1862 – A Key West man bragged to soldiers of the 47th Pennsylvania regiment about his secessionist principles and swore that he could whip any one of them. “The soldiers became enraged and followed him up and pounded him up so that he died this morning,” wrote a witness.
1924 – Members of the Palm Beach Yacht Club traveled from Key West to Bahia Honda to fish for tarpon. One member said prospects for the Keys were good and that “developments so far are just a glimmer of what the future holds in store.”
1958 – Famed band leader Guy Lombardo announced he was buying the Shamrock Restaurant and Key Colony Beach Club from Phil Sadowski.
1976 – Anthony L. Ulchar, of Little Torch Key, was elected State Commander of the American Legion, Department of Florida.
1991 – A team from Capt. Billy’s Key West Diver, Inc. recovered a bell from a shipwreck in 190 feet of water west of the Dry Tortugas. The bell bore the words “Rhein Hamburg,” which the divers speculated was the ship’s name.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image:Bell from the German ship Rhein, sunk by the British Navy west of the Tortugas in December 1940 and recovered by Captain Billy Deans. Photo by Tom Hambright. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.