Key West Shipwreck Treasures Museum

(from keywestshipwreck)

Key West Shipwreck History

During the golden age of sail, over 100 ships per day passed by Key West. The waters they were sailing were well known as some of the most treacherous in the world. On average, at least one ship per week would wreck somewhere along the Florida Reef.

About the Observation Tower

The brave wreckers would watch the reef night and day from observation towers (some over 90′ high). They would also patrol the reef in their own small vessels. When a wreck was spotted, the cry of “Wreck Ashore” would echo all over the island as men scrambled to the docks to join the race to the reef. The first man to reach the wreck became the “wrecking master” who controlled the salvage operation and got a larger share of the prize. The goods salvaged from the wreck would later be sold at auction in Key West with the wrecking courts awarding anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of the profit to the wreckers, depending on how dangerous and time-consuming the salvage operation had been.

End of the Wrecking Era

Eventually, with the onset of railroads, and improvements in navigational aids, shipwrecks came fewer and farther between. In 1921, the wrecking courts were closed, ending an era that had made Key West one of the richest cities in America. Today, you can relive the era of the wreckers at our historical Key West Shipwreck Treasure Museum.

The Isaac Allerton

The ship was 137 feet long and weighed 594 tons. The Isaac Allerton spent her years as a merchant ship carrying cargoes throughout the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic Ocean. On the night of August 28, 1856, the Isaac Allerton was caught in a hurricane off Saddlebunch Keys, 15 miles ESE of Key West.

She road anchor for several hours before the lines were cut and she ground over Washer Woman Shoals, lost her rudder and sank in Hawks Channel in five fathoms of water. The crew and passengers spent the night in longboats and were rescued the following morning by Key West wreckers led by George Alderslade. Because the ship had sunk in such deep water, the Key West wreckers were unable to salvage all the cargo. But the cargo they did salvage resulted in a payoff of over $50,000 making the Isaac Allerton the richest wreck in KEY WEST HISTORY. Over 130 years later, in 1985, the wreck of the Isaac Allerton was rediscovered by a group of local divers who had been searching for the celebrated Atocha wreck. Today you can relive the days of the Isaac Allerton and see the original cargo from the ship at our The Key West Shipwreck Treasure Museum.

My 10 seconds of glory at the New York Yacht Club

So, in June of 2023, we took a trip to New York City for a vacation. 

We had been there once before as a family, and Aimee and I had been there separately many times before thanks to layovers and overnight stays on our many different international travels.

I never knew anything at all really about the New York Yacht Club until I watched the Netflix documentary about the famous America's Cup battle between the US and Australia. (see video clip in previous post)

I thoroughly enjoyed the Netflix production so right before our trip I did a quick search to see if daily tours were given of the NYYC.

Ohhh..... how naive I am.

The NYYC gives tours..... once a month! And the tour only lasts about 15 minutes. So it is basically get the heathens in and get the heathens out as quick as you can.

Anyway, I said to myself that I would be satisfied with just seeing the building from the outside so once we were in New York I found a day I could steal a little time for myself and off I headed to 44th street.

It didn't take long and before I knew it I was standing in front of this amazing building. For the most part it was a quiet street with not a lot of foot or car traffic and I was able to get some good photos and take a few minutes to enjoy the experience.

After those few minutes I noticed here and there a couple of people walking into the club but really only one gentleman was nicely dressed, the other two or three guys were just in shorts and a t-shirt.

I said to myself, "That's odd. This is supposed to be a fine establishment. What the heck?"

So I made the decision to investigate, by walking in the front door!

And that I did, but I was quickly asked "May I help you?" by a well dressed man standing behind the front desk. 

I said to him that I was just wondering if I could take a couple of pictures and he responded that I could but only of the staircase. 

I thanked him, took just two photos, and was out in about 10 seconds. But that is all I needed, it was my 10 seconds of glory.

At least now if I am in an awkward conversation with someone and need something to say I can always pull out, "Have you ever been inside the New York Yacht Club?"

 

Untold: The Race of the Century - Official Trailer - Netflix

 

I read Pirate Hunters!

I'm still here, don't write me off!

It has just been a busy start to the year and I haven't been blogging at all really, but I still exist. And I just finished an awesome book that I would recommend to any and all pirate buffs.

I posted back in 2024 a link to Amazon for this book, 

see post here

and I started reading it at the beginning of the year. And boy am I glad I did, what a fun book to read. Well, maybe not all fun, I was pretty stressed out while reading it as I urged on these divers and shipwreck lovers in their quest to find the Golden Fleece. It isn't as easy as following an X marked on a map, it cost almost a fortune just to maintain equipment, and included trips to New York and Spain to visit libraries with maritime records dating back to the 1600's. 

The Golden Fleece was a pirate ship captained by Joseph Bannister, a pirate I had never heard of until now, which went down in the shallows off the coast of the Dominican Republic in 1686. 

Anyway, not to give any spoilers let me just end it with saying if you are looking for an enjoyable read about some treasure obsessed adventurers this is a good one. 

The Pirate's Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd

(from Amazon)

"[A] striking, thoroughly researched depiction of just how much persistence and inventiveness it took for a woman in Colonial America to retain security and dignity over the course of her life." —Christian Science Monitor

Few know that Captain Kidd, one of the most notorious pirates to ever prowl the seas, had an accomplice, a behind-the-scenes player who enabled his plundering and helped him outpace his enemies. That accomplice was his wife, Sarah Kidd, whose extraordinary life is a lesson in reinvention and resourcefulness. Twice widowed by twenty-one and a successful New York merchant in her own right, Sarah secretly aided and abetted her husband, fighting alongside him against his accusers. Marshaling in newly discovered primary source documents, historian and journalist Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos reconstructs Sarah’s extraordinary life, uncovering a rare example of the kind of life that pirate wives lived during the Golden Age of Piracy. This landmark work in women’s history weaves together the personal and the epic in a sweeping story of romance and adventure.

About the author

Daphne Palmer Geanacopoulos is a historian, journalist and author of THE PIRATE'S WIFE: THE REMARKABLE TRUE STORY OF SARAH KIDD (Hanover Square Press, an imprint of HarperCollins) and THE PIRATE NEXT DOOR: THE UNTOLD STORY OF EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PIRATES' WIVES, FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES (Carolina Academic Press). She has published over 40 articles in newspapers and magazines. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and many other publications. As a regular contributor to The New York Times Syndicate’s “Lifebeat” column her stories were published both nationally and internationally. She writes on a variety of subjects, including maritime history, business, science, health, fitness, education, museums, parenting, philanthropy, and lifestyles and trends. 

A former Legislative aide to a U.S. Congressman, she holds a Doctor of Liberal Studies degree and a Master of Liberal Studies degree from Georgetown University. She also holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from The George Washington University. During her studies at Georgetown University she focused her research and writing on issues concerning women, families and communities with a special focus on pirates of the eighteenth century.

She first became interested in pirates while writing an article in 2002 for The New York Times “Museums” Special Section about the Whydah Pirate Museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts. For the last fifteen years she has conducted extensive original research on pirates and their wives in archives in London, Washington, New York, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. She developed a more complete and nuanced history of piracy, and discovered that the lives of pirates, while indeed colorful, were often quite different from those of their literary and cinematic counterparts. 

link to Amazon