A p u b l i c at i o n o f t h e B r o wa r d C o u n t y H i s t o r i c a l C o m m i s s i o n volume 31 • number 1 • 2011

The Restored West Side Grade School, 2011

You Can Help Preserve History Each day more of our local history is lost by the passage of time, the passing of early pioneers, and the loss of historic and archaeological sites throughout Broward County. But you can help. The Broward County Historical Commission has been working to preserve local history since 1972 with help from people like you. By donating old family photos and documents, volunteering at events, and providing donations to the Broward County Historical Commission Trust Fund, your efforts help preserve our history. Consider how you can help save our heritage and create a legacy for your community by contributing your time, historical items, or your generosity. What you do today maintains the dignity of history for the future. Call us at 954-357-5553. Monetary donations may be made to:

Broward County Historical Commission Trust Fund 301 Harmon (S.W. 13th) Avenue Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312 www.broward.org/history

A Service of the Broward County Board of County Commissioners This public document was promulgated at a cost of $804.00 or $2.01 per copy, to provide historical information to the public about Broward County.

The Story of the SS Arauca William and Mary Brickell Book Review Keepers Of Fort Lauderdale’s House Of Refuge Sight-Seeing Boats in Mid-Twentieth Century Broward County

A P U B L I C AT I O N O F T H E B ROWA R D CO U N T Y H I S TO R I C A L CO M M I S S I O N

A SERVICE OF THE BROWARD COUNTY BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS BROWARD COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSIONERS Hazel Kelley Armbrister, Chair Steve Glassman, Vice Chair Wendy Wangberg, Secretary Dr. John D. Bloom, Jr. James Bradley Paul Callsen Betty Whatley Cobb William G. Crawford, Jr. Maureen Dinnen Marla Sherman Dumas Wally Elfers Roberto Fernández III Brian S. Freedman Elsie Johns Bill Julian Dawn LaVoir Alexander Lewy Phyllis Loconto Sheldon McCartney Renee M. Shrout

volume 31 • number 1 • 2011

F E A T U R E S

The Story of the SS Arauca A Wartime Saga in Broward County By Bennett Lessmann Page 2

Keepers Of Fort Lauderdale’s House Of Refuge

Summerfield Boat Works from 1940 to 1960 By Richard Jordan Page 35

The Men Who Served at Life Saving Station No. 4 from 1876 to 1926 By Ruth Landini Page 18

BROWARD COUNTY LIBRARIES DIVISION Robert E. Cannon, Division Director Dave Baber, Historic Preservation Coordinator BROWARD COUNTY HISTORICAL COMMISSION STAFF Peggy D. Davis, Libraries Manager Denyse Cunningham, Editor, Curator Maria Munoz, Secretary Kao Ng, Administrative Aide Helen Landers, County Historian Matthew DeFelice, County Archaeologist Copyright 2011, by the Broward County Historical Commission. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means, whether graphic, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or information and retrieval systems, without permission of the publisher. Broward Legacy is published annually by the Broward County Historical Commission. Location and mailing address: Broward County Historical Commission 301 Harmon (S.W. 13th) Avenue Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312 Phone: 954-357-5553 • FAX: 954-357-5522 Annual subscriptions and back issues are available. Unless otherwise noted, photographs are from the archives of the Historical Commission. Neither the Board of County Commissioners of Broward County, Florida, nor the Broward County Historical Commission is responsible for the statements, conclusions or observations herein contained, such matters being the sole responsibility of the authors. This public document was promulgated at a cost of $804.00, or $2.01 per copy, to provide historical information to the public about Broward County.

Book Review: William and Mary Brickell

SS Copenhagen:

Founders of Miami and Fort Lauderdale

Steamer, Artificial Reef and Underwater Archaeological Preserve

by Patrick Scott Page 13

By: Franklin H. Price Page 27

A Brief Note on a Previously Unrecorded South Florida Shipwreck:

Richardson Historic Park and Nature Preserve

The Iron Queen (1849) By Christopher Eck Page 15

Page 34

Sight-Seeing Boats in Mid-Twentieth Century Broward County By Denyse Cunningham Page 41

On the Cover: New River

The Story of the SS Arauca A Wartime Saga in Broward County By Bennett Lessmann The Arauca: Florida’s Battlefront There is a story often told in Fort Lauderdale that, despite its significance, has never been recounted in its entirety. After the Arauca was seized by the United States government in December 1939, a $10,000 trust was created for the just compensation of the ship.1 It is a wartime drama that unfolded just miles off the coast of Broward County. This is that tale in its most complete form to date: the story of the SS Arauca.

The SS Arauca off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This photograph was taken by local sport fishing boat captain James Vreeland, Jr. Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection.

The Arauca and the significance it possessed for Broward County were evident from the start. This account of the Arauca is told through the lens of the Fort Lauderdale Daily News and Evening Sentinel, along with other major newspapers of the day, to contextualize the importance of the ship as it silhouetted the skyline of Port Everglades for nearly 20 months. Further, through these local publications, the most complete account of the Arauca to date has been pieced together. 1939 - Curtain Call The SS Arauca was a German freighter built in 1939 by Bremer Vulcan of Germany, weighing 4,354 tons and reaching 430 feet in length.2 The freighter had cabins for 12 passengers.3 The ship departed from Hamburg, Germany, on August 9, 1939, on its maiden voyage to Havana, Cuba, with 5,000 tons of cargo.4 The nature of the cargo on board is unknown. The Arauca arrived in Cuba on August 29, 1939, and unloaded 2,500 tons of its cargo.5 By this time, the international situation was declining and tensions between Great Britain and Germany had reached a tipping point. The Arauca, at port in Havana, was scheduled to sail to Veracruz, Mexico, and then return to its home port of Hamburg.6 Captain Frederick Stengler, sensing the

2 • Broward Legacy

imminent threat of the British Royal Navy, requested permission from Berlin to return to Hamburg and abandon Veracruz until tensions eased.7 “If they had let me return then, before the English had a chance to scatter their cruisers over the seas, we would have made Hamburg,” Captain Stengler later lamented.8 The Arauca, however, was ordered to continue on to Veracruz with its cargo.9 At this point there are accounts that the Arauca either had sugar in its cargo or received sugar in its hold while in Mexico.10 Herbert Gaston, the Assistant Secretary of the Treasury at the time, confirmed that the Arauca took on 800 to 900 tons of oil before leaving Veracruz and explained that the freighter would need an estimated 600 tons for a return trip to Hamburg.11 While the Arauca’s exact arrival date in Veracruz is unknown, the ship left port on December 14, 1939, with a stated destination of New Orleans, Louisiana.12 Likewise, the Arauca’s business in New Orleans is unknown, yet there is a possibility that a shipment of sugar may have

been contemplated.13 The tonnage of oil taken on by the ship, however, ripened rumors and concerns that the Arauca was merely an auxiliary ship in disguise, used to refuel Nazi combat ships far from home.14 The Drama Unfolds On December 19, 1939, the Arauca was under observation by the United States Coast Guard in Fort Lauderdale.15 Lieutenant J. W. Malen, the executive officer of the Fort Lauderdale base, was vigilantly observing the ship and its curious predicament – the Arauca was being stalked by the HMS Orion.16 The Orion was a light cruiser of the British Royal Navy, commissioned on January 18, 1934.17 She packed eight inch guns and a catapult-launched aircraft.18 The Orion would go on to receive 13 battle honors before being decommissioned in 1947.19 The Arauca, according to Captain Stengler, had been accompanied by an American neutrality patrol cruiser for three days before it first sighted the

The Hillsboro Lighthouse, 1920s. Broward County Historical Commission, Clyde Brown Collection.

Orion.20 Captain Stengler admitted confusing the Orion at first with his American accompaniment: “We first sighted the cruiser Orion about 35 miles from Lauderdale but thought it was an American ship until we were off port.”21 During the mid-morning of December 19th, Coast Guard planes kept a close watch on the Arauca.22 Both ships at this point were reportedly drifting north. Shortly after noon, Lieutenant Malen identified the two ships himself while aboard a Coast Guard speed boat.23 The path of the two ships is unknown; however, both the Arauca and the Orion were reportedly heading north up the Florida coast at 2:30 p.m.

The British Light Cruiser Orion off the coast of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This photograph was taken by local sport fishing captain James Vreeland, Jr. Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection.

As the two vessels moved north toward the Hillsboro Lighthouse, other crafts and yachts were following, witnessing the drama unfold. Oscar Johnson, the manager of the Hollywood Beach Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 3

Hotel, was on his yacht between the two vessels and reported the Orion’s position to the Coast Guard.24 From his craft, Johnson witnessed the Orion signal the Arauca by mirror, urging the ship to turn west and follow out of the neutrality zone.25 By this time, the Orion had deployed its catapultlaunched plane to observe the Arauca’s movement. Finally, at 5:30 p.m., the Orion fired its gun across the bow of the Arauca as a warning.26 This was the first belligerent shot fired in U.S. waters during World War II and could be heard along the Florida coast. As the shot rang out, two U.S. planes were circling the scene, along with the catapult-launched Orion aircraft; one U.S. Navy bomber circled, as well as a Coast Guard surveillance plane.27 The exact position of the Orion when the shot was fired has been contested, yet the U.S. government never protested the blast as a violation of neutrality laws.28 Once fired upon, the Arauca aboutfaced and sped south toward Port Everglades. The port was in an uproar. Spectators, who had lined the beach to watch the event unfold, followed the

ship to the port to witness her drop anchor. Unbeknownst to the 52 crew members, the Arauca had met its home for the next 20 months. The ship had outrun the impressive Royal Navy ship, but would never sail against the Orion’s countrymen again.

Arauca.31 If the Arauca proved to be a peaceful merchant ship, it would be allowed to remain at Port Everglades indefinitely.32 However, if the Arauca proved to be an auxiliary ship, used to refuel Nazi fighters, the ship would be ordered to sail within 24 hours.33

Willkommen Der Hauptmann!

C. P. Hogeboom, Deputy Collector of Customs for Port Everglades, eventually confirmed that the ship was unarmed and would have 24 hours to officially request entry into the port.34 Neither the crew nor port officials knew that the status of the ship would soon become irrelevant.

Within hours of the ship’s arrival, press from around the area had arrived and were clamoring for interviews with the Coast Guard, port officials and the crew. An initial meeting was scheduled for both press and port officials with Captain Stengler when The First Offensive the ship had been anchored. When questioned on why he did not follow the Orion’s orders and turn the Arauca toward neutral waters, Captain Stengler remarked, “I would rather run her onto the beach than let them have her.”29 Captain Stengler would go on to express his gratitude to port officials, claiming, “Port Everglades saved my ship and crew and that is important.”30 After the meeting, Captain Stengler and his crew were ordered to remain onboard until port authorities could reach a conclusion on the status of the

Port Everglades, 1934. Broward County Historical Commission. Photo by Anthony Kozla. 4 • Broward Legacy

On the morning of December 20, 1939, a libel action lawsuit was brought against the Arauca in the U.S. District Court of Miami, Judge John W. Holland presiding.35 The libellant, Imperial Sugar Company of Galveston, Texas, filed suit against the Hamburg-American Line, the owner of the Arauca, for breach of contract and losses totaling $38,451.36

Federal Court Judge John W. Holland (1883 – 1969) From Bench and Bar of Florida A Pictorial and Biographical Directory of Members of the Bench and Bar of Florida, 1935. Broward County Historical Commission.

Imperial claimed that the HamburgAmerican Line failed to deliver shipments of sugar as a result of the war and moved to attach the Arauca as property of the company, exercising quasi-in rem jurisdiction.37 Whether the culprit of the lost sugar delivery was the Arauca or some other vessel owned by the Hamburg-American Line is unknown. Back in Port Everglades, the Arauca was the object of thousands of spectators and visitors. It was eventually boarded by Lieutenant Malen around the time the lawsuit was being filed in Miami. Pursuant to U.S. neutrality regulations of the time, the executive officer of the local Coast Guard sealed all wireless and radio instruments on the ship except for a receiving set.38 Before the radios were sealed, however, the Arauca sent messages to HamburgAmerican Line officials in both New York and Germany requesting further instruction.39 Throughout the morning, the crew kept a close watch on the Orion. Captain Stengler, still optimistic about the possibility of returning to Hamburg, inquired, “When will you have your next fog? If I had

one yesterday, we would have had a chance to get away from the Orion.”40 The crew was set to work covering the woodwork of the ship with fresh grey paint.41 Captain Stengler was insistent on camouflaging the ship in hopes that a heavy fog would settle and the ship could leave undetected.42 Shortly after noon, Kurt Ludwig, first officer of the Arauca, was served notice of the libel action courtesy of U.S. Marshal James J. Hennessy.43 Ludwig eventually notified his captain of an attachment on the ship, which prohibited the vessel from leaving port until either the bond of the attachment – some $76,000 – was posted, or the lawsuit was settled.44 In order to enforce the attachment, eight local Coast Guardsmen and one customs official boarded the ship.45 It seemed that the Arauca would make Port Everglades home for some time to come. Later that evening, Customs Officer A. G. Watson arrived from Tampa to accept the Arauca’s official application for formal entry into the port.46 Watson met with Lieutenant Commander H. E. Grogan from the local Coast Guard base to review the Arauca’s manifest.47 The details of the meeting were confidential; however, at some

Coast Guard Base Six Fort Lauderdale, Florida, was located where the Bahia Mar beach is today. Broward County Historical Commission.

point the conference was interrupted by a call from the Hamburg-American Line in New York, notifying Captain Stengler that a representative was en route.48 On December 22nd, the port returned to normal.49 Crowds had subsided and the crew of the Arauca breathed a collective sigh of relief as the Orion moved beyond the horizon at daybreak.50 An official from the Hamburg-American Line arrived that morning to speak with Imperial Sugar officials regarding the libel action.51 Imperial made its position known – that it had incurred damages as a result of non-delivery before the war – and Hamburg-American Line officials were forced to either post the bond or face litigation.52 Meanwhile, it was agreed that the Orion was not likely to resume its watch of the port until the bond was posted.53 Tender of a bond would be a matter of public record, which would supply the British advanced warning on any potential movement of the ship.54 For the time being, it seemed the Arauca’s best course of action was to face litigation and avoid a potential conflict with the superior Orion. The crew did just that, preparing to be at Port Everglades for an extended stay. On December 23rd, W. Richard Winter, the New York representative for the Hamburg-American Line, made a request to the State Department in Washington asking for shore leave for the crew of the Arauca.55 The ship was officially classified as a merchant ship in a neutral port and Winter asked that the crew to be treated as such.56 No ruling came from Washington that day and, as fortune (or misfortune) would have it, the issue would be taken out of the officials’ hands just three days later. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 5

On Christmas Day, however, the crew of the Arauca celebrated onboard the ship. Captain Stengler was captured in a photo decorating a Christmas tree, looking wholly unconcerned about the mounting issues the Arauca faced.57 The photo of Christmas Day is eerily over-shadowed by a Nazi flag that loomed over the Nativity celebration. The ship and its crew, however, were content for the day. The Second Offensive On December 26, 1939, the Arauca was the object of another libel action. The Miami law firm Batchelor and Dyer brought two new attachments against the ship on behalf of Ledward, Bibby & Co. and M. Grumbacher.58 Ledward, Bibby & Co., a British steamship company established in 1877, brought a libel action in the sum of $99,394.48.59 Ledward, Bibby & Co. sought to attach the Arauca for undelivered sugar shipments from two different vessels, the Havelland and the Friesland, owned by Hamburg-American Line.60 The company claimed that both ships were consigned to the United States, caught in the tumult of the war and fled with the sugar cargo.61 Upon arrival at their respective havens, the Friesland and the Havelland refused to surrender the sugar until full freight charges were paid.62 Max Grumbacher, the second libellant, filed a $1,000 action for water damage incurred to his paint brushes, which were shipped aboard the SS Hamburg.63 Grumbacher, then a small New York merchant, received his shipment of paint brushes with considerable water damage, though the cause of the spoliation is unknown. For the Arauca, the libel actions eroded any hope of returning to Hamburg in 1939. The attachments now totaled 6 • Broward Legacy

$138,845 with a bond of $277,690.64 The Coast Guard detachment keeping watch now had orders to continue their vigil. From this time on, the crew would be consigned to the Arauca without shore leave.

1940: The Saga Continues Where 1939 gave journalists the initial frenetic look at the Arauca and its crew, 1940 ushered in a more personal picture of the ship and its stories.

With her residency determined, the Arauca now faced another financial obstacle: dockage fees. On December 28th, Port Everglades officials announced that the Arauca would be charged $100 per day for the first full week in the port, $50 per day for the following 30 days and $35 per day thereafter.65 Hamburg-American Line was now facing close to half a million dollars in potential bonds, attachments and litigation fees. The End of 1939: Intermission For Broward County, and indeed the United States, December 1939 brought the first physical evidence of World War II home. Citizens by the thousands flocked to see the Arauca at Port Everglades, many watched its dramatic flight from the Orion, and some witnessed the first belligerent shots of the war splash into American waters. Journalists fell in love with Captain Stengler and his affinity for interviews. For these reasons, the Fort Lauderdale Daily News had little trouble hailing the Arauca’s tale as the Best Newspaper Story for Broward County Readers in 1939.66 The publication said this about the Arauca: It captured the imagination of the entire world. It brought the realization of war home to…these 48 United States of America. It has already made history and may make more. It brought more than 100,000 visitors to Port Everglades in 48 hours. It put Ft. Lauderdale into the headlines throughout the world. It was just plain red-hot spot news – a natural from the word go.67

The SS Arauca. Courtesy of Martin Rubin.

