Posted by: Editor on Jan 30, 2006 – 07:24 PM
newsandinfo  The small island of Bimini, Bahamas suffered another tragedy in less than a month Friday, after a popular tourist attraction that writer Ernest Hemingway reportedly frequented, was razed by fire.
The 12-room hotel and Compleat Angler bar and Ernest Hemingway museum in Alice Town, north Bimini, was reportedly leveled on Friday, Jan. 13, according to island police.

The American-born writer, who remains famous for the book, “The Old Man and The Sea,” reportedly frequented the bar during fishing trips to the island and stayed at the hotel from 1935-37.

Owners created the museum after Hemingway became legendary. It apparently included hundreds of artifacts and photos of the author.

The tragedy follows the December 19 plane crash that killed 11 residents from this tiny area, where everyone knows everyone else.

Bahamas Tourism Minister, Obie Wilchcombe, called the incident ?truly tragic? in an interview with the Bahamas Journal.

“We have lost an important monument on the landscape of Bimini. The Compleat Angler for many years has served as a place for the adventurer, visitors, and Biminites alike; all who have come to enjoy the history of the Compleat Angler, but everything else that it has to offer,” the paper quoted the minister as saying. “This will certainly affect the economy of Bimini. The Compleat Angler has been the watering hole for many visitors and certainly a place for entertainment. So clearly this is going to have some immediate impact.

Bimini is home to about 1,700 Bahamians, known as Biminites, according to BiminiCruisingGuide.com, which also claims that Hemingway shot himself in the legs while on his first trip to the island. ?The incident would go on to form the basis of a humorous magazine article titled On Being Shot Again,? claims the site.

Hardbeatnews.com
Jan. 17, 2006