1822 – President James Monroe appointed Joel Yancey to be Collector of Customs at Key West.
1862 – The members of the 90th New York stationed at Key West received 4 months of back pay. One resident wrote, “…by paying an immensely large price, some of the men got liquor. Last night several were intoxicated and there was such a row all night that we could get but little sleep.”
1863 – A soldier stationed at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas wrote, “There was thousands of Jack Fish came up to the Bech after the Small ones. There was in less than Two Hours over Two Hundred caut. Some of the Boys Killed them with Stones, Shovels, and Boards.”
1867 – Former President of the Southern Confederacy Jefferson Davis stopped in Key West on his way to Havana, where he was going for his health.
1886 – The Jacksonville Times Union newspaper reported an interesting double marriage that had occurred in Key West in November: John Lowe, age 82, married Mary Harris, age 80, and the same evening his brother William Lowe, age 79, married Helen Saunders, age 70.
1930 – The Hydenoil Products Company on Big Pine Key reported the catch of a mackerel shark 14 1/2 feet long and 10 feet in circumference, with a weight of 1,752 pounds. Hydenoil processed shark skins for leather, livers for oil, and sold the fins for soup.
1969 – The shrimp trawlers Sea Star and Miss Renee collided 40 miles west of Key West, sinking the Sea Star in 90 feet of water. In a separate incident, another shrimper, the Miss Darlene, sank northwest of Key West in 75 feet of water.
1991 – Jill and Denny Hatch of Big Coppitt Key located a pouch of family jewelry in the landfill at Cudjoe Key, after the heirlooms had been inadvertently put in the garbage. The Hatches, with the aid of the truck driver and landfill managers, found the likeliest dump spot and rooted through the smelly waste for hours before locating the jewels. “The shower felt real good when we got home,” said Mrs. Hatch.
2008 – Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Superintendent LCDR Dave Score announced that he would be leaving the position. Sean Morton, Director for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, was named to be his replacement.
Information compiled by the late Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Hydenoil shark operation on Big Pine Key C 1920s. John Harold Sands Jr. collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center