By February 1940, the ship had been detained for two months. For the crew, life became quite boring; for passengers, life at the port was a state of indentured limbo. One destitute passenger, Eduard Pestle, was able to escape life aboard the Arauca with help from his alma mater. Eduard Pestle boarded the Arauca in Vera Cruz seeking passage to his home in Hamburg.68 He had graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), located in Troy, New York, in June 1939 with a master’s degree in civil engineering.69 Pestle was aboard the Arauca during its flight from the Orion, its initial internment at Port Everglades, and its seven-week stay at the Port. He described life on the Arauca as “very, very boresome” and that he had “read

to shreds” the entire onboard library.70 He also explained that no one was allowed to call on the crew, nor were they permitted to go ashore.71 However, on February 2nd, Pestle returned to RPI through efforts of school officials and was offered a graduate fellowship.72 The story of Eduard Pestle captures life aboard the Arauca in context: seven weeks into their stay, the crew and passengers were not permitted any shore leave; they were virtual prisoners aboard their vessel. On the same day Pestle made his homecoming, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) began an investigation of the facts surrounding the Arauca’s arrival in Port Everglades.73 FBI Director, J. Edgar Hoover informed a House Committee that it was necessary to examine whether any breach of neutrality had taken place by any vessels involved, and whether the Arauca had contacted American service vessels in Fort Lauderdale.74 For the Arauca, this meant a steady stream of FBI agents investigating its flight into Port Everglades. The Arauca faced another libel suit in 1940 as well. While the exact date is unknown, in March 1940, the Asiatic Petroleum Company brought a $150,000 action against HamburgAmerican Line, attaching the Arauca in fashion similar to what had been done by Ledward, Bibby & Co., Grumbacher and Imperial Sugar.75 Later in March, the attorneys for each side presented themselves before Judge Holland in Miami to discuss the filing of additional briefs.76 The judge granted leave to file and the Fort Lauderdale Daily News reported that the instant controversy was “between two belligerent nations, both of which have passed war measures making it

The SS Arauca docked at Port Everglades. Courtesy of Martin Rubin, From Tourist Postcard Booklet.

unlawful to pay debts to an enemy.”77 Thus, the legal issues presented to Judge Holland contained complex matters of international significance.78 On March 18, 1940, the last passenger of the Arauca left the ship, only this time for government work.79 Robert Eggert was a post-graduate law student who was visiting Mexico at the outbreak of hostilities.80 The 26-yearold graduated from an unidentified eastern university, was stranded in Vera Cruz and gained passage aboard the Arauca destined for Hamburg.81 Eggert was released from the interned ship under special orders from the Nazi government in Berlin and with approval from the U.S. to take up work as a member of the German Embassy staff in Washington, D.C.82 On April 17, 1940, four long months into their internment, the crew of the Arauca received some good news: they were going home. Captain Stengler and his crew were eager when the news came from HamburgAmerican Line officials that they may be returning to Berlin. Though the Arauca itself was to remain in Port Everglades, the crew would travel

across the U.S. to California, board a Japanese ship for the Orient, take passage aboard the Trans-Siberian Railway to Moscow and finally cross the border into Germany.83 While the talks of travel were ripe, the crew still had to await a settlement of the claims against their vessel.84 At this point, the more than $400,000 libel actions had been reduced to approximately $300,000.85 For the time being, the crew was excited but paralyzed by the legal proceedings. In May 1940, the fascination that surrounded the Arauca reached the Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce, which made arrangements to film the crew for a short film series.86 Responding to inquiries nationwide, the chamber announced that a newsreel company had been hired to film the series aboard the ship.87 Whether the project was ever completed is unknown. Finally, in June 1940, an official explanation emerged as to the status of the crew. Immigration Inspector Ray O. Stott of the Hollywood Bureau of Immigration explained Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 7

The Fort Lauderdale Chamber of Commerce was located at 115 South Andrews Avenue where the Broward County Government Center is located today. Broward County Historical Commission. Photo by Steve Cresse.

that the Arauca possessed no crew list when it came to port.88 As such, the immigration inspector explained, restrictions were necessary for the crew as their intentions in the United States could not be determined.89 By this time, 24 of the crew were granted shore leave by a board of inquiry, while the remaining seamen were confined to the docks and to bull pen exercise from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. daily.90 For the Arauca and its crew, 1940 passed in a haze of constraint, hope, and stagnation.

accompanied by the Navy’s newest destroyer, the Benson.91 FDR spent eight days at sea and returned on March 29th, docking the Potomac in the same shed just yards away from the Arauca. On March 30th, FDR made his Jackson Day speech aboard the Potomac. Upon his return from sea, the relaxed mood of the fishing trip changed when President Roosevelt “caught sight of a Nazi flag fluttering over American soil.”92 The president was on his way to Washington within hours of concluding his speech.93

On March 31, 1941, the true intentions of the President were realized.94 Headlines across the country told of more than 60 ship seizures that occurred overnight, the Arauca being one.95 The justifications for the seizures were within the confines of the Espionage Act passed by the U.S. Congress on June 15, 1917.96 This act allowed the secretary of the Treasury, in cooperation with the president, to take possession of any vessel in United States waters when the vessel posed a threat to an American harbor.97 As the Arauca was the vessel of a foreign, belligerent nation with the threat of scuttling or sabotage at port, she was subject to the secretary’s order. The crew; however, was subject to a different law. The 44 seamen were arrested aboard the Arauca based on warrants issued in Washington for overstaying their visa permits.98 Accordingly, Lieutenant P. L. Stinson, acting commander of the Fort Lauderdale Coast Guard Base and 18 armed guardsmen marched aboard the Arauca, led the crew off their ship and replaced the Nazi swastika with “Old Glory.”99 The crew of 44 was jailed at the Coast Guard base, until other arrangements could be made.100

1941: The Final Stage The Arauca had spent more than 14 months in Port Everglades by March 1941. As the war in Europe progressed, the stories of the Arauca became less frequent. In fact, the Arauca was more or less a staple of the port’s skyline. In 1941, however, the ship would see its final headline across the country. On March 20, 1941, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) arrived at Port Everglades for one of his many fishing trips. His presidential yacht, the Potomac, was anchored just one shed from the Arauca and was 8 • Broward Legacy

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt in an earlier visit to Port Everglades in 1936. Broward County Historical Commission.

The crew was led from the Coast Guard base to the Broward County Jail at 6:40 p.m. that evening, as the facilities at the base were inadequate.101 More than 300 people lined the roadside to the jailhouse in a reception fit more for celebrities rather than inmates. The ship was inspected and no evidence of sabotage was evident.

the equivalent of the currency currently used in the presiding jurisdiction; in this case, the libellant was entitled to the U.S. dollar equivalent to the Reichsmark.115 As the Nazi government had been replaced by this time and no equivalent to the Reichsmark existed, the court held that the libellant was entitled to recover nothing.116

On April 2, 1941, Sheriff Walter R. Clark took custody of the crew at the Broward County Jail in concurrent jurisdiction with Ray O. Stott, an immigration officer at Port Everglades.102 The fate of the crew was quickly being decided and talks of transfer to a concentration camp were leaked.103 In fact, the crew was transferred a week later to the Dade County Jail, later taken to Ellis Island and, after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, interned at Fort Lincoln in Bismarck, ND.104

The Arauca fund was the object of another lawsuit just one year later. In United States v. Knauth, 183 F. 2d 874 (C.A. 5 1950), the attorneys who had litigated claims on behalf of the Arauca were seeking to recover fees from the fund.117 The issue was whether a proctor in admiralty obtained a maritime lien on a vessel for professional services (i.e. attorney’s fees).118 The court ultimately concluded that the appellants did not have a lien on the maritime fund, as their legal services were not rendered to the Arauca, but to the HamburgAmerican Line in defense of personal libel actions.119

The Arauca, however, would remain in the port long after her crew left. The Maritime Commission assigned the Arauca to the South Atlantic Steamship Co. of Savannah, Ga., shortly after her seizure.105 The company had the ship towed out of Port Everglades on August 22, 1941, and taken to Mobile, Ala., for refitting.106 After 20 months at the port, the engines of the Arauca were inoperable due to rust and inactivity.107 The SS Arauca underwent repairs the following year, and on April 20, 1942, hoisted an American flag and was renamed the USS Saturn (AK-49).108 The ship went on to receive one battle star for her service in the war.109 The Saturn was decommissioned on July 23, 1946, delivered to the War Shipping Administration on July 25, 1946, and was struck from the Navy’s list on August 15, 1946.110 She was housed in the Maritime Commission Reserve Fleet on the James River

Broward County Sheriff Walter R. Clark. Broward County Historical Commission, Clark Family Collection.

and, 26 years later, was sold to Isaac Verela of Castellon de la Plana, Spain, for scrapping.111 The Arauca Lives On While the official story of the Arauca ended on April 20, 1941, the legal history of the ship lived on until the 1950s. Two lawsuits were filed in relation to the ship, claiming various forms of relief. In Suns Insurance Office v. Arauca Fund, 84 F. Supp. 516 (D.C. Fla. 1949), the libellant, Suns Insurance, was the insurer of 50 bales of hops aboard the Deutschland, a Hamburg-American Line ship. The Deutschland caught fire during its voyage and the 50 bales of hops were destroyed.112 The two parties – Suns and Hamburg-American – agreed that the laws of Germany would apply, thus any loss incurred was to be paid in the German currency, Reichsmark.113 The libellant requested the court to distribute funds from the trust to cover their losses in hops.114 In this case, the court concluded that pursuant to the contract, any compensation was to be recovered in

The End of a Saga The SS Arauca sailed its way into U.S. history as the first evidence of World War II. The vessel’s flight into Port Everglades and its 20-month internment gave the U.S. its first glimpse of an enemy it would face on the battlefield just a few years later. For Broward County, the Arauca was one of the biggest tourist attractions of the day. For the crew, it was their first taste of captivity on foreign soil. For future generations, the Arauca will live on as a ship that captivated the eyes, hearts and fascination of a country. 

1 Id. This trust was created as just compensation could not be paid to a warring nation. At this time, Germany was an enemy Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 9

of the United States. Thus, the trust was held for the benefit of the Arauca and would eventually be dispensed as such. $10,000 in 1941 was the equivalent of $147,442.86 in 2010. Government Inflation Calculator supra note 36. 2 Naval History and Heritage, Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships: USS Saturn, 2005, www.history.navy.mil/danfs/ s6/saturn-ii.htm. 3 “Nazi Vessel Flees to Florida Harbor,” New York Times, December 20, 1939, at 4. 4 First Interview given by Captain Frederick Stengler to a news reporter, “Arauca Skipper Hopes for Fog as He Tells of Flight From Speedy British Craft,” Fort Lauderdale Daily News and Evening Sentinel [hereinafter cited as FTLDN], December 20, 1939, at 1. 5 Id. 6 Id. at 2. 7 Id. 8 Id. 9 Id. 10 “Fate of Nazi Freighter in Agent’s Hand,” FTLDN, December 20, 1939, at 1. The explanation of libel attachments filed against the ship by the Imperial Sugar Company of Galveston, Texas, for several thousand pounds of sugar lost when the Arauca docked in Veracruz suggests that the ship either must have been delivering sugar in Veracruz, or never received the sugar in Veracruz, or was unable to deliver the sugar once docked in Florida. In any case the ship, by this account, had sugar on board. 11 “Story of Munitions on Arauca Studied,” FTLDN, December 22, 1939. 12 New York Times supra note 3. 13 FTLDN supra note 9. 14 “Freighter Held in Port Until Status Cleared,” FTLDN, December 21, 1939 at 1. 15 New York Times supra note 3. 16 Id. 10 • Broward Legacy

17 Colledge, J.J. & Warlow, Ben, Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy, London: Chatham, 2006 (Rev. Ed.), 1969. 18 Id. 19 Id. 20 FTLDN supra note 4. 21 Id. 22 New York Times supra note 3. 23 Id. 24 Id. 25 Id.

will not be addressed in this paper. However, it is noteworthy that, by all the records used in the compilation of this paper, the HMS Orion is placed no further than 12 miles from the Florida coast when she fired her warning shot at the Arauca. 29 New York Times supra note 3. 30 FTLDN supra note 4, at 2. 31 Id. 32 FTLDN supra note 14.

26 Id. While this particular New York Times article does not specify the time, the account of Johnson’s eye-witness account, when read with the times of the warning shots fired, makes for an approximate 5:30 p.m. firing. 27 Id. 28 Id. In this article, Captain Stengler is quoted as saying he was fired upon while in United States water and that he would protest. “Fugitive Nazi Ship Attached In Suit,” New York Times, December 21, 1939. In this article, a few days after the initial port of the Arauca in Port Everglades, Captain Stengler is quoted as saying, “It is not up to me to make a protest…If there is any, it is up to your government to make it.” A conflicting account was given in this article by James H. Reilly, a swimming director at Rutgers University, who was aboard his fishing boat during the incident. According to Reilly, the Arauca was well outside the 3-mile neutrality line when the shot was fired. “Plan Favours Britain: Nazi’s and American Security Zone,” The Glasgow Herald, February 15, 1940 at 9. This article establishes and confirms, by a foreign news source, that the Pan American Security Zone, and the Conference that passed the measure into law, effected a 300-mile security zone around the Americas. In any event, the shots fired by the HMS Orion, by all accounts, were well within the 300-mile zone created by the Pan American Security Zone. The United States’ decision not to protest the actions of the British ship

33 Id. 34 New York Times supra note 3. 35 New York Times supra note 28. 36 FTLDN supra note 10. The buying power of $38,451 in 1939 currency had the buying power of $599,561.74 in 2010. Government Inflation Calculator found at: http://data.bls.gov/cgibin/cpicalc.pl. 37 The legal intricacies of quasi-in rem jurisdiction and its application hereto will not be discussed, as the primary focus of this piece is the story of the Arauca. 38 FTLDN supra note 10. The specifics of the neutrality regulations are unknown at this time. However, for the purposes of the Arauca’s story, they are not relevant. 39 New York Times supra note 3. 40 FTLDN supra note 4. 41 FTLDN supra note 10. 42 Id. 43 FTLDN supra note 14. 44 New York Times supra note 28. The bond amount for attachments made on ships at this time was typically twice that of the libel action itself. 45 Id. 46 Id. 47 Id.

48 Id. 49 “Orion Quits Port Watch: British Cruiser May Need Fresh Fuel Supplies,” FTLDN, December 22, 1939 at 1. 50 Id. 51 Id. 52 Id. 53 Id. 54 Id.

$1,000 in 1939 currency had the buying power of $15,592.88 in 2010. Government Inflation Calculator supra note 36. Grumbacher is now a world-renowned art supplies manufacturer. For a detailed summation of the history of the company, see the following: http://www. watercolorpainting.com/manufacturers.htm. Accessed: March 23, 2010. 64 Id.

55 “Shore Leave Asked for Arauca Crew,” FTLDN, December 23, 1939 at 1.

65 “Arauca Dockage Fees Announced,” FTLDN, December 28, 1939.

56 Id. 57 A photo in the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society archives – unidentified paper – shows the Captain and his first officer decorating a Christmas tree. Whether the crew was allowed to have visitors onboard is unknown. Also, the paper does not caption why a picture was taken. 58 “Claims Against Arauca Reach $138,845 Total,” FTLDN, December 26, 1939 at 1. 59 Id. For a complete history of Ledward, Bibby & Co., see the following website: www. red-duster.co.uk/BIBBY4.htm. Accessed: March 23, 2010. This website recounts the entire history of the Bibby company in an extraordinary amount of detail. The company is not central for the purposes of this paper. $99,394.48 in 1939 currency had a buying power of $1,549,845.97 in 2010. Government Inflation Calculator supra note 36.

The following amounts reflect purchasing power as of 2010: $100, 1939 – $1,559.29, 2010; $50, 1939 - $779.64, 2010; and $35, 1939 - $545.79, 2010. Government Inflation Calculator supra note 36. One source explains that the Arauca was in receipt of a bill in October 1940 for dockage fees. The fees amounted to $7,500, with the above charges per day plus a $1,221 charge for guards, fencing and lights. $7,500 in 1939 currency is equal to $116,111.25. The Hamburg-American Line protested this amount as excessive and the Port reduced the amount to $20 per day. The final bill amounted to $5,700 ($88,244.55). However, when the Arauca received new libel actions and was interned for another 10 months, she ran up a new port bill of $3,540 ($52,194.77 in 1941 currency). The Maritime Commission paid this bill after seizing the ship. 66 “Broward County’s Ten Best Newspaper Stories for 1939 Listed for Readers,” FTLDN, December 30, 1939 at 1. 67 Id.

60 Id. 61 Id. The Havelland left Manila, Phillipines, en route to the United States. The Havelland fled to Puntarenas, Costa Rica. The Friesland left Manila, Phillipines, also en route to the United States. The Friesland fled to Paita, Peru. 62 Id. 63 Id.

68 “Arauca Seaman Is Bored After Visit,” FTLDN, February 2, 1940. 69 Id. 70 Id. 71 Id. 72 Id. 73 “FBI Investigates Arauca Flight to Port Everglades,” FTLDN, February 6, 1940, at 1. 74 Id.

