Editing Wrecking (shipwreck) (section)

===The Florida Keys===<!-- This section is linked from [[Florida Keys]] and [[Key West, Florida]]. -->
For several centuries, wrecking was an important economic activity in the [[Florida Keys]]. During the 19th century, wrecking in the Keys became a highly organized and regulated industry, with dozens of vessels and hundreds of men active in the trade at any given time. The Florida Keys form a long arc of islands extending from the southern end of the east coast of [[Florida]] to the [[Dry Tortugas]]. A line of shallow coral reefs, the [[Florida Reef]], runs parallel to the Keys from east of [[Key Biscayne|Cape Florida]] to southwest of Key West, with dangerous shoals stretching west from Key West to the Dry Tortugas. This chain of reefs and shoals is approximately {{convert|200|mi|km}} long, separated from the Keys by the narrow and relatively shallow [[Hawk Channel]]. The [[Gulf Stream]] passes close to the Florida Reef through the [[Straits of Florida]], which is the major route for shipping between the eastern coast of the [[United States]] and ports in the [[Gulf of Mexico]] and the western [[Caribbean Sea]]. The combination of heavy shipping and a powerful current flowing close to dangerous reefs made the Florida Keys the site of a great many wrecks, especially during the 19th century. Ships were wrecking on the Florida Reef at the rate of almost once a week in the middle of the 19th century (the collector of customs in Key West reported a rate of 48 wrecks a year in 1848). For a period of almost 100 years, wrecking captains and wrecking vessels in the Keys had to hold a license issued by the [[United States district court|Federal court]]. In 1858, there were 47 boats and ships licensed as wreckers.<ref>Viele. Pp. 54–55, 166.</ref>

====Early history====
Ships began wrecking along the Florida Reef almost as soon as Europeans reached the [[New World]]. From early in the 16th century, Spanish ships returning from the New World to Spain sailed from [[Havana]] to catch the Gulf Stream, which meant they passed close to the Florida Reef, with some wrecking. The first wreckers in the Keys were Indians; when [[Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda]]'s ship was wrecked in 1549, he was taken prisoner by Indians who were experienced in plundering wrecked ships. In 1622, six ships of the [[Spanish treasure fleet]] wrecked during a [[Tropical cyclone|hurricane]] in the lower Keys. Spanish operations to recover the gold and silver from the lost ships continued intermittently for 21 years, but the Spanish lost track of the ''[[Nuestra Señora de Atocha]]'', which was finally found and excavated in the 20th century. In 1733, 19 ships of the Spanish treasure fleet wrecked during a hurricane in the middle and upper keys, and salvage operations lasted four years. The Spanish used dragged chains, [[grapnel]]s, [[Free-diving|free divers]] and even an early [[diving bell]] to find and recover goods from the wrecked ships.<ref>Viele. Pp. 3–14.</ref>

Starting in the 18th century, ships from [[The Bahamas]] began frequenting the Florida Keys. The Bahamians were opportunists, [[fishing]], [[Turtling (hunting)|turtling]], [[logging]] tropical [[hardwood]]s on the Keys, and salvaging wrecks as the opportunity arose. When the Spanish were salvaging the wrecks of the 1733 treasure fleet, the Spanish commander of the operation expressed concern that the Bahamians would try to salvage some of the treasure on their own. By 1775, George Gauld, who produced a chart of the Keys that was still being used 75 years later, advised mariners to stay with their ships if they wrecked, so that the Bahamian wreckers could assist them. Although the Keys were at various times part of [[Spanish Florida]], the [[United Kingdom|British]] colony of [[East Florida]] and the [[United States|U.S.]] [[Florida Territory]], the Bahamians took goods salvaged from ships wrecked in the Keys to [[Nassau, Bahamas|Nassau]] for adjudication, rather than to the Florida [[port of entry]], [[St. Augustine, Florida|St. Augustine]]. After the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and the [[War of 1812]] in 1815, increased shipping through the Straits of Florida resulted in an increase in wrecks on the Keys, and [[the Crown]]'s share from the auction of salvaged goods became the major support of the economy of Nassau.<ref>Viele. Pp. 14–25, 162.</ref>

