By Bob Davidsson
For most of its 6,000-year history, Lake Okeechobee, also known as Florida's "Inland Sea," was a mystery to the outside world.
Between 1824-45, most of Lake Okeechobee was included in Florida's "Mosquito County," a sparsely populated frontier province extending from modern Daytona Beach south to the Hillsboro River. It was not until the final months of the Second Seminole War in 1842 that a military expedition was organized by the U.S. Navy to explore the 730-square-mile lake and its unknown water sources and outlets.
The primary goal of the expedition was to locate hostile Seminole villages along the shores of the lake, specifically to find an elusive medicine chief named Sam Jones (Abiaka). His last known hideout was reported near the mouth of the Kissimmee River.
It was the sage advice of Sam Jones which led to the victory over U.S. troops Dec. 25, 1837 at the battle of Okeechobee near Taylor's Creek. His successful defensive strategies were repeated at the first battle of the Loxahatchee River fought three weeks later near Jupiter Inlet, and at the March 22, 1838 battle of Pine Island Ridge in Broward County.
A Lake with Many Names
Lake Okeechobee has often been described as a shallow bowl, with an average depth of just 8 to 10 feet, with a base made of clay and limestone, and tilted on its southwest side to allow an outflow of water to the Everglades and Florida Bay.
Perhaps the first European to view the wide nautical expanse of the largest freshwater lake within the borders of a single state was a Spanish captive of the Calusa Indians named Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda. In his 1572 "Memoirs," published in Spain after his rescue, he called it "Lake Mayaimi" after the name of the tribe living along its western shore.
The Mayaimi (or Maymi) tribe were descendants of the Calusa mound building culture. Their neighbors to the east in the 16th century were the Santaluces Indians, another mound-building tribe, centered in their main village of Guacata near modern Pahokee on the southeast shore of the big lake, with villages extending north and east to the St. Lucie River.*
The name "Lake Mayaimi" was used to identify the inland sea on Spanish maps during most of the 16th and 17th centuries in Spain's First Colonial Period in Florida (1513-1763). During Spain's Second Colonial Period (1783-1821), the lake also acquired a religious moniker, "Laguna de Espiritu Santo" (Lagoon of the Holy Spirit).
Adding to the geographic confusion, Rene de Laudonniere, the French founder and governor of the short-lived Fort Caroline settlement, christened the big lake "Serrope" during a 1564 journey up the St. John's River. He rescued two Spanish captives of the Ais Indians, who gave him an interesting description of the lake included in his "L'Histaire Notable de la Florida," published in 1586.
He wrote, "Near the middle of his route was a lake called 'Serrope' nigh five leagues about encircle an island, whereon dwelt a race of men valorous in war and opulent from a traffic in dates, fruits and a root 'so excellent well fitted for bread that you could not possibly eat better,' which formed the staple food of their neighbors."
During Florida's British Colonial Period (1763-83), yet another name appeared on English maps of Florida - "Lake Mayacco (or Mayaca)". The lake was renamed for a small Indian village on its eastern shore that served as the last refuge for remnants of the Mayaca, Maymi and Santaluces tribes at the time of British rule.
When the United States purchased Florida from Spain, the big lake was known as "Lake Macaco" on early Florida territorial maps. However, by the 1840's, most geographers adopted the Seminole tribe's Hitchiti dialect name - "Oki (water)-chubi (big) - transcribed as Lake Okeechobee.
The Rodgers Expedition to Lake Okeechobee
After nearly seven years of inconclusive warfare between the U.S. Army and the Seminole nation from 1835 to 1841, the War Department desperately sought a military solution to end the costly stalemate in Florida.
While the Army was successful in forcibly transporting most of the Seminole tribe and many of their Miccosukee allies to "Indian Territory" in Oklahoma, several hundred determined Indians and their principal war chiefs continued to elude pursuers in the vast Everglades of South Florida. The unique marsh environment of the Everglades required a radical change of tactics.
Colonel William Jenkins Worth, and his naval counterpart, Captain J.T. McLaughlin, commander of the Navy's Florida Expedition, more commonly known as the "Mosquito Fleet," developed an ultimately successful strategy in the winter of 1841-42.
Using native dugout canoes, Seminole guides, and a small picked force of soldiers, Army Capt. Richard Wade surprised a large band of Indians in their hunting camp on the Hillsboro River, south of the Boca Raton Inlet. He followed this success by raiding Cha-chi village, located west of Hypoluxo Lake (later changed to Lake Worth), and exploring the entire 20-mile length of the waterway.*
The Navy also adopted the use of a 19th century rapid deployment force consisting of hand-picked Marines and sailors from the brigs "USS Madison" and "USS Jefferson" of the Mosquito Fleet. Lt. John Rodgers was selected to lead an expedition to the uncharted inland lake called Okeechobee by its native inhabitants.
Today, we are fortunate to have two detailed accounts of the two-month Rodgers expedition. The first is the "Official Report of Lt. John Rodgers" drafted and filed April 12, 1842 while aboard the brig "Jefferson." The second historic record is the "Diary of a Canoe Expedition into the Everglades of Florida". The journal was kept by Midshipman George Preble, an officer serving under Lt. Rodgers.
Preparations for the Okeechobee expedition began Feb. 4, 1842 on the island of Indian Key, located five miles southeast of Islamorada, Florida. Indian Key, the county seat of Dade County during the Seminole war, was recovering from a devastating raid by the chieftain Chekika and his band of so-called "Spanish Indians" in August 1840.
The Navy assumed temporary military control of Indian Key for the remainder of the Indian war to ensure the protection the surviving residents. The brig "Jefferson" transported Lt. Rodgers and 22 men Feb. 12 from Indian Key to Key Biscayne.
They paddled their five dugout canoes from Key Biscayne to Fort Dallas (Miami), where they camped and were joined by a detachment of sailors and canoes from the brig "Madison". Rodgers divided his command into three divisions totaling 16 canoes, 51 sailors, 24 Marines, Seminole guide John Tigertail, one African-American aide-de-camp, one "squaw" and her "papoose".
The canoes used in the expedition were described as "cypress dugout construction," 30 feet long and four feet wide, with six-foot lockers in the sterns for supplies and blankets. Each canoe also was issued a cotton sheet that served as a tent or boat cover at night.
While crossing the Everglades, the expedition often failed to find dry ground at sunset. The sailors and Marines placed their oars broadside across the canoes and slept in their boats at night.
On Feb. 14, Rodgers led his 87 Marines and sailors to the source of the New River which they followed east to the abandoned Army post of Fort Lauderdale. The next day they retraced their route upriver and began seven days of slogging north-by-northwest through the marshes, hammocks and reptile-infested gator holes of the Everglades.
They reached their goal on Feb. 22. Midshipman Preble's expedition "Diary" reads, "At 4:30 p.m. left the Everglades, passed through a narrow belt of cypress swamp, hauled (the canoes) over a sandy ridge, and launched our canoes in the waters of Lake Okeechobee, or Big Water."
"We camped under what was once Fort Dulray," the Diary states, "a cabbage-tree log fortress. The lake spread out before us, and to the west where the sun went down, no land visible."
The "Dulray" ruins cited in Preble's Navy journal was Fort McRae, an Army post built in 1838 and decommissioned three years prior to the Rodgers expedition. It was located north of Port Mayaca, near the St. Lucie Canal.
The expedition continued paddling west along the coast of Lake Okeechobee. They passed eight abandoned Seminole villages along the shore of he lake. Their guide, John Tigertail, reported the villages were deserted in 1837.
Exploring the Water Sources of Lake Okeechobee
The expedition reached the mouth of Fisheating Creek, near the town of Lakeport in Glades County, on March 3. In his "Official Report," Lt. Rodgers wrote, "The 'Thlo-thlo-pop-ke' or Fisheating Creek runs through on an open prairie, to which it serves as a drain."
"This stream is very tortuous, and sometimes swells to a river, and then dwindles into a brook. Its head is in a marshy prairie, where a number of streamlets run together about 20 miles in a straight line due east to Okeechobee, but following the course of the creek is about twice that distance."
He concluded, "The banks of Fisheating Creek are covered with game, and its waters filled with fish."
By March 11, the expedition reached the mouth of the Kissimmee River, the source of more than 60 percent of the water entering Lake Okeechobee. Rodger's command spent the next 18 days exploring the river, nearby lakes and tributaries, and Army posts in the area.
Lt. Rodgers reported, "The Kissimmee is a deep, rapid stream, and generally running through a marshy plain, but sometimes the pine land approaches its borders, and sometimes beautiful live oak hammocks fringe its banks."
"The Kissimmee is, I think, the natural drain of the immense plains what form this part of the country; but though deep and rapid, it is quite narrow. It is something strange that very often the surface of the river is covered by floating grass and weeds so strongly matted together that the men stood upon the mass and hauled our boats over it, as with our shoals."
Rodgers observed "Indians once lived here in great numbers" prior to the Second Seminole War. In a futile attempt to capture the chieftain Sam Jones, the sailors and Marines surrounded the village of "I-to-kee-tah" (Deer-Driving Place) for a dawn attack. They entered a town long deserted by its inhabitants.
The Long Journey Back to Indian Key
Rodgers was perhaps the first explorer to identify the "River of Grass" (Pay-hai-o-ke) extending from the southern shore of Lake Okeechobee to Florida Bay. In his "Official Report," he accurately concludes, "The Kissimmee runs into the Okeechobee, which fills its spongy sides into the Everglades, whose waters finally by many streams empty into the ocean."
The expedition entered the deserted stockade of Fort Gardner near Lake Kissimmee on March 19. The next day they began the long journey down the Kissimmee River and retraced their nautical route along the west shore of Lake Okeechobee. They rested for three days, March 28-30, at Fort Center in Glades County. Rodgers left 12 weary Marines and eight sailors to help garrison the post.
The remaining sailors and Marines in Rodgers' command returned to the ruins of "Fort Dulray" on April 1, and the next day re-entered the Everglades. They emerged from swamps eight days later and drifted down the New River to Fort Lauderdale.
In his "Official Report, Rodgers wrote, "We returned to Key Biscayne, having been living in our canoes for 58 days, with less rest, fewer luxuries, and harder work than fall to the lot of that estimable class of citizens who dig our canals. At Key Biscayne, the various detachments were disbanded, and returned to their several commands."
Rodgers returned to Indian Key and filed his report on April 12. He would lead one final expedition against the Seminoles a few days before the end of the war. On June 4, 1842, an official notice arrived by ship at Indian Key. The President of the United States proclaimed the "Florida War" at an end.
About 300 Seminole and Miccosukee Indians remained in the Everglades, including the elusive Sam Jones. They did not surrender. Lt. Rodgers, a Virginia native, served the Union as the captain of three new ironclad warships during the Civil War. He later retired with the rank of rear admiral.
(c.) 2016.
*NOTE: View related articles entitled "Cha-chi's Village Rests Beneath West Palm Beach" and "Uncovering the History of the Santaluces Indians" archived in Older Posts.
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Monday, March 28, 2016
Inside the Eye of Hurricane Cleo: August 1964
By Bob Davidsson
Palm Beach County has weathered many destructive hurricanes in its history, but to "Baby Boomers" raised in the Palm Beaches during the 1960's, there is one tropical storm that left a lasting memory to all experiencing its fury - Hurricane Cleo.
In August 1964, students basked in the final days of summer vacation before the beginning of a new school year. Their transistor radios were turned to WIRK or WQAM to hear the harsh bluesy melody in "House of the Rising Sun," the number one song in the country, or "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, a new upbeat tune shooting up the music charts on a bullet.
With an exception of a few weather geeks, no one was concerned about a tropical depression forming off the Windward Islands. After all, Tony Glenn, the Atlantic Oil Company weather man on Channel 5, said the storm was more than 1,000 miles away.
Many of the kids catching the last rays of summer sun on Lake Worth beach weren't even born when Hurricane King struck the Florida coast in 1950. Even the post-World War II "boomers" born before the arrival of the previous tropical storm were too young to remember it.
It was an election year. While LBJ and Barry Goldwater argued about using "the bomb" to fight Communism in their 1964 presidential campaigns, local boomer kids went to the movies where they learned how to stop worrying about nuclear war by instead laughing at the witty satire in "Doctor Strangelove," showing at the Lake and Carefree theaters
By Aug. 20, Hurricane Cleo formed and rapidly intensified. Two days later it crossed the island of Guadalupe as a Category 3 storm packing 115 mph winds. As Cleo passed the southern coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the storm reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 155 mph.
Floridians began to take notice, and the staff of the "U.S. Weather Bureau" office in Miami was concerned. Yet, life continued in the Palm Beaches in its usual lazy off-season summer pace. Before the storm reached Florida, it would first have to cross the mountains of Cuba. Few storms survived that obstacle. Right?
Hurricane Cleo slammed the southwestern peninsula of Haiti on Aug. 24, then weakened to a Category 1 storm as it crossed southern Cuba. For the first, but not the last time, Cleo demonstrated her ability to regain strength after encountering land masses.
Hurricane Cleo Targets Florida
The storm entered the Florida Straits on Aug. 27 and immediately began to intensify. Hurricane preparations began in earnest in the Palm Beaches, as meteorologists predicted Cleo's future track and possible landfall in South Florida. The storm mystified most experts, taking an unusual route along the entire eastern coast of Florida from Miami to just south of Jacksonville.
