A Sudden Squall

A Sudden Squall. . A Sudden Squall drives a ship westward, off its southerly Gulf Stream route from Liverpool, England to New Orleans, Louisiana. In mere feet of water, a sea swell heaves the laden ship onto a massive coral reef. Sailors panic as the hull cracks and the ship takes on water. Daylight fades and fear sharpens as night deepens. Clinging to hope and wreckage, survivors are blasted by stormy seas. No one is coming because no one knows they are in peril. For centuries this was a common fate for ships navigating the shallow seas along the Florida Keys., At dawn, word of a shipwreck spreads along the coast and salvors sail out in search of survivors and fortune. These salvors, or wreckers, had enough of this kind of work that shipwreck salvage was a mainstay economy from Key West to Miami., To reduce the number of shipwrecks along the reef and shallow waters, many aids to navigation have been constructed through the generations. Among the earliest were the eponymously named Totten Beacons, designed by U.S. Army Officer Lt. James Totten in the mid-1800s. Originally designed for use in chart-making, the beacons themselves were soon used for visual navigation by sailors, despite being unlit., There was still need for a marker that could be seen by ships far out in the ocean, both day and night. Thus, the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse was built in 1878 and drilled into the ocean floor, not far from the Totten Beacon "P". There are five more like it that span the Florida Keys., Today, modern technology has largely put an end to shipwrecks in this region, and the wrecking industry is a thing of the past. The remains of the Totten Beacons are below the sea, however the Fowey Rocks Lighthouse is still an important functioning aid to navigation., The Fowey Rocks Lighthouse and six historic shipwrecks comprise our Maritime Heritage Trail. All can be visited and are popular locations for snorkeling and SCUBA diving. As with the rest of our recognized cultural heritage, they are all protected and preserved in perpetuity.