This statement was made public by the Appropriations Committee on Feb. 6th. The FBI at the time kept most correspondence concerning investigatory activities secret. Thus, not much is known about the depth of the investigation or the time spent with the Arauca. 75 “Arauca Libel Case Action is Delayed,” FTLDN, Unknown date. Presumably, this libel action was filed at some point in 1940. The exact date, however, is unknown. This article is the first to mention the petroleum company and its $150,000 action. Asiatic Petroleum was the first jointoperating company between the Royal Dutch Petroleum Company and Shell. For a history of the company, please see the following website: www.corporatewatch.org/?lid=302. Accessed: April 1, 2010. 76 Id. 77 Id. 78 While the Hamburg-American Line argued against the British company seeking relief in an American court, Asiatic Petroleum requested the court hear the case unless Hamburg-American could show an avenue for relief in either a British or German court. 79 Later figures confirm that 43 to 44 crewmen were seized from the Arauca. Thus, this leads to the conclusion that there must have been between eight and nine passengers aboard the ship. 80 “German Freighter Arauca’s Last Passenger Gets Work as Member of Embassy Staff, FTLDN, March 18, 1940, United States Immigrant Inspector of Arrival, December 19, 1939, Port Everglades Passenger List, Microfilm in the collections of the Broward County Historical Commission. 81 Id. Though Eggert’s purpose is unknown, it is clear that his family had close contacts with the Nazi government in Berlin. It may be safe to assume that his business in Mexico was in furtherance of Nazi objectives, though no concrete facts support that conclusion. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 11

82 Id. 83 “Arauca’s Crew Ready for Globe Circling Jaunt to Reich; May leave Next Month,” FTLDN, April 7, 1940, at 1. 84 Id. 85 Id. For reference, $400,000 in 1939 had the buying power of $6,192,600 in 2010; $300,000 in 1939 had the buying power of $4,644,540. Government Inflation Calculator supra note 36. 86 “Arauca News Films Sought by Chamber,” FTLDN, May 3, 1940, at 16. 87 Id. 88 “Immigration Man Explains Status of Arauca’s Crew,” FTLDN, June 5, 1940, at 9. 89 Id. 90 Id. Whether a board of inquiry was routine practice at Port Everglades is unknown. 91 Stout, Wesley W., “Naval Guns Barked Here,” FTLDN, August 24, 1953. The distance between the Arauca and the Potomac was said to be just 100 yards. 92 Burnett, Gene M. , Florida’s Past: People and Events that Shaped the State, Vol. 2, at 188. 93 There is a full transcript of the speech in the FTLDN for March 30, 1941. 94 Here, it is my contention that the President made it a point to see one of the ships that he had already decided to seize. 95 “U.S. Seizes 28 Italian, 2 Nazi, 35 Danish Ships; French and British Fight Battle Over Convoy; London Reports 5 Fascist War Vessels Sunk,” New York Times, March 31, 1941 at 1., “U.S. Seizes Arauca’s, 64 Other Ships,” Fort Lauderdale Times, March 31, 1941 at 1. 96 New York Times supra note 94. The act reads: “Whenever the President, by proclamation 12 • Broward Legacy

or Executive order, declares a national emergency to exist by reason of actual or threatened war, insurrection or invasion or disturbance or threatened disturbance of the international relations of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury may make, subject to the approval of the President, rules and regulations governing the anchorage and movement of any vessel, foreign or domestic, in the territorial waters of the United States, may inspect such vessel at any time, place guards thereon and if necessary in his opinion, in order to secure such vessels from damage or injury or to prevent damage or injury to any harbor or waters of the United States or to secure the observance of the rights and obligations of the United States, may take, by and with the consent of the President, for such purposes, full possession and control of such vessels and remove there from the officers and crew thereof and all other persons not specifically authorized by him to go or remain aboard thereof.” 97 Id. 98 The Immigration Act of 1924 was in effect at this time. Section 14 read, in pertinent part: “Any alien who at any time after entering the United States is found to have been at the time of entry not entitled under this Act to enter the United States, or to have remained therein for a longer time than permitted under this Act or regulations made there under, shall be taken into custody and deported in the same manner as provided for in sections 19 and 20 of the Immigration Act of 1917.” Visas, according to the Statute, appeared to last only 4 months. 99 Fort Lauderdale Times supra note 94. 100 I use the number 44 here, as it is the most logical conclusion with the numbers already discussed in this paper. A full passenger list never surfaced for the Arauca, thus 8 of 12 seems the most likely number. The Fort Lauderdale Times is consistent with 44 crew members, while the New York Times published 43 crewmen arrested. This discrepancy may be due to the New

York Times not accounting for the Captain, though that is simply speculation. 101 “Arauca Crew and Captain Jailed Here,” Fort Lauderdale Times, April 1, 1941 at 2. 102 “Consul Confers With Nazi Crew,” Fort Lauderdale Times, April 1, 1941 at 1. 103 “Arauca and Crew March to Jail,” FTLDN, April 2, 1941 at 2. 104 Stout, Wesley W. supra note 91. 105 Id. 106 Id. See also “Jinx Ship, Arauca Leaves Port Everglades,” Newspaper is unknown, from the collections of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. 107 Id. 108 Naval History and Heritage supra note 2. 109 Id. 110 Id. 111 Id. She was sold on September 12, 1972. See also NavShip Online: Service Ship Photo Archive, http://www.navsource. org/archives/09/06/0640.htm. Accessed: March 23, 2010. 112 Id. 113 Id. 114 Id. 115 Id. 116 Id. 117 United States v. Knauth, 183 F. 2d 874 (C.A. 5 1950). 118 Id. at 877. 119 Id.

book

review

By Patrick Scott

William and Mary Brickell Founders of Miami and Fort Lauderdale by Beth Brickell For anyone who has wondered how two great cities, Miami and Fort Lauderdale, first grew from a primeval wilderness, the answer is often given that Henry Flagler extended his railroad here from Saint Augustine. To the readers of local history who inquire further, “But how did a railroad magnate come to be interested in such an unsettled area in the first place?,” the answer comes, “Julia Tuttle sent him fresh orange blossoms after the Central Florida crop was destroyed in a great winter freeze” in 1895. But for the real aficionados of South Florida’s relatively short history, the Tuttle story turns out to be something of a myth. Both Miami and Fort Lauderdale actually owe their existence to a cranky Ohioan and his English wife who shunned publicity, lost all their papers in a storm and had no living descendants.

Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2011. Acknowledgements, introduction, photographs, maps, notes, bibliography, 126 pp. $19.95 paper, ISBN 978-1.60949.213.7.

Author Beth Brickell, pronounced Brick-ELL, is a Hollywood, Calif., producer and former journalist who first encountered the BRICK-ell name while starring in a 1960s television program, Gentle Ben, filmed in Miami. Forty years later, she returned to uncover the long-buried story of the “First Family” of Miami. Ms. Brickell somehow got carried away with the depth of her research, contacting sources from Australia (where William Brickell first made his fortune) to California and Ohio. She ultimately wrote an entire book. Though she is no relation to the subjects of her book, Beth Brickell spent more than a year re-creating the life of William Brickell (d. 1908) and Mary Brickell (d. 1922), from hundreds of minor references, many of them so obscure that none of the writers of historical books and articles on 19th century Dade County were aware of them. The family had become so obscure that no photograph of Mrs. Brickell was discovered until Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 13

1992! An examination of the end notes and biography attests to the superb detective work in finding the sources. Historians have largely ignored the Brickells while Tuttle’s stature as the so-called “Mother of Miami” grew steadily after her 1898 death. All that remains of the Brickell name is the bridge and avenue that run through their former land holdings in Miami. But just a few facts demonstrate how the Brickells have been given undeserved short shrift: • In 1874, the Brickells were the only private landowners in present-day Broward County. Mary later testified that she maintained a grove there, reachable only by sailing up the New River from the ocean, or by canoe through the back route of the Everglades. Adding to their original holdings, they bargained directly with Flagler in 1895 to establish the Town of Fort Lauderdale when the population of the entire area of what is now Broward County was no more than 20 people. • The Brickells came to the Miami River in 1872 and opened the first store, an Indian trading post that was the center of the slowgrowing community for many years prior to the arrival of the railroad. They acquired, in Mary’s name, three square miles of bay front land running from present downtown Miami to Coconut Grove, and later acquired much more land. They were the largest active landowners in the county. • After William’s death, Mary subdivided and platted the original square mile Town of 14 • Broward Legacy

Fort Lauderdale, and most of its first neighborhoods: the west addition (Sailboat Bend), Colee Hammock and Rio Vista. Although Mary testified that it was not her intention, the manner in which her surveyor drew the plat granted the riverfront to the public in perpetuity. • In Dade County, Mary joined with Tuttle to negotiate with Flagler for a town to be built on her land and Tuttle’s, to be connected by a bridge over the Miami River. Her elderly husband felt cheated by Flagler when he built the town only on the Tuttle side of the river where, in concert with his own interests, Flagler planned a major railroad terminal and a grand resort hotel. He refused to cross the bridge until after Tuttle’s death. • After the Brickell trading post closed, the family built an apartment building on the site. A few years ago, in razing the building, it was discovered that a prehistoric ceremonial circular structure had been located there. (Today known as the Miami Circle, this site is now a historic landmark preserved by MiamiDade County.) The Brickells’ personalities come alive with many anecdotes from contemporary records. William was a colorful storyteller, but his real life needed no exaggeration. He really did join the California Gold Rush by covered wagon, and the Australian Gold Rush afterwards, where he met Mary. She volunteered as a nurse during the Civil War. Just the list of chance encounters he made on his very irregular path to Florida reads like a Who’s Who of South Florida history: including Henry

Perrine, Jr., Henry Flagler, John D. Rockefeller, Harriett English, Ralph Munroe, Ephraim Sturtevant and Julia Tuttle. And that was before they came to Florida. If the book were fictionalized, one wouldn’t believe that even fictional characters could all be so connected to one another. But the author has proven that they were. The author follows William and Mary Brickell’s trail around the world in the 1850s and 1860s through contemporary diaries, manuscripts, letters, town directories, newspapers, ship records, business records, lawsuits and many other piecemeal accounts. With a deft writing style, she has woven them seamlessly into a biography, the story of pioneering adventurers who eventually sought refuge in remote South Florida, and stayed for 50 years. Beth Brickell’s life of the Brickells is also a history of the South Florida wilds at a time when the few hundred remaining Seminole Indians vastly outnumbered the white settlers. There was no regular mail service and there was not even a dirt road. She paints a vivid picture of life, early industry, Indian relations and the bitter feuds over land and political power on the Florida frontier. Brickell’s book is a highly readable account, profusely illustrated. This volume would be appreciated by anyone interested in the early development of southeast Florida, especially in the centennial of the incorporation of the City of Fort Lauderdale.  Patrick Scott, attorney/historian, Fort Lauderdale

A Brief Note on a Previously Unrecorded South Florida Shipwreck: The Iron Queen (1849) By Christopher Eck

Christopher Eck is a historic preservation officer working for the U.S. General Services Administration in Atlanta, Ga. He is the former Broward County Historical Commission administrator and county historic preservation officer and former executive director and county historic preservation officer for the Miami-Dade County Office of Historic Preservation. He holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Loyola University, New Orleans, a master’s degree in history and historical archaeology from the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a doctor of law degree from the University of Miami.

While conducting some other historical research, I came across the following brief note (see Figure 1) on a shipwreck that was published in the Bahamian newspaper, The Nassau Guardian and Colonial Advertiser, on Wednesday, November 21, 1849.1 Having worked for the Broward County Historical Commission when the agency was awarded a state grant to conduct an inventory of known shipwrecks and marine archaeological sites in 2006, I realized that this was a vessel whose loss had not been recorded in any other published sources relating to wrecks along the South Florida coast.2

Figure 1. The Nassau Guardian and Colonial Advertiser, Wednesday, November 21, 1849, p. 3, col. 4. Courtesy of Paper of Record.com.

Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 15

In 1849, the mouth of the New River – which has shifted over time – was not open in its present location at the entrance to Port Everglades; rather, it was several miles south about where Sheridan Street meets the Intracoastal Waterway in the City of Hollywood. If this is an accurate reference point by which to measure the distance, “about 25 miles north of New River,” then it is likely that this British-flagged ship went ashore somewhere between Pompano Beach and southern Palm Beach County.

(Scottish to be more precise) yard.3

ship’s home port registration.6

From this website it was also learned that the Iron Queen had been launched in Aberdeen in 1841, after her construction by the firm of Bowman, Vernon & Co. of Aberdeen, which built some of the earliest iron-hulled vessels to be sailed in the world. Her initial owner was an Aberdeen lawyer named James McHardy.4

Her dimensions are described as a length of 99.7 feet, a breadth of 25.7 feet, a depth of 15.2 feet and a gross tonnage of 349 or 350 tons.7 She is known to have made runs to Havana (1842), Mobile (1842), Galveston (1842, where she grounded on the bar), Rio de Janeiro (1845), Singapore (1846-1847)8, the Baltic (1848-1849), and Belize (1849), before she wrecked off the south Florida coast.9

She is described as having had one deck, three masts, no galleries and been adorned with a female figurehead. The website has information on the ship only between 1841 – the time of her launch – and 1849, which matches with the facts presented in the brief newspaper piece. The website notes that the data on the ship’s design, configuration, dimensions and masters came from Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.5 The masters of The Iron Queen were: Master Thomas Leisk (1841), Master O’Brien (1845), Master Pasley (1846-1847), and Master J. Jeans (1848-1849). Beginning in 1848, the owners were Robinson & Co., London, with that city being the

Though no other article of her loss has yet been found, it is likely that her wrecking was a total loss. The Aberdeen shipbuilding website has no further information on the ship after 1849 and another contemporary publication, a report published for the British House of Commons in 1851, states that the owner (A. Robinson) petitioned the British government for a return of the duties paid on “tobacco, tea, & c.” that had been carried aboard the Iron Queen.10 Perhaps there is a fateful irony with the ship’s name, the Iron Queen, as it comes from the moniker that

Figure 2. Portion of the 1839 map of Florida prepared by the U.S. Army’s topographical engineers that depicts the former location of the New River Inlet. Courtesy of the Library of Congress Map Collection.

In trying to learn more about the Iron Queen, several additional sources were discovered that provide more details about this mystery ship. The Iron Queen is listed on a Scottishrun website, “Aberdeen Built Ships,” that describes many of the vessels constructed in the shipyards of that coastal city. This source confirms facts related in The Nassau Guardian article: that she was, indeed, an ironhulled barque built by a British 16 • Broward Legacy

Figure 3. The article from The Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal. Scientific and Railway Gazette. Courtesy of Google Books.

4. Ibid. 5. Ibid. 6. Ibid; see also Auguste Morel, Manuel de l’Assereur ou Vade-Mecum du Commerce Maritime, No. 5, Paris: Chez l’Auteur, 1845-46, p. 387. 7. Ibid. and The Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal. Scientific and Railway Gazette, VI (1843), London: R. Groombridge, p. 163.

Figure 4. Extract from the Second Report of the Select Committee of Customs that shows the request for a credit for duties paid for goods on the Iron Queen. Courtesy of Google Books.

Odysseus gives to Persephone, the queen of the underworld. After eight years of peregrinations ranging from Scotland to Southeast Asia, to the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, this Scottish-built iron barque wrecked on the shores of South Florida and appears to have been a total loss. Discovering her name in a long-forgotten article, though,

once again gives life to her memory, just as Persephone could seasonally arise from her home in Hades and return to the land of the living. After more than 160 years, it now may be possible for someone living in South Florida to find and identify her longlost remains somewhere along the area’s sunlit shores. 

Credits: Images for the Customs Report and The Civil Engineer and Architect’s Journal come from the massive book-scanning project undertaken by Google Books. The image from the Nassau Guardian comes from the research service Paper of Record. Text for the articles about the Iron Queen in Asia comes from images scanned by the National Library of Singapore.

2. This wreck was unknown at the time of the shipwreck archaeology inventory undertaken by the Broward County Historical Commission in 2007, nor listed in Steven D. Singer’s well-known guide on wrecks in Florida, Shipwrecks of Florida – A Comprehensive Listing (2nd ed.) Sarasota, FL: Pineapple Press, 1998, or other known recently published sources.

1. The Nassau Guardian and Colonial Advertiser, Wednesday, November 21, 1849, p. 3, col. 4.

3. “Aberdeen Built Ships,” 27 lines (10 January 2009) .

8. The Iron Queen was noted as being involved in a lawsuit following her arrival in the port of Penang in June 1846. There were two brief articles published in the Singapore newspaper, The Straits Times, concerning her that are reprinted here. The Straits Times (Singapore), 24 June 1846, p. 2, “The barque Iron Queen from London arrived at the above port [Penang] on June 9th, and was expected shortly to quit for this port.” ( accessed February 1, 2010). This was followed by another short notice on 2 September 1846, p. 3, which read: “The case of the barque Iron Queen was again argued in the Court on Saturday and Monday last, when the validity of the power of attorney sent out from England relative to the affairs of the vessel was disputed on technical grounds – the Hon. Mr. Church did not give judgment but referred the case to the Recorder at Penang.” ( accessed February 1, 2010). 9. Ibid. 10. United Kingdom, House of Commons, Second Report of the Select Committee of Customs. Part III, Appendix. London: 1851, Appendix No. 2, p. 1493.

Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 17

KEEPERS OF FORT LAUDERDALE’S HOUSE OF REFUGE The Men Who Served at Life Saving Station No. 4 from 1876 to 1926 By Ruth Landini

In 1876, the U.S. Government extended the welcome arm of the U.S. Life-Saving Service down the long, deserted southeast coast of Florida. Five life saving stations, called Houses of Refuge, were built approximately 25 miles apart. Construction of House Number Four in Fort Lauderdale was completed on April 24, 1876, and was situated near what is today the Bonnet House Museum and Garden. Its location was on the main dune of the barrier island that is approximately four miles north of the New River Inlet. Archaeological finds from that time have been discovered in the area and an old wellhead still exists at this location. House of Refuge. Courtesy of Mrs. Robert Powell.

The houses were the homes of the keepers and their families, who were also required to go along the beach, in both directions, in search of castaways immediately after a storm.1 Keepers were not expected, nor were they equipped, to effect actual lifesaving, but merely were required to provide food, water and a dry bed for visitors and shipwrecked sailors who were lucky enough to have gained shore. Prior to 1876, when the entire coast of Florida was windswept and infested with mosquitoes, fresh water was difficult to obtain. Most of the small settlements were on the mainland, and shipwrecked men had a fearful time in what was years later considered a “Tropical Paradise.” There was a desperate need for rescue facilities. The problem was brought to a head during the hurricane of 1873, when a vessel was wrecked between Biscayne Bay and the New River. The ship was a total loss and the crew

18 • Broward Legacy

existed on spoiled fish. The story of the hardship was told in the New York newspapers and reached the attention of government officials, including Sumner I. Kimball, superintendent of the Life-Saving Service. Kimball immediately ordered the construction of the “houses of refuge” on Florida’s east coast. An Act of Congress dated June 20, 1874, called for five houses to be built from St. Augustine south to Miami.2 Albert Blaisdell of Boston was appointed architect of the houses October 18, 1875. The South Florida stations built in 1876 were alike: frame construction, one– story with loft, three main rooms downstairs surrounded by an eight-foot-wide veranda on three sides and a narrow kitchen on the north side, windows with screens and shutters but no glass, and a brick chimney in the kitchen for a cook stove. The keeper and his family lived downstairs; the loft, with a small window in each end, was equipped with approximately 20 cots for castaways or visitors. There was a boathouse for the lifeboat and a large wooden elevated tank which held water. Each station cost about $3,000.3

In 1880, 195 people were counted between St. Lucie and Jewfish Creek. By all accounts, keepers of the houses had a monotonous life, for the most part. Pierce wrote about arriving at the New River Inlet late one afternoon at the landing where keeper Jenkins kept his boats. “How Keeper No. 1 he and his family managed to content themselves in this most isolated Washington (Wash) Jenkins and out of the way place is hard to September 11, 1876 to January 2, 1883 imagine,” he wrote. He visited with Jenkins and his family. Jenkins was Washington Jenkins was a 25-year- building a good sized sloop, named old South Carolinian who left his Rena Jenkins for one of his daughters. farm on the New River in Fort Lauderdale to take the keeper’s post. A July 10, 1878, handwritten According to the 1870 census, he had directive, in the elaborate script of only one neighbor, Charles Pierce, the day, has been preserved in the who later wrote a book describing U.S. Coast Guard archives. The pioneer life in southeast Florida.5 Keeper of Life-Saving Station No. 4

character and be able to read and write. Keepers traveled anywhere from four to 24 miles for provisions. Years could go by without a shipwreck. Wrecked property remained in their control until it was released by a higher authority.