Cleo made landfall in Miami, and for nearly two days created a 20 to 35-mile wide path of destruction along the coastline before returning to sea north of St. Augustine. The storm intensified with sustained winds of 100 to 110 mph, with gusts of up to 135 mph, as it entered Dade County, then slowly weakened as it marched north.
Many streets in Miami Beach were flooded by a combination of rain, high tides and storm surge. From Miami to Melbourne in Brevard County the frantic reports were the same - broken glass, interior building and street flooding, uprooted trees, beach erosion, overturned aircraft and boats, power failures, damaged traffic signals and agricultural loss.
As Cleo entered Broward County, the popular "Storyland" children's theme park in Pompano Beach was destroyed and never reopened. For the first time in its history, the Fort Lauderdale News missed a publication date due to a loss of power to run its presses.
As it approached Boca Raton, students at the new Florida Atlantic University (FAU) stayed home as the storm delayed the "Grand Opening" of the college for six days. The ceremony could not be held until power was restored and debris was cleared from the campus.
Storm surge reached four to six feet above high tide along the east coast and its estuaries. Bryant Park in Lake Worth flooded, with the surge reaching as far west as Lakeside Drive. Sections of Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach also were impassible. Total rainfall in Stuart reached 9.37 inches in a 24-hour period.
The eye of Hurricane Cleo followed State Road 7 (U.S. 441) through suburban Palm Beach County. The most powerful winds were east of the eye wall. Both the Lake Worth and Palm Beach piers were badly damaged by the storm. The Lake Worth pier was rebuilt, but the pier at the end of Worth Avenue never fully recovered.
A tunnel leading from the Lake Worth Casino building, passing under the parking area and access road to the beach just north of the pier, was clogged with sand and debris. It was closed to public use after Cleo due to safety risks.
Another landmark destroyed by Cleo was a mile-long one-way road fronting the beach east of A1A. The coastal road began at Lantana Beach and circled back to the highway in Manalapan. The only section remaining today is between the public beach and the Eau Palm Beach resort.
At the height of the storm, the parking brakes of a Bluebird school bus at the Lake Worth Christian School failed. Neighbors peaking from behind their storm shutters were amazed to witness the force of the wind blowing a bus more than 100 feet across a parking lot.
Two blocks to the east, the concession hut at Lake Worth's Sunset Ridge Park disintegrated under the pressure of the wind gusts. Wooden debris and supplies from the shed scattered across the park's baseball field.
Two dozen fires were reported as Hurricane Cleo headed due north up the coastline. More than 1,200 office buildings and houses were heavily damaged or destroyed. The storm cut electrical power to 620,000 homes and businesses in southeast Florida.
Cleo returned to sea on Aug. 28, but the next day made her second U.S. landfall at Savannah, Ga., as a tropical storm. Widespread flooding was caused by heavy rainfall and coastal storm surge in the Carolinas until the storm reentered the Atlantic on Sept. 1.
Once free of the mainland, Cleo regained her hurricane strength Sept. 2 and threatened shipping and fishing boats along the east coast. The storm refused to die until it reached the hurricane graveyard east of Newfoundland, Canada.
Hurricane Cleo's Toll and Aftermath
Hurricane Cleo claimed the lives of 156 people, mainly in Haiti and the Caribbean islands. A total of 13 Floridians were killed.
Property damages from Hurricane Cleo totaled $200 million in the U.S. alone. In 1964, coinage was still made of silver, and the dollar was backed by a gold standard. Using today's inflated currency as a measure, damages are estimated at $2 billion. Palm Beach County sustained about $50 million in property loss and rebuilding costs.
With a population of less than 300,000 in 1964, most county residents were spared the long lines for food, water and gasoline experienced as an aftermath of the three sister hurricanes of 2004-05 - Frances, Jeanne and Wilma. However, cleanup efforts after Cleo continued for weeks.
President Lyndon B. Johnson declared southeast Florida a federal disaster area on Sept. 10. The 1964 citrus harvest along the Treasure Coast was nearly a total loss. Farmers and businesses needed help with their recovery. FEMA did not exist in the 1960's, but Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and U.S. Department of Agriculture assistance were available.
Appalled by the scale of destruction along its eastern seaboard, some politicians began finger pointing and looking for scapegoats. Florida Sen. George Smathers demanded an investigation of the U.S. Weather Bureau for negligence in its forecasting and early warning to the news media.
In a letter to Florida newspapers, he wrote, "It has been brought to my attention by many persons and news organizations that there was a lack of information and even some misinformation as to the course and velocity of the winds..."
Florida news agencies and broadcasting stations came to the defense of Weather Bureau staff before and during the hurricane. No further action was taken by the Senate.
Due to the historic magnitude of the hurricane, the name "Cleo" was retired by the National Weather Service from the NOAA list of future storms in 1968, and replaced in the rotation by the given name "Candy".
The 1964 hurricane season had one final unpleasant surprise for Palm Beach County. On the night of Oct. 14, Hurricane Isbell crossed the Everglades from the Gulf of Mexico and struck the Palm Beaches from the west.
The hurricane spawned several tornadoes. One of its twisters hit the coastal community of Briny Breezes, damaging or destroying 22 mobile homes. One man was killed before the storm entered the Atlantic.
NOTE: The author was a 10-year-old eyewitness of Hurricanes Cleo and Isbell in 1964. See additional articles below and archived in Older Posts.
(c.) 2016
Palm Beach County has weathered many destructive hurricanes in its history, but to "Baby Boomers" raised in the Palm Beaches during the 1960's, there is one tropical storm that left a lasting memory to all experiencing its fury - Hurricane Cleo.
In August 1964, students basked in the final days of summer vacation before the beginning of a new school year. Their transistor radios were turned to WIRK or WQAM to hear the harsh bluesy melody in "House of the Rising Sun," the number one song in the country, or "Oh, Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison, a new upbeat tune shooting up the music charts on a bullet.
With an exception of a few weather geeks, no one was concerned about a tropical depression forming off the Windward Islands. After all, Tony Glenn, the Atlantic Oil Company weather man on Channel 5, said the storm was more than 1,000 miles away.
Many of the kids catching the last rays of summer sun on Lake Worth beach weren't even born when Hurricane King struck the Florida coast in 1950. Even the post-World War II "boomers" born before the arrival of the previous tropical storm were too young to remember it.
It was an election year. While LBJ and Barry Goldwater argued about using "the bomb" to fight Communism in their 1964 presidential campaigns, local boomer kids went to the movies where they learned how to stop worrying about nuclear war by instead laughing at the witty satire in "Doctor Strangelove," showing at the Lake and Carefree theaters
By Aug. 20, Hurricane Cleo formed and rapidly intensified. Two days later it crossed the island of Guadalupe as a Category 3 storm packing 115 mph winds. As Cleo passed the southern coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti, the storm reached its peak intensity as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 155 mph.
Floridians began to take notice, and the staff of the "U.S. Weather Bureau" office in Miami was concerned. Yet, life continued in the Palm Beaches in its usual lazy off-season summer pace. Before the storm reached Florida, it would first have to cross the mountains of Cuba. Few storms survived that obstacle. Right?
Hurricane Cleo slammed the southwestern peninsula of Haiti on Aug. 24, then weakened to a Category 1 storm as it crossed southern Cuba. For the first, but not the last time, Cleo demonstrated her ability to regain strength after encountering land masses.
Hurricane Cleo Targets Florida
The storm entered the Florida Straits on Aug. 27 and immediately began to intensify. Hurricane preparations began in earnest in the Palm Beaches, as meteorologists predicted Cleo's future track and possible landfall in South Florida. The storm mystified most experts, taking an unusual route along the entire eastern coast of Florida from Miami to just south of Jacksonville.
Cleo made landfall in Miami, and for nearly two days created a 20 to 35-mile wide path of destruction along the coastline before returning to sea north of St. Augustine. The storm intensified with sustained winds of 100 to 110 mph, with gusts of up to 135 mph, as it entered Dade County, then slowly weakened as it marched north.
Many streets in Miami Beach were flooded by a combination of rain, high tides and storm surge. From Miami to Melbourne in Brevard County the frantic reports were the same - broken glass, interior building and street flooding, uprooted trees, beach erosion, overturned aircraft and boats, power failures, damaged traffic signals and agricultural loss.
As Cleo entered Broward County, the popular "Storyland" children's theme park in Pompano Beach was destroyed and never reopened. For the first time in its history, the Fort Lauderdale News missed a publication date due to a loss of power to run its presses.
As it approached Boca Raton, students at the new Florida Atlantic University (FAU) stayed home as the storm delayed the "Grand Opening" of the college for six days. The ceremony could not be held until power was restored and debris was cleared from the campus.
Storm surge reached four to six feet above high tide along the east coast and its estuaries. Bryant Park in Lake Worth flooded, with the surge reaching as far west as Lakeside Drive. Sections of Flagler Drive in West Palm Beach also were impassible. Total rainfall in Stuart reached 9.37 inches in a 24-hour period.
The eye of Hurricane Cleo followed State Road 7 (U.S. 441) through suburban Palm Beach County. The most powerful winds were east of the eye wall. Both the Lake Worth and Palm Beach piers were badly damaged by the storm. The Lake Worth pier was rebuilt, but the pier at the end of Worth Avenue never fully recovered.
A tunnel leading from the Lake Worth Casino building, passing under the parking area and access road to the beach just north of the pier, was clogged with sand and debris. It was closed to public use after Cleo due to safety risks.
Another landmark destroyed by Cleo was a mile-long one-way road fronting the beach east of A1A. The coastal road began at Lantana Beach and circled back to the highway in Manalapan. The only section remaining today is between the public beach and the Eau Palm Beach resort.
At the height of the storm, the parking brakes of a Bluebird school bus at the Lake Worth Christian School failed. Neighbors peaking from behind their storm shutters were amazed to witness the force of the wind blowing a bus more than 100 feet across a parking lot.
Two blocks to the east, the concession hut at Lake Worth's Sunset Ridge Park disintegrated under the pressure of the wind gusts. Wooden debris and supplies from the shed scattered across the park's baseball field.
Two dozen fires were reported as Hurricane Cleo headed due north up the coastline. More than 1,200 office buildings and houses were heavily damaged or destroyed. The storm cut electrical power to 620,000 homes and businesses in southeast Florida.
Cleo returned to sea on Aug. 28, but the next day made her second U.S. landfall at Savannah, Ga., as a tropical storm. Widespread flooding was caused by heavy rainfall and coastal storm surge in the Carolinas until the storm reentered the Atlantic on Sept. 1.
Once free of the mainland, Cleo regained her hurricane strength Sept. 2 and threatened shipping and fishing boats along the east coast. The storm refused to die until it reached the hurricane graveyard east of Newfoundland, Canada.
Hurricane Cleo's Toll and Aftermath
Hurricane Cleo claimed the lives of 156 people, mainly in Haiti and the Caribbean islands. A total of 13 Floridians were killed.
Property damages from Hurricane Cleo totaled $200 million in the U.S. alone. In 1964, coinage was still made of silver, and the dollar was backed by a gold standard. Using today's inflated currency as a measure, damages are estimated at $2 billion. Palm Beach County sustained about $50 million in property loss and rebuilding costs.
With a population of less than 300,000 in 1964, most county residents were spared the long lines for food, water and gasoline experienced as an aftermath of the three sister hurricanes of 2004-05 - Frances, Jeanne and Wilma. However, cleanup efforts after Cleo continued for weeks.
President Lyndon B. Johnson declared southeast Florida a federal disaster area on Sept. 10. The 1964 citrus harvest along the Treasure Coast was nearly a total loss. Farmers and businesses needed help with their recovery. FEMA did not exist in the 1960's, but Small Business Administration (SBA) loans and U.S. Department of Agriculture assistance were available.
Appalled by the scale of destruction along its eastern seaboard, some politicians began finger pointing and looking for scapegoats. Florida Sen. George Smathers demanded an investigation of the U.S. Weather Bureau for negligence in its forecasting and early warning to the news media.
In a letter to Florida newspapers, he wrote, "It has been brought to my attention by many persons and news organizations that there was a lack of information and even some misinformation as to the course and velocity of the winds..."
Florida news agencies and broadcasting stations came to the defense of Weather Bureau staff before and during the hurricane. No further action was taken by the Senate.
Due to the historic magnitude of the hurricane, the name "Cleo" was retired by the National Weather Service from the NOAA list of future storms in 1968, and replaced in the rotation by the given name "Candy".
The 1964 hurricane season had one final unpleasant surprise for Palm Beach County. On the night of Oct. 14, Hurricane Isbell crossed the Everglades from the Gulf of Mexico and struck the Palm Beaches from the west.
The hurricane spawned several tornadoes. One of its twisters hit the coastal community of Briny Breezes, damaging or destroying 22 mobile homes. One man was killed before the storm entered the Atlantic.
NOTE: The author was a 10-year-old eyewitness of Hurricanes Cleo and Isbell in 1964. See additional articles below and archived in Older Posts.
(c.) 2016
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Welcome to Historic Downtown 'Figulus': 1881 - 1893
By Bob Davidsson
Buried beneath 21st century condominiums and planned unit developments in the Palm Beaches are villages of yesteryear with rich histories mainly lost in time. One of the most interesting is the community of "Figulus".