====Under United States jurisdiction====
After 1815, fishing boats from [[New England]] began visiting the Florida Keys in the winter to fish for the Havana market. These fishermen engaged in wrecking when the opportunity arose. With the acquisition of Florida by the United States in 1821 and the settlement of Key West in 1822, the New England fishermen-wreckers began moving their homes to Key West. Conflicts quickly developed with the Bahamian wreckers. [[United States Navy|U.S. Navy]] ships stopped and boarded Bahamian wreckers to check papers, and arrested two Bahamian captains on suspicion of smuggling slaves. American wreckers became increasingly hostile to Bahamian wreckers, and in 1825 the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] passed a law requiring all goods salvaged in U.S. waters to be taken to an American port of entry. This measure created a great inconvenience for the Bahamian wreckers, as they had to take salvaged goods and ships to Key West before they could return home to the Bahamas. Some of them soon moved to Key West and acquired U.S. citizenship.<ref>Viele. Pp. 25–28.</ref>

Key West had become a port of entry in 1822. In the same year, the U.S. Navy chose Key West as its base for suppressing [[piracy]] in the [[West Indies]]. The city quickly developed into Florida's most important port. By the 1830s, Key West accounted for 60% to 90% of imports and exports for the Territory. Most of this traffic was due to the activities of the wreckers. [[Warehouse]]s for storing salvaged goods, [[shipyard]]s for repairing damaged ships that had been removed from the reefs and for building vessels to be used in wrecking, and [[ship chandler]]s for refitting ships all contributed to the city's prosperity.<ref>Viele. Pp. 33–37, 64–67.</ref>

In the 1820s and 1830s, [[Indian Key, Florida|Indian Key]] functioned as a secondary center for the wrecking industry in the Keys. Closer to most of the reefs off the keys than Key West, Indian Key enjoyed a brief prosperity before being destroyed in a [[Second Seminole War#Indian Key|raid]] by [[Seminoles]] in 1840.

====Wrecking operations====
Wrecking in the Florida Keys was conducted from sailing vessels. Numerous vessels would patrol along the Florida Reef looking for wrecks. The wreckers would normally anchor at night in protected anchorages along the Keys, and then sail out in the morning to see if any ships had wrecked during the night. As a result, a ship that ran on the reef during the night might attract a dozen wreckers by the afternoon of the next day. The first wrecking captain to reach a stranded ship became the wreck master, determining how many wreckers he needed to help salvage the ship, and directing the operation. Wreckers had an obligation to save passengers and crew of the wrecked ship (for which they received no compensation), and to salvage as much of the cargo as possible, and the ship, as well. If the judge in Federal court decided that a wrecking crew had not done everything possible to salvage cargo and ship, he would reduce the award.<ref>Viele. Pp. 95–97, 133–137.</ref>

The salvaged cargo and the ship, if it could be saved, were taken to Key West where they were appraised or auctioned. The wrecking vessels and crews that participated in the operations would then be awarded a share of the salvage value. Half of the salvage award went to the owners of the wrecking vessels, divided among the boats on a tonnage basis. The other half went to the wrecker crews, proportional to the number of crewmen on each vessel. Ordinary crewmen received one share, "boys" a half-share, cooks, one-and-a-quarter shares, and captains one to three shares, depending on the size of the vessel. Divers, who dived into the flooded holds of ships to retrieve cargo, received extra shares. By the time a salvage award was divided this way, individual shares were often quite small. Contemporary observers estimated that wrecking crews on average made no more than an ordinary seaman.<ref>Viele. Pp. 73, 76–77.</ref>

In the first few years after Florida was acquired by the United States, salvage awards were determined either by prior agreement between the wreck master and the captain of the wrecked ship, or by arbitration. As the persons available to serve as arbitrators usually had ties to the wrecking industry, if not a direct business relationship with the wreck master and/or the owners of the wrecking vessels, the process was often abused, with awards as high as 90% of the salvaged value. In 1829, a United States District Court was established in Key West with admiralty jurisdiction, after which most salvage cases were decided in court. Court awards for a wrecking operation averaged about 25% of the salvage value. Private agreements and arbitration remained an option, however, particularly when the judge was not available.<ref>Viele. Pp. 43–48.</ref> A visitor to Key West in the 1880s reported that the United States District Court was in session almost every week, and had heard more than 700 [[Admiralty law]] cases during the preceding year.<ref>{{cite book|last=Sunshine|first=Sylvia|title=Petals Plucked from Sunny Climes|year=1886|publisher=Southern Methodist Publishing House|location=Nashville, Tennessee|pages=[https://archive.org/details/petalspluckedfro00brooiala/page/319 319]|url=https://archive.org/details/petalspluckedfro00brooiala}}</ref>

