1836 – The schooner Harriett , sailing from Baltimore to Mobile with a cargo of dry goods, groceries, and provisions, and wrecked on...

1898 – A large English steamship ran aground at Coffins Patch 10 miles from Sombrero Key Lighthouse with a cargo of cotton. The crew was...

1862 – A Key West man bragged to soldiers of the 47th Pennsylvania regiment about his secessionist principles and swore that he could...

1894 – Key West’s General Abe Sawyer, 41 inches tall and billed as the smallest man in America, spoke in Jacksonville on “The...

1860 – The USS Crusader arrived at Key West with the captured slave ship Bogota . Bogota’s 411 Africans were turned over to U.S....

1847 – The ship General Jackson , sailing from New York to New Orleans, went ashore on a reef 15 miles from Key West. The ship bilged...

1843 – There were three wrecks on the reefs near Key West: the Russian bark Harlampy , carrying 1,818 boxes of white Havana sugar and...

1850 – Key West Wreckers were trying to save the Belgian brig Havana Packet , which had gone ashore near Caesar’s Creek, North Key...

1826 – A brig sailing from Havana to Boston wrecked near the Carysfort lightship and went to pieces. Part of its cargo of coffee and...

1829 – After nearly two weeks of effort, the ship Britannia was towed to Key West from where it had wrecked on Conch Reef. Jacob Housman...

1829 – During a gale, the British ship Britannia , carrying rum, sugar, coffee, pimento, fustic and hides from Jamaica, wrecked on Conch...

1853 – Bowne and Curry successfully tested a marine railway that was capable of lifting vessels of 500 tons. 1858 – Professor Louis...

1926 – Herman Wolkowsky of Key West erected a 16-by-24-foot promotional sign in Miami that read “You Have Not Seen Florida Until You See...

1854 – The schooner Montauk arrived at Key West from Mobile with a cargo of lumber for the construction of Browne and Curry’s clipper...

1852 – Wreckers engaged in salvaging the ship Telamon , wrecked on Delta Shoal, contracted with Daniel Davis to refloat the vessel by...

1850 – The brig Isabella Reed , sailing from New Orleans to Savannah, ran aground on Conch Reef, but the captain refused assistance from...

1826 – The ship Ellen , sailing from Havana to Philadelphia, went ashore on Carysfort Reef. Wreckers saved the dismasted vessel and...

1848 – The Irish ship Mertoun , sailing from New Orleans to Liverpool, wrecked at Delta Shoal off Key Vaca with 1,400 bales of cotton,...

1828 – The brig George , sailing from Maine to New Orleans, after having run aground at the Dry Tortugas, was helped off by three...

1861 – At Fort Independence in Boston Harbor, Major Lewis G. Arnold of the 2nd United States Artillery was ordered to “embark your...