KEY WEST WRECKERS - A WLRN Original Production (History/Documentary)
As your Storyteller Station, WLRN is committed to bringing you the very best in original programming with our South Florida History Project. In the Florida Keys, wrecking made Key West one of the riches cities in America. Today the wrecks strewn along the Florida reef remain an important part of the Keys economy, luring thousands of divers to explore its submerged maritime history. KEY WEST WRECKERS tells the story of a thriving industry where wreckers made a good living by salvaging the beleaguered ships and their valuable cargo and crew.
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.
The Key West wreckers, as they were known, would watch the reef night and day from observation towers, some of them over 90 feet high. They would patrol the reef constantly in their own small vessels. When a wreck was spotted, the cry of “Wreck Ashore!” would echo across 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 where the wrecking courts awarded anywhere from 25 to 50 percent of the profit to the wreckers, depending on how dangerous and time-consuming the salvage operation had been.
Working closely with the Mel Fisher Museum and the Key West Shipwreck Museum, their historians and re-enactors, this story is told using artifacts, paintings and illustrations, as well as dramatic recreations to illustrate this little-known yet fascinating chapter in Keys history.
Click Shipwreck Trail for more information
