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cavegirl |
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Post subject: Looe Key, FL
 Posted: Apr 02, 2007 - 11:09 AM
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Blenny
Joined: Dec 31, 1969
Posts: 29
Status: Offline
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By Bob “Frogfoot” Weller
Five miles seaward of Big Pine Key, and just a skip of the stone from blue water, is a spit of land that 262 years ago was the scene of a dramatic shipwreck and rescue. Like many Keys and reefs scattered along the edge of the Bahama Channel, Looe Key bears the name of a British Frigate that scattered her timbers and treasure over the forward fingers of the reef. The HMS Looe was outfitted in Longreach, England, with 190 crewmen and 42 cannon. Her first eight years of service were in patrolling the English Channel as part of the Dunkirk Squadron. Afterwards, she “cruized” the coast of Sallee in the hunt for Barbary pirates. Her first real action took place as a 44 gun frigate off the coast of Spain. She raided Vigo Bay and captured four Spanish vessels in the harbor. As a result the Spanish began attacking Fort Frederick in Georgia, as well as harassing the British settlers along the east coast of the Carolinas. The governor of South Carolina sent a petition to have a warship protect their coastline. The final voyage of the HMS Looe was about to begin.
Captain Ashby Utting had assumed command of the Looe and was directed to Charleston to provide the protection requested. His orders read, “To cruize between Cape Florida and the northwest part of the Grand Bahama’s when the season of the year will not permit the cruizing of the Carolinas. You are to look out for the enemy ships passing through the gulph of Florida for Europe, and use your utmost endeavor to take, sink, burn, or destroy them.” To Utting, this meant he could “fish” for rich Spanish merchantmen.
While in Charleston harbor, a four-day storm with gale winds damaged the Looe’s rigging and main mast. Only the shipyard in Kingston, Jamaica could repair the damage. The Looe sailed south around the southern tip of Cuba to Jamaica where on December 3, 1743 the ship was ready for sea again. By Saturday, February 4, 1744, the Looe was on station in the Bahama Channel.
About 8 a.m. a sail was sighted and by noon-time the Looe captured a Spanish “Snow” or small merchantman. Crewmembers recognized the Snow as the Bilander Betty, a British ship that had recently been captured by the Spanish. Before the Snow could be dispatched to Charleston, someone noticed an “Irish Gentlemen” on board throw a large oilskin packet overboard. Utting recovered the packet and discovered papers in French and Spanish. Considering this important information, Utting decided to escort the Snow back to Charleston. It was late in the day with the sun setting, so with a bearing on the “Pan of Matnaza,” a flat top mountain on the coast of Cuba, he ordered a course NE by E to clear the Double Headed Shot Key off Salt Key Bank. Before retiring, he ordered the lead line thrown every 30 minutes to sound for depth.
At 1:00 a.m. the following morning, the lead line was thrown and no bottom found at 300 feet. Dramatically, 15 minutes later, the officer of the watch was surprised to find white water with breakers dead ahead. Just as the ship veered off, the sails caught a cross wind and the stern struck the reef. Soon a large wave struck the ship, shearing off her rudder, and the stern began to fill quickly with water. Realizing the ship was lost, the Captain ordered his Chief Gunner to save as much of the bread and gunpowder as possible. In the meantime, the Snow was being pounded to pieces on a reef nearby. Utting shouted to the prize crew to throw her cannon and anchors overboard—which they did—but the ship was lost.
As daylight broke Utting and his men found themselves on a “small sandy key about 1-1/2 cables long and 1/2 broad which lay on the edge of the bank of the Matires” (a cable was 600 feet). Everyone thought they were on Double Shot Key, when about 10 a.m. they sighted a sloop offshore. Utting tried to signal the sloop, but instead it stood out towards a low line of mangroves. The Captain armed his small boats and sent them in pursuit; it was their only hope of survival. If a wind came up, the small sandy key would have been covered with water. There was jubilation when, the following morning, the small boats were back with the sloop in tow. On Wednesday, February 8,1744, the entire crew of the Looe and the Snow, all 274 men, loaded into the long boats and sloop. Before leaving, Utting set fire to the ship, and as flames raced over the deck it blew up, scattering the ship in several pieces. The Captain and crew arrived in Jamaica on February 13.
In 1951 Dr. and Mrs. Barney Crile, Art McKee and Mendel Peterson dove the wreck site and managed to recover one of the Looe’s cannon, along with a number of artifacts. The following year, after learning that the Looe had a prize when it sank, the group returned and located one of the Snow’s anchors. Also recovered were a number of cannon balls, a pewter cup, a pewter tankard, 3 coins, brass buttons, a brass basin, remains of a fine unguent jar, utensils, a porcelain bowl, copper spun plates, a brass door knocker, pewter teapot and several clay pipes.
Not far from the stepped iron ballast of the Looe, Ed Link recovered a bronze bell inscribed “Soli Deo Gloria, AO 1751”. This date, 7 years after the Looe sank, is from another wreck, possibly Spanish. In the early 1970s Art Hartman and Bobby Jordan worked the site of the Looe and recovered silver candlestick holders, pewter mugs, pewter jugs, cannonballs, buttons, forks and spoons, and the top of a snuff box. Many of the artifacts were in conglomerates that had badly burned wood and other shipwreck material. One day, while searching the shoreward side of Looe Key, Art and Bobby discovered another wreck site, 1/2 to 3/4 mile from the Key. From this site they recovered two 5’ bronze cannon, each with a French Fleur de Lis insignia, 67 muskets with bayonets attached, 2 tridents--one inlaid with gold, the other with silver--and several swords. They determined the ship probably sank between 1825-50, and was undoubtedly a French warship. Bobby Jordan later recovered two more bronze cannon from the site.
The Looe’s stair stepped iron casting ballast is located at mooring buoy #15, about 700-800 feet west of marker #24 at the east end of Looe Key. Artifacts are possibly scattered several hundred feet due to the explosion when the ship burned. Looe Key is a sanctuary now, a beautiful living reef that is a diving pleasure. Salvaging artifacts is illegal, but sightseeing is encouraged. |
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