Figulus was the dream of two brothers from Cincinnati, George Wells Potter and his older sibling, Dr. Richard Potter. The Potter family was originally from Groton, MA, and moved to Ohio when George was still a youth. George was an artistic prodigy and at the early age of 18 became the chief cartoonist for the daily "Cincinnati Enquirer" newspaper.
In an era of coal-burning stoves and factories, George developed a severe case of asthma. Dr. Potter decided the only way to improve his brother's health was to move to a warm climate with clean air found in the sparsely populated frontier communities of Dade County in 1873. At the time of their arrival in Lemon City (Miami), Dade County extended north and included modern Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties.
In the 1870's, Lemon City was a rough-and-tumble pioneering community and home to more than its share of smugglers, scalawags, carpetbaggers, and men and women of uncertain virtue. Dr. Potter established a medical practice and made his living in Dade County while his brother recovered his health and studied surveying and engineering.
By the year 1881, the Potter brothers decided it was time for a change of venue to improve their fortunes. George visited the island of Palm Beach and purchased a family homestead encompassing 160 acres of land south of current Palm Beach Bath and Tennis Club. The homestead featured 2,000 feet of waterfront property along the ocean and Lake Worth, and included the wooded islands south of Southern Boulevard today known as the Audubon Islands preserve.
The brothers named their fledgling community "Figulus" - the Latin word for their surname - Potter. Lake Worth pioneer George D. Lainhart was hired to clear the property for the Potters and build two houses. The homestead was built on a high dune ridge offering views of both the ocean and the lake to the west.
The Figulus homestead is noted as the first oceanfront residence built on the island of Palm Beach. Most early island settlers favored homes along the bayside of Lake Worth. Figulus was landscaped with citrus trees, guavas and sapodillas, with vegetable and pineapple row crops.
Dr. Potter joined his brother in Figulus, and became the first medical doctor to establish a practice serving the scattered residents living along the shores of Lake Worth. Figulus was the second U.S. postal office to open on the island of Palm Beach Jan. 7, 1886, with Dr. Potter listed as the postmaster of record.
Figulus first appears on the 1886 O.W. Gray and Son map of Dade County, and is included in subsequent historic maps through the year 1893. These dates correspond with the operation of the Figulus Post Office. It is not recorded on the 1894 Dade County map produced by Rand-McNally, published after the Figulus property was sold.
During its short history, the Figulus Post Office was often used as the starting point or final destination for the "Barefoot Mailmen," who carried mail by foot between Palm Beach and Miami before the two communities were connected by railroad.
After the completion of the Figulus homestead, the two Potter brothers were joined on the island of Palm Beach by their mother, sister and foster brother from Cincinnati. They would later move to West Palm Beach where they resided with Dr. Potter.
In 1884, George Potter used his artistic skills to illustrate and co-author a book entitled "Camping and Cruising in Florida" with Dr. James Henshall. The book is a rare guide to life along Lake Worth and Dade County in the pre-Flagler era.
Lake Worth Communities at the Time of Figulus
While living at Figulus, George Potter purchased a schooner to visit the scattered communities along the 20-mile Lake Worth waterway. He also built a dock extending from bayside shore of Figulus to his small islands in the lake.
Prior to the extension of Henry Flagler's East Coast Railroad to West Palm Beach in February 1894, Lake Worth served as a primary transportation and trade network. The village of Juno was at the northern terminus of Lake Worth, with the waterway extending south to near the future site of Boynton Beach Hotel in 1894.
Sailing south from Juno, Potter's schooner would have passed early settler homes in the future town of West Palm Beach, and community centers such as the "Lake Worth Post Office" in Palm Beach, Figulus, the village of Jewell (Lake Worth) Post Office established in 1889, the Lantana Point Post Office (1892), the Hypoluxo Post Office (1886) and Manalapan Cottage, located on the east shore of the lake.
In 1889, the residents of northern Dade County, dissatisfied with traveling to a distant county seat on Biscayne Bay, demanded a voter referendum to establish a more centralized center of county government. North county residents won the election, and the county seat was temporarily moved from Lemon City-Miami to the village of Juno.
The same year, the narrow-gauge "Jupiter & Lake Worth (Celestial) Railroad" connected the Jupiter Inlet with Lake Worth with stops in the communities of Jupiter, Venus, Mars and the new county seat of Juno. Less than six years later, Henry Flagler's standard-gauge railroad would connect the Palm Beaches with the rest of the country, marking the end of pioneer era along Lake Worth.
A visit to the Palm Beaches by Flagler's wealthy Cleveland neighbor, Charles W. Bingham, also was the end of Potter's community of Figulus. With Flagler's blessing and encouragement, the Bingham family purchased the Figulus property in 1893.
George Potter earlier acquired land on the west shore of Lake Worth in 1891, and moved with his family to the future city of West Palm Beach. During the same year he sold Figulus to the Bingham's, Potter married Ella Dimick, and with George Lainhart's assistance built a new home just west of the current site of the Trump Plaza Towers.
George Potter's distinguished career continued after the sale of Figulus. He became the first county surveyor for Dade County in 1888, and in 1893 surveyed the original 48-block plat for what became downtown West Palm Beach for Henry Flagler.
Lainhart and Potter Lumber Company was formed as the city's first business. Potter also served on the first Board of Aldermen following the city's incorporation, and became mayor of West Palm Beach in 1910. He died in 1924 at age 73.
The Bingham Family: Figulus Mansion and Casa Apava
Charles W. and Mary Payne Bingham were a wealthy power couple in Cleveland, residing near their neighbor, Henry Flagler, in the exclusive Euclid section of the city. The Bingham and Payne families were active in oil refineries, manufacturing, Ohio politics and philantrophy. They also were major investors in the Standard Oil Company.
As was the case with George Potter, it was a family illness that motivated the Bingham's to relocate to the island of Palm Beach. The Figulus property was purchased by Charles and Mary Bingham for the purpose of building a winter retreat to improve the health of their ailing son, Oliver Perry Bingham, who died in 1900.
Construction began in 1893 on a rectangular-shaped "Shingle-Style" mansion with two projecting wings. Building supplies were literally shipped down Lake Worth to the site. As with the earlier Potter homestead, a high island ridge was the site chosen for the residence, providing views of both the Atlantic and Lake Worth.
According to the November 1894 "Tropical Sun" newspaper, Cleveland architect Forrest A. Coburn arrived in Palm Beach to consult with the design and construction of the Figulus mansion. Builder George Lainhart returned to Figulus as the construction contractor. Noted botanist Dr. David Fairchild was hired to landscape the property.
Mary Bingham died at Figulus in 1898. In 1919, Charles Bingham conveyed the Figulus (Bingham-Blossum) mansion, along with 17 acres of adjacent land to his daughter, Elizabeth Payne Bingham Blossum, as part of her share of the $70 million Bingham estate. The estate included the small islands in the Lake Worth Lagoon, known collectively as Bingham Island.
Daughter Frances Bingham Bolton was deeded a parcel south of Figulus along South Ocean Boulevard. With her husband, Chester Bolton, a Mediterranean-style mansion which they named "Casa Apava" was built at the site in 1919. Cleveland architect J. Abram Garfield, youngest son of President James Garfield, designed the mansion.
The Figulus mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 5, 1972. Unfortunately, the unique residence was badly damaged by fire and demolished a few years later. Today, Casa Apava remains a local landmark.
(c.) 2016
NOTE: See additional articles archived in Older Posts.
Buried beneath 21st century condominiums and planned unit developments in the Palm Beaches are villages of yesteryear with rich histories mainly lost in time. One of the most interesting is the community of "Figulus".
Figulus was the dream of two brothers from Cincinnati, George Wells Potter and his older sibling, Dr. Richard Potter. The Potter family was originally from Groton, MA, and moved to Ohio when George was still a youth. George was an artistic prodigy and at the early age of 18 became the chief cartoonist for the daily "Cincinnati Enquirer" newspaper.
In an era of coal-burning stoves and factories, George developed a severe case of asthma. Dr. Potter decided the only way to improve his brother's health was to move to a warm climate with clean air found in the sparsely populated frontier communities of Dade County in 1873. At the time of their arrival in Lemon City (Miami), Dade County extended north and included modern Broward, Palm Beach and Martin counties.
In the 1870's, Lemon City was a rough-and-tumble pioneering community and home to more than its share of smugglers, scalawags, carpetbaggers, and men and women of uncertain virtue. Dr. Potter established a medical practice and made his living in Dade County while his brother recovered his health and studied surveying and engineering.
By the year 1881, the Potter brothers decided it was time for a change of venue to improve their fortunes. George visited the island of Palm Beach and purchased a family homestead encompassing 160 acres of land south of current Palm Beach Bath and Tennis Club. The homestead featured 2,000 feet of waterfront property along the ocean and Lake Worth, and included the wooded islands south of Southern Boulevard today known as the Audubon Islands preserve.
The brothers named their fledgling community "Figulus" - the Latin word for their surname - Potter. Lake Worth pioneer George D. Lainhart was hired to clear the property for the Potters and build two houses. The homestead was built on a high dune ridge offering views of both the ocean and the lake to the west.
The Figulus homestead is noted as the first oceanfront residence built on the island of Palm Beach. Most early island settlers favored homes along the bayside of Lake Worth. Figulus was landscaped with citrus trees, guavas and sapodillas, with vegetable and pineapple row crops.
Dr. Potter joined his brother in Figulus, and became the first medical doctor to establish a practice serving the scattered residents living along the shores of Lake Worth. Figulus was the second U.S. postal office to open on the island of Palm Beach Jan. 7, 1886, with Dr. Potter listed as the postmaster of record.
Figulus first appears on the 1886 O.W. Gray and Son map of Dade County, and is included in subsequent historic maps through the year 1893. These dates correspond with the operation of the Figulus Post Office. It is not recorded on the 1894 Dade County map produced by Rand-McNally, published after the Figulus property was sold.
During its short history, the Figulus Post Office was often used as the starting point or final destination for the "Barefoot Mailmen," who carried mail by foot between Palm Beach and Miami before the two communities were connected by railroad.
After the completion of the Figulus homestead, the two Potter brothers were joined on the island of Palm Beach by their mother, sister and foster brother from Cincinnati. They would later move to West Palm Beach where they resided with Dr. Potter.
In 1884, George Potter used his artistic skills to illustrate and co-author a book entitled "Camping and Cruising in Florida" with Dr. James Henshall. The book is a rare guide to life along Lake Worth and Dade County in the pre-Flagler era.
Lake Worth Communities at the Time of Figulus
While living at Figulus, George Potter purchased a schooner to visit the scattered communities along the 20-mile Lake Worth waterway. He also built a dock extending from bayside shore of Figulus to his small islands in the lake.
Prior to the extension of Henry Flagler's East Coast Railroad to West Palm Beach in February 1894, Lake Worth served as a primary transportation and trade network. The village of Juno was at the northern terminus of Lake Worth, with the waterway extending south to near the future site of Boynton Beach Hotel in 1894.
Sailing south from Juno, Potter's schooner would have passed early settler homes in the future town of West Palm Beach, and community centers such as the "Lake Worth Post Office" in Palm Beach, Figulus, the village of Jewell (Lake Worth) Post Office established in 1889, the Lantana Point Post Office (1892), the Hypoluxo Post Office (1886) and Manalapan Cottage, located on the east shore of the lake.
In 1889, the residents of northern Dade County, dissatisfied with traveling to a distant county seat on Biscayne Bay, demanded a voter referendum to establish a more centralized center of county government. North county residents won the election, and the county seat was temporarily moved from Lemon City-Miami to the village of Juno.
The same year, the narrow-gauge "Jupiter & Lake Worth (Celestial) Railroad" connected the Jupiter Inlet with Lake Worth with stops in the communities of Jupiter, Venus, Mars and the new county seat of Juno. Less than six years later, Henry Flagler's standard-gauge railroad would connect the Palm Beaches with the rest of the country, marking the end of pioneer era along Lake Worth.
A visit to the Palm Beaches by Flagler's wealthy Cleveland neighbor, Charles W. Bingham, also was the end of Potter's community of Figulus. With Flagler's blessing and encouragement, the Bingham family purchased the Figulus property in 1893.
George Potter earlier acquired land on the west shore of Lake Worth in 1891, and moved with his family to the future city of West Palm Beach. During the same year he sold Figulus to the Bingham's, Potter married Ella Dimick, and with George Lainhart's assistance built a new home just west of the current site of the Trump Plaza Towers.
George Potter's distinguished career continued after the sale of Figulus. He became the first county surveyor for Dade County in 1888, and in 1893 surveyed the original 48-block plat for what became downtown West Palm Beach for Henry Flagler.
Lainhart and Potter Lumber Company was formed as the city's first business. Potter also served on the first Board of Aldermen following the city's incorporation, and became mayor of West Palm Beach in 1910. He died in 1924 at age 73.
The Bingham Family: Figulus Mansion and Casa Apava
Charles W. and Mary Payne Bingham were a wealthy power couple in Cleveland, residing near their neighbor, Henry Flagler, in the exclusive Euclid section of the city. The Bingham and Payne families were active in oil refineries, manufacturing, Ohio politics and philantrophy. They also were major investors in the Standard Oil Company.
As was the case with George Potter, it was a family illness that motivated the Bingham's to relocate to the island of Palm Beach. The Figulus property was purchased by Charles and Mary Bingham for the purpose of building a winter retreat to improve the health of their ailing son, Oliver Perry Bingham, who died in 1900.