Describing the job of the district superintendent of Florida Life -Saving Stations, Sandy Thurlow writes that the ultimate success of the Life Saving Service depended on the keepers.4 Making a living in the wilderness was so difficult for early settlers that a government paycheck, albeit a small one, and a sturdy structure in which to live had great appeal. Keepers were paid $400 annually. They did not need to be professional boatmen; most were Washington “Wash” Jenkins, first keeper of Fort Lauderdale’s House of Refuge, listed as farmers in early census with his first wife and family. records. They had to possess good Broward County Historical Commission. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 19

was requested to insert replies to 13 “interrogatories” in duplicate, and forward one copy to the Treasury Department, U.S. Life-Saving Services, Washington, D.C., and one copy to the Inspector of Life Saving Stations at 10 Broadway, New York. Signed by Superintendent Kimball, the questionnaire covered such subjects as high-water marks, beach description, tide rise and fall, water depth and sand bar measurements.6 By 1885, the questions were on a printed form but the replies from the keepers still handwritten. In his 1884 book, Dr. James Henshall, a physician and author from Cincinnati, wrote of his 1879 visit to the New River Station: “Two miles below the station is the site of Old Fort Lauderdale where there is a flourishing grove of cocoa palms. New River is a fine stream. Mr. Jenkins sailed us up the river in his canoe; we landed and walked a few miles to some hamaks (hammocks or tree islands). On our return I shot a number of ducks with Jenkins’ gun and had a shot at a bear but he got away.” Henshall said the New River was famous for its sharks and immense numbers of fish. Jenkins often speared crevelle, from 10 to 30 pounds, and cured and smoked them. 7

Station Number Four. He divorced his wife, Mary, in the mid-1880s. Jenkins remained in Florida until his death in 1906.

Keeper No. 2 Edwin Ruthven Bradley January 2, 1883 to July 14, 1883

Superintendent Spencer appointed E. R. Bradley to replace Jenkins as keeper of Station No. 4. In his book Charles Pierce, whose father was keeper at the Orange Grove station in Delray Beach, describes how the Bradleys became part of the Pierce family group after they moved from Chicago to Lake Worth, Fla. When Bradley was later appointed keeper in Fort Lauderdale, the family was transported on the schooner Illinois for a 53-mile voyage to New River. Every one of them became deathly seasick in the fierce wind and storm. Keeper Jenkins, whom Bradley was replacing, was still at the house when they arrived. Bradley served with the Union Navy as a master’s mate during the Civil War and was the first keeper required to keep a log book. Two items that

Jenkins was removed from his post by the new superintendent of the Houses of Refuge, Champlin H. Spencer, on January 2, 1883. On the day he and his family moved out of the house, Jenkins was very sick, swelled up and unable to walk. He had to be carried out and was taken for medical attention to the Biscayne Bay House. A month later, recovered, he made the statement that he had been poisoned by “one that wanted to get him out of the way.” Jenkins was the father of four children, two of whom were born at 20 • Broward Legacy

Guy M. Bradley. Broward County Historical Commission.

were to be included in the log were the barometer reading and, “Is the house thoroughly clean?” The barometric pressure was never given in those early days because no barometer was furnished. As to cleanliness, Bradley’s first entry on May 26, 1883, was, “No water in cistern.” After taking over Station No. 4, Bradley lost his 10-year-old daughter, Flora, to a mysterious illness, the same malady which had afflicted keeper Jenkins the previous fall. Workmen engaged in repairing the station made a coffin and she was buried under a wide-spreading sea grape tree, believed to be on the Bonnet House site. No marker has ever been found on the Bonnet House grounds and the gravesite has never been identified. Flora’s brother, Guy, was so sick and swollen that he had to be carried to the grave. The water tank never did hold water, although rain became plentiful. It is possible Bradley became disgusted with the situation because on July 13, 1883, he sailed with his family for Lake Worth, leaving the House of Refuge in the temporary hands of A. L. Daggett who manned it from July 14 to October 26, 1883. Bradley was living in Lake Worth in 1885 when he took his first contract to carry the mail between Lake Worth and Miami for $600 a year. He is, therefore, credited with being the first of the legendary “Barefoot Mailmen,” so named because the carrier went barefoot in order to walk at the water’s edge where the sand was firmer. In his book on tropical Florida, Tim Robinson records another story that was told about former keeper Ed Bradley, now a mailman: he hid casks that had surfaced along the “Barefoot” trail, “so that the mailman might have a

little liquid refreshment as he walks his rounds under the blazing Florida sun.” They drank from cracked coconut shells. The two Bradley sons, Lou and Guy, returned in 1885 to the station area to hunt plume birds on nearby Cypress Creek. Ladies’ hats, decorated with plumes, became so fashionable that many species of birds were virtually exterminated.8 As detailed in Stuart McIver’s book, Death in the Everglades: The Murder of Guy Bradley, America’s First Martyr to Environmentalism, Guy Bradley, 20 years later, was the first Audubon worker to be killed in the line of duty.

Keeper No. 3 John Thomas Peacock October 26, 1883 to December 1884

John Thomas “Jolly Jack” Peacock, was born in England, immigrated to America in 1863. In 1870, he was living on Biscayne Bay. As keeper of Station No. 4 for just over a year, he kept a careful log of vessel sightings and visitors,

many of whom came through the Everglades. He recorded the arrival of a Mr. Williford who had come on the schooner Geneva to settle at New River, and other travelers on their way to Fort Worth.9 His family arrived November 11, 1883. He and his wife had 11 children. By several accounts Peacock was the “most fun and frolicsome, goodhearted and wayward of men.” After taking charge of the wreck of a bark loaded with wines, Peacock was called “an especially successful collector” of casks, which washed ashore from Fort Lauderdale to Miami. It was said that he bathed in the wine, hoping it would cure his arthritis. Charles Pierce, son of the keeper of the Orange Grove station, recounts the time that Peacock accompanied him when he went to serve on jury duty for a Circuit Court hearing in Miami. Peacock, who had attended justices’ courts on the bay in the past, wanted to see how a real court was conducted. They walked from Fort Lauderdale to Miami, sampling hidden wine cached along the way

by his predecessor, Edwin Bradley. Court was adjourned the first day because many of the jurymen were absent, and a good portion of those attending were under the influence of wine from the wreck. The next morning, Pierce was disqualified because he was an assistant postmaster. He and Peacock walked back to Station No. 4. Pierce was broke because he was not entitled to juror’s pay and had used up his own money for room and board. In 1885, after leaving House No. 4, Peacock became keeper of the Biscayne Bay House of Refuge, and subsequently temporary keeper of Gilbert’s Bar House, sheriff of Dade County and later, tax collector of Dade County. He died in 1907 and is buried in Miami City Cemetery.

Keeper No. 4 Charles Coman December 1884 to October 31, 1888

Charles Coman was described as a college man studying marine biology. Information about this period of the

Pierce family home, Hypoluxo Island, 1886. Left to right: Margareta M. Pierce, Hannibal D. Pierce, Andrew W. Garnett, James E. “Ed” Hamilton, Lillie Pierce, Charles W. Pierce. Courtesy of Dr. Gilbert Voss. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 21

late 1800s indicates that keepers of the Houses of Refuge still received wages of $400 per year. Coman was on duty at the House when “Barefoot Mailman” Ed Hamilton disappeared at Hillsboro Inlet while on his rounds. Coman was the first to realize that something was amiss and sought help. The unsuccessful search for Hamilton in the alligator-infested water was carefully detailed in Charles Pierce’s history. A mail carrier himself, Pierce wrote about leaving Hypoluxo for Miami in October 1888 and walking 25 miles from the Orange Grove House of Refuge to the Fort Lauderdale Station. On his return he met Charles Coman on the beach, and as was his custom, spent the night at Station 4. Pierce also wrote of his family’s move on the Bon Ton in February 1885 from the Orange Grove station (where his father had just resigned as keeper) back to their old home on Hypoluxo Island. He landed at Hillsboro and went to call on “our neighbors on board the schooner Neff.” He met a Captain O’Neill and his companion Captain Smith. Both were from New York and said they were “just cruising about,” away from the ice and snow, but Pierce thought they were “on a treasure hunt of some kind.” Some three years later, O’Neill was appointed keeper of Station No. 4.

Keeper No. 5 Captain Dennis O’Neill October 31, 1888, to December 29, 1894

Captain Dennis O’Neill was considered a “natural” at running a House of Refuge because he himself had been shipwrecked many times. In 1871, at age 20, he was aboard a steamer bound 22 • Broward Legacy

from Central America to Boston that was shipwrecked near what is known today as Hillsboro Inlet. Many times he told of riding ashore on a mahogany log through a school of sharks. Captain Denny, as the early settlers called him, was a boat builder and ship captain by profession. He also acted as postmaster, trading outgoing letters with the beach-walking mailman for letters addressed to Fort Lauderdale residents. In those days anyone wishing to travel between Miami and Palm Beach was welcome to walk with the “Barefoot Mailman” for $5.10 In an account of a family expedition on the Heron in 1890, which was to take tax collector Fred Olivey on his annual rounds, Mrs. John R. Gilpin wrote of “sailing into the inlet beautifully after a tussle with the waves and being at peace by the shore of the little peninsula near House No. 4.” She and her traveling companions enjoyed a visit with the O’Neill family and gave Mr. O’Neill three of their books “to perhaps fill an hour now and then in his lonely station.” 11 O’Neill was keeper of the house in November 1891 when the station was skidded a mile-and-a-half down the beach to where it was originally supposed to be. The New River station was built in 1876 in the wrong location because the lumber for its construction landed in the wrong spot. The property owner, P. A. Cunningham, decided to toss Uncle Sam off his land in 1891 and advised Superintendent Hiram B. Shaw to “remove any buildings from, or improvements to, land where station now stands.” 12 The original site was at what is now the intersection of A1A and Sunrise Boulevard. The new location is the present home of

the Bahia Mar Resort, on the coast just south of Las Olas Boulevard. There is an interesting story about the moving of Station No. 4 from its first site to the location for which was originally intended. Eugene E. Wiley, a history buff and member of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society recounts, “Some 15 years after its construction, the government decided to move the house and its appendages (outhouse, cistern and a boathouse). Getting a reasonable bid to do the job was almost impossible, given the remoteness of the area. It had to be moved south on what is now A1A for 1 5/8 miles and 24 yards. Ten men (nine laborers and a cook, at $1.50 to $2.00 per day with board) were expected to complete the task in the cold January of 1891. It was rolled on heavy timber tracks. Apparently, District Superintendent Shaw had used up his fiscal year allotment, so the house stayed part way down the coast for six months where the men had left it. The softness of the sand and an inadequate tackle also caused immense problems and precipitated volumes of letters, one described as a ‘masterpiece of haughty tartness,’ between Shaw and S. I. Kimball, General Superintendent.”13 Captain O’Neill, keeper of the moving House of Refuge, was called an inspiration to the faltering crew. The job, and repair of the house and outbuildings, was finally accomplished in early 1892. The mobile station on August 18, 1891, had been designated the Fort Lauderdale Post Office. The new postmaster, William C. Valentine, lived at the station with keeper O’Neill and was said to have kept the mail in a cigar box. Both men were known as whiskey enthusiasts, so their quarterly payday signaled a drinking spree at the House of Refuge.14

An article in the August 25, 1892, issue of The Tropical Sun newspaper reads, “Superintendent of the Life -Saving Service, H. B. Shaw, passed through here Tuesday on his quarterly inspection tour of houses of refuge.” In telling of the 27-mile “pedestrian journey” from Lake Worth to Fort Lauderdale he said one leg should be shorter than the other for walking in the narrow, soft and sloped beach. He was laid up for a day or two “for repairs.” Around October 1, 1894, there was a bad storm which caused considerable damage to wharves and boats. Two bodies came ashore and two vessels were sunk, one near Hillsboro. Information regarding shipwrecks off the New River Inlet is scarce, but the log from Martin County’s House of Refuge, also known as Gilbert’s Bar House, has been researched and restored. It provides a comprehensive and undoubtedly typical picture of the challenges faced by early keepers. In a letter dated January 31, 1893, to his brother in Ohio, early Fort Lauderdale settler and storekeeper Frank Stranahan wrote of managing his cousin Guy I. Metcalf’s tent city and operating a ferry across the New River. Metcalf published The Tropical Sun and was a real estate developer. Stranahan, described as “an equally ambitious young man,” wrote on Tropical Real Estate Exchange stationery that his nearest neighbors were Captain O’Neill (Dennis O’Neill) and a “Negro” cook. His cousin, Guy, and his uncle, Will, had visited the week before.15 After leaving the keeper’s post, Captain Denny worked for landowners John MacGregor Adams and Hugh Taylor Birch, who now owned the Bonnet House acreage. He also experimented in aviation, using bicycle parts to drive a propeller.

On February 26, 1896, with Mr. Stranahan and Mr. Valentine, he was part of a small group that greeted the first train to arrive at the New River Station, one of the most important events in the town’s history. At the turn of the century he traveled frequently to Honduras where he was engaged in banana growing and continued his attachment to and interest in Fort Lauderdale. Upon his second return he brought a young palm tree which he planted on Southeast River Drive. His last visit was in 1929; he died the following year at the home of a niece in Aurora, New York, still wishing to return again.16

Dr. Thomas Kennedy. The census of 1900 showed a population of 91 in Fort Lauderdale.

Keeper No. 6 John (Jack) Fromberger

She wrote that the sailing vessel Pearl, carrying freight and passengers from Jacksonville to Key West, sometimes stopped at the station, usually for a few days. A number of early citizens, Dr. Kennedy among them, came south after the heavy frost of the ‘90s killed fruit trees in north Florida. One of the sea-going vessels which often passed in sight of the station was the Three Friends owned by Napoleon B. Broward, the one-time governor of Florida for whom Broward County was named.

December 29, 1894, to April 21, 1906

John Fromberger was appointed keeper of No. 4 by H. B. Shaw, superintendent of the Life-Saving Service from Charleston, S.C. to Miami. He and his wife arrived by stagecoach at Frank Stranahan’s New River Trading Post from Lantana about February 14, 1895. At that time, the railroad had not been completed that far south and, in fact, the dirt road on which they traveled was only two years old. Station No. 4 began to have a social life of its own. Visitors were numerous and included retired people seeking a warmer climate, real estate developers, local people who boated over for swimming parties and picnics. Admiral George Dewey also visited. “Captain Jack” and his wife had their first child, Henry Spencer, on February 1, 1896. The attending doctor came from Coconut Grove. Soon afterward, the budding community of Fort Lauderdale had its own physician,

In a letter to Mrs. Frank Oliver of Fort Lauderdale dated May 14, 1953, Agnes W. Fromberger, widow of Captain Fromberger, gives a “brief picture” as she saw Fort Lauderdale from 1895 to 1906.17 She wrote that the Indians came in canoes to Mr. Stranahan’s camp to trade alligator skins and venison for their needs. They were well-behaved and no trouble. They often camped overnight on the 14-acre station grounds before going up the Middle River to hold their corn dance and ceremonies.

Mrs. Fromberger added that the first school teacher was Miss Ivy Cromartie (later Mrs. Frank Stranahan). Frequently visitors from other parts of the country would dock at the station. She remembered when Admiral Dewey came from St. Augustine. Also, she recalled several bad shipwrecks. One was the Scandinavian steamer Copenhagen. Men of the community, among them Reid Bryan, Ed King and Mrs. Oliver’s husband, gave volunteer assistance. Practically all trade was at Mr. Stranahan’s store, which also served as the post office. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 23

Senie Douthit, a teenage girl living on the South Florida frontier in the days before the railroad, wrote a story about a hunting trip by canoe through the “back route” to the New River, which stopped at the House of Refuge. In her journal entry of December 27, 1894, she writes, “As the evening passed it got cooler. We stopped that night at New River Life Saving Station. Captain Throwburg (actually John Fromberger) was as nice as he could be to us.” 18 The Frombergers left in 1906 when Captain Jack was transferred to a larger station near Charleston, S.C. They were sorely missed; so many people recalled the good times they had at Station No. 4. After Fromberger’s transfer, Richard S. King was appointed acting keeper from April 21 to May 26, 1906.

Keeper No. 7 James B. Vreeland, Sr. May 26, 1906 to 1914

The beach had no fascination for investors; in the early 20th century, it was only a place to swim or picnic. A mile of mangrove swamp had to be negotiated at high tide. Most of Fort Lauderdale’s beach had been sold to Hugh Taylor Birch and John MacGregor Adams for $3,500, approximately $1,000 per mile. There was talk about a bridge but no one did anything about it. A summary of Vreeland’s LifeSaving Log for 1908 was compiled by a former Broward County Historical Commission Administrator Christopher Eck. There were some 33 entries in 1908, mostly in February and June-July. It provides a comprehensive record of the vessels that were grounded offshore and the efforts to free them; the steamers 24 • Broward Legacy

that were wrecked; the boatmen who needed gasoline, water or vessel repair; and the seamen who drowned when he could not find them in the deep waters. The Vreeland family’s memories augment the Life-Saving Log. Two oral histories recorded of James Vreeland, Jr. and archived in the collections of the Broward County Historical Commission Keeper Vreeland described witnessing many loggerhead turtle roundups. Crews from schooners anchored in the west bay of the house would catch the giant turtles, tie their flippers together and ship them to Key West for sale. Vreeland’s son, veteran sea captain James B. Vreeland, Jr. (Jim) who came to the House of Refuge as an eight-year-old, remembered the 1909 hurricane which wrecked a Key West-bound schooner near the house. The entire crew reached the house safely and stayed there until they were picked up. January 2, 1955, Vreeland’s 92 year-old widow, Cordelia DeVeaux Vreeland, described the isolated strip of wilderness when she first set foot here in 1906. While it was not the easiest life, she enjoyed it.

James B. Vreeland, Sr. Broward County Historical Commission.

About 60 families received mail at the Fort Lauderdale post office. She was organist for both the Methodist and Baptist churches. She described walking for miles on the beach at night and never seeing a light. She recalled that in the eight years her husband was keeper, he took care of two crews of ill-fated vessels. Although born in Michigan, Keeper Vreeland was known as a true lover of Fort Lauderdale. His March 14, 1916, voter registration indicated that after his resignation as keeper he lived at 2931 E. Las Olas. The registration identified him as age 52, white, Republican and a “fruit grower” by occupation. He passed away in 1943. Walter V. Van Sawn was caretaker of Station No. 4 from April 21, 1914 until a permanent keeper was appointed July 29, 1914. A January 1987 account in the Miami Herald, described the razing of the historic Vreeland home, the oldest house east of the Intracoastal.

