Any Florida West Coast Shipwreck info. avail.?

Deadmans bay is near the Suwannee river, not App bay. There might be one up there also, but I do know deadmans bay at the mouth of the Suwannee , and the suwannee, has a bunch of tales.
 

Yes, Deadmans bay is just south of Steinhatchee river. and just north of Horseshoe beach, Been there many times. ;D
 

Yep, that is the one. I was in a hunting lease that was on lumber land just North of Cross City for a few years quite a while ago, and it started on the road to Horse shoe beach Where the Piggly Wiggly used to be, and went North about 5 miles up 19, not quite to Steinhatchee, and west of 19 for maybe 5 miles. Suwannee was South of that area. I think. I have been out in the gulf in that area and remember Deadmans bay, just couldnt remember the exact spot. When I was there I had read that story prior, and remember thinking it is too shallow for any big boat to have run in there. But 150 years ago, it might have been deeper. Horse beach is very shallow, it is so shallow that you could walk out 200 yards, and be in knee deep water, maybe a little deeper. It gets deep very slowly in that area, and is shallow for a ways.
 

Yea Steve, your right. this whole area is shallow. But I have been scalloping in deadmans bay in 8-10 feet of water, It's actually a large area. Most of us think of a big boat(ship) as a Spanish galleon with 12' draft, but during the civil war they were using large boats with a shallow draft to navigate the coastal waters and go into the rivers were there where no dredged channels yet. Right now I'm trying to do research to find the average draft of these ships which would give a clue as to where to find them. :read2: anybody got ideas? :help:
 

There are a few old steam boats in the panhandle, some actually above water or at least used to be slightly above water. That was back in some black rivers, and I would have to say with the size prop and keel and the size of the boats, they must have at the very least drawn 3' maybe 4'. Those steam engines and all that went with it-boilers and burners, tanks, and of course the steam engine, HUGE flywheel , transmission and shafts weighed tons, and of course the weight of the boat and all its contents. Those engines had huge torque, but low RPMs. They could and had to swing a large prop to use the torque at such low RPMs. So if 3' draft, they could have ran all over that area, if they stayed offshore a little. Or a little more! Even if 4' draft, they still could have been all over that area. I do know that once in the Suwannee, it is deep. Even way up there. I mean deep enough for any boat to get through. I am not so sure on the other rivers in the area. Santa Fe is deep enough for that size boat. The Withalacochee is deep. Apalachacola is deep, some shallow areas, (There is a swamp about 10 miles from Appalachicola that is fairly shallow that the river runs through) but a 3' to 4' boat could do it. Edit Note! I dont think these boats were civil war boats, just normal boats. But being steam, I am sure they are old boats. Maybe Barney could chime in.
 

comfortably numb said:
Right now I'm trying to do research to find the average draft of these ships which would give a clue as to where to find them. :read2: anybody got ideas? :help:
Click to expand...

I'll find that out for sure and let you know.
I have a guy in Maryland who's always down in the National Archives in DC. I'll have him source some old govdocs on Civil War Steamers.
I'll be heading to the St. Augustine Historcal Society library in a couple days- I know they have a ton of nautical stuff up to, including and post civil war. It wouldn't surprise me if I could find out there.
 

It appears to be a modern nautical chart of the Tampa/Sarasota area, with notes in the margin about the 1733 fleet that sank off of the Keys, nothing new here.
 

Thanks. Is this book any good? I'm only asking 'cause I thought it might be relevant to the thread...

SUNKEN TREASURE ON FLORIDA REEFS Robert Weller (1993) PB Revised edition

I just got a copy for <$10.
 

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