“The capital city of the Dominican Republic is Santo Domingo, founded in 1496 by Bartholomew Columbus, Christopher’s brother. Rafael Leónidas Trujillo served as President from 1930 to 1938 and again from 1942 to 1952, continuing to rule for the rest of the time as an unelected strongman using figurehead presidents. He renamed the capital city of the Dominican Republic to Ciudad Trujillo after himself. His régime lasted for over thirty years, until his assassination on May 30, 1961, while riding in his car on the outskirts of the city. After he was gunned down, his riddled body was taken to France and interred in the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, bringing to an end “La Era de Trujillo.” Six years later Trujillo’s body was moved to the El Pardo Cemetery near Madrid, Spain, where it now rests.” DictatorshipCaptain Hank BrackerDominican RepublicStrongmanMma CruiseRafael Leónidas Trujillo Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Salty & Saucy Maine"
“It seemed as if the crud of the universe had found its way into the two rose boxes. The strainers were choked with unmentionable sludge and with every handful of muck I pulled out, I expected to find a decaying dead rat. Of course, this idea was firmly planted into my cranium by the upperclassmen, but this was not to be. Instead, I found rags, paper, lots of gunky oil, a few pens, some socks and someone’s denim shirt. One bucket at a time was lifted with my hands until the job was done. Some diesel oil and clean rags cleaned the metal surfaces good enough to be painted. I have no idea how long it took to dry, if it ever did, but the engineers were impressed enough to allow me time for dinner.” Sea StoriesMaine Maritime AcademyMma CruiseBilges Author:Captain Hank Bracker, "Salty & Saucy Maine"