The Florida paddle-steamer St Lucie was carrying workers building the railways that were intended to supplant such vessels when it was caught in a hurricane that killed 26 of those onboard.
It was the worst disaster to occur in what would become Biscayne National Park, and now archaeological divers have discovered one of the anchors on which the captain had pinned his hopes of saving the vessel and the 100-plus people it carried.
With a draft of less than 1m, the St Lucie sank in water that was only about 3m deep, on 18 October, 1906, according to the National Park Service (NPS).
The 36m three-deck steamboat with stern paddle-wheel and 14 cabins had been built in 1888. Initially it was used mainly on inland waters, carrying passengers and supplies along Florida’s Indian River between Titusville and Jupiter.
Towards the end of the century it became one of eight shallow-water vessels bought by the Florida East Coast Railway for use in the south of the state, where the company was extending its lines to the Florida Keys.
Railway labourers, engineers and their families, described by the NPS as among “the first pioneers” in the development of Miami, were on the St Lucie about 25 miles south of the city when the hurricane struck.
Captain Steve Bravo attempted to drop the large anchors close to shore to ride out the storm but, when the vessel capsized, all that its passengers and crew could do was try to swim to the nearby island of Elliott Key, which had itself been almost inundated by the storm surge.
The steamboat’s hull was eventually raised, refitted and continued in service in the Florida Keys for several years.
Finding the anchor
The large anchor, which is visible from the surface, was located in July by South Florida National Parks maritime archaeologist Joshua Marano, though the find has only just been announced by the NPS following the archival research needed to identify it.
Marano had been exploring a number of archaeological sites with two interns funded by the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History & Culture’s Slave Wrecks Project.
“This find presents an opportunity to highlight a meaningful and tangible connection between a tragedy at sea happening within the current Biscayne National Park and broader historical events and challenges happening in Miami and throughout the region,” he said.
The NPS has stated that there are no plans to raise the anchor, which is protected under federal law, but that it would be producing and posting a 3D digital rendering of the historic artefact online.
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