Roatan Author makes her Book Debut

Roatan’s population needs a way to anchor itself to the history of its Garifuna, English and Spanish settlers. The book “Piece of the Puzzle,” set to launch in July 2025, provides a pivotal perspective on who shaped the Bay Islands and how over the past two centuries.

The book’s author is Keila Rochelle Thompson Gough, a Jonesville-born islander. She embarked on a path to discover her own roots. That path led her down the rabbit hole of family stories, secrets and old photographs. “When I started doing research, it was not to write a book, but then all these stories started coming alive,” Gough said. “It was then I decided to write the book.”

The book-writing process was cathartic for Thompson. “It made me realize how much more confident I am and what my family represents,” says Keila. On the book’s pages, she writes about “lives rich with industry, perseverance, success and sometimes tragedy.” We learn about people who wove the fabric that became the Bay Islands. These stories had a profound effect on how the islands are shaped today. They were fundamental to the history of the Bay Islands but also shaped the character of the Bay Islanders who walk the streets of the island.

The author has relatives throughout the British Western Caribbean—Cayman Islands, Jamaica and Belize. For many of them, and many other islanders, “Piece of the Puzzle” tied the strands of their history together. The book has been a wealth of knowledge and a source of understanding about how they are related across time and archipelagos.

Thompson Gough wrote this book as a tribute to her ancestors, her contemporaries and the children who will now have a reference for knowing where they came from. It is the kind of book you can keep open for reference or dive into to read island stories.

Culture dies without someone recording its origins.

The book’s pages not only display the author’s love and passion for her native Roatan, but also represent a work of diligent research that will serve as an invaluable source for other researchers and lovers of Caribbean culture, especially Bay Islands culture.

She searched old island cemeteries, looking at tombstones. Especially the Oak Ridge Cemetery provided a wealth of knowledge. The faded tombstones revealed their secrets to a persistent researcher.

She visited neighbors and sometimes grumpy nonagenarians. She was given treasured family documents, letters and testaments. Often, the greatest wealth of information came from nearby—her great-grandmother Cora Wood.

Thompson described them and sometimes gives them life in print within the pages of her book. “I felt very privileged to be a descendant of such a determined, resolute, and historic ancestry,” writes Thompson, who began in 2008 but had to put the project aside for so many years.

She took on the role of genealogist, contacting and visiting archives in Belize, the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, and the Honduran national archives in Tegucigalpa. “There was no history book in our schools to teach us specifically about the history of the Bay Islands,” writes the author.

“The Piece of the Puzzle” is a well-written, large-format book that serves as a great resource for anyone interested in the history, culture and ethnography of Roatan, the Western Caribbean, or Honduras. The 530-page, large-format “Piece of the Puzzle” is illustrated with numerous photographs of island life and interspersed with historical information and island stories.

The book is a good source for a history lesson on Roatan and the Bay Islands. It creates a record of island families and heritage. The author traces the origins and history of Roatan’s families who arrived on the island in the 1840s: the Goughs, Coopers, Thompsons, Boddens, Abbotts, Woods and many others. It is a book one can get lost in. If you love history, if you are interested in Roatan, if you appreciate a good story, this is your milieu.

Keila has launched her book, “Piece of the Puzzle: The History of My Ancestors on the Bay Island,” at GiLeis Café in Roatan. The book was released on Amazon on July 1 and became available for sale throughout Roatan in August. It is available for purchase in Roatan, on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and as an e-book on Apple Books.

Five Centuries of European Presence in Honduras

This year, 2024, marks 500 years of a permanent European presence in Honduras. The civilization brought here by Spanish conquistadors half a millennium ago set Honduras on a path to poses a common language, Christianity, an administrative system, schools, roads, and a legal system. All which glues Honduran society together began in March 1524. Yet, you would not know that living here.
The Honduran government held no celebrations to mark this occasion. The Catholic Church in Honduras held no celebrations of 500 years of presence of Catholic sacraments in the country. Even the Spanish embassy in Honduras showed limited interest in talking about the mid-millennial anniversary with Paya Magazine. This willful disinterest in celebrating – or even acknowledging – the Christian, western roots of Honduras signifies something. It signifies that the powers that control the discourse in Honduras hold European and Christians culture in little regard. That of the religion and Christianity of the country’s fathers and forefathers.
There are also no Spanish embassy lectures or exhibitions. Spanish themselves have bought into the idea that for 300 years they have raped and pillaged the indigenous population, and that there is no reason to celebrate the half-millennium anniversary this year.
Honduras has but a peripheral battlefield in the culture wars taking place across the globe. The European and Christian civilization is increasingly vilified and devalued. There are groups interested in debasing not only European culture, but Christianity in particular.

The reality was that the Spanish came to the Americas for a variety of reasons. Some came to gain fame, glory, and riches. Other came to set up roads and build churches and cities. Others yet came to spread Christian faith and educate the natives.

That is a rich tapestry of Spanish men, who sacrificed, suffered, and died while creating the foundation of what is today Honduras. They brought with them the Catholic sacraments, Spanish language, Latin alphabet, a moral code, construction, administration, and a monetary and legal system.

All that laid a foundation of today’s Honduran identity.

You would not know this by visiting the museum of National Identity in Tegucigalpa. There, the Spanish across 300 years are given almost no credit. The sad fact is that Honduras’ history and identity has been captured by forces opposed to Western and Catholic values.