Keeper No. 8 Captain Charles Skogsberg July 29, 1914, to April 1, 1925

In 1914, Captain Skogsberg and his family were the only residents on the Fort Lauderdale Beach, with the exception of Hugh Taylor Birch, who lived further north. Birch did not allow trespassers and seldom had visitors. In 1914, a first beach casino was erected near the station. It was initially used only on Sundays when excursion boats, such as Captain Dick La Vigne’s Excelsior, made their regular runs. The road to the beach with a hand-operated, singlelane drawbridge was opened to the public in January 1917 at what is now Las Olas Boulevard. Gone were

the intimate gatherings of picnickers on the veranda of Station No. 4. When the United States entered World War I, the House of Refuge was taken over for the duration by the Coast Guard. They instituted a motorcycle beach patrol, usually ridden by Wallace King. The motorcycle patrol was able to tie into telegraph lines along the route and make immediate reports, instead of navigating the difficult trip through the mud flats and sandbars back to the station. Former keeper Skogsberg remained in charge of the house. In 1918, Charles Skogsberg and his wife were listed in the city directory as living at the Coast Guard Station on Las Olas Beach. His occupation was given as “surfman.” Voting registration records archived at the Broward County Historical Commission indicate that when Skogsberg registered on March 31, 1924, he was listed as living at 917 E. Broward Boulevard, age 63, Democrat, white and occupation “Coast Guard.” He was a native of Sweden.

less than a year when the United States Coast Guard took permanent possession of the property and relieved him of his duties. Coast Guard Base No. 6 was established on this site February 15, 1926, when it was transferred from Miami to Fort Lauderdale. The transfer of the House of Refuge to the jurisdiction of Base No. 6 was directed on March 10, 1926, at which time the Coast Guard brought the houseboat Moccasin to Fort Lauderdale from Miami. Records of the U.S. Coast Guard, Record Group 26, show that the Fort Lauderdale House of Refuge, which had outlived its usefulness, was “damaged beyond repair” in the hurricane of September 18, 1926. It had been home to nine permanent keepers and their families and had been host to hundreds of visitors and countless men of the sea. Voter registration records show Charles D. Stewart and his wife Jannette living at 128 N.E. 16 Avenue, Fort Lauderdale on April 28, 1928. He was listed as a native Floridian,

41, white and a Democrat. His occupation was given as Coast Guard. In 1930, he and his wife (here spelled Jeanette) were living at the same address and his occupation was given as Coast Guard officer, so he apparently retained a connection with the Coast Guard after Station No. 4 was closed in 1926. The City of Fort Lauderdale considered purchasing the Coast Guard land on Las Olas beach on various occasions between 1927 and October 29, 1947, when the final transaction was consummated.21 The city leased the property, present home of the Bahia Mar Resort, to LXR Resorts and on June 21, 2011, renewed the lease for another 99 years. Redevelopment plans for the last location of Life-Saving Station No. 4 call for a hotel, a public park and a permanent home for the International Boat Show.22 Anyone wishing to view an accurate, detailed replica of the House of Refuge may view the model on display at the Fort Lauderdale

Captain Skogsberg’s daughter, Charlene Skogsberg Barton, was honored as a Broward County Pioneer in 1989. She recalled moving from Texas in 1914 when her father became keeper. She graduated from Fort Lauderdale High School and became active in the community, playing the Trinity Lutheran Church organ, teaching kindergarten and working at Broward Marine at Bahia Mar in Fort Lauderdale.

Keeper No. 9 Charles D. Stewart April 1, 1925, to March 10, 1926

Charles Stewart became the last keeper of Fort Lauderdale’s Life Saving Station No. 4. He served for

The House of Refuge was taken over by the Coast Guard during WW I. Courtesy of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 25

History Center’s New River Inn. It was created by Robert F. Wilhelm in 1977 after meticulous planning and research. Wilhelm used photos, articles from the Historical Society’s archives and on-site research at the Gilbert’s Bar House of Refuge, the only South Florida station still standing. He also reviewed copies of the original construction specifications furnished by the National Archives. He worked with many of the same materials used in model railroading, plus the modeler’s convenient one-quarter-to-one inch scale. The roof alone consists of 8,000 individual shingles, such was his attention to detail. There is realistic screening in the windows; the door knobs are little pins.20 

8. McIver, Stuart, Fort Lauderdale and Broward County, An Illustrated History, Windsor Publications, Woodland Hills, California, 1983, p. 29-35. 9. Wiley, p. 17-18. 10. Pierce, p. 14. 10. Gilpin, Mrs. John R. , “To Miami, 1890 Style,” Tequesta, vol. 1, no. 1, 1941, p. 89. 11. Robinson, Tim, A Tropical Frontier, 1800-1890, Port Sun Publishing, Port Salerno, Florida, 2005, p.408. 12. Wiley, Eugene E., “Once Upon A Sand Dune,” New River News, vol. 16, no. 2, 1977. 13. McIver, p. 35.

1. Fort Lauderdale House of Refuge, U.S. Coast Guard History Program, Annual Report of the Life Saving Service, 1879. 2. Wiley, Eugene E., “Life Saving Station No. 4 and The Quality of Life at the House of Refuge,” Broward Legacy, vol. 1, no. 2, January 1977. p. 15-17. 3. Voss, Gilbert L., “The Orange Grove House of Refuge,” Tequesta, vol. 27, 1978, p. 39. 4. Thurlow, Sandy, Fort Lauderdale Historical Quarterly, Fall, 1997, p. 157. 5. “The Adventures of Charles Pierce in Broward County One Hundred Years Ago, Part I,” Broward Legacy, vol. 8, no. 3 and 4, 1985, p. 7. 6. Records of U.S. Coast Guard in the National Archives, Record Group 26. 7. Henshall, James A., Camping and Cruising In Florida, Robert Clarke & Co, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1884, p. 102-103. 26 • Broward Legacy

14. Stranahan Papers, Broward Legacy, vol. 9, no. 3-4, 1986, p. 5. 15. McGoun, Bill, “Broward Heritage,” Miami Herald, December 1, 1974. 16. Fromberger, Agnes, New River News History, Fort Lauderdale Historical Society, April 30, 1974. 17. Scott, Patrick, “The Hunt in Florida, The Senie Douthit Letter,” Broward Legacy, vol. 21, no. 1-2, 1998, p. 14. 18. Wiley, “Station No. 4,” p. 21-22. 20. Wiley, Eugene E., “1977 House of Refuge by Dr. Robert F. Wilhelm,” New River News, October, 1977. 21. House of Refuge, New River, National Archives and Records for Fort Lauderdale. 22. Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, June 22, 2011.

SS Copenhagen: Steamer, Artificial Reef and Underwater Archaeological Preserve By: Franklin H. Price

Introduction The wreck of SS Copenhagen is a multi-faceted part of Broward County’s heritage, simultaneously representing a tragic episode in history, an example of changing transportation technology, a scuba diving destination and a vibrant artificial reef (Figure 1). The SS Copenhagen is a unique shipwreck and a cultural treasure that is not only one of Florida’s Underwater Archaeological Preserves, but is also on the National Register of Historic Places.

Figure: 1 Diver on the wreck of SS Copenhagen (Florida Division of Historical Resources)

“The Copenhagen shipwreck is listed as site 8BD2567 in the Florida Master Site File. As with all other historical or archaeological sites on public uplands or submerged bottomlands, title to its remains is vested in the State of Florida, under Chapter 267 of the Florida Statutes. This law forbids unauthorized disturbance, excavation, or removal of artifacts, in order to protect the site for the people of Florida.”

The steamer was at the forefront of a shift in design, propulsion and building materials from the fully-rigged wooden sailing vessels of the nineteenth century to the steel cargo carriers of today. Her history is one of failure just on the verge of success, but even in her demise she has taken on a new purpose, becoming a popular dive spot that is home to thousands of marine creatures. History In early July of 1900, a small fleet of vessels abruptly abandoned their work assisting the SS Copenhagen. Loaded with coal from Philadelphia and bound for Havana, Cuba, she ran aground on Pompano Reef on May 26 of that year and had been stranded since.1 Her pumps could not keep up with the water pouring in through punctures in the double hull, and she settled onto the reef after striking it in shallow water. Reversing the engines failed to free the vessel, and attempts to kedge the steamer off the reef were equally fruitless.2 The aft end of the freighter sunk lower than the bow, according to early reports.3 Getting the particulars Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 27

of the incident to the press was a difficult undertaking. The closest telegraph was 13 miles away in Fort Lauderdale, on a road “alive with alligators, rattlesnakes, and mosquitoes.”4 The reef became abuzz with activity as wrecking crews set about to repair the damaged hull and began the onerous task of recovering her cargo, which required diving inside her flooded holds and the use of heavy industrial apparatus. Centrifugal pumps transferred coal to waiting tugs while divers manned the intake cages to prevent clogs, a dark and dangerous job.5 The wreckers spent the better part of a month working against time and weather trying to salvage both vessel and cargo. After several weeks, their task neared completion. The coal cargo was transferred off the steamer, the holds were empty, workers patched her holes and SS Copenhagen was ready to be pulled off the reef. Then, the untimely call came from New York that she was to be abandoned to the elements. The wire the wreckers received from their company, Merritt and Chapman, was short, simple and unequivocal: “Abandon Copenhagen and send outfit to New York. Urgent.”6 The wrecking vessels were needed elsewhere. Just at the apex of the rescue effort, SS Copenhagen was left to be torn apart by the sea. The brig San Blas, left to break apart decades before, is the only other known instance in Broward County history where a ship that could have been salvaged was left behind.7 On June 30, 1900, a fire raged at the American terminal of Lloyd’s North German Line in Hoboken, 28 • Broward Legacy

New Jersey, over a thousand miles from Hillsboro Reef. The inferno sealed Copenhagen’s fate with more finality than her running aground. A maritime disaster of grand scope, a contemporary newspaper article described the conflagration in Hoboken as “a sight that has probably had no counterpart in this city’s history.”8 Buildings, piers, and stores along the waterfront were destroyed or damaged. Several steamships burned. The financial toll was estimated as $6 million in losses in the currency of the day.9 Casualties numbered in the hundreds. Adding to the chaos of the aftermath, many of the injured were from Europe and did not speak English.10 In the end, the number of dead could only be estimated; many were simply never found. The wrecking vessels at work on the Copenhagen were needed in Hoboken with such urgency that the company decided that abandoning the steamer, even just as she was about to be towed from the reef, was an economic necessity. Although still visible above water for decades, the wreck slowly succumbed to the waves and now rests below the surface. A marine underwriter Board of Inquiry investigated the events surrounding the wrecking of the SS Copenhagen and found that Captain W. S. Jones had improperly navigated his ship. They also found that he had not used a sounding lead when the situation warranted its use. Only his previous outstanding service saved the commanding officer’s career. The board did not revoke his master’s certificate because up until the incident Jones’ record had been exemplary.11 Although most of SS Copenhagen is still on Hillsboro Reef, parts of

the steamer found their way ashore. The ship’s bell was sold by the crew to a pioneer family from Pompano Beach, who used it as a dinner bell until it was stolen.12 Ralph M. Munroe, beach agent for Merritt and Chapman Wrecking Company, related that a mahogany board table in the Biscayne Bay Yacht Club had come from Copenhagen’s saloon.13 More salvage may have occurred. Wreckage from what is likely the bow section is currently one half mile from the rest of the vessel.14 Some posit that inexperienced salvors attempted to recover it, but could only move it a short distance before their equipment failed.15 Another hypothesis contends that the vessel was leveled with explosives so as not to be an obstruction, and the bow was dragged into deeper water.16 Most of the freighter remains where she ran aground, broken apart by time and weather, a process that took years. Wreckage was still visible above the waterline during World War II, enough so that U.S. Navy pilots used her remains as target practice. Fifty caliber ammunition still litters the site, a testament to thousands of rounds spent in aerial strafing attacks.17 A Steel-Hulled Steamer SS Copenhagen was a steel-hulled screw steamer of British registry, hailing from Glasgow, Scotland. Three hundred twenty-five feet long, she was 47 feet wide with a depth of more than 25 feet and a registered tonnage of 2,116. She was built in Sunderland, England, in 1898, by J. Priestman & Company. Propeller-driven, she was equipped with a three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine generating 312 horsepower.18 Her

Figure 2: SS Copenhagen plans (London: J. Priestman and Company 1897)

forged steel crankshaft was 12¾ inches in diameter.19 The freighter was built to carry long distance cargo in an age when steam power had overtaken sail as the primary means of propulsion. In this regard, the wreck is a fine example of the change in marine technologies that revolutionized waterborne commerce in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Representing the tail end of this transition, Copenhagen was fitted with two masts configured in a schooner rig. At the end of the nineteenth century it was not uncommon for screw steamers to carry auxiliary sail. As steam replaced sail in propulsion, iron and steel replaced wood as hull materials. Ferrous hulls, especially steel, could be made much larger and sturdier than their wooden counterparts. After the 1850s and 1860s, the Bessemer and Siemens production processes made steel an affordable option for shipbuilders in the United Kingdom.20 Steel proved a better and more ductile hull material than iron.21 Steel hulls could be larger, cheaper and stronger than wood.22 Steamers were more likely to be built with ferrous hulls at the

close of the nineteenth century, and were often larger than sailing craft. Statistics for British vessels lost in 1900 reflect this, with sailing vessels averaging a third of the tonnage of their steam-propelled counterparts. Even for a steam vessel of her day, SS Copenhagen was a large vessel to be lost, at nearly three times the registered tonnage of the average British steam vessel wrecked in 1900.23 However, the vast British merchant fleet had hundreds of vessels of her gross tonnage or larger in service in that year.24 Shipbuilding in the United Kingdom reached a milestone when in December of 1898, “the highest figures recorded in the history of the shipbuilding industry occurred… 1,401,087 tons were reported to be under construction.”25 At the time Copenhagen was launched, Great Britain was the world’s economic juggernaut; its shipbuilding paralleled its other industrial achievements. Copenhagen’s design plans show a vessel with lines not terribly dissimilar from the tramp steamers of the early twentieth century, or the tankers and freighters of today

(Figure 2). Her lines amidships maximized space, with a sharp, but curved, turn of the bilge and very mild tumblehome above the waterline. This shape created, in essence, a moving shipping container. She had a short superstructure including a bridge, set forward of a prominent smoke stack. Her forecastle and poop rose slightly above the main run of the deck. Built to haul cargo, she featured four large hatches, each 16 feet by 20 feet, accessing two forward holds and two aft holds. These holds were numbered one through four, from bow to stern. Steering required a massive rudder six feet wide, held in place with five pintles.26 During and after construction she was inspected and given a rating of “100 A1 Steel.”27 Her inspectors found her in good quality. The ship forgings, the stern frame, rudder frame and stem were also categorized as sound.28 For insurance purposes, merchant vessels were periodically inspected and assessed starting at their construction. Her last survey or report was undertaken in Baltimore in December of 1898.29 The Site Already a popular diving destination before it was designated as an archaeological preserve in 1994, the site is located in 15-30 feet of water on the Pompano Ledge, less than a mile off Lauderdale-by-the-Sea and 3.6 miles south of Hillsboro Inlet. The wreck runs roughly north-south, with the stern pointed northward. Although time, aerial bombardment and the elements have largely flattened the wreck, visitors to the site today will find several identifiable features above the limestone ledge. Intermediate and deep frames, the “ribs” of the vessel, are visible on Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 29

the fish that a visitor may encounter on this biologically rich shipwreck. Preservation

Figure 3: Structural elements. (Florida Division of Historical Resources)

either side of the site (Figure 3). They provided the structural strength needed to allow the vessel to be so large. The bow itself is missing and disarticulated; wreckage appearing to be part of it rests at a significant distance southeast of the main site. Plating from the double hull is visible in the stern section, where visitors will also find a pillow block, which once provided support for the propeller (Figure 4). On the starboard side, the hull has collapsed toward the ledge, while the remaining structure on the port side is now in slightly deeper water. Anthracite coal, remnants of her cargo, is visible on site, as well as the beds for the main boilers and parts of an auxiliary “donkey” boiler.

Figure 4: The pillow block. (Florida Division of Historical Resources)

she was embedded in the seafloor, sea creatures began to colonize the wreck, using her structure as a substrate. With time, Copenhagen developed an ecosystem consisting of a wide variety of aquatic plants and animals from fish to sponges. Invertebrates include sea fans, sea rods, loggerhead sponges and star corals that find purchase on various parts of the steamer. Spiny lobster use small spaces in the wreckage for shelter. Red and yellowtail snapper, angel fish, porgies, sergeant majors, goatfish and wrasses are just some of

Preservation of Florida’s underwater archaeological sites poses interesting challenges; SS Copenhagen is no exception. The sites belong to the people of Florida and are legally protected. The agency managing these resources, Florida’s Bureau of Archaeological Research (BAR), is committed to maintaining public access whenever possible. It has been argued that public access and the preservation of archaeological sites are conflicting goals, perhaps even mutually exclusive.30 Some heritage managers question the reasoning behind a largely positive outlook toward site access for the public, especially in light of widespread problems with looting.31 Florida’s Underwater Archaeological Preserves program, however, uses access as a tool to promote site stewardship and preservation. Public participation is the cornerstone of the program, which rests on the idea that if the public is involved and given access to properly interpreted sites, it will be a force for preservation. In order to achieve this, the community is involved in all aspects of the process, starting with the

Biology The wreck offers more than an interesting piece of history; it is also a marine habitat. Copenhagen serves as an artificial reef and over the years it has become home to an abundance of marine life. Soon after 30 • Broward Legacy

Figure 5: Copenhagen site plan. (Florida Division of Historical Resources)

nomination of a site and through its stewardship and management.32 The program harnesses public enthusiasm by providing education, stressing the need to conserve our submerged cultural resources for future generations. The result is a partnership; the public and the state work together to create the preserves and members of the public maintain and monitor them. Thus far, this has been a successful formula. The program includes 11 preserves across the state, with examples ranging from a Spanish galleon in the Florida Keys, to a U.S. Navy battleship near Pensacola, to an Italian sailing bark off Stuart. Community nomination of a site is the crucial first step. In this way, preserves are a response to public demand, not a decree from the state level. This approach ensures that there is community interest in designating a preserve from the start of the process. In the case of SS Copenhagen, the site was nominated in 1993 by Tom Thompson, a boat captain and dive book author. After nomination, the Bureau of Archaeological Research evaluates sites according to a set of criteria. All sites need to be identified, have historical significance, be located in state waters, have visible structural features and a vibrant biology, as well as be accessible to the public.33 After the state received the nomination form, it evaluated the site and found that it met each of the criteria. State Underwater Archaeologist Roger C. Smith noted that “it has the accessibility, the history and the ecology” to make it a successful preserve.34 The archaeologists then visited area dive shops and charter boat businesses and found support

Figure 6: The bronze plaque. (Florida Division of Historical Resources)

for the creation of a preserve. Interested individuals formed a group known as the “Copenhagen Clan,” that assisted in establishing the preserve and participated in site maintenance and monitoring.35 With the assistance of the Marine Archaeological Council (MAC), BAR produced a site plan (Figure 5).

initiative, a web page including short videos about the history, archaeology and biology of the site allows people to tour the site without getting wet or even leaving home. To view material on Copenhagen, or Florida’s other Underwater Archaeological Preserves, visit www.museumsinthesea.com.

