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Awash in mystery

A letter penned in Spanish and set adrift in a jar is found at the beach, inviting a bit of intrigue on shore.

By JON WILSON
Published August 30, 2006

ST. PETE BEACH - John Daynard likes the sea. He likes its shells and he likes searching for the secrets it might surrender.

Ten days ago, while snorkeling off Pass-a-Grille Beach, the former upstate New York resident spied a classic water-borne charm: a mystery message encased in glass.

It was in 8 feet of water, resting in sand. Seaweed shrouded it.

"I swam for several hundred yards and went to the beach with it," Daynard said.

He easily unscrewed the top off an ordinary Mason jar.

Inside nestled a two-page letter protected by plastic "like an American cheese wrapper," Daynard said.

It was written in Spanish and carried a dateline: Tampa, March 8, 2006.

Daynard doesn't read Spanish. But the missive stirred his curiosity. A friend who looked at it said it appeared to be a sweet letter written to someone's mom. The salutation said, "Querida Madre," or "Beloved Mother."

Daynard sent enlarged photos of the letter to the Neighborhood Times and included a message of his own.

"I want to know if this is a last letter saying goodbye, someone speaking their heart, or perhaps someone that's in need of help. It could really matter to the person it was meant for, if it was a tragic ending to the story," Daynard said.

Translation revealed no particular drama.

What the letter did do was provide a glimpse of sociology and religion, reinforcing the idea of Florida and the Tampa Bay region as a cultural mosaic.

Bilingual Times staff members said the letter suggested a prayer, apparently written to La Virgen de la Caridad de la Cobre. She is the patroness of Cuba, just as Our Lady of Guadalupe is to Mexico.

The prayer appeared to ask for health, general family well-being and business fortune. It asked special consideration for a relative in jail.

Because La Caridad has a connection to water, devotees would be likely to seal a prayer to her and cast it into the sea, scholars say.

"I would believe it," said Alma DeRojas, coordinator of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University.

In her thesis for a master's degree in Latin American and Caribbean Studies, DeRojas wrote that La Caridad "continues to affect the lives of Cubans around the world, nearly 400 years after her statue was discovered in the Bay of Nipe."

For example, DeRojas wrote, thousands joined processions in Miami and in Cuba four years ago to celebrate La Caridad's feast day of Sept. 8, causing Cuban authorities to worry about political repercussions.

La Caridad's story begins in the early 17th century when her statue floated up to two Indians and a slave searching for salt, DeRojas wrote. Other accounts say the statue, quite dry after a storm, appeared to three men seeking shelter.

Daynard said he will keep the jar and the letter, which doesn't bear a legible signature. An art teacher, he said he might do something creative with it.

"It was exciting because I've never found something like that before," he said.

Jon Wilson can be reached at 893-8567 or jon@sptimes.com.

[Last modified August 29, 2006, 22:24:00]