from which a half million bags of sugar are shipped every year to the outside world. The rich mines of the Mayari district belonging to the Bethlehem Steel Company are located back of Nipe Harbor and contribute considerably to the commerce of this port.

Some five or six miles east of the entrance of Nipe we have the deep double harbors of Cabonico and Levisa; the latter large and circular in form, while Cabonico is comparatively small, and separated from Levisa by a narrow peninsula that extends almost into the single entrance of the two bays. The lands around this harbor are largely covered with forests of magnificent hard woods, while the soil is rich enough to produce cane for a quarter of a century or longer without replanting.

Some 15 miles further east we have another fine large bay with a narrow entrance on the Atlantic, known as Sagua de Tanamo. This bay is very irregular in form, with many ramifications or branches reaching out towards the east, south and west, while into it flows the Tanamo River, draining the forest covered valleys and basins that lie between the mountains of eastern Oriente and the north shore.

Baracoa, an open roadstead, celebrated owing to the fact that here the Spanish conquerors made their first settlement in the Pearl of the Antilles in 1512, is a very picturesque bay, but unfortunately with almost no protection from northerly winds that prevail during the winter months. Cocoanuts form the chief article of export from Baracoa, which is the last port of any note on the north coast of Cuba.

Although the south coast of Cuba contains some of the finest harbors in the world, Dame Nature was not quite so generous with her commercial gateways along the Caribbean as along the shores bordering on the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico. Some 85 miles west of Cape Maisi we come to the Bay of Guantanamo, a long, deep indentation from the Caribbean, extending ten or twelve miles straight up into the land, and in its upper extension opening out into quite a wide sheet of water. Guantanamo is deep, well protected, and of sufficient area to furnish excellent anchorage for the navy of the United States. That which for naval purposes gives Guantanamo especial strategic value is the fact that its mouth, free from obstructions, is so wide that three first-class battleships can leave or enter at full speed, without danger of collision or interference, either with each other or with the inclosing shores. This feature of the bay, which is not often found in well protected harbors, together with the fact that it practically commands the Caribbean Sea, and lies almost in a direct line between the Atlantic Coast and the Panama Canal, were the reasons why Guantanamo was selected in preference to all other bays as the United Naval Station in the Republic of Cuba. During the last ten years many improvements have taken place in Guantanamo and today its importance is not excelled by that of any other naval station in the Western Hemisphere. The Guantanamo Valley, one of the richest in the Island, furnishes a large amount of cane that supplies seven or eight sugar mills located a little back from the shore of the Bay.

Fifty miles further west, near the center of the southern coast of Oriente, the pent up streams and basins of the geological past have broken through the chain of mountains bordering the Caribbean and by erosion have formed one of the finest and most picturesque harbors in the world. The Morro of Santiago stands on a high promontory at the eastern entrance of its narrow mouth, passing through which the Bay rapidly opens up into a charming panorama of palm covered islands, strips of white beach, and distant mountains, that combine to render Santiago one of the most beautiful harbors in the world. The City of Santiago lies on a side hill sloping down to the water’s edge, and owing to the fact of its being the southeastern terminus of the Cuba Company’s lines, which connect it with Havana, and to the natural wealth of the Province of Oriente itself, of which Santiago is the chief commercial city, it has no rival in the Republic outside of Havana. Several lines of steamers connect Santiago, not only with the Atlantic and Gulf ports of the United States, but also with Jamaica, Porto Rico, Panama and Europe.

Manzanillo, located on the west coast of Oriente, at the head of the Gulf of Guacanabo, is the most important harbor in that section of the province, and owing to the rich country lying back of it, whence are shipped not only sugar, but hardwoods, hides and minerals, Manzanillo Harbor is one of the most important in the eastern end of the Island. Between this and Cienfuegos, which is the most important port on the south coast of central Cuba, we have a stretch of several hundred miles in which only harbors of the second order are found.

Cienfuegos, or a “Hundred Fires,” is another of those beautiful, storm protected inland pockets, with a narrow river-like channel connecting it with the Caribbean. An old time 17th century fort nestles on the western shore of the entrance, an interesting reminder of the days in which every city and every harbor had to protect itself from the incursions of privateers and pirates. Cienfuegos Bay extends from southeast to northwest a distance of about fifteen miles, with a varying width of from three to seven miles. The bay is dotted with charming islands, many of which have been converted into delightful homes and tropical gardens, where the wealthy people of the city pass most of their time in summer. The city itself lies on the northern shore and is comparatively modern, with wide streets and sidewalks. Good wharves and spacious warehouses line the shores of the commercial part of the city. Cienfuegos is the main gateway, not only for the sugar of southern Santa Clara but for the whole southern coast of the central part of the Republic. Its commerce ranks next to that of Santiago de Cuba, and the bay itself is one of the most interesting in the Island.

