1797 – The British ships from Nassau – Ranger, Primrose, and Elizabeth – were seized by Spanish privateers at Key West. The two nations were at war in what is now known as the Anglo-Spanish War of 1796-1808.
1804 – A ship captain sailing to Charleston saw a wreck ashore at Key West and went towards it. He learned that it was the brig Harriot from Jamaica to Rhode Island and that it had wrecked 35 days previously. Wreckers were trying to salvage the cargo of rum, sugar, and coffee, but it was thought little would be saved.
1853 – The ship Cymbus, from Philadelphia to New Orleans, wrecked at Western Dry Rocks during a gale. The vessel was almost fully submerged, and wreckers could not immediately access it because of bad weather. Cymbus was carrying a locomotive and 50 tons of railroad iron.
1898 – The Battleship Maine Court of Inquiry began its deliberation on the USS Iowa anchored off Sand Key Lighthouse.
1900 – The unveiling of the monument dedicated by the citizens of Key West to the heroes of the Battleship Maine, who died in Havana on February 15, 1898, was held in the city cemetery. More than 10,000 people were present and viewed the procession.
1905 – The state convention of the Federation of Labor met in Key West. The delegates urged the Florida Legislature to pass a bill “making it unlawful to lease state convicts in competition with the free labor of the state.”
1922 – A Caribbean monk seal (Monachus tropicalis) was killed by a fisherman at Key West. This was the last confirmed sighting of the species in the United States. Thirty years later they were declared extinct.
1940 – R.C. Perky, developer of Sugarloaf Key, died in Miami.
1948 – Secretary of Defense James V. Forestall and chiefs of the Army, Navy and Air Force, plus other ranking military leaders, left Key West for Washington. During a weekend meeting at the Little White House, the group drafted a document known as the “Key West Accord,” which would be the working guidelines for the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
1963 – Filming began on the movie “Man In The Water” starring Mark Stevens. The movie was the first production of the Key West Film Company, locally owned, that hoped to start a movie industry in Key West.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Crew working on the local movie “Man in the Water” 1963. Wright Langley Collection. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.