European and Christian civilization is increasingly vilified and devalued.

The 500 year anniversary of European and Christian presence in Honduras was not and will not be celebrated. Except for local events in Tela, there were no celebrations of the events that took place exactly 500 years ago in what is today Honduras. There were no celebrations of first European colonist’s arrival in the country. There were no celebrations of the arrival of Christianity and the first sacraments that took place in Honduras in 1524.

Honduras’ Discovery

On Columbus’s fourth voyage (1502-04) to the Americas, the great explorer finally set foot on the American continent. He did this on Honduran soil. This fact is little appreciated and even less celebrated in this Central American nation. His fourth expedition was made in his final attempt to find a maritime route to the Far East. While failing to do so, Columbus begun a chapter in Spanish and European colonization of the Americas.

The explorer’s first sitting of what is today Honduras took place on July 30, 1502, when he visited Guanaja, which he named Isla de Pinos – Pine island. He spent several days with the local Paya Indians and then continued to the coast, visible in the distance only 40 miles away. He named the mainland Honduras – depths after the deep water off the coast.

Capitanía, Santiago, Gallego and Vizcaíno, sailed 40 miles south to reach Punta Castilla.

While at sea Columbus came upon a Maya canoe on a trading expedition to the Payas. The canoe, captained by an elderly man, likely came from Nito – a Mayan port 200 miles west at the mouth of Río Dulce. The Mayan canoe was large and seaworthy: eight feet wide and 100 feet in length.

The canoe was covered by a canopy in its middle portion. It accommodated 25 men, women, and children. It carried large and varied goods: cacao, cotton ornamented garments, crucibles for melting copper, flint-edged wooden swords, stone axes, and knives. This was the first interaction between Europeans and Mayas.

Columbus’ four Spanish ships: Capitanía, Santiago, Gallego and Vizcaíno, sailed 40 miles south to reach Punta Castilla. It was the first landing of the Spanish on the American mainland, and it took place in Honduras. It took the Spanish a decade of exploration in the Caribbean to finally land on the mainland.

On August 13, 1502, the first Catholic mass was celebrated on the American continent. Brother Alejandro of Barcelona celebrated that mass in Puerto Castilla, and then named Punta Caxinas. Columbus, who was given the authority of the Spanish crown to do so, claimed the territory that we know today as Honduras for the king, Ferdinand the V of Spain.

Unlike the 2024 missing celebrations, on August 13, 2002, Honduran and other bishops celebrated the 500 year anniversary of the first mass on the American continent. This was celebrated near Punta Caxina, or just outside of Puerto Castillo. Columbus also sailed further into the Trujillo Bay, to Trujillo itself.

Honduras’ Conquista

After the conquest of Mexico in 1519-1521 the Spanish turned their attention to lands south: Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama. They also continued looking for a maritime passage to the East Indies.

The terra incognita that was America was still mostly an unexplored and open book. While Hernán Cortés was the grand explorer of Mexico, his captains kept discovering populous areas full of riches promising them income from tributes, plantations, and gold. The idea of being a governor of a large province made one Spanish conquistador turn against the other. The territory of Honduras and Nicaragua attracted three suitors. The permanent presence of the Spanish in Honduras came three years later, in the spring of 1524.

Velázquez managed to convince Olid to betray Cortés.

The first to land in Honduras was Gil González Dávila, who claimed the land under the auspices of the Spanish crown. The Spanish king authorized González to seek passage to the Pacific along the Honduran coast. On March 19, 1524 González left Santo Domingo with four ships. He commanded an impressive force of 300 men and 50 horses. He landed in an area called Cieneguita, and funded Villa de la Natividad de Nuestra Señora near today’s Puerto Cortés.

He had to lighten the ship by throwing 17 of his 50 horses overboard, hence the name Puerto Caballos (now Puerto Cortés). González then sailed further west, to the Bay of Amatique and the Río Dulce, where he founded the town of San Gil de Buenavista.

The second conquistador to arrive in Honduras was Cristóbal de Olid. Olid was Cortés’ trusted and tested man. He had served Cortés well being one of his four captains that lead Spanish forces in the conquest of Mexico. Olid helped to capture Xochimilco in a key battle of the Mexican campaign. At one point Olid even saved Cortés from certain death as Cortés was captured by the Aztecs.

The Spanish conquest of the Americas was full of intrigue between the conquistadores themselves who competed not only in spreading the Spanish empire, but in creating provinces and territories of which they could become governors.

Olid was camp commander in May 1520, while a trial of Juan de Villafaña, on charge of plotting to assassinate Cortés, was being held. Four years later, as a form of reward, Hernán Cortés dispatched Olid by ship to Honduras with orders to establish a town.

In January 1524, Olid departed with six ships and 400 men for Cuba. He also brought many arms, artillery pieces, and 8,000 pieces of gold to buy horses and vestments. In Cuba, he met with Diego Velázquez, the island’s governor and a known political enemy of Cortés.

Velázquez was aware of Cortés being appointed by King Carlos, governor of New Spain, and resented his success. Velázquez managed to convince Olid to betray Cortés and accept his sponsorship during the conquista of Honduras.

On May 3, 1524 Olid landed in today’s Tela bay, likely to avoid confronting the expedition of González which had arrived in Puerto Cabezas just a few weeks earlier. Thus Olid founded the port of Triunfo de la Cruz, a town that is known today as Tela.