Construction began in 1893 on a rectangular-shaped "Shingle-Style" mansion with two projecting wings. Building supplies were literally shipped down Lake Worth to the site. As with the earlier Potter homestead, a high island ridge was the site chosen for the residence, providing views of both the Atlantic and Lake Worth.
According to the November 1894 "Tropical Sun" newspaper, Cleveland architect Forrest A. Coburn arrived in Palm Beach to consult with the design and construction of the Figulus mansion. Builder George Lainhart returned to Figulus as the construction contractor. Noted botanist Dr. David Fairchild was hired to landscape the property.
Mary Bingham died at Figulus in 1898. In 1919, Charles Bingham conveyed the Figulus (Bingham-Blossum) mansion, along with 17 acres of adjacent land to his daughter, Elizabeth Payne Bingham Blossum, as part of her share of the $70 million Bingham estate. The estate included the small islands in the Lake Worth Lagoon, known collectively as Bingham Island.
Daughter Frances Bingham Bolton was deeded a parcel south of Figulus along South Ocean Boulevard. With her husband, Chester Bolton, a Mediterranean-style mansion which they named "Casa Apava" was built at the site in 1919. Cleveland architect J. Abram Garfield, youngest son of President James Garfield, designed the mansion.
The Figulus mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on Dec. 5, 1972. Unfortunately, the unique residence was badly damaged by fire and demolished a few years later. Today, Casa Apava remains a local landmark.
(c.) 2016
NOTE: See additional articles archived in Older Posts.
Monday, November 9, 2015
'Battle of the Atlantic' Comes to the Palm Beaches
By Bob Davidsson
U.S. Navy historians call it a "Second Pearl Harbor." To the German Kriegsmarine, it was the "Second Happy Time" for submariners. It was the Battle of the Atlantic along the U.S. East Coast, and between January and August 1942 the battle line was just offshore of Palm Beach County.
German Admiral Karl Donitz unleashed "Untermehmen Parkenschlag" (Operation Drumbeat) just five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The total number and tonnage of allied ships lost in this eight-month operation far surpassed the Japanese raid on the Seventh Fleet in Honolulu.
The first wave of Operation Drumbeat consisted of five Type IX long-range undersea boats, U-123, U-130, U-66, U-105 and U-125. Each submarine was commanded by a U-boat "Ace" with at least five allied shipping kills to his credit. In the first month of their patrol, the five U-boats sank 25 tankers and merchant ships along the East Coast without a loss.
The British "Y" intelligence service intercepted and decoded U-boat messages and warned both the Canadian and U.S. Navy commands of "a heavy concentration of U-boats off the North American Seaboard" in late December 1941. Admiral Ernest King, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Fleet, disregarded the Royal Navy report and ignored British requests for immediate coastal ship convoys and the blackout of cities along the East Coast.
With a similar spirit of naval inertia, Admiral Adolphus Andrews, the Eastern Sea Frontier commander responsible for the defense of Florida and the East Coast, did not organize the Navy's first coastal convoy until May 1942. About 5,000 merchant seamen, passengers and sailors would lose their lives due to this delay in defensive measures.
An "Official Blackout Order" was not issued for Palm Beach until April 11, 1942. It was "requested" by Gov. Spessard L. Holland and the Key West Naval Commander. The order was implemented locally by the Palm Beach Civilian Defense Council and its volunteer Civilian Defense wardens.
The state Blackout Order reads, "It is requested that you immediately take steps to have extinguished all street lights on the waterfront streets and highways at once, and those actually on the oceanfront, and not those on the west side..."
A second wave of U-boats set sail for the U.S. coastline on Jan. 6, 1942. The early success of Operation Drumbeat persuaded the Kriegsmarine command to launch "Operation Neuland (New Land)," a third wave of U-boats sent throughout the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico just seven days later.
Operation Neuland undersea boats U-156, U-67, U-502, U-161 and U-129, were joined by five long-range Italian submarines of the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) on patrol from the Florida Straits to the coast of South America during 1942.
A total of 121 ships, including 42 vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, were sunk by U-boats along the U.S. coastline in 1942, according to the U.S. Merchant Marine and War Shipping Administration. Of the 24 ships sunk in Florida waters during the first six months of 1942, eight were in the vicinity of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
Throughout its history, dating back to the time of the first voyage of Ponce de Leon, the Jupiter Inlet was used as a landmark by passing ships. During Operation Drumbeat, the Jupiter Lighthouse attracted U-boats like a magnet.
Most of the carnage along the Palm Beaches can be traced to three U-boat Aces, Commanders Hans-Georg Friedrich Poske in U-504, Reinhard Suhren in U-564 and Peter-Erich Cremer's U-333. They were part of the second wave of U-boats sent to the southeastern coast of the U.S. to disrupt shipping off the coast of Florida.
U-504 Begins Its 'Happy Time' Off Palm Beach
U-504 was a large Type IX-C submarine launched in April 1941. Commander Poske led the U-boat on four patrols between July 1941 and January 1943. He would sink 15 allied ships (78,123 tons of shipping) before being reassigned to shore duty.
While on patrol off the coast of Palm Beach County, Poske sighted the U.S. steam tanker "Republic" (5,287 tons) 3.5 miles northeast of Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and slammed two torpedoes into its port side. The tanker listed to starboard and settled by its stern on a reef five miles southeast of Hobe Sound.
Master Alfred Anderson and 21 survivors rowed a lifeboat to shore and were transported by truck to Palm Beach. A second lifeboat was picked up by a passing tanker and its merchant seamen were dropped off at Port Everglades.
The next day the U.S. tanker "W.D. Anderson," carrying 133,360 barrels of crude oil, was torpedoed 12 miles northeast of the Jupiter Light. Witnesses would later claim the resulting explosion could be heard as far south as Boca Raton. Only one of 35 crew members survived as the tanker burst into flames and sank.
Commander Poske briefly turned his U-boat away from the coast to elude pursuers. His next victim was the Dutch motor tanker "Mamura" which carried a cargo of refined gasoline. The tanker was torpedoed off the coast of the Palm Beaches on Feb. 26. The Dutch ship caught fire and broke into two. Master Rink Dobbinga and his entire crew of 48 died at sea.
After sinking three ships in four days off the southeast coast of Florida, U-504 slipped into the Caribbean where it would claim the merchant ships "Stangarth," "Allister," "Tela," "Rosenberg," "Crijnssen," "American" and "Regent". Mercifully, Commander Poske ran out of torpedoes before he could inflict further damages to allied shipping.
It would take the combined efforts of four British sloops to sink U-504 July 30, 1943 during a running fight off the coast of Spain.
U-564: The Slaughter at Sea Continues
Commander Suhren led U-564, a smaller Type VII-C submarine launched on Feb. 7, 1941, on six patrols at sea, resulting in the sinking of 18 allied ships. Suhren was on his sixth and final patrol with U-564 when he entered the coastal waters of Palm Beach County.
His first victim was the British steam merchant ship "Ocean Venus," torpedoed and sunk 12 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral on May 3. Master John Park and 42 crew members were able to row to shore and the safety of the cape.
The next day, the British steam tanker "Eclipse" was torpedoed near Fort Lauderdale. The tanker settled to the bottom in shallow water. The ship was later salvaged and towed into Port Everglades for repairs. Two members of its crew died in the attack by U-564.
The third target was the American merchant steam ship "Delisle" (3,478 tons), hit by one torpedo 15 miles offshore of the Jupiter Inlet on May 5. The explosion opened a 20-by-30 foot hole by the engine room.
The crew abandoned ship and rowed to shore near Stuart. When they found their ship still floating the next day, the crew boarded the "Delisle" and assisted a Navy tug sent to tow the stricken vessel to Miami. The "Delisle's" reprieve was short-lived. She struck a mine planted by U-220 and sank Oct. 19, 1943 near St. Johns, Canada.
The American steam merchant ship "Ohioan" (6,078 tons) was hit by one torpedo May 8 while steering an evasive course 10 miles off the coast of Boynton Beach. The ship rolled over and sank in three minutes, killing 15 of 27 crew members.
The suction from the sinking ship caused most of the deaths. The survivors were rescued from their six rafts by the U.S. Coast Guard and transported to West Palm Beach for medical care.
The next day, the Panamanian motor tanker "Lubrafal," carrying a cargo of 67,000 barrels of heating oil, was torpedoed 3.5 miles east of the Hillsboro Inlet. The crew abandoned ship in three lifeboats.
One lifeboat caught fire and sank, causing 13 deaths. The two surviving boats were towed free of the stricken ship and came ashore at Boynton Beach. The "Lubrafal" drifted north for two days and sank May 11 in shallow water.
U-564 ended its patrol by sinking the Mexican steam tanker "Potrero del Llano" May 14 off the coast of Cape Florida. The attack on a neutral vessel was used as justification for the Republic of Mexico's declaration of war on Germany June 1, 1942.
The U-boat ended its successful sixth patrol and returned to the submarine pens in France. She was bombed by British aircraft June 14, 1943 while on its ninth patrol in the Bay of Biscay.
U-333: A Triple Threat on the Treasure Coast
Like its sister ship, U-333 was a fast Type VII-C submarine launched by the Kriegsmarine on June 14, 1941. Commander Cremer would sink six allied ships as the skipper of U-333 between August 1941 and October 1942. His second patrol in U-333 lasted 58 days and included an unwanted visit to the Palm Beaches.
Three allied ships fell victim to U-boat on May 6, 1942. The American tanker "Halsey" (7,188 tons), carrying 40,000 barrels of heating oil and a cargo of unstable naphtha, was spotted by U-333 off Jupiter Inlet, hit by two torpedoes and sank just south of St. Lucie Inlet. Exploding naphtha ripped a 60-foot hole in the port side and the ship split in two.
Surviving crew refused rescue from U-333, when Commander Cremer surfaced his submarine. Fishing boats took the lifeboats in tow and brought them to the Gilberts Bar Coast Guard Rescue Station.
U-333 followed the currents north to Fort Pierce, where the Dutch steam merchant ship "Amazone" was torpedoed 16 miles southeast of the inlet. The submarine's two 67-e torpedoes sank the ship in two minutes with the loss of 14 of 20 crew members.
The third vessel to cross the path of U-333 on May 6 was the American tanker "Jane Arrow" east of Vero Beach. The ship was torpedoed and abandoned by its crew. The Coast Guard boarded the vessel and decided it could be salvaged. Master Sigvard Hennichen and 14 merchantmen returned to their vessel and worked as a repair party as two tugs slowly pulled the tanker to Port Everglades.
On its next patrol, U-333 was badly damaged in a battle with the corvette "HMS Crocus" on Oct. 6, 1942. Commander Cremer was injured in the struggle and hospitalized in France. All three U-boat Aces survived the war, but their submarines were destroyed.
The 'End of the Beginning' at Sea
Operation Neuland also was the high point of effectiveness for the large Calvi-class Italian Regia Marina submarines that harassed allied shipping from the Florida Straits south to the coast of Brazil in 1942. While U-504, U-564 and U-333 attacked shipping along the southeast coast of Florida, the "Enrico Tazzoli (TZ)," commanded by Count Carlo Fecia di Cassato, sank allied ships attempting to slip past their east flank in the Bahamas Islands.
In February 1942, the "Tazzoli" sailed from Bordeaux, France, with the planned destination of Florida. Count Cossato used the numerous channels and harbors in the Bahamas as a hideout during his 58-day eighth patrol. The submarine sank the "Montevideo," "Cygnet," the British tanker "Daytonian" and the tanker "Athelqueen" in succession between Feb. 8 and March 15 in Bahamian waters.
The "Tazzoli" was damaged by wreckage from the "Athelqueen" and forced to return to its base in France for repairs. Before Italy's surrender in 1943, Count Cossato would be credited with sinking 18 allied vessels. The "Tazzoli" was sunk in the Bay of Biscay May 23, 1943 while en route to Japan on a courier mission.
One final disaster is associated with the U-boat campaign off Palm Beach County. On Oct. 21, 1943, the tankers "Gulfland" and "Gulf Belle" collided, burned and ran aground near Jupiter Inlet. Both vessels were running without lights to avoid attacks by U-boats when the prow of the "Gulf Belle" smashed into the "Gulfland" near the Lake Worth Inlet.
The "Gulf Belle" drifted north and grounded near Jupiter Inlet, but was salvaged and towed to port. The "Gulfland," carrying a cargo of aviation fuel, struck the sunken wreck "Republic" and burned for 52 days off Jupiter Island. A section of the wreck remains a popular dive site today.
The scheduling of regular coastal convoys, guarded by Navy ships, in the summer of 1942 marked the beginning of the end of the Kriegmarine's "Second Happy Time" along the Atlantic coastline. Blackouts were enforced along the coast. Coast watchers and Civil Air Patrol squadrons reported the surface movements of U-boats which were then attacked by air and sea.
After the war, several reports circulated of U-boat crew members landing along the 41-mile coastline of Palm Beach County in 1942-43. None are verified by the FBI or military documents.
Admiral Donitz canceled Operation Drumbeat in August 1942, with U-boat squadrons along the eastern seaboard pulled back to attack convoys in the North Atlantic. Individual U-boats continued to harass the East Coast but their success rate rapidly declined.
