Woman discovers quirky item in sand in Indialantic
Rubber bale likely to be from sunken WWII ship
For years Dr. Melanie Rotenberg has walked the beach multiple times a week looking for sea beans and picking up trash.
The most unusual thing she found in all her years of walking was an identification card from a Cuban woman.
That was until last week.
Rotenberg, a retired physician, was doing her usual beach walk with her son, husband and a friend visiting from out of town when they spotted a large item in the sand in Indialantic. At first they thought it was a block of stone or petrified wood.
Turns out it was a rubber bale nearly 80 years old that likely has a history tied to World War II and the Germans. Experts and historians believe the item came from a German ship sunk by the U.S. Navy off the coast of Brazil in 1944.
The only reason Rotenberg was able to make the connection was because she recently attended the 28th annual International Sea-Bean Symposium and Beachcombers’ Festival in Cocoa Beach. A speaker at the event spoke about debris turning up on Florida beaches from the SS Rio Grande, which was attempting to sneak a load of raw materials through an allied naval blockade.
“Had I not seen those pictures or heard about it I would not have known what it was,” Rotenberg said. “It’s amazing it’s been floating almost 80 years and it suddenly floats up on our shores.”
Rotenberg estimated the large item was at least 300 pounds and had a distinct smell of rubber and burned oil. She did not see any identification on it, but noted it was too heavy to roll over.
Reports of similar pieces of debris have popped up along the coast in the past several years. Robert Taylor, dean of the College of Psychology and Liberal Arts at Florida Tech and an accomplished historian, said back in 1944 the German government had trouble getting certain materials and goods from other countries.
“They would from time to time hire ships that would run the blockade,” Taylor said. “I suspect it picked up cargo of rubber, tin and cobalt in Brazil and they were on their way back to Germany.”
The SS Rio Grande was spotted by the US Naval ships about 540 nautical miles off the coast of Brazil in January 1944. The crew of the SS Rio Grande abandoned the ship while the two American ships fired at it.
The ship was found in 1996 broken into two pieces more than 3 miles below the surface.
Chris Reddy, a senior scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, is part of a research team analyzing the shipwreck and its debris. He said he wasn’t surprised at all to learn about Rotenberg’s beach find.
“It is entirely reasonable that it is from that ship, but to be 100 percent sure you would have to go to the shipwreck, collect a sample and do a forensic analysis,” Reddy said. “When the ship sank, soon thereafter some of the bales were found in Brazil. Now 80 years later at least for the last three or four years we are hearing about people collecting samples off the coast of Florida.”
The way ocean currents move, Reddy said it’s highly likely Floridians are seeing debris from the sunken ship.
“If you literally put a message in a bottle off the coast of Brazil it comes to Palm Beach in 200 days,” Reddy said. “I think in many respects this is a real teachable moment about the impacts to the ocean, that they’re real. We’re seeing it 80 years later.“
If a beachgoer does stumble upon one of these rubber bales, Reddy suggested contacting a state environmentalist or the Coast Guard.
Florida Tech Professor Taylor advised fellow Brevardians to keep their eyes alert while on the beach, especially after a storm.
“It shows it’s been 80 years, but conflicts like World War II cast a long shadow,” he said.
Spitzer can be reached at mspitzer@floridatoday.com.