Upon landing on Honduras’ coast, Olid acted in a resolute manner. He decided not to act quickly, but to better establish himself, gain strength, and gather knowledge in order to truly understand if the new lands were worth the political risk of standing up to Cortés. Olid took position of Honduras in the name of Cortés, but held papers that referred to himself, a shrewd but ultimately disastrous strategy.

Olid can arguably be considered the founder of what would eventually become Honduras.

In June 1524, Cortés acted upon his knowledge of Olid betraying him. He sent his trusted lieutenant and cousin Francisco de Las Casas with five well-armed ships and men to Honduras to confront and arrest Olid. All of a sudden, Olid found himself fighting on two fronts. He was confronting the expedition of Gil González Dávila on land and de las Casas at Sea.

Fate intervened as Las Casas sailed to Puerto Caballos, now controlled by Olid. “Olid decided to launch an attack with two caravels. Las Casas returned fire and sent boarding parties, which captured Olid’s ships. Under the circumstances, Olid proposed a truce to which Las Casas agreed, and he did not land his forces. During the night, a fierce storm destroyed his fleet and about a third of his men were lost. The remainder was taken prisoner after two days of exposure and without food. After being forced to swear loyalty to Olid, they were released,” writes Robustiano Vera in his 1899 book “Notes on the history of Honduras.”

Fate has favored Olid until that time. “Las Casas was kept a prisoner, soon to be joined by González, who had been captured by Olid’s inland force,” writes Robustiano Vera. As he fled, González was surprised near Choloma and brought to Olid by Briones, one of Olid’s captains.

Olid became victorious against two divided foes, and moved the men to the town of Naco, a large pre-Hispanic town right outside of the Maya territory, but certainly with contact and trade with the Maya. While Naco today is an unimpressive dirt road settlement, 500 years ago it was the center of a three way competition of Spanish conquistadores trying to secure land that promised perhaps as many resources and opportunities as Mexico just a couple of years before.

Fortunes turned on Olid’s miscalculation. Olid allowed his two prisoners to leave their prison and have dinner with him. “One night after the snack, and Olid being alone with his prisoners, Las Casas got up and grabbed Olid by the beard and buried a sharp knife that he had hidden under his dress in his throat. Gil González threw himself at the same time and also cruelly wounded him… Thus he was able to escape and went to hide in some bushes,” writes Robustiano Vera in his 1899 book “Notes on the history of Honduras.”

Olid was eventually found out and brought back. Olid was accused of treason against the Spain’s royal power. A brief trial took place and Olid was found guilty and sentenced to death. On January 16, 1525, his head was cut off and placed on a spike on the main plaza in the town of Naco. This rushed judgment and execution came into question soon after in Mexico. Even the locals felt this was not a fair treatment for Olid.

The relationship with the new Spanish bosses and local population deteriorated. The locals refused to supply more food and the Spanish left. Las Casas and González left for Mexico, and other settler went to establish settlements in other parts of Honduras.

Olid can arguably be considered the founder of what would eventually become Honduras. To other conquistadors, Olid was seen as an independent operator, dangerous to other Spanish players – especially Cortés.

When Las Casa and González returned to Mexico, the new man in charge – Salazar de la Pedrada – had replaced Cortés as governor and didn’t like them making themselves the judge and executioner of a well respected Olid. What didn’t help was that the two continued to insist they owed their alliance to Cortés and not to Pedrada. So Salazar de la Pedrada had them arrested and tried for Olid’s execution. He was determined to execute them, but finally, the two were taken to Spain as prisoners and avoided further consequences.

Cortés himself avoided travelling through Naco.

Cortés in Honduras

Hernán Cortés decided to head to Honduras himself in 1525, via a land route. Cortés’s main force headed for the coast, while a smaller force travelled by land, south to Naco.
When Cortés arrived in Nito, on the tip of the Bay of Honduras on his overland journey from Mexico, the settlement was manned with a few dozen Spaniards, ill-provisioned and unhealthy form malaria and other diseases. A Spanish ship full of provisions arrived just in time.

The Spanish raced to repair a caravel and a brigantine and sail east to arrive in Honduras by sea. Nito was judged too unhealthy to remain. Cortés himself avoided travelling through Naco on his march across Mayan country and travelled from Río Dulce via boat to Puerto Cortés, then Trujillo, then set off north to Havana.

Captain Sandoval of Cortés’s crew went with soldiers and settlers to the valley of Naco, where Olid made his headquarters earlier. Sandoval found Naco deserted right before their arrival. This was not uncommon. The Spanish would find abandoned towns on their paths of conquest as populations fearing for their lives would scatter and leave everything behind. “We took up our quarters in some very large courts where they had beheaded Cristobal de Olid. The pueblo was well provisioned with maize and beans and Chili peppers, and we also found a little salt which was the thing we needed most,” wrote Bernal Díaz of his arrival in Naco. Even though Spanish conquest disrupted trade, Naco recovered and continued operating as a trade center.

Paya Magazine went looking for the unknown burial site of de Olid.

Nonetheless, the Spanish were impressed with the natural resource of the valley and Naco river. “In this pueblo is the best water we have found in New Spain, and a tree which in the noon-day heat, be the sun ever so fierce, appears to refresh the heart with its shade, and there falls from it a sort of very fine dew which comforts the head,” according to 1539 accounts of Francisco de Montejo.

