CO$T
Pirates
The Spanish treasure fleets carried a steady stream of riches back to Spain. It was not long before British, French and Dutch pirate ships began to prowl the area off the coast of Florida to rob the fleet. This began an era of violence sparked by greed. The Spanish took the riches from the Americas in exchange for disease and death, and the rest of the world took from the Spanish. Much of this took place in the vicinity of the park.
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Wreckers
Once the pirates were finally driven out a new business emerged, people known as wreckers began to salvage the goods from the wrecked ships. The curved channel through the Florida Straits with the shallow reefs on one side and the rocky shores of Cuba on the other, brought business to the wreckers several times a year.
The Indians were good swimmers and were the first to take advantage of the wrecked Spanish ships. After the English took over the area and pirating ceased, traffic increased and a great number of ships sank on the reefs. Wrecking became big business in the 1800s with salvage ports all along the Florida Keys. Wreckers were given a license to operate and the first ones to arrive on the site were in control. Others who arrived late were hired by the wrecking master. Many of the first residents of Elliott Key were in the wrecking business.
By the turn of the twentieth century, the U.S. government installed lights and navigations aids along the outside of the reefs so wrecking was no longer profitable. However, even today many ships and boats run aground on these reefs
Maybe the chest of one of the Wrecks !!!! argh!
The spot is on a supply wreck but the they had spending $$ to!I swam/dove under one of the wrecks only to come face to face with a 80' Green Moray!
Way back I tangled with a moccason underwater He won so I try not to mess with toothy critters at Home! , So I left HIS Home! Backwards! See I can /will run! Huge Lobster & grouper there too!
Good photo's ! (Link)
]The Park Fee's Link
Ya know I may be building this Up a Bit. Too bad I won't be around here After All these Years !
