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                                                                      EXHIBIT 17

                     [LOGO OF HOLT COMPANIES APPEARS HERE]

                               November 16, 1995

Board of Directors
Zapata Corporation
1717 St. James Place, Suite 550
Houston, Texas 77056

Attention: Mr. Malcolm I. Glazer, Chairman of the Board

Gentlemen:

  As a shareholder and director of Zapata Corporation ("Zapata"), I am becoming 
increasingly alarmed as I more fully understand the new objectives which have 
been set for Zapata and various actions which have been or will soon be taken in
furtherance of these objectives.

  For those who have become members of the Board of Directors since the 
acquisition of my family's gas compression business ("Energy Industries") I 
point out that when my family sold Energy Industries to Zapata in 1993, the sale
was not merely an act on our part to cash in on our work and investment. Rather,
we viewed the sale as an opportunity to insure the continued growth and success 
of Energy Industries and looked forward to contributing to, and by taking a 
substantial equity position, enjoying the benefit of, such success. At the time,
we believed that Zapata was committed to the common objective, recited in our 
agreement, of "combining resources to allow for an enhanced natural gas 
compression business and to lay the foundation

 for the structuring of an 
integrated gas services company." I have, since my involvement with Zapata, 
considered Energy Industries to be Zapata's "flagship operation," thought its 
markets continued to "appear attractive," have expected its profitability to 
"improve" and believed that "the prospects for continued growth remain 
favorable." The words quoted are those used by Malcolm Glazer in his letter to 
Zapata's shareholders of December 28, 1994 and I quote them because I cannot 
convey my sentiments of that date or today regarding Energy Industries any 
better than did Malcolm.

  Notwithstanding Malcolm's assurances that the prospects for Energy Industries 
remained bright as of the end of 1994, Zapata has recently disclosed a new 
strategic plan which is premised upon Zapata's departure from the energy 
services industry and its entry into the food service industry. Our duty, as a 
Board of Directors, requires that the Zapata's shareholders be told exactly why,
when and by whom this new strategy was adopted. The decision was not made by the
Board of Directors. To my knowledge, the September 20, 1995 special meeting of 
the Board was the first occasion on which the new strategy was presented to the 
Board for a vote, and the