1525 and After

One of Francisco de Las Casas parting contributions to Honduran History was the founding of the country’s third oldest city, and later its first capital, Trujillo. On May 18, 1525 de las Casas founded Trujillo before departing with his prisoner Gil González Dávila.

Later in 1520s Honduras saw several explorers and conquistadores from Spain. One of them was the Juan de Grijalva who explored Cuba in 1511 and then Mexican coasts on Yucatan and Tabasco in 1518. In 1527 de Grijalva joined Pedro Arias Dávila in exploration of Honduras and Nicaragua. Grijalva was killed by natives in Olancho and buried there.

Olid’s Lost Grave

Without a doubt the principal historical figure of Honduras’ Conquista was that of Cristóbal de Olid. He is the country’s forgotten conquistador, and an overlooked hero that brought the first vestiges of western civilization, Christianity, and European administration.

Paya Magazine went looking for the unknown burial site of de Olid. We made two trips to Naco, Cortés, and areas surrounding that town. While Naco is now a backwater town, it was once a well known and well inhabited place.

The town is located where Naco river runs into Chamelecón river and where the valley widens, allowing ample area for cultivation. The Naco Valley is situated in the middle part of the Chamelecón Valley. In the 1500s, Naco was estimated to have as many as 10,000 inhabitants and was located on the edge of Mayan civilization. Mayan language was certainly spoken, or at least known to the natives. The Spanish were already familiar with Mayan civilization and dialects during their conquest of Mexico in the years prior.

His contribution to the Honduran nation remain unacknowledged.

The foothill area where we focused our search for de Olid’s grave is known to be under control of narco gangs. While we looked for Olid’s grave, we found many abandoned graves but nothing dating further than maybe a century.

While Naco is forgotten, it is still one of Honduras’ premier colonial archeological sites. It was located in a transitional zone between the Maya to the west and non-Maya tribes to the East. “Historical and archaeological evidence indicates that Naco, one of the principal late pre-Hispanic centers in the region, maintained strong ties with the rest of the Maya world and with non-Maya Central America,” writes John Henderson of Cornell University.

The archeological location of the Naco can be traced to Naco Nuevo and Las Flores de Naco. Local oral tradition remembers “El Rey” who fled wounded to the El Salto waterfall on the Naco River. According to the story, he was brought back from there and killed. In high likelihood, the story described Cristobal de Olid final days.

Where to Honduran Man?

A man who not knows his father, will not know his past and will not be in control of his destiny. The people who are in charge in Honduras, those obliging memorization of national hymns and requiring school children parades in Lempira costumes, are interested in keeping the memory of Olid and other Spanish conquistadors unknown.

While Olid was accused of treason and executed, that is nothing new. Fierce competition and even summary execution of conquistadors was not without precedent.
Olid met the same fate as reputed founder of Nicaragua, Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, two years later in 1526. Cordoba, the founder of Granada and Leon, was executed in Leon Viejo by the order of Pedro Arias de Ávila, the colonial administrator who was named governor of Nicaragua a year later.

Since Córdoba was accused as an insurrectionist and a traitor, he was beheaded. His headless remains were discovered in 2000, in a crypt at the church of La Merced in León Viejo. That same year his remains were moved to a monument at the old Managua cathedral and honored with a 21 cannon salute.

Olid’s remains, on the other hand, remain undiscovered. His contribution to the Honduran nation remain unacknowledged. While ignored, the undisputed fact is that Cristobal del Olid was a first class adventurer and valiant conquistador. There is a valid case for Hondurans to claim Olid as their founding father.

When Roatan was Part of The Mexican Empire

Two hundred years ago, Roatan was a part of Mexico, and the island’s head of state was Augustin I. The several hundred Garifuna living on the east side of the island enjoyed the freedom to travel as far as California or Tejas if they wished. While the First Mexican Empire lasted only 18 months, it established a precedent for larger geopolitical agreements like NAFTA (The North American Free Trade Agreement) or CAFTA (Central America-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement) on a regional and global scale that continue to have a significant impact to this day. On January 5, 1822, Roatan, along with the rest of Central America, became part of the Mexican Empire as the territory was annexed by Mexico. The period from 1822 to 1823 marked the second of three times when Roatan and the Bay Islands were integrated into a larger geopolitical entity with a king, queen, or emperor serving as its top executive. Prior to this, for 297 years, from 1524 to 1821, the islands were formally a part of the Spanish Empire as part of the Captaincy General of Guatemala. Thirty years after the First Mexican Empire, in 1852, the Bay Islands became a part of another empire, the British Empire, under Queen Victoria. The Bay Islands Colony remained under British rule for a bit longer, lasting nine years until 1861.

Provincial governors appointed by the Spanish still held sway in the region.

