If you stand on the furthest point in Key West and peer westward, you’ll be looking towards the Dry Tortugas, a chain of 7 small coral reefs, a marvelous bird and wildlife sanctuary and a National Park. And, in the middle of this archipelago, looming over the coral will be Fort Jefferson an uncompleted . But, peer as you might or use binoculars, you will not be able to see the fort nor the lighthouse on it. You need to take a private plane or boat or take Yankee Freedom, the tour boat of the National Park to get to the island. That was our goal for the day. The picture below shows the island and its fort and is obviously not my picture. I got it online at Lighthousefriends.com. As you can see, the park is really one large island completely ringed by Fort Jefferson with 6 smaller mostly barren coral islands surrounded by 100 sq miles of water.
Since we boarded the boat at 7:30 for an 8:00 departure from Key West, which is 1 hour from our campground, we awoke at 5:15, got ready, picked up all we had put aside last night for the trip and left the RV at 6:00. It was dark but, if we expected the traffic to be light, we were surprised. Seems that all those who work at the KW base were racing to get into work. After a 1-hour drive, we arrived at the terminal and were surprised to see this crowd.
I really hadn’t expected to see this many people. I like old forts, lighthouses and National Parks. But how many people are as nutty as I am? Well, some came for the boat ride, some for the snorkeling (very few since it’s cool and windy out here) but most ended up being as nutty as I am: they went for the old fort, the lighthouse and to be in the National Park.
The ‘cruise’ cost $150 but, like any cruise, there was a lot of food: they served both breakfast and lunch. We found no empty tables but, since they were designed for 6, we found one with a couple and asked if we could sit by them. Funny thing, they were also RV’er’s and were staying at the same resort we were. Cripes, we should have driven in together. We were well fortified with Dramamine and proceeded to eat a heavier breakfast than usual. I always heard that the fuller your stomach, the less the chances for nausea. And, maybe, that’s why they served a full breakfast. Whatever, I ate way more than I am used to at breakfast.
We walked around the boat, especially up onto the decks so we could hang on the rails and watch the ocean fly by, the sun rise over the Keys and the wind ruffle through our hair.
There were 2 young couples sitting in one spot and we got to talking and darned if they weren’t from our campground, too. We could have driven a bus down here. About an hour into the trip I was up on the deck and noticed a woman leaning into the rail and hanging her head. Ah, I knew what her problem was and offered her some Dramamine. No, she said, it was too late. Yes, but you can use it for the trip back. So I gave her 2 Dramamine.
We pulled into sight of the island, disembarked and there was this magnificent old fort, built for a previous generation and outmoded before it was built. It is the largest man-made masonry structure in the Western Hemisphere and completely rings the island. We had been told that we could not leave anything on the boat (liability I suppose) so now what? How about just putting it on the nearest picnic table and leaving it - like everyone else was doing? OK. The ship company had told us earlier that no one had ever reported a theft on the island. And, everyone just left their stuff on the table and explored.
Remember Juan Ponce de Leon, the Spanish explorer? He dropped anchor here in 1513 and, finding lots of green, loggerhead and leatherback turtles, named the island 'las tortugas' (the turtles). Pirates then discovered the islands and, using them for a haven for a short period, fed on the meat and eggs of the turtles and raided the nests of the thousands of birds which used the islands as nesting grounds. Many ships sailed this channel but more than 200 of them wrecked on the nearby reefs and soon a lighthouse was built. By that time, the islands were marked ‘dry’ on nautical maps. Thus the full name of Dry Tortugas.
Since the channel between the Dry Tortugas and Cuba is where the Gulf Stream, the fast track through the Florida Straits for Europe, forms, the new nation of America realized that it needed to protect this channel from other nations that might want to disrupt shipping through this channel. There was also a natural deep water harbor protected by the shoals where ships could moor. The plans were for a 3-level fort with 450 guns and 2000 soldiers. Experts, estimate that there are 16,000,000 bricks in the fort forming the 50’ high and 8’ thick walls. Now, how could they tell? Who counted them? Actually it was the tally of the manifests of the ships that transported them out here. Brick makers wanted to be paid for all they had sold and ship captains wanted to be paid for all they had transported - and both kept excellent records.
