Safeguarding Coastal Traffic along the Florida Keys
First Light on the Reefs by Love Dean
A distinguished student of the life and sea lore of the Florida Keys gives an arresting picture of the development of the lighthouse system which warns shipping of the dangers of these waters. Today, this is the scene where archaeologists are fighting to save the cargoes and remains of ships that have been lost here for over four centuries. Sailing southwest and westward along the Florida Keys at night is a precarious adventure. Ships hug the treacherous coral reefs lying offshore to avoid the strong northward-flowing current of the Gulf Stream. In the daytime and in clear weather there is no problem . The color contrasts in these waters are clearly visible and provide mariners with sure knowledge of their location . The water in the Gulf Stream is deep blue and there is a pretty clear demarcation line along its western edge. The light green water over the reefs is mottled with pale ochre and dark brown. Ships find safe sailing in the clear aquamarine water between the Stream and the reefs. Northbound ships seek the maximum Gulf Stream current to speed them on their way. But before lighthouses were built along the Florida Keys mariners had no way of knowing at night how close they were sailing to the reefs at night and during storms . As a result , the area has long been a menace to shipping. The chain of dangerous reefs and shoals lies about five miles from the keys extending in a circular sweep from Virginia Key near Cape Florida to Loggerhead Key in the Dry Tortugas, a distance of about 192 miles . On early sixteenth-century Spanish charts the islands were often indicated in the wrong places, sometimes closer to Cuba than Florida; the number of islands varied; and most reefs were uncharted. The Spanish called the Keys "Los Martires ," the Martyrs , and perhaps the name referred to the many ships that had been swept on the reefs during severe storms and destroyed. Once the Spanish establi shed colonies in Central and South America, the riches of the New World began to pour back to Spain and the rest of Europe by way of the Gulf Stream. This northerly course ran perilously close to the reefs off the Keys. Treasure from sunken Spanish ships is still being discovered today , and remains of four centuries of shipwrecks can be seen on the coral reefs. The reef system running parallel to the islands from Key Largo to Lower Matecumbe was known as Carysford Reef, named for HMS Carysford, which ran aground there October 23, 1770. By 1848 the name of the reef had changed to ''Carysfort, " and one US navigational chart noted its " great extent of dangerous shoals and sunken rocks. " Beginning in the late eighteenth century, sav ing ships that went aground or sank and recovering cargo were lucrati ve businesses. Millions of dollars worth of cargo was shipped along thi s Gulf Stream route. Companies, merchants and foreign governments as well as ship owners and operators began to demand better charts and navigational aids for the Keys . They also wanted the United States government to take action against the pirates operating in the Florida Straits. Congress eventually felt the pressure and in 1822 appropriated money for lighthouses to be built at Cape Florida and on the Dry Tortugas , and for a naval base at Cayo Hueso (Key West) which had become a pirates' haven . An estimated 10,000 pirates operated around Cuba and the Florida Straits in the early 1800s . With the rapid development of Key West as a major port and naval base , the government erected an eighty-five-foot high masonry lighthouse there in 1825. The following year a smaller brick lighthouse was constructed on Sand Key seven miles to the southwest. There were still hundreds of miles of SEA HISTORY , SPRING 1986
Above, salvagers, locally called "wreckers ," at work along the Florida Keys . Elsewhere "wreckers" often referred to those engaged in the intentional destruction of vessels by the placement of false lights along the coast. Courtesy the Monroe County May Hill Russell Public Library, Key West . Below, the innovative wrought iron structures which have successfully withstood the corrosive and destructive environment of the sea . Ships often stopped at the lighthouse for water: " Capt. Charles Baker of the Schooner Rapid boarded this station in want of water and provisions," runs one keeper's journal. " / exchanged, with the consent of both assistants, a barrel of flour , a little pork, and a quart of vinegar for different kinds of fruit." Sometimes the keepers would board vessels to post letters, to pick up newspapers, or just talk.
unmarked coral reefs, and Carysfort reef was considered one of the most dangerous. It was estimated that more than twenty percent of all the wrecks between Cape Florida and the Tortugas went down along Carysfort . The Lighthouse Service realized it was essential to mark Carysfort reef in some way , but the engineering techniques for building a lighthouse exposed to the open sea had not yet been developed . Until this time lighthouses in the United States and Europe were constructed of either wood or masonry and
FLORIDA 10
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Carysfort Light
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MILES Elbow Light*
Key' Largo •
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Greci~
Rocks Tavernier·
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N fslamorada •
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* Layton ·
* Maratt'°° ·
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• J(e'fWest
* Sand Key Ugh!
Looe Key Light
* American Shoal Maryland Shoal
Tennessee Reef
Coffins Patch light
* Sombrero Key Light
Bocagiica •
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* Molasses Ugh Conch Reef
Crocker light
Alligator Ree f