Pilar (boat)

Pilar on display in Cuba at Finca Vigía
History
Name:	Pilar
Owner:	Ernest Hemingway
Builder:	Wheeler Shipyard, Inc., Brooklyn New York
Cost:	$7,495
Completed:	1934
General characteristics
Length:	38 ft (12 m)
Beam:	12 ft 0 in (3.7 m)
Height:	17.5 ft (5.3 m)
Draught:	3 ft 6 in (1.1 m)
Installed power:	Main Engine – 75 HP Chrysler "Crown Marine" L-head six cylinder with reduction gears, centrally mounted. Trolling Engine – 4 Cylinder Lycoming
Propulsion:	1 main propeller shaft through the keel. Second shaft and propeller offset from center for trolling engine.
Speed:	16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)

Ernest Hemingway owned a 38-foot (12 m) fishing boat named Pilar. It was acquired in April 1934 from Wheeler Shipbuilding in Brooklyn, New York, for $7,495. "Pilar" was a nickname for Hemingway's wife Pauline and also the name of the woman leader of the partisan band in his 1940 novel of the Spanish Civil War, For Whom the Bell Tolls. Hemingway regularly fished off the boat in the waters of Key West, Florida, Marquesas Keys, and the Gulf Stream off the Cuban coast. He made three trips with the boat to the Bimini islands wherein his fishing, drinking, and fighting exploits drew much attention and remain part of the history of the islands. In addition to fishing trips on Pilar, Hemingway contributed to scientific research which included collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution. Several of Hemingway's books were influenced by time spent on the boat, most notably, The Old Man and the Sea and Islands in the Stream. The yacht also inspired the name of Playa Pilar (Pilar Beach) on Cayo Guillermo. A smaller replica of the boat is depicted in the opening and other scenes in the TV Movie Hemingway & Gellhorn.

Hemingway acquired the boat on April 18, 1934 after returning from a safari in Africa. The boat was a modified version of the Wheeler Playmate line. The final price for the boat was $7,495 which included modifications such as a livewell to contain fish, dual-engine set-up, lowering the boat's transom by twelve inches and adding a full-width roller on the stern to aid in hauling large fish onto the boat. A flying bridge was added at a later date, but not by Wheeler. The boat's hull was painted black as opposed to the stock white color.