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Today in Keys History – May 28, 2023

Image of a ship that is partially submerged and listing at a dock.
Treasure Salvors ship sunk at the dock in 1980.

1819 – The brig Rising Sun, sailing from Havana, was boarded by pirates near the Florida Reef, and “the crew consisting of men of all nations and colors, robbed the passengers of their clothing, gold watches, and, in fact, of everything the could lay their hands on.”

1853 – Five seamen who had deserted from the ship Silas Wright arrived at Key West in a small, open boat from Matanzas, Cuba. They undertook the risky voyage because they learned the Silas Wright was heading out on a foreign voyage, but they had been promised a return to New York.

1863 – The British steamer Dolphin was condemned at Key West. The Dolphin was carrying a large quantity of Enfield rifles and sabers in crates marked “hardware,” apparently being smuggled for Confederate forces.

1892 – The schooner R.F. Nealy of Key Largo arrived at New York City with a cargo of 206,000 pineapples, the largest such cargo to ever arrive at that port. The fruit sold at an average of ten cents apiece.

1898 – Two of the three men who breached Fort Taylor and shot a watch officer the night before were arrested at a Duval street café. The men, J.R. and F.H. Ball, brothers from Jacksonville, were suspected of being Spanish spies, as they were known to have had previous connections to Spanish loyalist interests. The third man, a Spaniard, escaped.

1924 – Key West kids had the opportunity to make money by selling fish to the New York Aquarium. A representative had a special tank car set up at Sweeney’s wharf and would pay cash for specimens that were of interest to the marine museum.

1948 – One-and-a-half lots of undeveloped land were sold at Marathon for the highest price ever paid at the island. Dr. Samuel Magill bought the land fronting both the highway and the ocean for $15,500, and he planned to build a tourist court on the property.

1980 – More than 250 fishermen protested at the Federal Building on Simonton Street over the federal government’s seizure of their boats for taking part in the Mariel boatlift.

1980 – The replica Spanish galleon used by Mel Fisher’s Treasure Salvors as a museum and headquarters sank at the dock at the end of Front Street.

1987 – General Rafael del Pino Diaz, a top-ranking Cuban Air Force officer, defected from Cuba and landed with his family at the Naval Air Station in a small private plane.

1989 – Jack Armstrong, who billed himself as the “All American Boy,” died at age 85. He had been a resident of Key West for 38 years and wrote the song “Key West Welcomes You.”

1994 – The San Carlos Institute held a special 80th birthday for Benildes Remond Sanchez, who spent 25 years at the Institute as teacher and principal.

Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.

Image: Treasure Salvors ship sunk at the dock. Photo by Raymond L. Blazevic. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.

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