Shipwreck study - The Dry Tortugas
Bearss EC. 1971. Shipwreck study - The Dry Tortugas. Office of History and Historic Architecture. Washington, D.C.
This study includes brief surveys and accounts of 195 shipwrecks that occurred in the reefs of Dry Tortugas. This report has been prepared to satisfy the research needs for the Shipwreck Study. Such a study was needed to provide archaeologists with general background information and data as to the location of the more treacherous reefs where most strandings occurred. In May and June 1971, archeologists led by George R. Fischer made an underwater archeological survey of the Dry Tortugas and pinpointed about 20 wrecks, dating from the seventeenth century until the 1960s. It is hoped that this study will now assist in identifying some of these wrecks. Included in this study are brief surveys and accounts of 195 wrecks. Because of limited time and money, no search was made of Spanish archives or of British admiralty court records in the Bahamas, which would have provided much information on shipwrecks taking place in the area prior to the establishment of the District Court at Key West in 1828. After that date the record of shipwrecks where there were claims for salvage is complete. Not identified in this study for the American period are the few wrecks not libeled for salvage and those vessels assisted by ships in the government service prior to 1872. Most of these craft could be identified by a thorough examination of the records of the Corps of Engineers for construction of Fort Jefferson.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Bearss, Edwin
- Date of Issue
- 1971-04-15
- Publisher
- Office of History and Historic Architecture
- Units
- DRTO , HIST
- Keywords
- Archeology, Army, Coral Reefs, Cultural Resources, Dry Tortugas, ehistory, Florida, History, Hydrography, Key West, lighthouse, Loggerhead Key, Marine Resources, Navigation, Ponce de Leon, Shipwrecks, underwater resources