A proposal to designate Copenhagen as a preserve, written by BAR and MAC, was distributed to the local community. The response was positive. Local and state organizations cooperated in placing a bronze plaque mounted in a concrete monument at the site (Figure 6).36 Designation was a collaborative effort involving BAR with the assistance of MAC, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the Broward County Department of Natural Resource Protection.

For many years local dive shops have been taking charters to the site, highlighting another aspect of the preserves: the promotion of local heritage tourism. SS Copenhagen remains one of the most popular of the eleven Preserves in the program.

An unveiling ceremony took place underwater at the site on June 4, 1994.37 BAR produced printed brochures and an underwater guide to promote site visitation and heritage tourism. Also, as part of an online

Visitation has apparently not produced any adverse effects to the wreck. An assessment in 2007 found no discernible human disturbance to the site.38 Designation as a preserve apparently has increased the number of visitors without compromising site integrity. The Preserves program works on the supposition that an educated populace is the best way to ensure site stewardship. At the SS Copenhagen shipwreck site, this approach has been successful. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 31

In addition to its designation as a preserve, Copenhagen was nominated to the National Register of Historic Places and was placed on the list in 2001. The site was found to be eligible under several criteria including historical significance, design characteristics and archaeological value. Conclusion Visitors to the SS Copenhagen today will experience more than the physical remains of a steamer left to break apart on Pompano Ledge. They will get to see with their own eyes a grand example of a change in technology, from a time when sailing vessels of the past were transforming into the cargo carriers of today. A reef abundant with life is made more diverse, in part, because the remains of the broken steamer provide a place for aquatic life to live on, in and around. As an Underwater Archaeological Preserve listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the site celebrates the history and the heritage of the SS Copenhagen, a popular dive destination and a multifaceted part of Broward County’s heritage. 

1. “Steamship ashore on Florida Coast,” New York Times, 27 May 1900. 2. Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research and the Marine Archaeological Council, Inc., A Proposal to Establish the Shipwreck Copenhagen as a State Underwater Archaeological Preserve (Tallahassee: Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, 1993).

The Philadelphia Record, 26 June 1900, 11. 5. Ralph Middleton Munroe and Vincent Gilpin., The Commodore’s Story (1930; reprint, Narberth, Pennsylvania: Livingston Publishing Company, 1966), 284. 6. Ralph Middleton Munroe and Vincent Gilpin., The Commodore’s Story (1930; reprint, Narberth, Pennsylvania: Livingston Publishing Company, 1966), 291. 7. Bill Raymond. “The Shipwreck of the Gil Blas: Investigations,” Broward Legacy: A Journal of South Florida History. 7 (1-2): 24 (1984). 8. “Scenes on the River,” New York Times, 1 July 1900. 9. “Property Losses,” New York Times, 1 July 1900. 10. “Calamity of Fire Grows in Horror,” New York Times, 2 July 1900, 1. 11. Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research and the Marine Archaeological Council, Inc., A Proposal to Establish the Shipwreck Copenhagen as a State Underwater Archaeological Preserve (Tallahassee: Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, 1993), 7; Board of Trade, “Report on the Copenhagen incident by the Board of Trade, London, October 1900” (London: Department of Transport, 1900). 12. James Dean, “Shipwrecks of Broward County,” Broward Legacy: A Journal of South Florida History 6 (1-2): 17 (1983).

3. “A Munson Liner Ashore?” New York Times, 30 May 1900.

13. Ralph Middleton Munroe and Vincent Gilpin, The Commodore’s Story (1930; reprint, Narberth, Pennsylvania: Livingston Publishing Company, 1966), 283, 292.

4. “Ship News of Interest: Steamer Copenhagen Fast on Florida Coral Reefs,”

14. Robert H. Baer, “Cultural Resource Archaeological Investigations of Potential

32 • Broward Legacy

Beach Nourishment Sand Borrow Sites Offshore of Broward County, Florida,” Submitted to Broward County Department of Natural Resource Protection (Boca Raton: Coastal Planning and Engineering, Inc., 1997), 3-5, 58. 15. Vone Research, “Avocational Survey of Copenhagen Bow Section” (Pompano Beach: Vone Research, 2000), 2. 16. Robert H. Baer, Anomaly 27: The Last Voyage of the SS Copenhagen (Merritt Island: Signum Ops, 2010), 64-65. 17. Steven D. Singer, Shipwrecks of Florida, 2nd ed. (Sarasota: Pineapple Press, 1998), 149. 18. American Shipmaster’s Association, 1900 Record of American and Foreign Shipping (New York: John Polhemus Printing Company, 1900), 379. 19. John B. Bray, “Report on Machinery No.19141, No. 4039, Engine Forgings” (London: Lloyd’s Register, January, 24, 1898), 1. 20. David R. MacGregor, Merchant Sailing Ships 1850-1875: Heyday of Sail (Annapolis: Naval Institute Press, 1984), 10. 21. Samuel J. P. Thearle, The Modern Practice of Shipbuilding in Iron and Steel: Volume I, 3rd ed. (London: William Collins’ Son and Company, 1902), 8-9. 22. Franklin H. Price, “Conflict and Commerce: Maritime Archaeological Site Distribution as Cultural Change on the Roanoke River, North Carolina” (master’s thesis, East Carolina University, 2006), 116-117. 23. Board of Trade, Statistical Abstract for the United Kingdom in Each of the Last Fifteen Years from 1888 to 1902 (London: Wyman and Sons, 1903), 283.

24. Lloyd’s of London, Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping: Appendix (London: Lloyd’s, 1901), 323-326. 25. United States Treasury Department, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Navigation for the Fiscal Year Ended June 30, 1901 (Washington: United States Treasury Department, 1901), 137. 26. J. Priestman and Company, “Profile No. 72, Ship plans” (Sunderland, England: J. Priestman and Company, 1897). 27. Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping, “Official Survey Report of the Steel Screw Steamer Copenhagen” (London: Lloyd’s, 1898). 28. Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping, “Report on Vessel No. 19141 Port Sunderland: Ship Forgings” (London: Lloyd’s, 1898), 1. 29. American Shipmaster’s Association, 1900 Record of American and Foreign Shipping (New York: John Polhemus Printing Company, 1900), 379. 30. Todd Hannahs, “Underwater Parks vs. Preserves,” in Submerged Cultural Resource Management: Preserving Our Sunken Maritime Heritage, ed. James D. Spirek and Della Scott-Ireton (New York, NY: Plenum Publishers, 2003), 14.

Della Scott-Ireton, “Florida’s Underwater Archaeological Preserves,” in Submerged Cultural Resource Management: Preserving Our Sunken Maritime Heritage, ed. James D. Spirek and Della Scott-Ireton (New York, NY: Plenum Publishers, 2003), 95-106. 33. Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research and the Marine Archaeological Council, Inc., A Proposal to Establish the Shipwreck Copenhagen as a State Underwater Archaeological Preserve (Tallahassee: Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, 1993), 1. 34. Steven D’Oliveira, “Sunken Treasure: ‘Copenhagen’ recognized as historic shipwreck,” South Florida SunSentinel, 5 June 1994, 1B, 4B. 35. Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, A Proposal to Establish the Shipwreck Georges Valentine as a State Underwater Archaeological Preserve (Tallahassee, Florida: Bureau of Archaeological Research, 2004), 3. 36. Steven D’Oliveira, “Sunken Treasure: ‘Copenhagen’ recognized as historic shipwreck,” South Florida SunSentinel, 5 June 1994, 1B, 4B. 37. Steven D’Oliveira, “Shipwreck to become archaeological preserve,” South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 3 June 1994, 2B.

31. Jesse Ransley, “Rigorous Reasoning, Reflexive Research and Space for ‘Alternative Archaeologies,’ Questions for Maritime Archaeological Heritage Management,” The International Journal of Maritime Archaeology 36 (2): 224 (2007).

38 Kira E. Kaufmann, “Final Report: Copenhagen Underwater Archaeological Preserve (8BD02567) Monitoring Day, Department of Anthropology Occasional Paper No. 1” (Boca Raton: Florida Atlantic University, 2007), 2.

32. Roger C. Smith, “Florida’s Underwater Archaeological Preserves” in Underwater Archaeology Proceedings from The Society for Historical Archaeology Conference 1991, ed. John D. Broadwater (Richmond VA: Society for Historical Archaeology, 1991), 43-46;

39. Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research and the Marine Archaeological Council, Inc., A Proposal to Establish the Shipwreck Copenhagen as a State Underwater Archaeological Preserve (Tallahassee: Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, 1993), 9. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 33

SPOT LIGHT Richardson Historic Park and Nature Preserve Richardson Historic Park and Nature Preserve, located on the south fork of the Middle River, offers a unique setting for both formal special events and casual outdoor fun. Archaeological evidence indicates that for millennia this area was a strategic waypoint for Native-Americans roving between the Atlantic and the Everglades. Wilton Manors founder, E. J. Willingham, had his estate on the site beginning in 1925. In 1936, the Richardson family built Broward’s third golf course on this and adjoining property. The City of Wilton Manors acquired the family’s remaining 5.4 acres of land for the park in 2002. Richardson Park Manor House. Courtesy of the Wilton Manors Historical Society.

Now fully renovated as an event venue, the 1950s-era Richardson Park Manor House serves as a quaint and inviting location for both social occasions and meetings. It is also home to the Wilton Manors Historical Society, housing its archives and vintage displays. Beside it stands the Carriage House from the Willingham estate, a wood-frame structure built in the 1920s. The Wilton Manors Historical Society has recently commissioned historic preservation architect Susan M. McClellan to perform a preliminary assessment of preservationsensitive enhanced uses of the Carriage House. In the nature preserve area the park offers interpretive trails, boardwalks, visiting boat dockage and weekend kayak rental. There is also a fully-equipped pavilion suitable for groups up to 150.

34 • Broward Legacy

Richardson Historic Park and Nature Preserve is located at 1937 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors. To learn more about the Wilton Manors Historical Society, visit www. wiltonmanorshistoricalsociety.org. 

Summerfield Boat Works from 1940 to 1960 By Richard Jordan

Summerfield Boat Works, 1950s. Courtesy of Mort Allread.

“I had forgotten how to get in here. How pitiful,” I thought to myself as I drove through Shady Banks. I was on my way to meeting a client. I saw the old school and weaved around. Now I remembered. As I took the final hard left toward my destination, I about gasped. On the right lay the ruins of Summerfield’s—overgrown with weeds and sparsely covered in rubble. It is funny how quickly things deteriorate in South Florida under the scorching sun, terminal termites, and vicious vines. My client had run aground at the entrance of the back side canal behind Summerfield’s. I drove to the end of the dead end road, parked and got out. It was a sultry, silly hot day. What struck me most of all was the quietness. I remembered the bustling boatyard business. It was eerie and saddening. Inside every house a million eyes peered out at me. I squeezed through the loosely locked gate and trespassed toward my client’s hard-aground sloop. Sometime after this experience, I had the funny idea to write an article about the status of old Summerfield Boat Works. The property is located south of Davie Boulevard on the south fork of the New River as she curves westward toward I-95. The property runs along the northwest bend across from Lauderdale Marine Center and Riverbend. These days, as I said above, the property is all but a vacant lot with a bashed-in sea wall, a dilapidated testament to the glorious splendor of her hay days. It has been about five years since my family’s business was booted out of the office building. The bitterness of the experience still lingers. I hold the odd distinction of being principal of the last Summerfield brokerage.

Summerfield Boat Works, 2010. Courtesy of Richard Jordan.

I found that the property was in foreclosure and for sale for $7.5 million (since sold for $1.25 million in back taxes), that the seawall was in ruins from careless barges, and that our office building still stood unchanged except Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 35

Summerfield Boat Works, 2010. Courtesy of Richard Jordan.

for the name outside, Pier 17. I found out too much. My research lead me to write a slick modern article for the local paper, Waterfront News. In the process, I learned so much about the history, the culture and the people that I felt obligated to tell their story. So after I wrote the story I carried on my research. What follows is the result – a history of the yard from the founder’s purchase in 1941 until his untimely death in 1960.

Summerfield Survey ca. March 1939. Courtesy of the US Engineer Office.

George Hartman and Henry Summerfield were friends in Toledo, Ohio, in the 1930s. They had great plans of sailing a boat to Central or South America and bringing back mahogany lumber. Those plans 36 • Broward Legacy

did not work out, but did lead to Hank and George settling in Fort Lauderdale.1 In about 1939, Hank sailed from Toledo through the Barge Canal, down the Atlantic east coast, and into Fort Lauderdale in a Class R 40-foot wooden sloop.2, 3 Looking for safe harbor, he ended up berthing at the yard that would later bear his name.4 George went to work building the Prospector for Jack Collison at Cypress Bend, an area on the New River in Shady Banks on the east side of Southwest 15 Avenue.5 Hank owned a business called Cypress Landing Woodcrafters in 1940.6 There is a stretch of road where the middle is separated by a median with trees. Cypress Bend is the land along the river there.7

Breckenridge had been operating his tiny boat yard called the Lauderdale Yacht Basin since 1933.11, 12 The purchase included Block A of the amended plat Yellowstone Park and the eastern-most 100-feet-by-212feet of the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of the sectiontownship-range 16-50-42, also known as lot 17 of Mrs. E. P. Marshall’s subdivision.13 The property was crescent-shaped bounded by the New River on the eastern and southern sides and included two rickety wet storage sheds over a basin dredged into the east bank,14 and a workshop.15 Hank converted the workshop into a house by adding a living room and bedroom.16 It was a humble beginning.17

Hank and his first wife, Jessie, whom he had married in Toledo, purchased the C. R. Breckenridge Boat Yard on July 8, 1941.8 The land was situated south of Cypress Bend at the westward turn of the river where his sloop was slipped. Hank traded his 40-foot “R” sloop plus cash to Breckenridge to consummate the deal for the property.9,10 C. R.

Formal U.S. involvement in World War II commenced with the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. George took his family to California to design and build air-sea rescue boats for the Navy.18 Hank expanded the yard by purchasing the western-most adjacent lot from Cinco Investment Co. on January 6, 1942. He and

Jessie now owned the east-most eighth of the aforementioned Mrs. Marshall’s subdivision along with the Yellowstone Park lot.19 During World War II, Summerfield’s was used as a service area for navy patrols and a storage area for confiscated boats.20 The Navy painted the confiscated boats white and slipped them along the north side canal. The idea was to preserve and return the boats to their original owners after the war. They used some of the fast ones as patrols. But none of the boats were maintained. Thus when the war ended, the worms had eaten the

confiscated boats and no one really got their boat back.21 The canal became a rough haven for broken down boats and salty live-aboards. George returned with his family to their home in Shady Banks around 1943. He asked Hank to help him build what would become the famous sailboat Starlight on the banks of the New River west of the Summerfield’s lot. They were setting up the backbone when they had a falling out. George stayed and hired another fellow to help build the boat. Hank left and concentrated on developing his boatyard.22 On

Summerfield Transfer ca. 1944. Courtesy Mort Allread.