Honduras’ Place in the Empire

In the 1820s, the elites of Honduras’ then-capital, Comayagua, along with those in Nicaragua’s León, were among the more supportive groups favoring annexation. Of the five Central American countries, Honduras was perhaps the most enthusiastic about becoming part of the Mexican Empire.
In contrast, other provinces in Central America, aside from Chiapas, were less keen on gaining independence from Spain only to relinquish it to a Mexican Empire. The political elites in El Salvador, Costa Rica, and Granada, Nicaragua, were so opposed to the idea that they even considered military resistance.
The political dilemma primarily concerned the political elite of the Central American countries. For the majority of the region’s population, who lived their lives on a local scale, such matters were of little concern. They were not preoccupied with analyzing the nuances, benefits, or opportunities of living in either a republic or an empire governed by a crowned head of state in Mexico or Spain. Most indigenous peoples remained indifferent to the issue of Honduras’ annexation into Mexico.
On November 28, 1821, Agustín de Iturbide formally requested the annexation of Central America into the Mexican Empire in a letter. He argued that stability and security in Central America could only be achieved through union with Mexico. “My object is only to manifest to you that the present interest of Mexico and Guatemala is so identical or indivisible that they cannot constitute themselves in separate or independent nations without risking the security of each,” he wrote.
Agustín de Iturbide sought a peaceful annexation and took decisive steps to ensure its success. He dispatched troops to Central America to maintain civil order and appointed Brigadier General Vicente Filísola to establish and solidify Mexican control over the region.

Honduras was perhaps the most enthusiastic about becoming part of the Mexican Empire.

In response to Agustín’s letter, all 237 municipalities across Central America published its contents and held open municipal council meetings to allow citizens to weigh in on the government’s decisions. After 30 days, a vote on annexation was conducted. The cabildos voted for complete annexation without conditions. On January 5, 1822, the Consultative Junta voted unanimously in favor of annexing Central America to the Mexican Empire.
As a result of the annexation, this included Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, Mexico reached its greatest territorial extent. The people of Central America, as well as Roatán’s Garifuna population, were automatically granted Mexican citizenship.

Roatan’s Place in the Mexican Empire

In 1823, Roatan was part of an empire that stretched from mission settlements in San Francisco, California, to Costa Rica. Unlike its nearby desert islands of Utila and Guanaja, Roatan was inhabited on its eastern end by several hundred Garifuna people.
Interestingly, it was the British who sowed the seeds of colonization, initially aligning the island with the Spanish Empire, then the Mexican Empire, and eventually Honduras. The Garifuna, brought by the British military, landed on Roatan on the stormy day of February 25, 1797. These Roatan Garifuna were part of a larger group of 5,000 who were forcibly removed by the British from the island of St. Vincent. Known as the Black Caribs, they were transported from St. Vincent via Jamaica to Roatan aboard the HMS Experiment.
By 1822, Roatan was a distant Mexican possession, much like Tejas, California, and New Mexico. However, Roatan was far from a deserted island; it had a vibrant population of a few hundred Garifuna who had experienced two wars with Great Britain. While Roatan and Trujillo were the original points of Garifuna settlement, the Black Caribs were also establishing communities along the Honduran coast, reaching as far as Tela and the Mosquito Coast.
The Garifuna of Roatan received support from the Catholic Church and the Diocese of Trujillo. A common approach for aiding a remote Catholic community like Roatan’s was to periodically send a Catholic priest to the island to celebrate Mass and administer sacraments such as baptisms and marriages.

Roatan’s Garifuna population, were automatically granted Mexican citizenship.

Tragedy of Agustin I

On May 18, 1822, the military in Mexico City proclaimed Iturbide as Emperor Agustín I. A day later, a majority in the Mexican Congress ratified the decision and recommended that the Mexican monarchy be hereditary.
Developments unfolded rapidly, and on July 21, Iturbide was consecrated as Emperor in Mexico City’s cathedral in a grand ceremony. His wife, Ana María Huarte, was crowned
Empress of Mexico. The event bore similarities to the 1804 crowning of Napoleon Bonaparte in Reims Cathedral.
Agustín’s prestige began to wane rapidly, and a rift developed between the army supporting him and the civilian Congress. Just three months after his coronation, on October 31, 1822, Agustín dissolved Congress and began ruling through an appointed 45-member junta. This act served as a pretext for the subsequent revolt against him.
On March 19, 1823, in the wake of a plot against him, Agustín abdicated the Mexican throne and went into exile, bringing an end to the history of the first Mexican Empire. In its stead, three Mexican military officers – Nicolás Bravo, Guadalupe Victoria, and Pedro Negrete – established the Supreme Executive Power.
The abdication of Emperor Agustín marked the end of Central America and Honduras being part of Mexico. On March 29, 1823, after news of Agustín’s abdication reached the region, plans were made to form a Central American congress to determine its future. On April 1, 1823, the Mexican Constituent Congress instructed the Mexican military in Central America to cease hostilities with anti-annexation forces.

Central American Congress

On June 18, 1823, the Mexican congress instructed Filísola to attend the upcoming session of the Central American congress. He received instructions to respect the Central American congress’s decision on whether to remain in union with Mexico or become an independent state.
The final chapter of Bay Islands being part of Mexico unfolded on June 29, 1823. Out of the 41 representatives in Congress, 37 voted to appoint Delgado as the president of the National Constituent Assembly of Central America. On July 1, 1823, this assembly declared independence from Mexico and reaffirmed their independence from Spain. This historic declaration marked the birth of the United Provinces of Central America, with all states except Chiapas choosing to be independent.

I die with honor, not as a traitor.

