1805 – Owing to calm winds and a strong current, the schooner Francis Lewis grounded on the Florida Reef. Nassau wreckers got the vessel off the reef and for their efforts kept 45 boxes of sugar and a parcel of hides from the cargo.
1835 – Indian Key was struck by a hurricane “more severe than any previous gale” that lasted from early morning to 10 p.m. The strong winds and high water caused considerable damage to the buildings, trees, and gardens, and all the turtles escaped from the kraals.
1887 – The Tallahassee Democrat described “a pretty little key – all sand – of about 12 acres, lying between Key West and Stock Island, south side, which was entered a few years ago by Dr. Harris, who has about a thousand cocoanut trees growing on it. The trees are all about one year old and all seem to be doing quite well.”
1945 – A category three hurricane passed over the Upper Keys causing light damage.
1974 – The Cunard Line’s luxury cruise ship Ambassador was towed into port. The ship enroute to New Orleans to pick up passengers was heavily damaged by fire near Key West. No one was seriously hurt in the fire but the ship was so badly damaged that it never saw use as passenger liner again.
2011 – A planned blaze on Big Pine Key was intended to burn 21 acres of wilderness, but it went out of control and spread across 100 acres. Two firefighters were injured in trying to control the fire, and hundreds of residents could not get to their homes.
Information compiled by Tom Hambright, Historian Emeritus, and Dr. Corey Malcom, Lead Historian, Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.
Image: Cunard Ambassador, burned at sea off Dry Tortugas in September 1974. Docked at Outer Mole in Key West damaged and never used as a passenger ship again. From the Key West Art & Historical Society. Monroe County Public Library, Florida Keys History Center.