Today in Keys History – April 26, 2024
1922 – Navy aircraft located the missing Aeromarine seaplane Santa Maria near Andros Island, Bahamas, in good condition with all onboard alive and well. The plane was enroute from Key West to Nassau when it ran out of fuel. Because Santa Maria had no wireless equipment, its crew could not communicate their plight.
1924 – Ely Spencer was preparing his Key West crawfish (lobster) house for the upcoming summer season. As he had in years past, Spencer planned to ship the catch of local crawfishermen to points across the country, even as far away as California.
1942 – The USS Sturtevant (DD 240) leaving Key West via the Northwest Channel strayed into the U.S. Navy’s minefield and was sunk with a loss of 17 men.
1980 – The U.S. Customs Service began seizing boats returning from Cuba for landing illegal aliens in the United States.
1994 – Comedian Joan Rivers attempted to sell Hopkins Island located south of Big Pine Key on her TV program “Can We Shop.” The asking price was $2.8 million.
2009 – The Mel Fisher Maritime Museum submitted plans to the City of Key West for a new museum dedicated to the history of Key West’s turtling industry to be housed in the turtle cannery building at the Historic Seaport.
2014 – Developers of a 335,000-square-foot Rockland Key shopping center hit an expensive roadblock as new federal flood map changes required the entire project to be elevated. They considered the idea to be still viable, if parking could be placed under the structure.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Aeromarine Airline’s plane Santa Maria ca. 1920. Photo gift of Donald W. Roderick. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.