Why the Empire didn’t last

The short-lived Mexican Empire faced numerous adversaries and conspirators who were opposed to the idea of a powerful, Catholic nation spanning from the Pacific to the Atlantic across such a vast territory. During the reign of Augustin I, U.S. envoys were already engaged in efforts to persuade Mexican officials to sell their northern territory. This precedent had been established two decades earlier, in 1803, with the questionable acquisition of 530 million acres of French Louisiana from Emperor Napoleon.
The French Revolution of 1789 and the American Revolution both had a dominant, albeit not frequently discussed, presence of Freemasonry within the ranks of the revolutionaries. The Freemasonic influences and their agendas, which included anti-monarchism and opposition to the Church, played a prevailing role in these revolutions. Freemasonry was also pivotal in the overthrow of Spanish rule and the Spanish monarchy in the Americas.
Following the departure of the Spanish and a weakened Catholic Church, Mexico turned into a tumultuous battleground marked by the presence of three secret societies: York Rite Masonry, Continental Masonry, and National Mexican Rite Masonry. The situation escalated to such an extent that just five years after the dissolution of the Mexican Empire, in 1827, the Montaño rebellion called for the prohibition of secret societies throughout the country. The scheming York Rite Freemason and U.S. diplomat, Joel Roberts Poinsett, was expelled from Mexico during this turbulent period.

Iturbide’s Death

After his abdication, Iturbide chose to seek refuge first in Italy and later in England. In England, he earned income by writing memoirs. Unbeknownst to him, the Mexican Congress, fearful of his return, had issued a decree condemning him to death as a traitor in case he set foot in Mexico again.
Iturbide arrived in Mexico in July 1824. Just four days later, on July 19, in Padilla, Tamaulipas, Iturbide, often referred to as the Iron Dragon, received his last rites and was executed by firing squad. His final words were: “Mexicans! In the very moment of my death, I implore you to love your homeland and to uphold our religion, for it will lead you to glory. I die having come here to assist you, and I face death with courage, for I die among you. I die with honor, not as a traitor. I leave no stain on my children or my legacy. I am not a traitor. No.”

Mathew Harper’s Book Debuts with ‘A Handful of Seashells’

Harper comes from a middle class family. In 1987, after two years of school in England he came across an advertisement in Daily Telegraph for a teaching position in Honduras. Harper turned down officers training course at the Royal Military Academy at Sand Hurst for a teaching position in Santa Helena island-a place with no electricity, and few people who could read or write.

While Santa Helena was no place to advance in British Military or society, it was a perfect place to study the complex, rugged characters as eccentric as the island itself. Back then Bay Islands and especially Santa Helena was a place stuck in a time vortex: full of colorful and eccentric individuals rugged as the sea that sustained them.

Today Harper is polishing his writing. Harper is fascinated by the tweaking of sentences of his stories until they become little masterpieces of sound and meaning. One of the most beautiful and insightful phrases in the book is where Harper describes his time on a remote beach on a Honduran fishing bank. “Being my mother’s son, I took a handful of colorful shells from the beach, selected the best, and put them in my pocket to remember that day in that most idyllic of places.”

Harper’s favorite writer is Earnest Hemmingway and like that American writer he paints Bay Islands full of colorful, gritty characters with their dilemmas and adventures. “What I enjoy about writing is painting word pictures,” said Harper.

Harper always liked the adventurous Ernest Hemingway and nostalgic James Joyce, eloquent Albert Camus and was fascinated by the reclusive Englishman James Hamilton Patterson. Harper himself is a character living a life of adventure and mentorship. After working at a seafood packing plant and at RECO (Roatan Electric Company) he has introduced the game of rugby to Honduras and he served as British Honorary Consul to the Bay Islands. He was eventually elected on the board of RECO and made his way up from a meter reader, studying and starting his own electrical company Green Hill Energy.

Now, after 35 years of living on the islands, Mathew Harper spends much of his time behind a desk in a sterile, white and air conditioned office. By day he is the operations manager at RECO and his work is often stressful. Writing has been a cantharis for Harper.

During the forced COVID lockdowns he found time to self-reflect and rewrite some stories he wrote down before. He was diagnosed with depression and found that one way of fighting it was to write and to edit older stories he had written down years ago, but put aside. This is how the idea for “A handful of Seashells” came about.

Then Harper decided to bite the bullet. He wrote at night and produced a collection of stories that capture the spirit of the Bay Islands and the souls that made them their home: simple, rugged people, eccentrics and desperados.

The stories featured in “A Handful of Seashells” are autobiographical in nature and follow Harper’s adventures in Saint Helena, Roatan and on Honduran fishing banks. His first story – “Dragon” is a story of a fishing trip he made alone on his father’s in law cut out paddle dory named Dragon.

Harper is fascinated by the tweaking of sentences of his stories until they become little masterpieces.

The story describes the stress of young fatherhood and effect of family bickering. Harper is wrestling not only with the dory, but with a dragon of his childhood dreams and youthful expectations. The story is melancholic and at moments harsh as a paper cuts. Especially as Harper describes his in-laws and their expectations of him. The author does that while painting a watercolor of 1990s Saint Helena and Barbareta.

Both Harper’s stories and his writing style are reminiscent of Jack London, He is often harsh describing his characters, but honest. He is in fact thoughtful and caring. He finds beauty and meaning in the most mundane parts of life. “A complex character like we all are coming to live here,” he described Adolf Ulrich, a German man from Breslau who moved to Saint Helene and married a local lady.

In his stories Mathew deals with the subject of seeking recognition and approval of his fellow men. One of them is a rough and awkward German man bent over by life and age. Harper tells a story of their encounters, competition and finally comradely. Ulrich first come to the Bay Islands when he worked on the treasure hunting boat called the Rambler that sunk just past Fort Cay in Port Royal.

