1904 – The British steamer Sorle, sailing from Tampa to Europe with phosphate, ran aground near Rebecca Shoal. Wreckers refloated the vessel, only to have winds drive it onshore again.
1914 – The Florida East Coast Railroad construction boat Columbia overturned near Conch Key, killing second engineer Charles Seymour.
1918 – Five boys ages 12 to 18 were arrested at Stock Island for placing a handcar and other obstacles on the railroad track in an attempt to wreck the train.
1923 – An Aero-Marine Airways plane from Key West to Havana crashed off the Cuban coast. The railroad ferry rescued five people from the wreck, but four passengers were lost.
1927 – Harris Tuttle of the Eastman Kodak Company was in Key West to film the island city for a newsreel to be screened in cinemas across the United States.
1981 – A 41-degrees temperature during the night tied the all-time record low for Key West. The same temperature was recorded on the same date 95 years before.
1989 – President-elect George H.W. Bush arrived at Marathon Airport to spend a few days fishing at Islamorada.
1994 – Former Key West City Commissioner Harry Powell, in an attempt to stop construction of the Navy housing project at Peary Court, took over a construction trailer with what he claimed was dynamite with a dead man’s switch. After a nine-hour stand-off he was taken into custody and charged armed burglary and possession of a destructive device.
1997 – Defense Department officials were seeking public input regarding their plan to test launch anti-ballistic missiles from the Cudjoe Key Air Force Station, an idea that was already stirring much local opposition.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: The plane Santa Maria of the Aeromarine West Indies Airways, U.S. & Cuban Mail Service. The Heritage House Collection, donated by the Campbell, Poirier and Pound families. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.