1825 – The Colombian schooner Colombiano arrived at Knight’s Key in a leaking condition after having struck a reef off Cuba. Several pirates had tried to attack the crippled vessel, and it was compelled to find safe harbor to get clear of them.
1905 – Tension was growing between British and American wreckers over the Dutch steamer Andania, wrecked at the Double-headed Shot Keys on Cay Sal Bank. Though the vessel was aground in British territory, a team of wreckers from Key West had reached it first and claimed salvage rights. Washington diplomats were likely to become involved.
1912 – Mulhall’s Wild West Show gave a performance at Trumbo Point. Colonel Mulhall’s show had appeared in all the major cities of the country and the tent was one of the largest ever used in Key West.
1915 – The accounts of Monroe County Tax Collector T.A. Sweeting were found to be $22,000 short. Auditors made this discovery 10 days after Sweeting had disappeared.
1933 – Depression-era Key West Mayor Wm. H. Malone issued a statement on city finances that said, “The city government of Key West has reached a crisis never before equaled in its history. The revenues from all its sources have stopped. The city is now without funds to carry on any of its activities.”
1935 – Official notice was received in Key West of the transfer of Fort Jefferson to the National Park Service from the Navy Department.
1955 – Undersecretary of the Navy Thomas S. Gates, Jr. issued a report that threatened “drastic action” on U.S. Navy operations at Key West unless the city cracked down on prostitution, gambling, police brutality, and “60-cent beer.”
1958 – A groundbreaking was held for the Robert Gabriel housing project.
1959 – A small fleet was on the way from Texas to drill an offshore oil test well near Key West. The State Cabinet of Conservation issued a permit to the Gulf Oil Corporation to drill a test well to 15,000 feet.
1979 – Carl Bervaldi, who had been Monroe County commissioner for 20 years, died at the age of 85 at Florida Keys Memorial Hospital.
1998 – William Bibo, Monroe County’s suspended construction manager, resigned after a hearing that could have cost him his job.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Oil drilling rig Ocean Ride on Stock Island circa 1960s. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.