While Harper is sometimes harsh with his depictions of characters; but he is also honest and sensitive. He is even honest with himself. He describes coming to the islands as a 22-year-old lad and then abandoning his respected profession to marry and lead meager existence spear fishing and cultivating cassava while supporting his wife.

“Gladiator” is the longest, central story of the book. It is story about Harpers trip to lobster fishing grounds. It is also a story about Harper’s final initiations into the ways islanders make a living and go about their lives: from husking and chipping coconuts to freediving. From a schoolteacher Harper had become the student of everyone and everything. He became “a public school boy from a good family who ended up in the middle of Spanish Caribbean hustling to make ends meet.”

The stories in “A Handful of Seashells” are stories that remind us what an adventure and a roller coaster life really is. We cannot plan things out and even as things settle in away, we least expect them to. Harper’s stories also remind us of the beauty that a simple, honest life can bring.

“A Handful of Seashells” is self-published by Harper with Gatekeeper Press. The publisher helped Harper with editing proofreading and laying out the book. The book is available on Amazon and ibooks and on Roatan at Waves of Art gallery.

Harper is not only a writer; he is a historian.
He has been promoting the understanding of Bay Islands history like few people have, in fact like no one had before in many ways.
As a member of the Royal Historical Society… He often requests scans of documents and books form the British National Archives. He studies books and documents written by explorers, archeologists, mapmakers.
A lot of information Harper found in wills and testaments.

Harper is working on second book now. His next book is about a history of the Bay Islands and focuses on the characters involved in shaping this archipelago in 1700s and 1800s. Harper is researching the life of Admiral Nelson who was active as a young Naval Lieutenant in Western Caribbean. He is also interested in Colonel McDonald, who booted the Spaniards out of Fort Cay in Roatan’s Port Royal.
Another character was Sarah Forrester, who lived and died on Barbareta. She was employed looking after the island owner’s land and investments.

A Coffee Table book Presents Fashionable and Complex Perspective on the Bay Islands

Some of the book contributors are less known, others are very well known. The forward for the book was written by Ricardo Maduro, former Honduran president. The vibrant, colorful and engaging photographs were taken by some of Roatan’s best photographers: Ronald Pozzi, Shawn Jackson, Tim Blanton and Chris Bergler.

The book is divided into three chapters. The first chapter “Roatan Today” is the most ample with photos and is a capsule of Roatan from 2010s. The book’s pages are filled with rich and marvelous photographs, providing a look at Roatan and the Bay Islands through the eyes of great photographers.

Roatan is full of models and stunning landscapes. The book’s pages are interspersed with nuggets of introspection, and knowledge from entrepreneurs, islanders, educators, and artists. There are fascinating underwater photographs and exquisite landscape photos. There are portraits of islanders and fashion models with Roatan being their runway.

Chapter two “Introduction” is a historical analysis of the Bay Islands. “Roatan and the History of the Bay Islands” documents the history of the Bay Islands dating back to 600 AD and Paya settlements on the archipelago. The book presents photos of Paya yaba-ding-dings, beautifully crafted Paya vases, vessels and stele.

Roatan is in stride to keep the memory of the Bay Islands on our minds.

The island history is presented in words, through reprints of original documents, etchings and maps. There is the striking etchings from Columbus’ fourth voyage to the Americas, and the story of William Claiborne who funded a colony on Roatan in the 1630s.

The third chapter “Old Maps of the Bay Islands” presents a complete overview of Bay Islands in European maps. These are the virtually unknown 1506 maps by Alejandro Zorzi.

The maps generously displayed in the book are a delight to study. The Spanish, Dutch, French and English explorers portrayed the mysterious Bay Islands on the edges of the western Caribbean with expertise, imagination and increasing accuracy over centuries.

In the book’s 294 pages, the authors created a time capsule of Roatan that will serve as a reference point for generations to come. Sometimes it takes a visitor, or a transplant to tell us how rich a culture truly is.

People who don’t appreciate their history are bound to lose it. With books like that being published, Roatan is in stride to keep the memory of Bay Islands on our minds. The book is not only a venture into the island’s colorful, vibrant and diverse presence, but also offers a critical analysis of centuries of human presence in the archipelago.

“Roatan and the History of the Bay Islands” is available for purchase at the Buccaneer in French Harbour.

Historic Tragedy near Guanaja’s Shores

By Elke Jackson-McNab 
A pioneer in the floral industry on Roatan, Elke loves refurbishing, decorating, antiques, beautiful new and vintage things. Elke is very devoted to her family and her Christian life. She remembers vividly her interaction with the captain and crew of the Fantome in 1997, when this beautiful vessel first arrived to the islands.

The Fantome, originally named “The Flying Cloud” was considered one the world’s most luxurious yachts when she was completed in 1927. By 1998 this four-mast, 282-foot, steel-hulled staysail schooner was owned by Windjammer Barefoot Cruise based in Miami, Florida.

The yacht was built by the Italian navy and purchased before its completion by the Duke of Westminster. A few years later “The Flying Cloud” was sold to Nelson Warden, who died two years later and his wife let the yacht her go. “The Flying Cloud” was then acquired in auction by Arthur Guinness, who renamed her “Fantome” which in French means ghost.