Wreckers were required by the Federal law to carry equipment that might be needed to save cargo and ships. Such equipment included heavy anchors for kedging (hauling) ships off reefs, heavy [[hawser]]s and chain, [[fender (boating)|fenders]] and [[Block and tackle|blocks and tackle]]. Wreckers also had to be prepared to make emergency repairs to ships to refloat them or keep them afloat while they were sailed or towed back to Key West. By the middle of the 19th century, [[windmill]]-powered pumps, and later a steam-powered pump, were kept in Key West. If the wreckers were not able to pump out a ship fast enough to float it using the ship's own pumps, they could rent one of the large pumps from Key West. As the wrecking vessels could not always directly approach wrecked ships, they had to carry sturdy boats.<ref>Viele. Pp. 46, 61–63.</ref>

Cargoes saved by wreckers varied tremendously. Cotton was perhaps the most valuable bulk cargo. A bale of cotton might be worth [[United States dollar|US$]]50 or $60 in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], but a bale pulled from a flooded hold would be saturated with water, and weigh as much as half a [[ton]]. Unusual cargoes salvaged by wreckers included the fossilized [[Basilosaurus#Nomina dubia|"Hydrarchos"]] skeleton collected in [[Alabama]] by Albert Koch, and a [[locomotive]]. In 1827, [[Guerrero (ship)|''Guerrero'']], a Spanish slave-runner carrying 500 African captives, and the [[Royal Navy]] warship [[HMS Nimble (1826)|HMS ''Nimble'']] ran onto the Florida Reef during a running gun battle. Wreckers went to the aid of both ships. After most of the Africans and the Spanish crewmen had been transferred to wrecker vessels, the Spanish crewmen commandeered two of the ships and sailed to Cuba with most of the Africans. The remaining 120 Africans were taken to Key West, and then to St. Augustine. After Congress passed a special law the next year, 96 surviving Africans were sent to [[Liberia]].<ref>Viele. Pp. 122–131, 146.</ref>

====Decline====
In an effort to reduce the number of wrecks along the Florida Reef, the United States government funded the construction of lighthouses. Lighthouses were built in the 1820s at [[Cape Florida Light|Cape Florida]], Key West (both on the [[Key West Light|island]] itself and on nearby [[Sand Key Light|Sand Key]]), and on [[Garden Key Light|Garden Key]] in the Dry Tortugas. A lightship was stationed at [[Carysfort Reef Light|Carysfort Reef]]. Mariners complained that the lights were not visible enough. There were also long interruptions. The Cape Florida lighthouse was burned by Seminoles in 1836 and remained dark for ten years. It was also dark while the tower was made higher in 1855. It was put out of commission again in 1860 by [[Confederate States of American|Confederate]] sympathizers and remained dark until the end of the [[American Civil War]] in 1865. The Key West and Sand Key lighthouses were destroyed by a hurricane in 1846. A lightship was placed at Sand Key until the lighthouses could be rebuilt. Beginning in 1852 lighthouses were built directly on the Florida Reef, but it was 1880 before mariners could rely on having a lighthouse in sight at all times while sailing along the Florida Reef.<ref>Viele. Pp. 154–157.</ref>

The wreckers were unhappy about the lights, expecting them to reduce the number of wrecks and their livelihood. Initially, however, the lights did not greatly reduce the number of wrecks. Some ships wrecked when their captains became confused about which lights they were seeing, mistaking lights on the Florida Reef for lights on the [[Bahama Banks]]. Some wrecks may have been deliberate, as well. On a few occasions wreckers trying to refloat flooded ships discovered that holes had been bored through the hull below the water line. The captain of a ship that had wrecked stated that the wreck was not to be greatly regretted, as there were too many ships in the freight business. Judge Marvin of the Federal court in Key West told a navy officer in 1860 there was "a great deal of wrecking by design."<ref>Viele. Pp. 140, 154–159.</ref>

Shipping through the Straits of Florida, and therefore the number of wrecks on the Florida Reef, declined sharply during the Civil War. Following the Civil War, the number of wrecks did not increase as fast as the ship traffic through the Straits. More lighthouses were in place, better charts were available, and more ships were powered by steam and thus less vulnerable to being pushed onto reefs by unfavorable winds. Steam-powered vessels began to enter the wrecking trade. Eventually ocean-going [[tugboat]]s took over what became known as [[marine salvage]] operations. By the end of the 19th century, wrecks were infrequent. The last major wrecking operation was in 1905, when 77 small vessels and 500 men salvaged cargo from the steamer ''Alicia''. Salvage work was abandoned when divers refused to continue, as contaminated water in the hold was causing them to become blind for 24 hours after a dive. The salvage award was US$17,690. The last local wrecker was bought out by a New York company in 1920. The Federal court closed the book of wrecking licenses the next year.<ref>Viele. Pp. 169–189.</ref>