Only 22 ships were sunk in 1943 and a mere 11 kills were reported in 1944, according to U.S. Merchant Marine statistics. The final tally for Operations Drumbeat and Neuland were 609 ships destroyed (3.1 million tons), about one-third of all allied vessels lost in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Kriegsmarine lost 22 U-boats along America's eastern coastline.
(c.) 2015.
*NOTE: Additional full-text articles are found below and under "Older Posts".
U.S. Navy historians call it a "Second Pearl Harbor." To the German Kriegsmarine, it was the "Second Happy Time" for submariners. It was the Battle of the Atlantic along the U.S. East Coast, and between January and August 1942 the battle line was just offshore of Palm Beach County.
German Admiral Karl Donitz unleashed "Untermehmen Parkenschlag" (Operation Drumbeat) just five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The total number and tonnage of allied ships lost in this eight-month operation far surpassed the Japanese raid on the Seventh Fleet in Honolulu.
The first wave of Operation Drumbeat consisted of five Type IX long-range undersea boats, U-123, U-130, U-66, U-105 and U-125. Each submarine was commanded by a U-boat "Ace" with at least five allied shipping kills to his credit. In the first month of their patrol, the five U-boats sank 25 tankers and merchant ships along the East Coast without a loss.
The British "Y" intelligence service intercepted and decoded U-boat messages and warned both the Canadian and U.S. Navy commands of "a heavy concentration of U-boats off the North American Seaboard" in late December 1941. Admiral Ernest King, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Fleet, disregarded the Royal Navy report and ignored British requests for immediate coastal ship convoys and the blackout of cities along the East Coast.
With a similar spirit of naval inertia, Admiral Adolphus Andrews, the Eastern Sea Frontier commander responsible for the defense of Florida and the East Coast, did not organize the Navy's first coastal convoy until May 1942. About 5,000 merchant seamen, passengers and sailors would lose their lives due to this delay in defensive measures.
An "Official Blackout Order" was not issued for Palm Beach until April 11, 1942. It was "requested" by Gov. Spessard L. Holland and the Key West Naval Commander. The order was implemented locally by the Palm Beach Civilian Defense Council and its volunteer Civilian Defense wardens.
The state Blackout Order reads, "It is requested that you immediately take steps to have extinguished all street lights on the waterfront streets and highways at once, and those actually on the oceanfront, and not those on the west side..."
A second wave of U-boats set sail for the U.S. coastline on Jan. 6, 1942. The early success of Operation Drumbeat persuaded the Kriegsmarine command to launch "Operation Neuland (New Land)," a third wave of U-boats sent throughout the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico just seven days later.
Operation Neuland undersea boats U-156, U-67, U-502, U-161 and U-129, were joined by five long-range Italian submarines of the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) on patrol from the Florida Straits to the coast of South America during 1942.
A total of 121 ships, including 42 vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, were sunk by U-boats along the U.S. coastline in 1942, according to the U.S. Merchant Marine and War Shipping Administration. Of the 24 ships sunk in Florida waters during the first six months of 1942, eight were in the vicinity of Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
Throughout its history, dating back to the time of the first voyage of Ponce de Leon, the Jupiter Inlet was used as a landmark by passing ships. During Operation Drumbeat, the Jupiter Lighthouse attracted U-boats like a magnet.
Most of the carnage along the Palm Beaches can be traced to three U-boat Aces, Commanders Hans-Georg Friedrich Poske in U-504, Reinhard Suhren in U-564 and Peter-Erich Cremer's U-333. They were part of the second wave of U-boats sent to the southeastern coast of the U.S. to disrupt shipping off the coast of Florida.
U-504 Begins Its 'Happy Time' Off Palm Beach
U-504 was a large Type IX-C submarine launched in April 1941. Commander Poske led the U-boat on four patrols between July 1941 and January 1943. He would sink 15 allied ships (78,123 tons of shipping) before being reassigned to shore duty.
While on patrol off the coast of Palm Beach County, Poske sighted the U.S. steam tanker "Republic" (5,287 tons) 3.5 miles northeast of Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse and slammed two torpedoes into its port side. The tanker listed to starboard and settled by its stern on a reef five miles southeast of Hobe Sound.
Master Alfred Anderson and 21 survivors rowed a lifeboat to shore and were transported by truck to Palm Beach. A second lifeboat was picked up by a passing tanker and its merchant seamen were dropped off at Port Everglades.
The next day the U.S. tanker "W.D. Anderson," carrying 133,360 barrels of crude oil, was torpedoed 12 miles northeast of the Jupiter Light. Witnesses would later claim the resulting explosion could be heard as far south as Boca Raton. Only one of 35 crew members survived as the tanker burst into flames and sank.
Commander Poske briefly turned his U-boat away from the coast to elude pursuers. His next victim was the Dutch motor tanker "Mamura" which carried a cargo of refined gasoline. The tanker was torpedoed off the coast of the Palm Beaches on Feb. 26. The Dutch ship caught fire and broke into two. Master Rink Dobbinga and his entire crew of 48 died at sea.
After sinking three ships in four days off the southeast coast of Florida, U-504 slipped into the Caribbean where it would claim the merchant ships "Stangarth," "Allister," "Tela," "Rosenberg," "Crijnssen," "American" and "Regent". Mercifully, Commander Poske ran out of torpedoes before he could inflict further damages to allied shipping.
It would take the combined efforts of four British sloops to sink U-504 July 30, 1943 during a running fight off the coast of Spain.
U-564: The Slaughter at Sea Continues
Commander Suhren led U-564, a smaller Type VII-C submarine launched on Feb. 7, 1941, on six patrols at sea, resulting in the sinking of 18 allied ships. Suhren was on his sixth and final patrol with U-564 when he entered the coastal waters of Palm Beach County.
His first victim was the British steam merchant ship "Ocean Venus," torpedoed and sunk 12 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral on May 3. Master John Park and 42 crew members were able to row to shore and the safety of the cape.
The next day, the British steam tanker "Eclipse" was torpedoed near Fort Lauderdale. The tanker settled to the bottom in shallow water. The ship was later salvaged and towed into Port Everglades for repairs. Two members of its crew died in the attack by U-564.
The third target was the American merchant steam ship "Delisle" (3,478 tons), hit by one torpedo 15 miles offshore of the Jupiter Inlet on May 5. The explosion opened a 20-by-30 foot hole by the engine room.
The crew abandoned ship and rowed to shore near Stuart. When they found their ship still floating the next day, the crew boarded the "Delisle" and assisted a Navy tug sent to tow the stricken vessel to Miami. The "Delisle's" reprieve was short-lived. She struck a mine planted by U-220 and sank Oct. 19, 1943 near St. Johns, Canada.
The American steam merchant ship "Ohioan" (6,078 tons) was hit by one torpedo May 8 while steering an evasive course 10 miles off the coast of Boynton Beach. The ship rolled over and sank in three minutes, killing 15 of 27 crew members.
The suction from the sinking ship caused most of the deaths. The survivors were rescued from their six rafts by the U.S. Coast Guard and transported to West Palm Beach for medical care.
The next day, the Panamanian motor tanker "Lubrafal," carrying a cargo of 67,000 barrels of heating oil, was torpedoed 3.5 miles east of the Hillsboro Inlet. The crew abandoned ship in three lifeboats.
One lifeboat caught fire and sank, causing 13 deaths. The two surviving boats were towed free of the stricken ship and came ashore at Boynton Beach. The "Lubrafal" drifted north for two days and sank May 11 in shallow water.
U-564 ended its patrol by sinking the Mexican steam tanker "Potrero del Llano" May 14 off the coast of Cape Florida. The attack on a neutral vessel was used as justification for the Republic of Mexico's declaration of war on Germany June 1, 1942.
The U-boat ended its successful sixth patrol and returned to the submarine pens in France. She was bombed by British aircraft June 14, 1943 while on its ninth patrol in the Bay of Biscay.
U-333: A Triple Threat on the Treasure Coast
Like its sister ship, U-333 was a fast Type VII-C submarine launched by the Kriegsmarine on June 14, 1941. Commander Cremer would sink six allied ships as the skipper of U-333 between August 1941 and October 1942. His second patrol in U-333 lasted 58 days and included an unwanted visit to the Palm Beaches.
Three allied ships fell victim to U-boat on May 6, 1942. The American tanker "Halsey" (7,188 tons), carrying 40,000 barrels of heating oil and a cargo of unstable naphtha, was spotted by U-333 off Jupiter Inlet, hit by two torpedoes and sank just south of St. Lucie Inlet. Exploding naphtha ripped a 60-foot hole in the port side and the ship split in two.
Surviving crew refused rescue from U-333, when Commander Cremer surfaced his submarine. Fishing boats took the lifeboats in tow and brought them to the Gilberts Bar Coast Guard Rescue Station.
U-333 followed the currents north to Fort Pierce, where the Dutch steam merchant ship "Amazone" was torpedoed 16 miles southeast of the inlet. The submarine's two 67-e torpedoes sank the ship in two minutes with the loss of 14 of 20 crew members.
The third vessel to cross the path of U-333 on May 6 was the American tanker "Jane Arrow" east of Vero Beach. The ship was torpedoed and abandoned by its crew. The Coast Guard boarded the vessel and decided it could be salvaged. Master Sigvard Hennichen and 14 merchantmen returned to their vessel and worked as a repair party as two tugs slowly pulled the tanker to Port Everglades.
On its next patrol, U-333 was badly damaged in a battle with the corvette "HMS Crocus" on Oct. 6, 1942. Commander Cremer was injured in the struggle and hospitalized in France. All three U-boat Aces survived the war, but their submarines were destroyed.
The 'End of the Beginning' at Sea
Operation Neuland also was the high point of effectiveness for the large Calvi-class Italian Regia Marina submarines that harassed allied shipping from the Florida Straits south to the coast of Brazil in 1942. While U-504, U-564 and U-333 attacked shipping along the southeast coast of Florida, the "Enrico Tazzoli (TZ)," commanded by Count Carlo Fecia di Cassato, sank allied ships attempting to slip past their east flank in the Bahamas Islands.
In February 1942, the "Tazzoli" sailed from Bordeaux, France, with the planned destination of Florida. Count Cossato used the numerous channels and harbors in the Bahamas as a hideout during his 58-day eighth patrol. The submarine sank the "Montevideo," "Cygnet," the British tanker "Daytonian" and the tanker "Athelqueen" in succession between Feb. 8 and March 15 in Bahamian waters.
The "Tazzoli" was damaged by wreckage from the "Athelqueen" and forced to return to its base in France for repairs. Before Italy's surrender in 1943, Count Cossato would be credited with sinking 18 allied vessels. The "Tazzoli" was sunk in the Bay of Biscay May 23, 1943 while en route to Japan on a courier mission.
One final disaster is associated with the U-boat campaign off Palm Beach County. On Oct. 21, 1943, the tankers "Gulfland" and "Gulf Belle" collided, burned and ran aground near Jupiter Inlet. Both vessels were running without lights to avoid attacks by U-boats when the prow of the "Gulf Belle" smashed into the "Gulfland" near the Lake Worth Inlet.
The "Gulf Belle" drifted north and grounded near Jupiter Inlet, but was salvaged and towed to port. The "Gulfland," carrying a cargo of aviation fuel, struck the sunken wreck "Republic" and burned for 52 days off Jupiter Island. A section of the wreck remains a popular dive site today.
The scheduling of regular coastal convoys, guarded by Navy ships, in the summer of 1942 marked the beginning of the end of the Kriegmarine's "Second Happy Time" along the Atlantic coastline. Blackouts were enforced along the coast. Coast watchers and Civil Air Patrol squadrons reported the surface movements of U-boats which were then attacked by air and sea.
After the war, several reports circulated of U-boat crew members landing along the 41-mile coastline of Palm Beach County in 1942-43. None are verified by the FBI or military documents.
Admiral Donitz canceled Operation Drumbeat in August 1942, with U-boat squadrons along the eastern seaboard pulled back to attack convoys in the North Atlantic. Individual U-boats continued to harass the East Coast but their success rate rapidly declined.
Only 22 ships were sunk in 1943 and a mere 11 kills were reported in 1944, according to U.S. Merchant Marine statistics. The final tally for Operations Drumbeat and Neuland were 609 ships destroyed (3.1 million tons), about one-third of all allied vessels lost in the Battle of the Atlantic. The Kriegsmarine lost 22 U-boats along America's eastern coastline.
(c.) 2015.
*NOTE: Additional full-text articles are found below and under "Older Posts".
Friday, October 23, 2015
'Muck Monster' Legend Becomes Part of Our History
By Bob Davidsson
Although the Lake Worth Lagoon's mysterious "Muck Monster" has never been identified, the legend is worth its weight in gold to the local tourism industry in Palm Beach County.
The Muck Monster is everywhere. It has a Facebook page. Its video is on YouTube. You can find it on Twitter. It has a Wiki. There is even a Muck Monster impersonator in the Palm Beaches.
The popularity of the Muck Monster rivals the elusive "Everglades Skunk Ape" as the favorite Florida research topic of crypto-scientists worldwide.
It was marketed on Palm Beach County's official "Discover the Palm Beaches" promotional advertisements with a provocative and alluring slogan daring visitors "to conduct their own search" for the legendary monster. Viewing stations were actually set up for tourists along the Lake Worth Lagoon to search for the beast.
The sea monster has the unusual distinction of honorary citizenship in the City of West Palm Beach. This official action was taken by the City Commission in September 2009.