Further west, towards Cape San Antonio, while we have many comparatively shallow harbors and embarcaderos or shipping points for coasting vessels and those of light draft, there are no other deep harbors aside from that of the Bay of Cochinos, or Pig Gulf, which is really an indentation of the coast line, extending from the Caribbean up into the land some fifteen miles, with a width of 10 or 12 miles at its mouth, gradually tapering towards the north, but furnishing no protection from southerly gales.

On either side of this bay are located low lands and swamps including those of the Cienaga de Zapata, most of which will never be cultivated unless drained. Extensive forests of hardwood timber surround the bay in all directions. Several big drainage propositions have been projected at different times but none, up to the present, have been carried into execution.

Batabano, almost due south of Havana, is quite a shipping point, receiving fish, sponge and charcoal from the shallow waters and low forests along the south coast of Havana Province and Pinar del Rio. Fruit and vegetables are landed here from the Isle of Pines, but owing to the shallow waters of the bay and its utter lack of protection from any direction but the north, it can hardly be considered a harbor.

Of harbors of the second order, Cuba has some twenty on the north coast, most of which have depths varying from 10 to 15 feet, although a few may be found difficult of entrance at low tide for boats drawing over ten feet. Beginning on the northwest coast of Pinar del Rio, near Cape San Antonio, we have El Cajon, Guardiana Bay, and moving northward, Pinatillo, Mantua, Dimas and San Cayetano. At all of these with the exception of the first, the light draft coasting steamers of the Menendez Line stop every five days in their trips around the western end of the Island, between Habana and Cienfuegos on the south coast. Santa Lucia, a few miles west of San Cayetano, is used as the shipping port for copper from the Matahambre Mines. The ore, however, is conveyed in lighters across the bay and transferred to steamers near Cayo Jutias.

East of Havana, about half way to Matanzas, we have the embarcadero of Santa Cruz, from which many vegetables, especially onions, are shipped to Havana. Still further east, on the outer island shore is a harbor of the second order near Paredon Grande, carrying twelve feet, and used largely by fishermen and turtlers in stormy weather. Between Cayo Confitas and Cayo Verde, there is a wide break in the barrier reef that permits vessels in distress to find protection during periods of storm. Some thirty miles west of Nuevitas is another break in the barrier reef over which schooners drawing not more than seven or eight feet can find shelter in the Bay of Guajaba. This is the deepest water approach to the American colony of La Gloria. A little blasting would improve it.

Nuevas Grandes, located midway between Nuevitas and Manati, on the coast of Camaguey, is not easy of entrance in bad weather owing to surf breaking on the outlying reefs, nor is the country back of it sufficiently productive to give promise of much commerce in the future.

On the north coast of Oriente we have a number of comparatively shallow harbors, some of which furnish very good protection for vessels in bad weather. The more important of these are Puerto Vita, Puerto Sama, Tanamo and Puerto Naranjo.

Along the south coast of Oriente we have Imias Sabana la Mar, Puerto Escondido, Playa de Cuyuco and Daiquiri which, with the exception of the latter, from which the Daiquiri iron mines ship their ore, have practically no commerce.

West of Santiago, on the same coast, are the little landing places of Dos Rios, Cotibar, Turquino and Mota. Between the last two, however, we have a fairly good harbor known as Portillo, that furnishes ample protection for vessels drawing not more than 15 feet, and is the shipping point for the output of the sugar estates that surround Portillo Bay.

Between Cabo Cruz and Manzanillo are the embarcaderos of Nequiro, Media Luna, Ceiba Hueca and Campechuela, from nearly all of which a considerable amount of sugar is shipped during the season.

North of Manzanillo, and extending west along the coast of Camaguey and Santa Clara, we have the shallow harbors of Romero, Santa Cruz del Sur, Jucaro, Tunas de Zaza and Casilda. The southern coast steamers stop at each of these ports, and quite a large amount of sugar and hardwood is shipped from them.

From Cienfuegos west we have the Bahia de Cochinos and Batabano already mentioned, together with La Paloma, Punta de Cartas, Bay of Cortes and the Gulf of Corrientes, all of which are located along the south shore of Pinar del Rio, and have quite an extensive local trade in charcoal, fish and hardwood.