“What author comes to mind when you think of the ocean?”
I asked some of my childhood friends this question and wasn’t surprised when they named Peter Benchley. Who can forget his book, Jaws , and the movie blockbuster. As teens, we had visited Martha’ Vineyard the summer before the movie came out. A few of us remember seeing the real mechanical shark outside a local garage and none of us had heard of Jaws, but we were curious for sure. The whole island was selling t-shirts, toys and books to promote the movie and story about the mother of all sharks, created by author, Peter Benchley. Even the boy I had a mad crush on in 7th grade, managed to be one of the extras in the movie, running out of the bloody ocean and screaming for his life.
Despite my puppy love for a pre-teen extra, and all the local news coverage on the local filming of Jaws and Peter Benchley’s book, the author that immediately comes to my mind is Ernest Hemingway, who received the Nobel Prize in 1953 for writing The Old Man and the Sea.
Do you remember?
A small fishing village near Havana, Cuba; the waters off the Gulf of Mexico and Santiago, the hero.
Although some of my English classmates complained about the writing style, a sort of matter-of-fact tone, Hemingway’s love for Santiago was clear to me. The story itself is a tragedy, like Hemingway’s own life.
But the message from the author moved me back then and still to this day. Hemingway sent me a message in a glass bottle , and the principles are true. I learned this later in life:
Hemingway's message in a bottle...
His message in the bottle read:
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Like Merlin, the mighty fish, who the old man battled, life is like a battle. But the message sent to me was, in the face of great odds, hold on to hope and stay determined. Determination is key to chasing dreams and anything of importance.
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Don’t fear loneliness.
One famous line in the story, – “no man was ever alone on the sea.” made me consider for the first time in my young life, that being alone didn’t have to mean one was lonely. I had a real tough time getting that concept in my high school English class, but now it makes perfect sense.
Hemingway is the man who comes first to my mind. Like the old man, he loved the sea.
- I saw this photo as a kid, in the JFK Library in Quincy, MA. It made an impression on me.
The Hemingways with marlins, Bimini 1935
Bimini
Date: July 20, 1935
Copyright: Public Domain
Credit:
Ernest Hemingway Photograph Collection, John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 