The "AmericanMonsters.com" website reported, "A mysterious serpentine creature was captured by shocked eyewitnesses on videotape as it slithered just beneath the surface in Florida's Lake Worth Lagoon. Once the (video) footage was released, it created one of most intense 'monster frenzies' in U.S. history."
Fact Check:
A team from Lagoon Keepers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cleaning and maintaining the quality of the Lake Worth Lagoon, responded to a report of a log floating in the waterway's channel. As Greg Reynolds and Dan Serrano approached Channel Marker 10 in August 2009, they observed unusual rippling and a wake created by a shadowy 10-foot long animal of unknown origin.
The event was recorded on a video camera which briefly revealed the tail fin of the creature. The video was uploaded onto the Internet, and in a matter of days, the Muck Monster went "viral" with more than four million views. A legend was born.
The Muck Monster became a reality TV star when the History Channel featured the creature in an episode of its "Monster Quest" series. The producers of the show hired a diving team to hunt for the monster. Their murky underwater video revealed nothing more than a few fish in the silt-filled waters of the Lake Worth Lagoon.
Crypto-scientists and wildlife officials interviewed for the "Monster Quest" episode suggested the monster could be a lost harbor seal from the northeast, or a Caribbean monk seal, also known as a "sea wolf". Another popular theory is the Muck Monster is actually a Florida manatee with a cut in its tail fin caused by a boat propeller.
Fact Check:
The last confirmed sighting of a Caribbean monk seal was 1952 off the coast of Jamaica. The species was declared extinct in 2008 by the National Marine Fisheries Service after an extensive five-year search. The most recent Florida sighting was 1922, when a seal was killed near Key West.
Caribbean monk seals obtained a length of eight feet with males weighing up to 600 pounds. Algae growth on the fur of the seals often gave them an eerie greenish appearance.
Monk seals were once found throughout the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Atlantic coast. They occasionally visited the coast of Florida to hunt for mollusks in lagoons and shallow reefs.
Today, the Muck Monster is part of a strange fraternity of aquatic creatures. "SeaMonsters.org: A Who's Who of Lake and Sea Monsters" features the Muck Monster video in its index, where it joins such aquatic celebrities as the "Loch Ness Monster" and "Champ," a monster lurking in New York's Lake Champlain.
Legendary movie director John Ford once said, "When the truth conflicts with the myth, film the legend." The legend of the Muck Monster lives, and Palm Beach County profits from it.
(c.) Revised 2015.
NOTE: See additional articles archived in Older Posts.
Although the Lake Worth Lagoon's mysterious "Muck Monster" has never been identified, the legend is worth its weight in gold to the local tourism industry in Palm Beach County.
The Muck Monster is everywhere. It has a Facebook page. Its video is on YouTube. You can find it on Twitter. It has a Wiki. There is even a Muck Monster impersonator in the Palm Beaches.
The popularity of the Muck Monster rivals the elusive "Everglades Skunk Ape" as the favorite Florida research topic of crypto-scientists worldwide.
It was marketed on Palm Beach County's official "Discover the Palm Beaches" promotional advertisements with a provocative and alluring slogan daring visitors "to conduct their own search" for the legendary monster. Viewing stations were actually set up for tourists along the Lake Worth Lagoon to search for the beast.
The sea monster has the unusual distinction of honorary citizenship in the City of West Palm Beach. This official action was taken by the City Commission in September 2009.
The "AmericanMonsters.com" website reported, "A mysterious serpentine creature was captured by shocked eyewitnesses on videotape as it slithered just beneath the surface in Florida's Lake Worth Lagoon. Once the (video) footage was released, it created one of most intense 'monster frenzies' in U.S. history."
Fact Check:
A team from Lagoon Keepers, a nonprofit organization dedicated to cleaning and maintaining the quality of the Lake Worth Lagoon, responded to a report of a log floating in the waterway's channel. As Greg Reynolds and Dan Serrano approached Channel Marker 10 in August 2009, they observed unusual rippling and a wake created by a shadowy 10-foot long animal of unknown origin.
The event was recorded on a video camera which briefly revealed the tail fin of the creature. The video was uploaded onto the Internet, and in a matter of days, the Muck Monster went "viral" with more than four million views. A legend was born.
The Muck Monster became a reality TV star when the History Channel featured the creature in an episode of its "Monster Quest" series. The producers of the show hired a diving team to hunt for the monster. Their murky underwater video revealed nothing more than a few fish in the silt-filled waters of the Lake Worth Lagoon.
Crypto-scientists and wildlife officials interviewed for the "Monster Quest" episode suggested the monster could be a lost harbor seal from the northeast, or a Caribbean monk seal, also known as a "sea wolf". Another popular theory is the Muck Monster is actually a Florida manatee with a cut in its tail fin caused by a boat propeller.
Fact Check:
The last confirmed sighting of a Caribbean monk seal was 1952 off the coast of Jamaica. The species was declared extinct in 2008 by the National Marine Fisheries Service after an extensive five-year search. The most recent Florida sighting was 1922, when a seal was killed near Key West.
Caribbean monk seals obtained a length of eight feet with males weighing up to 600 pounds. Algae growth on the fur of the seals often gave them an eerie greenish appearance.
Monk seals were once found throughout the Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and southeastern Atlantic coast. They occasionally visited the coast of Florida to hunt for mollusks in lagoons and shallow reefs.
Today, the Muck Monster is part of a strange fraternity of aquatic creatures. "SeaMonsters.org: A Who's Who of Lake and Sea Monsters" features the Muck Monster video in its index, where it joins such aquatic celebrities as the "Loch Ness Monster" and "Champ," a monster lurking in New York's Lake Champlain.
Legendary movie director John Ford once said, "When the truth conflicts with the myth, film the legend." The legend of the Muck Monster lives, and Palm Beach County profits from it.
(c.) Revised 2015.
NOTE: See additional articles archived in Older Posts.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
'USS Jupiter' Became America's First Aircraft Carrier
By Bob Davidsson
Four ships sharing the names of cities in Palm Beach County - the first USS Jupiter (Langley), USS Lake Worth, USS Palm Beach and a second USS Jupiter - were commissioned by the U.S. Navy and served the nation in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, as well as the Cold War.
Under Navy ship naming conventions established during the early 20th century, combat stores ships and auxiliary vessels, commissioned prior to the end of World War II, were named for U.S. cities. If a warship was sunk in combat or decommissioned, as in the case of the first USS Jupiter, the vessel's moniker was transferred to a replacement ship.
Two of the combat auxiliary vessels bearing local names were sunk by German Luftwaffe and Imperial Japanese Navy dive bombers during World War II, a third became an artificial reef, and the fourth received six battle stars in World War II and seven battle stars during the Korean conflict.
USS Jupiter (Langley)
The first USS Jupiter (AC-3) was a Navy collier during World War I. After decommissioning at the war's end, it was rebuilt and converted to become America's first aircraft carrier under a new name of USS Langley (CV-1).
The USS Jupiter was launched on Aug. 14, 1912. The Jupiter was the first electronically-propelled ship in the U.S. Navy. It also holds the distinction of being the first vessel to steam through the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean Sea soon after the opening the new waterway.
The USS Jupiter was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet Auxiliary Division during World War I. After the war, her conversion to an aircraft carrier was authorized by the Navy on July 11, 1919. The ship's name was changed to Langley, an aviation pioneer, in 1920 and recommissioned as "Carrier Vessel One (CV-1)" March 22, 1922 at the Norfolk, Va. Navy Yard.
As the first Navy vessel fitted with a flight deck, the USS Langley conducted experiments in the new area of military seaborne aviation during the 1920s. America's first successful carrier plane take offs and landings were conducted on the Langley.
In 1924 the USS Langley joined the Pacific Battle Fleet and for the next 12 years conducted flight training for aviators in California and Hawaii. With the launching of two new fleet carriers, USS Lexington and USS Saratoga, the Langley was overhauled a second time. It became a seaplane tender in 1937.
At the outbreak of World War II, the Langley was stationed in the Philippines. She became a scouting vessel and aircraft transport for the combined American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) fleet, assembled to defend the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) from Japanese invasion.
On the morning of Feb. 27, 1942, three waves of Japanese VAL dive bombers attacked the Langley and its two escorting destroyers near Tjilatjap Harbor. The seaplane tender avoided hits during the first two air strikes, but was rocked by five explosions sustained from the third wave of bombers.
The Langley went dead in the water but refused to sink. To avoid capture by the Japanese, the tender was dispatched and sent to the bottom of the Java Sea by two torpedoes and nine 4-inch shells fired from its escorting destroyers.
USS Palm Beach
Before its sailing days ended, the USS Palm Beach served as a U.S. Army transport, a Navy spy ship and a drug smuggling vessel, then became an artificial reef still viewed today as a tourism attraction in the Cayman Islands.
The USS Palm Beach began its career as a U.S. Army Camano class light cargo ship named the "Armond Peterson (FS 217)". It was delivered to the Army Transportation Service in December 1944, and used as a supply ship and troop transport during the final months of World War II.
The U.S. Navy acquired the "Armond Peterson" and renamed it the USS Palm Beach (AKL-45) on June 18, 1966. It was converted to a Banner class "environmental research ship (AGER-3)" at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and commissioned into service on May 13, 1967.
The USS Palm Beach was deployed to the North Sea and also toured the Mediterranean during its two-year career with the U.S. Navy. Technical research ships were used by the Navy to gather intelligence and intercept wireless communications from hostile nations during the height of the Cold War in the 1960s.
The USS Palm Beach was the sister ship of the USS Pueblo, which was captured by North Korea while spying off its coast on Jan. 23, 1968, and remains a captive vessel today. The capture of the "Pueblo" compromised the missions and technical equipment used by other AGER "research ships" such as the USS Palm Beach.
The Palm Beach was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register Dec. 1, 1969. The vessel was sold and resold in 1969-70, eventually acquired by a Panamanian company and renamed the "M/V Oro Verde".
The "Oro Verde" became involved in drug smuggling activity in the Caribbean. It ran aground in the Cayman Islands. Instead of salvaging the vessel, the Cayman government sank it as an artificial reef for scuba divers.
USS Lake Worth
The USS Lake Worth was a born-again vessel given a second life after sinking in a Baltic Sea storm. Like many resurrected ships, it bore a sailor's superstition of a bad luck vessel, which became reality during World War II when it was sunk a second time by a Stuka dive bomber.
The freighter "War Banner" was built by the Detroit Drydock Company in 1917, but renamed the USS Lake Worth by the U.S. Navy before completion. It was commissioned on Feb. 26, 1918, and used as a supply ship during World War I.
When the war ended, the USS Lake Worth was decommissioned Aug. 2, 1919 and returned to the United States Shipping Board for disposal. She was sold to Lloyd Royal Belge of Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920 and renamed the "Phoenicier".
While approaching the harbor of Memel, Germany, from Blyth, England, with a full load of coal, the "Phoenicier" grounded and sank during a gale. After resting on the bottom of sea for seven months, the freighter was raised and towed into the port of Memel.
The ship was declared a "constructive total loss" and sold to Stelp and Leighton, Ltd. of London in July 1924. However, the vessel was repaired, brought back to life, and renamed the "Amberstone".
The former USS Lake Worth was sold again in 1928 to J.A. Haarberg of Bergen, Norway, and received yet another identity as the "Orland". After sailing 12 years as a Norwegian merchant ship, the vessel met its demise a second and final time on April 29, 1940.
During the German invasion of Norway, a Luftwaffe air raid off Midsund, Norway, claimed the "Orland" as one of it victims. Today, the vessel rests at the bottom of a Norwegian fjord.
The Second 'USS Jupiter'
The second Navy ship named the USS Jupiter (AK-43) more than made up for the loss of the original USS Jupiter/Langley with a distinguished war record as an auxiliary military cargo ship in both World War II and the Korean conflict.
It was built in 1939 under a Maritime Commission contract and christened the "Flying Cloud". The Aldebaran class cargo ship was acquired by the Navy June 19, 1941 and commissioned as the second USS Jupiter on Aug. 22, 1942.
During World War II, the USS Jupiter was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated as a Navy support vessel in six campaigns: the Gilbert Islands (Tarawa) operation in 1943, the capture of Saipan in the Mariana Islands, the occupation of Caroline Islands in 1944, the Leyte landings in the Philippines, the Iwo Jima assault in February 1945, and the capture and occupation of Okinawa in June 1945.
The ship was designated as a "Jupiter Class Aviation Stores Issue Ship (AVS-8)" on July 31, 1945, becoming the model for a new class of munitions vessels for the Navy. Following World War II, the USS Jupiter joined the "Occupation and China Service" in the Far East for two years before it was laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in San Diego.
With the outbreak of the Korean War, the USS Jupiter was recommissioned Oct 10, 1950 and served as a Naval support vessel throughout the conflict. It would win seven battle stars while stationed off the coast of Korea. When peace accords were signed in 1953, the Jupiter once again joined the Occupation Service in the Far East.
The ship was decommissioned in June 1964 and mothballed with the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Olympia, WA. The second USS Jupiter was struck from the Naval Register on Aug. 1, 1965.
(c.) 2015.
NOTE: See additional articles archived in Older Posts.
Four ships sharing the names of cities in Palm Beach County - the first USS Jupiter (Langley), USS Lake Worth, USS Palm Beach and a second USS Jupiter - were commissioned by the U.S. Navy and served the nation in World War I, World War II, the Korean War, as well as the Cold War.