February 10, 1944, Hank and Jessie purchased the rest of the available western land from CJ West et ux. In total, Summerfield Boat Works included the western three-fourths of the northeast quarter of the southwest quarter of 16-50-4223 along with the original crescent-shaped Block A of the amended plat Yellowstone Park. With this final acquisition, the current Summerfield’s yard was in place. The rest of the transactions noted are mortgages, transient properties, miscellaneous claims or parking lots. With the yard in place and WWII still going on, Hank signed on as a navigator with Pan American Airways for a tour of duty and left a foreman in charge.24 When Hank’s tour of duty was over, he came back to his boat yard to find that the foreman he hired had run away with his wife Jessie.24 Hank and Jessie divorced, and on March 22, 1945, most of

Hank and Pauline Summerfield. Courtesy of Mort Allread. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 37

the property transferred from dual ownership to Henry Summerfield. The deed did not include the westernmost fourth of the land in 16-50-4225 and Jessie would return for her share when Hank died.26 Hank went back to Toledo, Ohio, became reacquainted with his high school classmate, Pauline.27 By 1948, Hank was married to Pauline, and together they would go on to have two daughters.28 This ushered in an era of stability and growth for Summerfield Boat Works. Hank installed a railway to haul boats. In 1948, Hank purchased six government buildings in Boca Raton, Florida, to setup wet storage sheds along the south bank of the boat yard. He bought the buildings for one dollar each on the condition that he had to clean out everything down to the concrete flooring. Luckily, another prospect arrived who wanted the wiring, urinals and fixtures that populated the buildings. Mort Allread, who would later become foreman of the yard, arrived on a sport fishing

boat in early 1950. At that point the pilings were in for the sheds and by 1952 Hank completed construction. The sheds gave the yard a good income from storage rentals and this area made it possible to service berthed yachts.29 During the 1950s across the river from Summerfield’s on the south side, there were boatyards, too. The westernmost boatyard was near where I-95 is today. It was known as Pilkington’s and was not very active, having been irreparably damaged in the hurricane of 1926. The more active yard was called Dooley’s. The main shed of Dooley’s was directly south of Summerfield’s, where the east yard of Lauderdale Marine Center stands in 2010.30 Dooley’s was building 140foot mine sweepers and exporting them to the Netherlands to clean up mines left over from World War II in the North Sea.31 In 1954,32 Hank finished construction of the little house that still stands

Summerfield Sheds ca. 1950-51. Courtesy of Mort Allread. 38 • Broward Legacy

on the western-most 175 feet of the yard property.33 Hank, Pauline, and their two children went to live in this combination home and office building.34 Starting in November 3, 1954, Henry and Pauline paid off and re-mortgaged Summerfield Boat Works. They paid off mortgages due to the Broward National Bank of Fort Lauderdale.35, 36 They remortgaged to Irene Schmitt and Harlow Davock.37, 38 On October 18, 1956, they took a second mortgage from Howard Stiles.39 In 1956, Hank designed and built a 60-ton elevator to haul boats up to 75 feet and over 9-foot draft with help from Powell Brothers Construction. Summerfield’s specialized in servicing sailboats.40 The platform was a massive frame of stainless steel I-beams planked with wood. A six-cylinder Chevy truck engine with three-speed manual transmission lowered the platform via eight and three-quarterinch steel cables wound around a pair of drums. A strap brake prevented the

Summerfield’s Looking West ca. 1955. Courtesy of Mort Allread.

vessel from dropping. This marine elevator was especially attractive for fragile wood boats.41 By the late 1950s, Hank and George Hartman had mended their relationship marred by disagreement about the construction of the Starlight. Friends once again, they went out flying together, Hank in his Navion and George in his Cessna 182. Bob Hartman, George’s son, remembers riding with Hank in his Navion.42 On January 8, 1959, Hank paid off both Irene Schmitt and Harlow Davock, leaving him with just the Stiles mortgage.43, 44 On August 4, 1959, Hank began his involvement in the Bossert Isles properties. He purchased the easternmost 115-feet later corrected to the eastern-most 117-feet.45-48 This

lot would become known as lot 28 of the Bossert Isles subdivision.49 The lot stretched along the New River bordered by the live-aboard canal on the north side and the Summerfield property on the south. Summerfield Boat Works would retain ownership and use it for parking. Deeper involvement in the Bossert Isles subdivision continued as Hank became a second mortgagee to many lots of Bossert Houses Inc. on December 9, 1959.50 On March 8, 1960, Hank acquired lots 35 and 29.51 Paired with lots 34 and 28, these four would provide all the parking for Summerfield’s. On March 8, 1960, along with handling business, Hank purchased a condominium near the beach at Sea Tower Apartments just north of Oakland Park Boulevard.52 His family packed and was ready to

move out of the little home along the western-most 175-feet of the Summerfield property. Then one day sometime before April 7, 1960, while talking at the yard to Bill Kyle, a yacht broker, Hank Summerfield had a heart attack and died.53-55 Hank was buried beside his father and mother at the Lauderdale Memorial Cemetery in block 10, row 14.56  1. Hartman, Bob, June 25, 2010 (6:37 a.m.), comment on Richard Jordan, “Summerfield Boat Works – New River, Fort Lauderdale,” Waves, April 21, 2010, http:// www.jordanyachts.com/archives/2514. 2. Hawkins, William R., “Boat yard, homes coexist in serene Shady Banks,” Waterfront News, Ziegler Publishing, August 2001, 15, www.waterfront-news. us/01/08/wetstreets/wetstreets.htm. 3. Allread, Mort, email with author, January 14, 2011. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 39

4. Ibid. 5. Hartman, comment on Richard Jordan, “Summerfield Boat Works – New River, Fort Lauderdale.” 6. Miller’s Street Directory of Fort Lauderdale, FL, Southern Directory Company, Asheville, NC, Volume VIII, 1940-1941. 7. Hartman, Bob, phone interview with author, October 20, 2010. 8. Broward County Records, Taxes and Treasury Division, 115 S. Andrews Avenue, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Room 119, Book-Page 388-251. 9. Hawkins, “Boat yard, homes coexist in serene Shady Banks,” 15. 10. Allread, Mort, email with author, January 14, 2011. 11. Miller’s Street Directory of Fort Lauderdale, FL, Southern Directory Company, Asheville, NC, Volume VII, 1938-1939. 12. Boone, Steve and Susan B. Peterson, “Shady Banks, a starlit landing,” Waterfront News, Ziegler Publishing, April 1991, http://ufdc.ufl.edu/UF00072837/00081/6j. 13. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page 388-251. 14. Hill, Bixby, in-person interview with author, November 6, 2010. 15. Lee, John, in-person interview with author, May 31, 2010. 16. Allread, Mort, email with author, January 14, 2011. 17. Lee, John, in-person interview with author, May 31, 2010. 18. Hartman, comment on Richard Jordan, “Summerfield Boat Works – New River, Fort Lauderdale.” 19. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page 398-507. 20. Steinberg, Marty, “History of Shady Banks,” http://shadybanks.org/images/ ShadyBanks-History-MartySteinberg.pdf. 40 • Broward Legacy

21. Lee, John, in-person interview with author, May 31, 2010.

40. Allread, Mort, email with author, January 14, 2011.

22. Boone and Peterson, “Shady Banks, a starlit landing.”

41. Larus, Preston, “Summerfield Boat Works,” BoatsAndWaterfront.com, accessed April 14, 2010, http://boatsandwaterfront.wordpress.com/messing-aboutin-boats-2/boats-we-love/summerfieldboat-works-ft-lauderdale-fl/.

23. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page 435-363. 24. Allread, Mort, email with author, January 14, 2011. 25. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page 477-283. 26. Lee, John, in-person interview with author, May 31, 2010. 27. Allread, Mort, email with author, January 14, 2011. 28. Miller’s Street Directory of Fort Lauderdale, FL, Southern Directory Company, Asheville, NC, Volume XII, 1948-1949. 29. Allread, Mort, email with author, January 14, 2011. 30. Hartman, Bob, phone interview with author, October 20, 2010. 31. Hill, Bixby, in-person interview with author, November 6, 2010. 32. Broward County Property Appraiser’s Network, Folio 5042 16 02 0190, accessed November 18, 2010, http:// www.bcpa.net/RecInfo.asp?URL_Folio=504216020190 33. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 235-353. 34. Hill, Bixby, in-person interview with author, November 6, 2010. 35. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 235-353. 36. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 443-467. 37. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 235-355. 38. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 443-469. 39. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 747-370.

42. Hartman, Bob, phone interview with author, October 20, 2010. 43. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1420-96. 44. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1420-97. 45. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1628-343. 46. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1712-16. 47. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1712-18. 48. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1712-20. 49. Broward County Property Appraiser’s Network, Folio 5042 16 35 0280, accessed November 18, 2010, http:// www.bcpa.net/RecInfo.asp?URL_Folio=504216350280 50. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1757-493. 51. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1855-492. 52. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1856-397. 53. Broward County Records, Room 119, Book-Page OR 1889-431. 54. Hill, Bixby, in-person interview with author, November 6, 2010. 55. Allread, Mort, email with author, January 14, 2011. 56. Duay, Debbie, “Broward County Cemetery Records,” Learn Web Skills, accessed October 15, 2010, http://www. learnwebskills.com/browardcem/lauderdales.htm.

Sight-Seeing Boats in Mid-Twentieth Century Broward County By Denyse Cunningham

Broward County has long attracted boaters. The Seminole would ply the Everglades and coastline in dugout canoes. Early white settlers traveled by water as there were few passable roads. Boats would take passengers up and down the North New River Canal to examine Everglades land for sale. And once the area’s population grew, the potential of tourist money was evident; sight-seeing boats became a popular attraction and they remain so today.

The Mindanao, one of the four boats of the Forbes Pioneer Boat Line, 1913. Broward County Historical Commission, Alta Work Collection.

In 1912, Captain Felix Forbes’ launch the Dixie, made weekly sailings to Stranahan’s dock on the New River in Fort Lauderdale. This was the beginning of Forbes Pioneer Boat Line. In 1913, he added the boats Mayflower, Wanderlust, Eva, Everglader and La Rochelle.1 By 1916, Forbes was making regular trips up the Miami Canal, taking passengers all the way to Lake Okeechobee, Fort Myers and back.2 He would leave Tuesday morning and return on Thursday evening, charging $7 for round trip passage. After he received the contract to carry mail, Forbes acquired the former yacht Mindanao. Because so many potential land purchasers used his boats, Forbes built a hotel on Ritta Island.3 Later, his brother, Captain Edward E. Forbes, had the successor boat line, the South Shore Transportation Company, with the boats Fox and Arline G.4 Boats would transport passengers to view Everglades land for sale as well as delivering mail, ice, crops and other commodities. Lawrence E. Will described part of his boat trip in 1913 in his book, A Cracker History of Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 41

Okeechobee: Here [Fort Lauderdale] we hired our ex-policeman friend, Felix A. Forbes, to take us in his power barge EVERGLADER up the North New River Canal 57 miles to where my father and others had bought their land, four miles from Lake Okeechobee. As the sun was rising we headed upstream, rounding the wooded curves of the beautiful New River. Beyond the entrance to the canal, we passed through the locks, six miles from town. After that for the whole livelong day till sundown, we chugged up the monotonous canal with nothing to be seen on either hand but saw grass. Boats would also take farmers out to their land in Davie. The Margie M. and the N. B. Broward were two such boats. Davie pioneers Felix Forbes,

Ed Hammer, Ed Saar and Fred Aunapu were boatmen. Two of the earliest tour boats were the Kathleen and the Sea Gull operated by Freeman’s Tours “on the beautiful New River and to the Everglades.” In the mid teens, John W. Freeman and his wife, Alice, moved to Fort Lauderdale. Freeman was listed as the owner of a houseboat in the 1920 Federal Census and as the captain of two boats operated by the Freeman Tours, making him the earliest tour boat operator. His boats “transported sightseers from the streets of downtown to the shores of Fort Lauderdale’s beach.”5 Keeping the canals clear for boat traffic became impossible. The canals, which had been used to transport people and crops to the railheads, had silted over by 1921 and steamboat traffic ended.The last passenger boat from Belle Glade was the Passing Thru.6 Vessels like the Skylark, captained by

C. M. Stone, as well as the Liberty, a freight boat captained by John W. Ziegler, plied the waters between Miami and Lake Okeechobee via the New River canals. These excursions offered the newcomers a full day of

Freeman’s Tours Brochure. Courtesy of the Wilton Manors Historical Society.

The Kathleen. Broward County Historical Commission, John Henry Moore Collection. 42 • Broward Legacy

time it was the only boat stationed by the old vegetable docks in downtown Fort Lauderdale not devoted solely to fishing. Newspaper columnist Wesley Stout described the Abeona as the “Queen of the New River.” The double-decker Abeona had been a Consolidated Shipbuilding’s express cruiser, which cost $54,000, or $1,000 a foot, in 1924.13 The Abeona’s final resting place was the Ravenswood Marina at 4470 Ravenswood Road in Dania Beach. Downtown Fort Lauderdale, 1937. Broward County Historical Commission, Jack Egan Collection.

leisure activities. The tourist boats not only allowed visitors to view the beauty of the city, but at times enhanced such beauty by merely being on the water themselves.”7 Fort Lauderdale beach was a place where early residents could go for entertainment, but before the Las Olas Bridge was constructed in 1917, people had to take boats to the barrier island. The only structures on the beach at the time were the life-saving station, the private lodge of Thomas Watson, and the vacation cottage of reclusive Hugh Taylor Birch.

goddess who protected children when they left home. Owner Harry F. Kestner brought the craft down to Fort Lauderdale from Essington, Pennsylvania. Kestner and his wife, May, first arrived in Fort Lauderdale in 1919 and operated a fishing boat service for tourists.11 They moved to Fort Lauderdale permanently around 1933 and started a sight-seeing boat service. It was popular from the start. According to one source, during the 1935 tourist season the Abeona carried 2,556 passengers.12 At one

Other boats and tour boat companies in Broward County soon followed the Abeona. These included: Suwanee, Okeechobee, Annie Otto, Jungle Queen, Water Bus, We-Kiva, Fireball, Miss Everglades, Poraco, New River Queen, Venetian Boat Lines, Inc,. Everglades Jungle Cruise, Scotty Allen, Miss Juanita, Miss Gateway, Circular Jungle Cruise, Glass Bottom Boat Company, Aqua Glades Sightseeing Service, and Caroline. The Nellie G II sailed out of Pompano and Arthur-K and Nikko Gray Line out of Hollywood. These boats all carried tourists past

Not much happened at the beach during the week, but it was a popular destination during holidays and weekends.8 “Capt. Richard ‘Dick’, T. LaVigne with his boat, the Excelsior, is credited with being the first to run excursions on Sundays to the old wooden casino located on the beach.”9 LaVigne was listed as a “boatman” in the 1918 Fort Lauderdale city directory.10 Another early sightseeing boat in Broward County was the Abeona, named for an ancient Roman

Tour boat on New River. Martin Rubin Collection. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 43

Glass Bottom Boat. Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection.

Glass Bottom Boat. Broward County Historical Commission. Photo by Anthony Kozla.

Glass Bottom Boat, Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection. 44 • Broward Legacy

“Little Florida.” Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection.

“scenically beautiful, geologically intriguing, and comprehensively satisfying” sights they would typically not see at home. These included natural jungles and manmade “wonders,” the Everglades, orange groves, the State Forest Reservation,14 the whirlpool,15 “Little Florida,”16 mangrove swamps, the Dania Chimpanzee Farm,17 wildlife such as manatees and birds, Tarpon Bend, Starlight Landing,18 the giant Banyan tree,19 a palm nursery, and the Florida Sea Life Aquarium. Boats would stop at tourist attractions such as Indian villages complete with alligator wrestling and trinkets for sale. A thrilling water ski show could be viewed. Another attraction was the Briner Electric Fountain, a feature of the winter home of Charles J. Briner located in the Riverside Subdivision at 1000 SW Fifth Place in Fort Lauderdale. During the tourist season Briner would keep the fountain lit with multicolored lights at night. “Thousands visit it each winter, the fountain having become

Everglades), a rock quarry, the Fort Lauderdale Naval Air Base (now the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport), the Cooley monument, limestone mines and grottos, the Dania Harbor, the site of old Fort Lauderdale, and the United States Coast Guard Base. 21

Florida Power and Light Building. R. L. and Helen Landers Collection.

one of the show places of Broward County.”20 Man-made marvels seen on the boat rides included the Florida Power and Light Company building (torn down in the 1990s), World Sea Port (Port

The world of the wealthy could be observed by sight seers who cruised past charter fishing boats, palatial yachts, the “World’s Largest Yacht Basin” Bahia-Mar, and Victoria Park. A popular feature on the tour was the opportunity to view beautifully landscaped waterfront island estates. Since many of these homes faced the water, they could only be truly appreciated from a boat. Estate homes pointed out by the guide might include the Briner Estate,22 the Birch Estate,23 Evinrude Estate,24 home of O. R. Burkart of St. Louis,25 home of Jack Valentine, Valentine Bar of Music and the Stranahan Home.26 There were hundreds of island estate homes on Venetian Waterways, Rio Vista Isles, Victoria, Hendricks, Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 45

Navarro and Coral Isles, along with many others. The homes’ porticos, colonnades and expanses of glass doors faced the water and could only be truly appreciated by boat. The earliest boat tours pointed out actor Joe Jefferson’s houseboat, the Wanderer, which was docked at Shady Banks, east of presentday I-95. Today, guides on modern sightseeing cruises still recount celebrity gossip and historical facts with varying degrees of truth. A large number of low stationary bridges meant that many of the canals in Fort Lauderdale could not be reached by large boats. Boats with low height clearance could navigate more waterways because they could go under low fixed bridges and could provide views to more private homes. One vessel, the “Little” Water Bus, claimed it was built to pass under 57 fixed bridges. Real estate sales companies’ excursion boats offered free trips. Salesmen brought potential lot buyers on sightseeing boats to fish fries held at Burnham’s Point.27 At that time, the remote Burnham’s Point, where Harbor Beach is today across Highway A1A from the Sheraton Yankee Clipper, could only be reached by boat. When the tourists got off the boat, hard-sell tactics were used and they could not escape the salesmen. Another real estate scheme had passengers stop for 30 minutes out in the Everglades to “give our passengers a chance to get out and see bearing orange groves and truck farms on rich muck land that was at one time covered with water.”28 Another stop for some boats was the New River Jungle (where the Jungle (continued on page 48) 46 • Broward Legacy

The Route of the We-Kiva. Broward County Historical Commission, Patrick Scott Collection.

O. R. Burkart Home. Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection.

Burnham’s Point. Broward County Historical Commission, Clyde Brown Collection.

Pond Apple Slough’s Long Journey South America and Central America to collect rare specimens of orchids and other jungle plants. He had dreamed that the state would develop the land with boating, fishing, trails and paths, and it would serve as “… the largest exhibition of orchids, in a natural setting, in the United States.”31 He envisioned the park being a major educational tourist attraction drawing thousands of visitors.

Robert H. Gore. Broward County Historical Commission, Gore Family Collection. The South Canal Jungle, also known as the Pan-American Park, State Forest Reservation or the Florida State Forest, was an ill-fated dream of Robert H. Gore, then publisher of the Fort Lauderdale Daily News. He bought the 270-acre tract of land in the late 1920s and early 1930s and gave it to the Florida Board of Parks and Historic Memorials (later known as the Florida Board of Forestry) on December 21, 1938, on the condition that it would be developed as a state park. The site was in the peninsula formed by the intersection of the North and South New River Canals, bounded roughly by the South Fork of the New River, State Road 84 and State Road 7.30 The property is located in the southern half of section 19 of Township 50, Range 41. It was suggested that the park be named “Gore Park,” but Gore insisted that it be called Pan-American State Park. Gore had an extensive collection of orchids and proposed donating them to the park. He planned to purchase even more for the site, offering to send an orchid botanical expert to

Although all those involved with the project were excited about it, the park’s board could never acquire enough money to get the park going. Due to the Great Depression, disruptions caused by World War II, and the legislature funding primarily northern counties’ projects, the PanAmerican Park project languished.

to real estate developer L. C. Judd. In 1979, the Urban Wilderness Advisory Board, which had been established as a public landuse consulting group by County Commissioner Anne Kolb, investigated the site and found it to be environmentally sensitive and one of the few remaining tracts of cypress/maple swamp. Despite their recommendations, Broward County declined to acquire the land.

In the early 1940s, philanthropist and nature lover Hugh Taylor Birch, donated 180 acres on the ocean, north of Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, to the state. On January 28, 1951, Birch State Park was dedicated. State monies were then diverted to the oceanfront property.

In 1983, when Interstate 595 was being constructed, the Florida Department of Transportation took title to the property by eminent domain. In 1998, environmental restoration took place, including the purchase and planting of native plants. These efforts were conducted and approved by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and the South Florida Water Management District. The property was then conveyed to Broward County34 and is now known as Pond Apple Slough, a natural area managed by Broward County Parks and Recreation Division.