Though the fort plans were drawn up in 1846, it was not completed and the first troops didn’t arrived until 1861, with no cannon in place. The day after the US soldiers arrived a Confederate force approached and asked for the surrender of the fort. Not so fast, the Union lieutenant said - and if you don’t leave in 10 minutes, I’ll blast you out of the water. Remember, he had no weapons in place - it was all a bluff. But the Confederates looked at the 50’ high impregnable fort, turned and left. And the fort remained in Union hands for the duration of the war. When one corner of the fort began to sink from the weight of all the bricks used, they abandoned the idea of cannon on each level and just put them on the first level.
It was surrounded by a moat which had only one bridge to the interior of the fort and the end near the bridge could be lowered into the moat if anyone hostile tried to cross it.
It was also used as a prison and the most famous of its prisoners was Dr. Samuel Mudd, convicted of conspiracy in President Lincoln’s murder after he (unknowingly, he claimed) set the leg bone of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin. He served 4 years and was released after he courageously served as the doctor during the yellow fever epidemic, even contracting the disease himself. But he had worked so courageously and was pardoned by President Johnson in 1869.
The fort itself, built to protect shipping lanes and called the ‘Gibraltar of the Gulf’ for its impregnable size, succumbed in 1874 to yellow fever, hurricanes and the new rifled cannon which rendered the thick walls of the fort obsolete. In 1907, the fort was permanently abandoned.
We listened to the Ranger’s talk on the lighthouse. Imagine being on this island back in the mid-1800’s, before the fort was built. No water, no trees, armies of mosquitoes, no relief from the unrelenting sun, no way to grow food, not much to do and your only human contact was with the ships when they resupplied you. Oh, yeah, did I mention the heat, the boredom and the mosquitoes? You and your spouse, a bare island and the lighthouse. Not for me and, it seems not for the lighthouse keeper and his wife who complained and complained until he was re-stationed to a more compatible lighthouse. It was probably for the best as he was described as incompetent and lazy since the soot on the lantern glass in the lighthouse built up so much that the light itself was too hard to see. The light itself was replaced and finally a new lighthouse was built on a nearby coral island.
When that was done, we explored the grounds a bit but lunch was being served on the boat and, even though I had stuffed my self at breakfast a mere 4 hours ago, I decided to try lunch. Hey, I’ve paid for it, haven’t I? I really didn’t have much but enjoyed talking with our breakfast friends. Our guide told us that the drinks at lunch were free but, when lunch ended and the food was put away, they would cost $1.00 per soda can. Take some extra at lunch he said. OK, we did. Sounds like he’s defeating the purpose.
Afterwards we took a tour of the fort itself. I was surprised that the fort was so open - well, silly me, it’s the Keys and it’s usually warm. (I’m too used to the cold of the northern states that I always think things should be enclosed to hold in the heat in winter.) Here, they want things open to allow for breezes in summer.
Experts, estimate that there are 16,000,000 bricks in the fort forming the 50’ high and 8’ thick walls. Now, how could they tell? Who counted them? Nope, the look at the manifests of the ships that transported them out here. Brick makers wanted to be paid for all they had sold and ship captains wanted to be paid for all they had transported - and both kept excellent records. Note that the top layer of bricks is a different color than the bottom two layers. Well, by the time the top layer was being added, the US could not get the lighter colored bricks from the Confederacy and had to use darker bricks from the Union.
Under each of these casements was a cistern to collect rain water for cooking, washing and drinking. However, salt water leaked into these and it became contaminated. Later, they used sea water distilled by steam condensers. Guess who got to drink the contaminated water? Here’s a hint: it wasn’t the officers.
Finally it was time to board the boat for the 2-hour trip back to Key West. We rejoined our two new friends and two other women at the table and had a delightful trip back. Everyone was happy, wanting to hear about everyone else’s travels and talk about theirs.
I did happen to notice the woman who had needed the Dramamine. She was sitting inside, sleeping I think. Well, she had taken 2 Dramamines which was the max dosage. Towards the end of the trip, she was up and smiling. Good for her.
We landed and walked around Key West and finally headed on over to Mallory Square where everyone gathers to watch the sunset. Here are the bands, the street performers like Snorkel the Pic, Reid the Flame Juggler and this castinetist who performed on the ground level for a while then climbed the stage for his big song.
But the sunset was the star performer.
But, it’s getting late, we’ll come back to Mallory Square and the sunsets again but we’ve had a long day and it’s time to get back to the RV.
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