Pirates Smugglers of the Treasure Coast by Patrick S. Mesmer Patricia A. Mesmer

Author:Patrick S. Mesmer, Patricia A. Mesmer [Patrick S. Mesmer, Patricia A. Mesmer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Travel, Museums; Tours; & Points of Interest, History, Americas, United States, Religion & Spirituality, New Age
ISBN: 9781439662304
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
Published: 2017-09-04T04:00:00+00:00

6

Smuggling on the Treasure Coast, 1845–65

In the mid-1800s, the east coast of Florida was an empty and formidable place. The Indians who had lived there for thousands of years were gone, decimated by a combination of disease, slavery and a constant battle with the Spanish, and the coastline was desolate, save for a few Seminole Indians who frequented the area. With its newly minted statehood as of 1845, the fledgling government of Florida sought to organize its boundaries. On a map, it’s easy to see that the area known today as the Treasure Coast is not far from the Bahamas, especially at Jupiter, which is only 71 miles from West End. The Jupiter Inlet there has long been an active place for all sorts of activity, both legitimate and illicit. There are a series of reefs located in the shallow waters a short distance from shore that made travel treacherous for any ships that ventured in too close as they made their way north along the Bahama Channel. If they were traveling south, they had to navigate between the north-flowing current of the Gulf Stream and land, this route often putting them in proximity to the jagged reefs. They would often wreck near the coastline, the survivors stranded on the desolate beach as they waited for rescuers from Key West to come save them. Salvage law of the time was quite clear, stating that the rescuers had to provide for the survivors before they could start their business of wrecking the stricken ships.

After surviving a harrowing shipwreck, the hapless victims’ salvation would eventually arrive in the form of wreckers from the southernmost island who would first perform the required rescue, then salvage their damaged vessel for the standard 50 percent cut of what they had been transporting. This happened so often that the U.S. government formed the Light House Board to oversee the construction of several beacons along the lonely Florida coast to help captains navigate the dangerous reefs. The board’s Seventh District, headed by a young engineer named George Meade, later of Gettysburg fame, set to designing a structure at the fickle Jupiter Inlet.

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