July 13
- Florida Keys History Center
- Jul 12
- 2 min read
1823 – Commodore David Porter sent five Spanish pirates to the Captain-General of Cuba for trial. The outlaws had been wounded in a battle with the U.S. Navy’s anti-piracy squadron off the north coast of Cuba, taken prisoner, and brought to Key West.
1917 – Ground was broken for construction of the first Naval Air Station at Key West on Trumbo Point land rented from the Florida East Coast Railroad.
1942 – The American merchant vessel Andrew Jackson was sunk 72 miles east of Havana by the German submarine U-84.
1956 – Key Wester Clint Giese was filming an underwater movie of a skin-diving party at the reef for the United Services Organization to highlight recreational activities for Keys service members. Giese, an early U.S. Navy color-movie photographer, had first come to Key West in 1946 to work on underwater sequences for the Navy submarine film “The Silent Service.”
1970 – Jimmy Crowe, former publisher of The Dalton Citizen-News in Dalton, GA, was named publisher of the Key West Citizen.
1984 – The Monroe County Commission renamed three buildings at their meeting in Key West. The Key West Library was renamed as the Monroe County May Hill Russell Library, the Marathon Library was renamed the George Dolezal Branch Library, and the West Martello was renamed West Martello Joe Allen Garden Center.
1993 – Katherine “K.” Wilkinson was selected by the American Cancer Society to receive the 1993 Florida Distinguished Service Award for her diligent volunteer service to the society.
Information compiled by Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Clint Giese with his photographs on display, December 10, 1957. Photo by Don Pinder. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