Under Navy ship naming conventions established during the early 20th century, combat stores ships and auxiliary vessels, commissioned prior to the end of World War II, were named for U.S. cities. If a warship was sunk in combat or decommissioned, as in the case of the first USS Jupiter, the vessel's moniker was transferred to a replacement ship.
Two of the combat auxiliary vessels bearing local names were sunk by German Luftwaffe and Imperial Japanese Navy dive bombers during World War II, a third became an artificial reef, and the fourth received six battle stars in World War II and seven battle stars during the Korean conflict.
USS Jupiter (Langley)
The first USS Jupiter (AC-3) was a Navy collier during World War I. After decommissioning at the war's end, it was rebuilt and converted to become America's first aircraft carrier under a new name of USS Langley (CV-1).
The USS Jupiter was launched on Aug. 14, 1912. The Jupiter was the first electronically-propelled ship in the U.S. Navy. It also holds the distinction of being the first vessel to steam through the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean Sea soon after the opening the new waterway.
The USS Jupiter was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet Auxiliary Division during World War I. After the war, her conversion to an aircraft carrier was authorized by the Navy on July 11, 1919. The ship's name was changed to Langley, an aviation pioneer, in 1920 and recommissioned as "Carrier Vessel One (CV-1)" March 22, 1922 at the Norfolk, Va. Navy Yard.
As the first Navy vessel fitted with a flight deck, the USS Langley conducted experiments in the new area of military seaborne aviation during the 1920s. America's first successful carrier plane take offs and landings were conducted on the Langley.
In 1924 the USS Langley joined the Pacific Battle Fleet and for the next 12 years conducted flight training for aviators in California and Hawaii. With the launching of two new fleet carriers, USS Lexington and USS Saratoga, the Langley was overhauled a second time. It became a seaplane tender in 1937.
At the outbreak of World War II, the Langley was stationed in the Philippines. She became a scouting vessel and aircraft transport for the combined American-British-Dutch-Australian (ABDA) fleet, assembled to defend the Dutch East Indies (Indonesia) from Japanese invasion.
On the morning of Feb. 27, 1942, three waves of Japanese VAL dive bombers attacked the Langley and its two escorting destroyers near Tjilatjap Harbor. The seaplane tender avoided hits during the first two air strikes, but was rocked by five explosions sustained from the third wave of bombers.
The Langley went dead in the water but refused to sink. To avoid capture by the Japanese, the tender was dispatched and sent to the bottom of the Java Sea by two torpedoes and nine 4-inch shells fired from its escorting destroyers.
USS Palm Beach
Before its sailing days ended, the USS Palm Beach served as a U.S. Army transport, a Navy spy ship and a drug smuggling vessel, then became an artificial reef still viewed today as a tourism attraction in the Cayman Islands.
The USS Palm Beach began its career as a U.S. Army Camano class light cargo ship named the "Armond Peterson (FS 217)". It was delivered to the Army Transportation Service in December 1944, and used as a supply ship and troop transport during the final months of World War II.
The U.S. Navy acquired the "Armond Peterson" and renamed it the USS Palm Beach (AKL-45) on June 18, 1966. It was converted to a Banner class "environmental research ship (AGER-3)" at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and commissioned into service on May 13, 1967.
The USS Palm Beach was deployed to the North Sea and also toured the Mediterranean during its two-year career with the U.S. Navy. Technical research ships were used by the Navy to gather intelligence and intercept wireless communications from hostile nations during the height of the Cold War in the 1960s.
The USS Palm Beach was the sister ship of the USS Pueblo, which was captured by North Korea while spying off its coast on Jan. 23, 1968, and remains a captive vessel today. The capture of the "Pueblo" compromised the missions and technical equipment used by other AGER "research ships" such as the USS Palm Beach.
The Palm Beach was decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register Dec. 1, 1969. The vessel was sold and resold in 1969-70, eventually acquired by a Panamanian company and renamed the "M/V Oro Verde".
The "Oro Verde" became involved in drug smuggling activity in the Caribbean. It ran aground in the Cayman Islands. Instead of salvaging the vessel, the Cayman government sank it as an artificial reef for scuba divers.
USS Lake Worth
The USS Lake Worth was a born-again vessel given a second life after sinking in a Baltic Sea storm. Like many resurrected ships, it bore a sailor's superstition of a bad luck vessel, which became reality during World War II when it was sunk a second time by a Stuka dive bomber.
The freighter "War Banner" was built by the Detroit Drydock Company in 1917, but renamed the USS Lake Worth by the U.S. Navy before completion. It was commissioned on Feb. 26, 1918, and used as a supply ship during World War I.
When the war ended, the USS Lake Worth was decommissioned Aug. 2, 1919 and returned to the United States Shipping Board for disposal. She was sold to Lloyd Royal Belge of Antwerp, Belgium, in 1920 and renamed the "Phoenicier".
While approaching the harbor of Memel, Germany, from Blyth, England, with a full load of coal, the "Phoenicier" grounded and sank during a gale. After resting on the bottom of sea for seven months, the freighter was raised and towed into the port of Memel.
The ship was declared a "constructive total loss" and sold to Stelp and Leighton, Ltd. of London in July 1924. However, the vessel was repaired, brought back to life, and renamed the "Amberstone".
The former USS Lake Worth was sold again in 1928 to J.A. Haarberg of Bergen, Norway, and received yet another identity as the "Orland". After sailing 12 years as a Norwegian merchant ship, the vessel met its demise a second and final time on April 29, 1940.
During the German invasion of Norway, a Luftwaffe air raid off Midsund, Norway, claimed the "Orland" as one of it victims. Today, the vessel rests at the bottom of a Norwegian fjord.
The Second 'USS Jupiter'
The second Navy ship named the USS Jupiter (AK-43) more than made up for the loss of the original USS Jupiter/Langley with a distinguished war record as an auxiliary military cargo ship in both World War II and the Korean conflict.
It was built in 1939 under a Maritime Commission contract and christened the "Flying Cloud". The Aldebaran class cargo ship was acquired by the Navy June 19, 1941 and commissioned as the second USS Jupiter on Aug. 22, 1942.
During World War II, the USS Jupiter was assigned to the Asiatic-Pacific Theater and participated as a Navy support vessel in six campaigns: the Gilbert Islands (Tarawa) operation in 1943, the capture of Saipan in the Mariana Islands, the occupation of Caroline Islands in 1944, the Leyte landings in the Philippines, the Iwo Jima assault in February 1945, and the capture and occupation of Okinawa in June 1945.
The ship was designated as a "Jupiter Class Aviation Stores Issue Ship (AVS-8)" on July 31, 1945, becoming the model for a new class of munitions vessels for the Navy. Following World War II, the USS Jupiter joined the "Occupation and China Service" in the Far East for two years before it was laid up in the Pacific Reserve Fleet in San Diego.
With the outbreak of the Korean War, the USS Jupiter was recommissioned Oct 10, 1950 and served as a Naval support vessel throughout the conflict. It would win seven battle stars while stationed off the coast of Korea. When peace accords were signed in 1953, the Jupiter once again joined the Occupation Service in the Far East.
The ship was decommissioned in June 1964 and mothballed with the National Defense Reserve Fleet at Olympia, WA. The second USS Jupiter was struck from the Naval Register on Aug. 1, 1965.
(c.) 2015.
NOTE: See additional articles archived in Older Posts.
Friday, July 24, 2015
The Jeaga Indians of 'Abaioa' (Palm Beach) in 1513
By Bob Davidsson
On May 8, 1513, two sturdy U-shaped Spanish naos (ships), the flagship "Santa Maria de la Consolacion" and the "Santiago," with their accompanying shallow-draft brigantine, the "Cristobal," briefly anchored at the "Cabo de Corrientes" (Cape of Currents) near an island which nearly 400 years later would be called Palm Beach.
Juan Ponce de Leon, the new adelantado or proprietary governor of "Bimini and the Northern Isles," was making his fourth landing along the east coast of what he had recently christened as the island of "La Florida" on April 3. The voyage of discovery was hard on both ships and men.
After making an initial landfall on an uninhabited beach somewhere between modern Daytona and St. Augustine, he sailed north to the mouth of the St John's River, then reversed course and battled the contrary currents of the Gulf Stream for nearly three weeks.
His landing parties were attacked by hostile Ais Indians north of the St. Lucie Inlet on April 21, and again by the Jeaga Indians when the Spanish attempted to force a landfall near their main village of Hobe at Jupiter Inlet. In his "General History," the 16th century Spanish court historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesilla recorded an earlier account of the voyage of Ponce de Leon and his encounters with the native peoples of Palm Beach County.
"He went out from there to a river (the Loxahatchee) where they gathered water and firewood," Herrera reported, "waiting for the brigantine 'Cristobal'. Sixty Indians (Jeaga) went there to hinder him. One of them was taken for a pilot so he might learn their language."
"He (Ponce de Leon) gave to this river the name 'La Cruz' (the cross); and he left by it a cross of stone with an inscription on it; and they left off taking on water because it was brackish."
Ponce de Leon was forced to anchor the naos "Santa Maria and "Santiago" at Jupiter Inlet for nearly a week as he waited for the missing brigantine "Cristobal" to join his fleet. The small lateen-rigged vessel was swept north by contrary currents and wind prior to reaching the inlet.
The total complement of his fleet consisted of 64 men and one woman, Juana Jimenez (Ruiz), the sister-in-law of one of the admiral's gentlemen-soldiers, Francisco de Ortega. She became the first European woman to explore North America since of demise of the ill-fated Norse colony of Freydis Ericsdottir in Newfoundland (circa 1013).
Ponce de Leon's crew included only 25 "gente de tierra" (gentlemen-of-the-land) who were trained soldiers. Of this small military force, 20 were stationed on "Santa Maria," a ship under the ownership and command of the notorious Basque mariner Juan Bono de Quejo.
Juan Bono was a maritime trader who like a bad penny always seemed to appear and profit from new Spanish colonization ventures in Hispanola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Florida, Cuba and Mexico. Prior to Ponce de Leon's expedition, Bono raided the Bahamas in search of human cargo - Taino Indian slaves.
Later in his career, Bono would earn the epitaph of "Juan the Bad" from the Catholic Church for engaging in slave raids on the island of Trinidad. Aware of his reputation, conquistador Hernando Cortes once locked him chains in 1520 and sent him back to Cuba as a "troublemaker" in his own ship.
With his knowledge of these "Northern Islands," it was probably Bono, with master pilot Anton de Alaminos on the flagship "Santa Maria," that guided the fleet to the coast of Florida. By most 16th century accounts, Ponce de Leon had an affable, noble character, which won the loyalty of Bono, who by nature was the complete opposite.
Following the long-delayed rendezvous with the "Cristobal," the fleet set sail from the Jupiter Inlet on May 8. The three ships followed the coast of Singer Island and the island of Palm Beach. The two islands were not separated by an inlet in the early 1500's.
The Spanish historian Herrera reported, "They came upon and anchored behind a cape, close to a village named 'Abaioa'. All this coast from Punta de Arrafices until this Cabo de Corrientes, runs north-south to the southeast and the water is clear with a depth of six fathoms."
Ponce de Leon's "Cabo de Corrientes" (Cape of Currents) has been interpreted by many historians as the place where the Gulf Stream is closest to coast of Florida. The cape also was the easternmost point of the Florida peninsula. In both cases, this is the island of Palm Beach.
The expedition noted there were villages along the island and anchored for a short period to investigate before continuing south. The village of "Abaioa," like similar place names of Abacoa and Abaco Island, may be rooted in the Taino Indian dialect.
Some historians theorize the Jeaga, Ais and Tekesta tribes were at one time seafaring cultures, similar to the Taino. They crossed the Caribbean from South America and settled in southeast Florida about 5,000 B.C. During the early Spanish colonial period, Florida Indians were still making journeys to Cuba in large dugout canoes.
There were no reports of conflicts with the native Jeaga inhabitants of "Abaioa" during Ponce de Leon's short visit to Palm Beach. The villagers were certainly aware of the battle at the Jupiter Inlet with the strange iron-clad visitors and may have withdrew into the interior of the island. By the next day, the three ships had set sail and life returned to normal at "Abaioa."
Villages Along the Rio Jeaga
At the time of Ponce de Leon's voyage of discovery, the Jeaga tribe occupied villages from Jupiter Island in the north, west along the Loxahatchee River, and south on both shores of the Lake Worth Lagoon (called the "Rio Jeaga" on 17th century Spanish maps). The Boca Raton Inlet served as a natural dividing line between the Jeaga and the larger Tekesta (Tequesta) tribe centered in what is today Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
The Rio Jeaga, a freshwater lake during the Spanish colonial period, was vital to the scattered Jeaga villages as a food source, communications and transportation network. Heavy rains and hurricanes occasionally created lake flooding which breached the barrier island of Palm Beach with temporary inlets until new sandbars would close these outlets to the ocean.
Prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists at Jupiter Inlet (Rio Jobe), the Jeaga villages were decentralized with local towns ruled by their caciques or chieftains. The introduction of European trade goods and plunder from shipwrecks changed the dynamics of tribal alliances, with the caciques of Hobe gaining in stature.
The village of Hobe became the primary Jeaga center of trade due to its access to the Jupiter Inlet. The Jeaga in turn shared trade goods, captives and ship plunder with the more powerful Calusa tribe in the 16th century, and the neighboring Ais Indians to the north during the 17th century.