In 1956[U1] it is said that Aristotle Onassis “the Greek Tycoon,” purchased her as a wedding gift for Princess Grace of Monaco. Onassis did not receive an invitation to the wedding, so he just left the yacht to rust at a port in Kiel, Germany. In 1969 Captain Michael Burke Sr., owner of Windjammer Barefoot Cruise, bought her from Onassis. She was half sunken and rusting. When he first saw the Fantome, he was a bit disappointed, she was a wreck, but he could see her potential. He then refurbished the schooner at a cost of $6 million US, and she became flagship of his tall ship barefoot cruise line[U2].

Windjammer Cruises was a different kind of cruise. It was a very relaxed, go barefoot cruise. No special dress code was required and sometimes it was a you did not need any clothes at all.

In the spring of 1997 Mr. Allan Hyde, and Michael D. Burke Jr in Miami, made arrangements for Roatan to be one of the destinations of the Fantome. Mr. Allan offered me the job to assist him with the arrivals of this vessel. I knew very little about what I was supposed to do. I was fresh out of nothing: I never used my college degree much and knew no one with any experience in cruise ship arrivals. I had my sail up to where ever the wind blew, so I went for it.

Fantome that was the first cruise ship to dock there.

Captain Paul and another representative from Windjammer in Miami come to the island in early April 1997. We toured them around so they could see the beauty of the island. There were not that many options for tourist back then, but they seem pleased with what we had to offer. Roatan did have some of the most beautiful beaches, and diving spots.

I remember the excitement I felt the day the Fantome arrived to Roatan. It was the summer of 1997 and the cruise port dock in Coxen Hole was almost completed. In fact it was the Fantome that was the first cruise ship to dock there.

We arrived early that morning: Mr. Allan, his son Shawn, Nadeen, the customs agents, and I. We soon saw her sailing in, slowly on horizon. The Fantome was a beautiful ship, she was majestic, something you thought you would only see in a movie.

Everything was well kept, polished, even though she was 70 years old, Fantome still preserved her original beauty. Captain Guyan March was always very friendly. He was a handsome blonde British born man, who had started very early at sea. At 32 he was considered Windjammer’s “golden boy.”

The Fantome only came to Roatan a few times. I remember the last time I went to receive, and entered this ship. We waited in the lobby to be attended, an in a few minutes the deck was covered with nude men.  They just stood around talking to each other; some with drinks in their hands, laughing, and chatting as if they were all wearing tuxedos. I had never, ever felt so out of place in my entire life. I acted as if it all was perfectly normal to me, and did my job.

As I met with Captain Guyan, he explained to us that it was a nude cruise for gay men, and asked if there were any nude beaches on the island. Later that afternoon we returned to the vessel with paperwork, and found the passengers jumping off the ship into the sea, having a merry good time. And again, yes they were all nude.

The deck was covered with nude men.

I don’t really know much more about the Fantome and her crew after this. They change route, and moved to Omoa, Cortes where she was home-ported. The yacht sailed to Belize, Hog Islands and Utila. Passengers would fly to San Pedro Sula, and then they were shuttled to Omoa to meet the ship. I never quite understood why they left Roatan.

According to what’s documented the Fantome left Omoa, Cortes, with Captain March, and his crew on October 25, 1998 headed for Belize to drop off the 97 passengers, and all non-essential crew. Fantome was left with 31 crew, one being a Honduran “Jesús Hernández,” who could not get off in Belize because he did not have the correct paperwork.

October 27, 1998, was a historic day in my life. Mitch, a category five hurricane, and one of the most devastating storms, blew with a relentless intensity. The island of Guanaja was left looking as if a fire had destroyed all the trees on its once green and beautiful hills.

Entire communities were devastated in Guanaja. Yet God wrapped his arms around the island and saved the islanders lives. October 27 was also my husband’s Birthday; he turned 32, the same age as Captain Guyan. Sadly, it was the last day for the Fantome, and her crew.

Guanaja was left looking as if a fire had destroyed all the trees. 

I was devastated to learn about the Fantome’s demise. Windjammer headquarters in Miami had been in touch with Capt. March all day via satellite phone trying to direct the boat to safety. Fantome was trying to find shelter on the lee side of the Bay Islands.

Shawn Hyde, Mr. Allan’s son, recalled an early conversation between the agent in Belize, his father, and the captain regarding what they would do in the event of a hurricane. The Captain answered “head out to sea.” Someone then said: “Well that’ll be the last you’ll see of her.”

Captain March found himself in a very difficult position, inside the small bridge room where he, and first mate Crispín were in had only one window about two by three feet. He described to headquarters that they were facing over 100 miles an hour winds, and up to 30-40-foot seas, the ship was being battered from all directions, the Fantome was taking 40 degree rolls. I cannot even begin to imagine the horror they faced in those last hours.

At 4:30 pm October 27 1998, the satellite phone went dead, and headquarters lost communication with the Fantome. Capt Guyan March, and his crew members lost at sea in a merciless deadly storm. Fantome rests at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea, likely somewhere south of Guanaja. Yet what exactly what happened we will never know.

“Well that’ll be the last you’ll see of her.”

A couple days later, on November 2, two life rafts, seven life jackets, a life ring, and part of a wooden staircase were discovered by a helicopter dispatched by British destroyer the HMS Sheffield near Guanaja.

Even so many years later there are families, and friends who remember that dreadful day and Miss Captain March, his crew, and the Fantome.