The Pan-American State Park Board approved and urged the Florida Board of Parks and Historical Monuments to appear before the state budget commission requesting $50,000 to open canoe trails in Pan -American as a preliminary step toward development of the area as a marine park. 32 The request failed, and nearly 20 years after Gore’s gift, with no state monies allocated to the park, Gore asked for the property to be returned. This was granted by special legislation in 1953, with the understanding Gore would make it into a Fort Lauderdale city park.33 In 1955, Gore sold the land in installments

1949 USGS map showing the undeveloped area of Pan-American Park. Broward County Historical Commission. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 47

(continued from page 46)

of native fish found only in this area. It was located on State Road 84 at the New River Bridge. Today, Broward County’s Secret Woods Nature Center is located on the site. The “Water Bus” was brought down by Marshall Fishburn from Hanford, Connecticut, in 1946, and berthed at Andrews Avenue and the New River. Later, Fishburn also ran the Miss Everglades. He and his wife, Betsy, and daughter, Betsy Lee, lived below deck on the Miss Everglades docked

by the Stranahan House. They held meetings of the Brownies on the docked boat there when Betsy Lee was attending South Side School. Betsy Lee also sold tickets out of a chickee at Aquaglades. Commercial possibilities continued to beckon to entrepreneurs. In the 1940s, several sightseeing boats operated in Hollywood, including Guy R. Hadley, the Stern Brothers, Robert C. Schmid (the Arthur K.) and the Nikko Gray Line. In the 1950s,

Aquaglades Park Brochure. Martin Rubin Collection.

Everglades Jungle. Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection.

Queen still stops today) and the South Canal Jungle. “The mysterious Everglades begin almost at the city limits. Cruisers into the jungle are fascinated by the gaunt, hurricanestripped cypress trees, the dark, reflecting waters, the lush, virtually impenetrable mangrove growth. Trees on first glance appear to be filled with huge bird nests.”29 A rest stop for tourists on the Miss Everglades was Aquaglades Park, a 20-acre jungle and wildlife preserve developed as a park in 1957. It featured a “10,000 gallon aquarium with underwater windows, jungle walks, alligators, crocodiles, otters, reptiles, raccoons, birds, flamingos, peacocks, deer, Indians, alligator wrestling, etc.”35 The fresh water aquarium contained scores of species 48 • Broward Legacy

Gray Line Vessel near Dania Beach Bridge. Courtesy of the Dania Beach Historical Society.

The Jungle Queen on the New River. Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection.

as the area grew rapidly in both permanent residents and tourists, tour boats proliferated. Robert C. Schmid ran the Caroline. From 1948 to 1958, the Pippin was operated by Captain Peter Closter out of the docks at Bahia Mar. It claimed to be the only boat in Fort Lauderdale that included the Indian Village and the orange groves along with the Circular Jungle Cruise. Gina Riva (1896 – 1967) ran the sightseeing boat Miss Gateway in 1959. The best known of all the boat owners was Al Starts, the original owner of the Jungle Queen, which still operates boats on the New River today. A Russian immigrant, Starts was an inventor and showman, and had been a motorcycle racer in Akron, Ohio. He moved to South Florida around 1936, bringing with him a Jacksonville-built ship he called the Jungle Queen. It was a 60-foot craft with a 15-foot beam and a 3-foot draft, with a clear deck 50 by 14 feet for dancing and an orchestra.36 At the same time, he created a “monkey ranch” and “private” Indian reservation for his boat to visit on the Fort Lauderdale Enterprises Inc.’s Riverland Jungle Farm. This Indian village was (and still is) located on the north side of the South Fork of the New River, east of Riverland Road and west of I-95.37

The Jungle Queen I Docked at the Indian Village. Broward County Historical Commission, Al Starts Collection.

Jungle Queen II docked at the Indian Village. Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection.

For years his boats were docked at Bahia Mar, until the city decided to implement a seat tax on his passengers. He then built another dock by Oakland Park Boulevard on the Intracoastal Waterway.38

authentic Seminole camps built with native materials in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, including two in the vicinity of present-day downtown Fort Lauderdale. In 1925, under pressure from developers amid increasing real estate values, the Indians relocated, mostly to the new Dania Reservation.

There were several Indian villages located along the circular routes of the tour boats that were designed to be tourist attractions. These attractions found inspiration from the many

Indian families would spend the tourist season at various attractions “doing the boats” as they would call it. The attractions provided an income from alligator wresting and

selling crafts at a time when there were few opportunities to make money. During the early 1920s, Egbert L. Lasher operated a small tourist attraction on the North Fork of the New River featuring a Seminole camp and a natural slough filled with alligators.39 At this camp, Seminole entrepreneur Willie Willie was a “key player.”40 Egbert Lasher’s Indian attraction was short-lived because by 1922, he and Willie had relocated to Musa Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 49

Indians sell goods to tourists. Broward County Historical Commission, Al Starts Collection.

Isle on the Miami River. Al Start’s Riverland Jungle Farm, Aquaglades Park and the Dania Chimpanzee Farm also all featured alligator wrestling Seminoles and sold Indian crafts to the tourists. “As the Seminole villages became some of Florida’s most popular and longestrunning pre-Disney attractions, they gave the Seminoles a legacy that promoted alligator wrestling, a growing appreciation of arts and crafts, and significant support of their ‘unconquered’ status.”41 A popular stop on many sightseeing boats was the chimpanzee farm. Former owner Dorothy Ash Baker recounted her experiences there: Over the years a friendship between my family and Leila Roosevelt had developed and we spent many hours on her farm called the Anthropoid Ape Research Center. It [was] set on the Dania Canal and U.S. 1, and formerly had been an Indian Trading Post and Seminole 50 • Broward Legacy

Village. Mrs. Roosevelt and her husband Armand Denis moved to Dania to establish a breeding station for primates needed for medical research in the late 1930s. Unfortunately, the war interrupted the funds needed to complete the project and it was never finished. During the war years, my father helped find food to feed her animals and she and her children, David, Armand, Renee and Heidi became my life time friends.

University for TB studies, National Institutes of Health for infectious diseases and the Air Force for early studies in sound barriers and space travel.

It was as a result of this friendship that my husband John Ash and I bought the farm, renamed it the Chimpanzee Farm, and opened it to the public as a tourist attraction. The war was over, people had money to spend but everything was in short supply. Sightseeing boats brought hundreds of people to the farm to see Indians and alligator wrestling. The farm’s success as an amusement provided the funds to again import animals for research. Dr. Salk and Dr. Sabin used them for polio research, Johns Hopkins

Unfortunately, the Chimpanzee Farm closed in 1957 to make way for the high voltage lines into Port Everglades from the power plant west of Dania Beach.42

During the 1950s, Broward County was at an epidemic stage with polio. We opened the farm to everyone making a donation to the local chapter and had several polio drives raising thousands of dollars to assist Broward County victims.

John Ash assembled an extraordinary collection of monkeys and apes. Other animals were kept at the farm including Galapagos tortoises weighing as much as 155 pounds, a Himalayan bear from Siam,43 squirrels, otters, alligators and elephants.44

Port Everglades was a primary attraction along many tour routes. Like the Florida Power and Light Company facility and the canal “rivers” themselves, Port Everglades was a monument to the success of Broward County’s entrepreneurial and pioneer spirit. In the months leading up to World War II, tourists were shown the captured German ship, Arauca, at Port Everglades (see Story on page 2). During World War II, from October 1942 until January 1, 1944, wartime restrictions made boat excursions into the port impossible. Also, during the war, there were restrictions on the taking of photographs at Port Everglades. Following WW II, when boat tours were resumed, passengers had to bring some form of identification to the docks. A driver’s license from any state, Social Security card, draft registration, alien registration, Coast Guard or other military ID card were acceptable.

Port Everglades, 1950. Broward County Historical Commission. Photo by Anthony Kozla.

An article in the January 28, 1950, North Broward Times (Vol. 1, No. 1) tells of one vessel, the Nellie G III. Nellie G III Has Interesting History The Sweet boys, Walter and Paul, who brought the Nellie G II down to Pompano Beach for its first season in Florida Waters this year, related a very interesting history of their craft, when questioned about the two Nellie G’s. It seems that the original Nellie G was built in 1898 at Woolwich, Maine, and was put into service for passengers plying between Boothbay Harbor, Maine, and Squirrel Island. The vessel was purchased by Walter and Paul and

U.S. Navy Section Base, Port Everglades. Broward County Historical Commission. is still owned by them – her home harbor now being Portland, Maine. Nellie G II was built to replace the first craft and remains in Boothbay Harbor. The present Nellie G III was built at Friendship, Maine in 1945 and is 53 feet in length, carrying 75 people comfortably. The boys still operate No. I Nellie G as well as No. III between Portland and Cousins, Little John and Chebeague Island in Casco

Bay, Maine from May 1st to October 1st for passenger and sight-seeing cruises. Now the Nellie G III is available at the Pompano Beach Yacht Basin and has a schedule of four cruises to enjoy. Cruise No. 1, daily at 10 a.m. takes you to Boca Raton and Hillsboro Light, the Second Cruise leaves at 2 p.m. daily, except on Wednesdays, Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 51

Jungle Queen II. Broward County Historical Commission, James Vreeland Collection. bringing you down the coast to Fort Lauderdale and Port Everglades, while a Wednesday cruise leaves the Pompano Yacht Basin at 10 a.m. and is an all day excursion to Hollywood and the mysterious jungles. Finally the number four cruise – Wednesdays and Saturdays – is an evening trip, leaving the basin at 7:30 p.m. for a sail to Fort Lauderdale where they make a stop at Bahia-Mar for sight-seeing and refreshments.

Al Starts, who had run the Jungle Queen since the 1930s, launched a second venture, the New River Queen in 1953.45 The 72-foot boat, which could carry 110 passengers, was launched with 80 dignitaries, newspaper and television representatives aboard. The craft started off to a “cannon salute” by the Coast Guard Auxiliary, which accompanied the vessel on its trip to Harbor Beach and the Coral Ridge Yacht Club.46 New River Queen was a replica of a Mississippi stern-wheeler complete with smoke 52 • Broward Legacy

stacks, pilot house and steam whistle. The stacks were made to appear to burn wood or coal, but in reality burned diesel fuel. Cruising from Bahia Mar to the Hillsboro Inlet and Lighthouse, the New River Queen was available for picnics, parties and moonlight cruises with dancing.47 Today, the Jungle Queen line is run by owner-operator Jerome “Jerry” Farber, whose father, Earl P. Farber, bought it from Al Starts in 1958. The two boats are still berthed at Bahia Mar Yachting Center, and still stop at the “Indian village” west of I-95 where tourists can see parrots and an alligator wrestling show. “The current Jungle Queens are the third and fourth river boats used by the company, Jungle Queens, Inc.” 48 Sightseeing boats continue to ply the waters of Broward County. The Jungle Queen, the Fort Lauderdale Venice of America Cruise, the Carrie B Harbor Tours, with Captain Phil Demers at the helm, and the Duck Tours, all entertain tourists and locals alike.

The 112-foot paddle wheel Carrie B has been providing tours since 1991 from the dock just west of the Stranahan House Museum on the north side of the river. It is operated by Harbor Tours, Inc.49 The Duck Tours use amphibious vehicles called Hydra Terra. They take tourists down the New River and up onto the streets of Fort Lauderdale past sites such as the vintage cluster of buildings known as the Fort Lauderdale History Center. As in days past, a mix of quasi-historical facts and celebrity gossip told by the guides continue to appeal sight seers.  1 “Boat Lines Will Work Over Southern Peninsula Connecting Gulf with the Atlantic” Miami News, March 27 1913; Will, Lawrence, A Cracker History of Okeechobee, Great Outdoors, St. Petersburg, FL, 1964, p. 186. 2 “Regular Trips Now Made Up the Miami Canal to Lake Okeechobee and Thence to Fort Myers,” Miami News, January 25, 1916. 3 Will, Lawrence E., Okeechobee Boats and Skippers, Great Outdoors Publishing Co., St. Petersburg, FL, 1978, p. 93.

4 Will, Lawrence E., Okeechobee Hurricane and the Hoover Dike, Great Outdoors, St. Petersburg, FL, 1961, p. 101.

20 “Electric Fountain is one of City’s Unique Show Spots” Fort Lauderdale News, June 30, 1937.

5 Stranahan’s People, Published by Stranahan High School, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., 1975, p. 74.

21 Located in Cooley’s Landing Marine Facility park today at 420 S.W. 7th Avenue.

6 Fort Lauderdale Historical Society has an image of this vessel, 5-53. 7 Ibid. 8 Robert L. Hall oral history interview with Dr. Cooper Kirk, October 17, 1984, from the collections of the Broward County Historical Commission, O.H. 1044. 9 Ibid 10 Weidling, Philip J. and Burghard, August, Checkered Sunshine, University of Florida Press, Gainesville, 1966, p.73. 11 “Harry F. Kestner dies, ran sightseeing boats,” Fort Lauderdale News and Sun-Sentinel, July 12, 1980. 12 VAIL notes from the collections of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. 13 Wesley Stout – Beachcomber, Fort Lauderdale News, July 22, 1966. 14 Hugh Taylor Birch State Park on the ocean just north of Sunrise Boulevard. 15 A place on the south fork of the New River where the water was disturbed. 16 A split of land at the forks of the New River roughly in the shape of the state. 17 Kirk, Dr. Cooper, personal correspondence with Dr. Judith Zilczer, Historian Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C., March 21, 1980, “The Anthropoid Ape Research Foundation was operated by the daughter and son-in-law of Adelheid Lange. It was located in Dania Beach, Florida, six-miles south of midtown Fort Lauderdale.” 18 A strip of land west of Davie Boulevard, south of where I-95 goes over the river east of the Amtrak tracks, where free-spirited people docked their sailboats and lived aboard. 19 The 2 million dollar tree named by Commodore Brook at Wyldwood Nursery, east of the current Fort LauderdaleHollywood International Airport.

22 Home of Charles J. Briner, electric company owner, located at 1000 S. W. 5th Place. Briner Electric provided services for the 1904 World’s Fair including wiring for the fountains and the Tyrolean Alps. 23 Now Bonnet House Museum and Gardens, the Birch Estate was the home of Frederic and Evelyn Bartlett. Hugh Taylor Birch was Frederic Bartlett’s father-in-law and had given him the land on which the house and outbuildings were built. Birch lived at Bonnet House until 1940 when he was 92-years-old. He built his house, Terramar, which is in today’s Birch State Park. 24 Home of Ralph S. and Marion Evinrude at 1700 S.E. 4th Street. He is listed in Miller’s Fort Lauderdale, Florida, City Directory in 1938-39 and 1940-41. Mr. Evinrude invented and manufactured the fisherman’s and sportsman’s light weight outboard motor. He headed the company Outboard Marine & Manufacturing Co. which made boats, lawn mowers, snow mobiles and chain saws. 25 Oliver R. and Mable Lackland Burkart were originally from St. Louis, Mo. They owned the Burkart Saddlery Company and had a yacht Capritola III. Their home while in Fort Lauderdale was at 909 S.E. 26th Avenue. 26 Now Stranahan House Museum. 27 Wesley Stout – Beachcomber, Fort Lauderdale News, July 22, 1966, Burnham Point was named for the owners T. Brownell and Edith Burnham of New York City. 28 Freeman’s tour brochure, from the collections of the Wilton Manors Historical Society. 29 “Jungle Cruise,” The Sun Colony Illustrated News, May 1, 1951, p. 5. 30 Letter to Ray Weiland from Campbell, Dickey Advertising, Inc. in the collections of the Fort Lauderdale Historical Society. 31 Ibid.

32 Ibid. 33 Chapter 28322, Laws of Florida, acts of 1953. 34 Quit Claim Deed, September 9, 1998. 35 Miss Everglades brochure. 36 “Jax Boat Builder Gives Indians their First Motor Ride,” Jacksonville Journal, January 20, 1936. 37 Plat Book of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and Vicinity, G. M. Hopkins, Co., Philadelphia, Pa., 1953, p. 22, see Township 50 south, Range 42 east, south east corner of Section 17. 38 “Man About Town,” Henry Kinney, Newspaper article, no source, 1979 Broward County Historical Commission, Al Starts Collection. 39 McIver, Stuart B., Fort Lauderdale and Broward County, Windsor Publications, Woodland Hills, CA, p.80. 40 West, Patsy, The Enduring Seminoles: From Alligator Wresting to Ecotourism, University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL, p.17. 41 West, p. 26. 42 2001 Broward County Historical Commission Pioneer Biographical Data Form. 43 Board, Prudy Taylor, A Century of Pioneer Spirit The History of Dania Beach, Florida, Donning Company Publishers, Virginia Beach, VA, 2004, p. 74. 44 Kemper, Marilyn, “A History of Dania,” Broward Legacy, Vol. 3, Nos. 3 & 4, Fall 1979, p. 14. 45 “Stern Wheeler Due to Ply New River” Harry Kinney, Miami Herald, no date. 46 “Makes First Voyage,” Miami Herald, June 15, 1953. 47 Unidentified newspaper clipping, Broward County Historical Commission, Al Starts Collection. 48 “Riverboat Tours Chugging Along Since 1937,” Miami Herald, December 31, 2000. 49 Florida Department of State Division of Corporations, www.sunbiz.org. Volume 31 • Number 1 • Broward Legacy • 53

A p u b l i c at i o n o f t h e B r o wa r d C o u n t y H i s t o r i c a l C o m m i s s i o n volume 31 • number 1 • 2011

The Restored West Side Grade School, 2011

You Can Help Preserve History Each day more of our local history is lost by the passage of time, the passing of early pioneers, and the loss of historic and archaeological sites throughout Broward County. But you can help. The Broward County Historical Commission has been working to preserve local history since 1972 with help from people like you. By donating old family photos and documents, volunteering at events, and providing donations to the Broward County Historical Commission Trust Fund, your efforts help preserve our history. Consider how you can help save our heritage and create a legacy for your community by contributing your time, historical items, or your generosity. What you do today maintains the dignity of history for the future. Call us at 954-357-5553. Monetary donations may be made to:

Broward County Historical Commission Trust Fund 301 Harmon (S.W. 13th) Avenue Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33312 www.broward.org/history

A Service of the Broward County Board of County Commissioners This public document was promulgated at a cost of $804.00 or $2.01 per copy, to provide historical information to the public about Broward County.

The Story of the SS Arauca William and Mary Brickell Book Review Keepers Of Fort Lauderdale’s House Of Refuge Sight-Seeing Boats in Mid-Twentieth Century Broward County