THE VANDERBILT HISTORICAL REVIEW

Abstract: Before the invention of the artificial sponge, sea sponges were an industrial and household necessity throughout the United States and Europe, where they were put to purposes ranging from surgery to automobile manufacturing and military maintenance. As industrial demand grew, sponges from the Cuba’s shallow coastal waters became a crucial supplier. Most of the Cuban industry centered around the town of Surgidero de Batabanó, a small southern fishing village that bec