The town of Hobe, located on the south side of the inlet, was in the heart of what archaeologists call the Jupiter Mound Complex. Middens, ceremonial mounds and village sites were found along both sides of the inlet, as well as in the nearby Loxahatchee estuary.
South of Jupiter Inlet were several small villages collectively called the Singer Island Sites on the barrier island. Villages on both Singer Island and Palm Beach were built on the coastal ridge of the two islands. Both islands rest on a foundation of Anastasia rock and coquina limestone.
Southwest of Singer Island, on the mainland side of the Rio Jeaga, were three mound sites called the Riviera Complex by archaeologists. The village site was located near what is today the Port of Palm Beach.
The Riviera Complex consisted of the Palm Beach Inlet Midden and adjacent Palm Beach Inlet Burial Mound, as well the principal village site along the Rio Jeaga. Some documents even refer to the Riviera Complex as the town of "Jeaga"- the namesake for the entire tribe.
The Nebot Site was located southeast of the Riviera Complex on the Palm Beach barrier island. It was discovered in the 1980's at the 100 block of Everglades Avenue. The site included a sand burial mound and perhaps a small village along the lake. Skeletal remains were excavated from the site, as well as tool artifacts of bone and even European brass.
The Palm Beach Complex, located north of Sloan's Curve, once included both a burial mound and village midden, both destroyed by development, as is most the Patrician Site along the 3000 block of South Ocean Blvd.
'Abaioa' - The Guest Mound Complex
The Palm Beach "Guest Mound Complex" was by far the largest coastal village site on the island at the time of Ponce de Leon's voyage. The mound village was 18 feet high and extended 100-feet in width from north to south. The village's midden was immediately south of the mound.
A village on an 18-foot mound with 10-foot high bohio-style structures was clearly visible to the three ships anchored a short distance from shore in 1513. The town complex meets all the criteria of the "Abaioa" recorded in Spanish journals. What is less certain is if "Abaioa" is actually the native Jeaga name for their village.
The Guest Mound Complex, located at the 600 block of North County Road, was once part of the Otto Kahn estate. It was sold in 1941 and became the Graham-Eckes Academy. Expansion of the school resulted in the destruction of part of the burial mound. The site is named for Frederick Guest, the owner of property south the Graham-Eckes school.
Archeologists estimate between 100 and 150 Jeaga villagers were interred within the Guest Mound. Artifacts at the Guest Mound Complex and other sites on the island of Palm Beach predate 500 B.C.
Jeaga villages in Palm Beach County were destroyed or abandoned during the colonial Queen Anne's War (1702-13) between England and Spain. English slave traders from South Carolina, with Yemassee and Yuchi Indian allies armed with British muskets, began their South Florida raids in 1703.
By 1711, the last "Cacique of Jove (Jeaga)" and other surviving South Florida native leaders were seeking sanctuary in Cuba for the remnants of their tribes. Captain Luis Perdomo arrived with two ships on a rescue mission. He found nearly 2,000 desperate Indians in the Florida Keys, but was only able to transport 270 refugees. About 200 died of diseases in Cuba within a few years.
One of the early mysteries of Palm Beach is the unknown identity of a European buried among the native Jeaga Indians at the Waldron Site near Wideners Curve. The grave of the colonial period man, buried in a traditional Christian manner, was recovered in the Indian burial site. He was about 35 years of age, a pipe smoker, and apparently in good health prior to his death.
If one believes in the Fountain of Youth, then it is not a leap of faith to suggest perhaps the deceased man was a member of Ponce de Leon's crew, interred during their brief visit to the village of "Abaioa". Some mysteries and legends are best left unsolved.
(c.) 2015
NOTE: View additional articles archived in Older Posts.
On May 8, 1513, two sturdy U-shaped Spanish naos (ships), the flagship "Santa Maria de la Consolacion" and the "Santiago," with their accompanying shallow-draft brigantine, the "Cristobal," briefly anchored at the "Cabo de Corrientes" (Cape of Currents) near an island which nearly 400 years later would be called Palm Beach.
Juan Ponce de Leon, the new adelantado or proprietary governor of "Bimini and the Northern Isles," was making his fourth landing along the east coast of what he had recently christened as the island of "La Florida" on April 3. The voyage of discovery was hard on both ships and men.
After making an initial landfall on an uninhabited beach somewhere between modern Daytona and St. Augustine, he sailed north to the mouth of the St John's River, then reversed course and battled the contrary currents of the Gulf Stream for nearly three weeks.
His landing parties were attacked by hostile Ais Indians north of the St. Lucie Inlet on April 21, and again by the Jeaga Indians when the Spanish attempted to force a landfall near their main village of Hobe at Jupiter Inlet. In his "General History," the 16th century Spanish court historian Antonio de Herrera y Tordesilla recorded an earlier account of the voyage of Ponce de Leon and his encounters with the native peoples of Palm Beach County.
"He went out from there to a river (the Loxahatchee) where they gathered water and firewood," Herrera reported, "waiting for the brigantine 'Cristobal'. Sixty Indians (Jeaga) went there to hinder him. One of them was taken for a pilot so he might learn their language."
"He (Ponce de Leon) gave to this river the name 'La Cruz' (the cross); and he left by it a cross of stone with an inscription on it; and they left off taking on water because it was brackish."
Ponce de Leon was forced to anchor the naos "Santa Maria and "Santiago" at Jupiter Inlet for nearly a week as he waited for the missing brigantine "Cristobal" to join his fleet. The small lateen-rigged vessel was swept north by contrary currents and wind prior to reaching the inlet.
The total complement of his fleet consisted of 64 men and one woman, Juana Jimenez (Ruiz), the sister-in-law of one of the admiral's gentlemen-soldiers, Francisco de Ortega. She became the first European woman to explore North America since of demise of the ill-fated Norse colony of Freydis Ericsdottir in Newfoundland (circa 1013).
Ponce de Leon's crew included only 25 "gente de tierra" (gentlemen-of-the-land) who were trained soldiers. Of this small military force, 20 were stationed on "Santa Maria," a ship under the ownership and command of the notorious Basque mariner Juan Bono de Quejo.
Juan Bono was a maritime trader who like a bad penny always seemed to appear and profit from new Spanish colonization ventures in Hispanola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Florida, Cuba and Mexico. Prior to Ponce de Leon's expedition, Bono raided the Bahamas in search of human cargo - Taino Indian slaves.
Later in his career, Bono would earn the epitaph of "Juan the Bad" from the Catholic Church for engaging in slave raids on the island of Trinidad. Aware of his reputation, conquistador Hernando Cortes once locked him chains in 1520 and sent him back to Cuba as a "troublemaker" in his own ship.
With his knowledge of these "Northern Islands," it was probably Bono, with master pilot Anton de Alaminos on the flagship "Santa Maria," that guided the fleet to the coast of Florida. By most 16th century accounts, Ponce de Leon had an affable, noble character, which won the loyalty of Bono, who by nature was the complete opposite.
Following the long-delayed rendezvous with the "Cristobal," the fleet set sail from the Jupiter Inlet on May 8. The three ships followed the coast of Singer Island and the island of Palm Beach. The two islands were not separated by an inlet in the early 1500's.
The Spanish historian Herrera reported, "They came upon and anchored behind a cape, close to a village named 'Abaioa'. All this coast from Punta de Arrafices until this Cabo de Corrientes, runs north-south to the southeast and the water is clear with a depth of six fathoms."
Ponce de Leon's "Cabo de Corrientes" (Cape of Currents) has been interpreted by many historians as the place where the Gulf Stream is closest to coast of Florida. The cape also was the easternmost point of the Florida peninsula. In both cases, this is the island of Palm Beach.
The expedition noted there were villages along the island and anchored for a short period to investigate before continuing south. The village of "Abaioa," like similar place names of Abacoa and Abaco Island, may be rooted in the Taino Indian dialect.
Some historians theorize the Jeaga, Ais and Tekesta tribes were at one time seafaring cultures, similar to the Taino. They crossed the Caribbean from South America and settled in southeast Florida about 5,000 B.C. During the early Spanish colonial period, Florida Indians were still making journeys to Cuba in large dugout canoes.
There were no reports of conflicts with the native Jeaga inhabitants of "Abaioa" during Ponce de Leon's short visit to Palm Beach. The villagers were certainly aware of the battle at the Jupiter Inlet with the strange iron-clad visitors and may have withdrew into the interior of the island. By the next day, the three ships had set sail and life returned to normal at "Abaioa."
Villages Along the Rio Jeaga
At the time of Ponce de Leon's voyage of discovery, the Jeaga tribe occupied villages from Jupiter Island in the north, west along the Loxahatchee River, and south on both shores of the Lake Worth Lagoon (called the "Rio Jeaga" on 17th century Spanish maps). The Boca Raton Inlet served as a natural dividing line between the Jeaga and the larger Tekesta (Tequesta) tribe centered in what is today Broward and Miami-Dade counties.
The Rio Jeaga, a freshwater lake during the Spanish colonial period, was vital to the scattered Jeaga villages as a food source, communications and transportation network. Heavy rains and hurricanes occasionally created lake flooding which breached the barrier island of Palm Beach with temporary inlets until new sandbars would close these outlets to the ocean.
Prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists at Jupiter Inlet (Rio Jobe), the Jeaga villages were decentralized with local towns ruled by their caciques or chieftains. The introduction of European trade goods and plunder from shipwrecks changed the dynamics of tribal alliances, with the caciques of Hobe gaining in stature.
The village of Hobe became the primary Jeaga center of trade due to its access to the Jupiter Inlet. The Jeaga in turn shared trade goods, captives and ship plunder with the more powerful Calusa tribe in the 16th century, and the neighboring Ais Indians to the north during the 17th century.
The town of Hobe, located on the south side of the inlet, was in the heart of what archaeologists call the Jupiter Mound Complex. Middens, ceremonial mounds and village sites were found along both sides of the inlet, as well as in the nearby Loxahatchee estuary.
South of Jupiter Inlet were several small villages collectively called the Singer Island Sites on the barrier island. Villages on both Singer Island and Palm Beach were built on the coastal ridge of the two islands. Both islands rest on a foundation of Anastasia rock and coquina limestone.
Southwest of Singer Island, on the mainland side of the Rio Jeaga, were three mound sites called the Riviera Complex by archaeologists. The village site was located near what is today the Port of Palm Beach.
The Riviera Complex consisted of the Palm Beach Inlet Midden and adjacent Palm Beach Inlet Burial Mound, as well the principal village site along the Rio Jeaga. Some documents even refer to the Riviera Complex as the town of "Jeaga"- the namesake for the entire tribe.
The Nebot Site was located southeast of the Riviera Complex on the Palm Beach barrier island. It was discovered in the 1980's at the 100 block of Everglades Avenue. The site included a sand burial mound and perhaps a small village along the lake. Skeletal remains were excavated from the site, as well as tool artifacts of bone and even European brass.
The Palm Beach Complex, located north of Sloan's Curve, once included both a burial mound and village midden, both destroyed by development, as is most the Patrician Site along the 3000 block of South Ocean Blvd.
'Abaioa' - The Guest Mound Complex
The Palm Beach "Guest Mound Complex" was by far the largest coastal village site on the island at the time of Ponce de Leon's voyage. The mound village was 18 feet high and extended 100-feet in width from north to south. The village's midden was immediately south of the mound.
A village on an 18-foot mound with 10-foot high bohio-style structures was clearly visible to the three ships anchored a short distance from shore in 1513. The town complex meets all the criteria of the "Abaioa" recorded in Spanish journals. What is less certain is if "Abaioa" is actually the native Jeaga name for their village.
The Guest Mound Complex, located at the 600 block of North County Road, was once part of the Otto Kahn estate. It was sold in 1941 and became the Graham-Eckes Academy. Expansion of the school resulted in the destruction of part of the burial mound. The site is named for Frederick Guest, the owner of property south the Graham-Eckes school.
Archeologists estimate between 100 and 150 Jeaga villagers were interred within the Guest Mound. Artifacts at the Guest Mound Complex and other sites on the island of Palm Beach predate 500 B.C.
Jeaga villages in Palm Beach County were destroyed or abandoned during the colonial Queen Anne's War (1702-13) between England and Spain. English slave traders from South Carolina, with Yemassee and Yuchi Indian allies armed with British muskets, began their South Florida raids in 1703.
By 1711, the last "Cacique of Jove (Jeaga)" and other surviving South Florida native leaders were seeking sanctuary in Cuba for the remnants of their tribes. Captain Luis Perdomo arrived with two ships on a rescue mission. He found nearly 2,000 desperate Indians in the Florida Keys, but was only able to transport 270 refugees. About 200 died of diseases in Cuba within a few years.
One of the early mysteries of Palm Beach is the unknown identity of a European buried among the native Jeaga Indians at the Waldron Site near Wideners Curve. The grave of the colonial period man, buried in a traditional Christian manner, was recovered in the Indian burial site. He was about 35 years of age, a pipe smoker, and apparently in good health prior to his death.
If one believes in the Fountain of Youth, then it is not a leap of faith to suggest perhaps the deceased man was a member of Ponce de Leon's crew, interred during their brief visit to the village of "Abaioa". Some mysteries and legends are best left unsolved.
(c.) 2015
NOTE: View additional articles archived in Older Posts.
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