The
following day (2-27) was my day to visit Dry
Tortugas National Park. I
was paranoid about missing the boat since it leaves at 8:00 and I
don’t have an alarm clock with me (for $51 per night – with
tax – maybe I should have gotten a free wake up call from the
Rip Toff Campground). My
anxiety was compounded when the band at the neighboring nightclub
(open air) played on until midnight.
I set my alarm on my watch and just told myself I would
have to wake up at 6:00. I
chose 6:00 (instead of 7:00) in case my mind was still messed up
on the time zone thing. Well it worked. I
woke up at 6:00, and had an hour and a half to kill before my
three-minute walk to the boat at 7:30.
I was quite relieved.
I once slept through a final exam in college, but this
would have been far worse.
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see full photograph.
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I
boarded the Yankee Freedom II at 7:45 for my 70-mile trip
to the Dry Tortugas.
Great boat. It’s
a 100’ powered catamaran built in 1999 that goes about
30 to 33 mph on the open sea.
The ride out was about 2½ hours and was quite
smooth despite some “chop” in the water.
We passed through some rain showers that seemed to
be heading for the Dry Tortugas as well, but we never saw
them again. |
Dry
Tortugas National Park is a unique place.
It’s also one of our least known National Parks, although
many more people may recognize the name Fort Jefferson National
Monument (which it was known as from 1935 to 1992).
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see full photograph.
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The
National Park consists of seven small islands, composed of
coral reefs and sand.
These islands were first discovered in 1513 by
Spaniard Ponce
De Leon who named them Las Tortugas (The Turtles)
because of the abundance of Green Sea, Loggerhead and
Hawksbill turtles that he found here.
Later, mariners’ charts listed them as Dry
Tortugas to indicate that there is no freshwater on any of
the islands. Turtles
are still here, although the existence of the Green Sea
turtle is “endangered” and the Loggerhead is
“threatened.” Birds
of many varieties are also here.
The islands lie on a principal flyway from the
United States to South America for many migratory birds.
Between February and September, some 100,000 Sooty
terns gather on Bush Key for their nesting season.
I can testify that they were there, as Bush Key is
literally a stone's throw from Fort Jefferson. |
There
is an abundance of sea-life on the nearby reefs and around the
moat that surrounds the fort.
One of the benefits of the boat trip was the opportunity to
borrow snorkeling equipment and explore the underwater area around
the fort. I did just
that, and enjoyed it. I
didn’t encounter any sharks, eels or barracuda (the exciting
stuff), but did see lots of parrotfish, angelfish, grunts,
needlefish, as well as some beautiful coral.
The water was warm too.
The
centerpiece of Dry Tortugas National Park is Fort
Jefferson, which is located on Garden Key.
This fort, like Fort Pickens (Pensacola) and Fort Zachary
Taylor (Key West), was a part of an overall coastal defense system
developed in the 1830s. Fort
Jefferson was to be the largest of all of the coastal forts and
was strategically located so that all shipping (and enemy warships)
to and from the Gulf of Mexico and Mississippi River had to pass
nearby in the only deepwater shipping lanes entering the Gulf.
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Fort
Jefferson’s construction began in 1846 and continued for
30 years, but it was never finished.
The Union held the fort during the Civil War and
construction continued during that time.
Evidence of that is clearly visible in the change
in color of brick from southern tan to northern red on the
higher levels of the fort. Despite its unfinished
condition, the fort is regarded as the largest masonry
structure in the Western Hemisphere – estimates of up to
44 million bricks.
During
the Civil War, the Union used Fort Jefferson as a prison for
captured deserters and those who were convicted of such things are
dereliction of duty, striking an officer, etc.
It was a very unpleasant place to be imprisoned – hard
labor (building the fort) and no chance for escape.
The sign over the doorway to the prison section of the fort
says, “Whoso Entereth Here Leaveth All Hopes Behind!” – a
quote from a well known book or play (sorry, I forget just what it
was).
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Click on bicyclist to see
more photographs. 
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view full photograph.
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The
most famous person to be imprisoned here was Dr. Samuel Mudd.
He was convicted of “complicity” in Abraham Lincoln’s
assassination because he “set” John Wilkes Booth’s broken
leg following the shooting. (Personal
opinion – what a crock of _ _ _ _ that (his conviction) was.
He was a Doctor with an oath to follow, and he certainly
wasn’t a participant in the assassination.)
I believe he was given a life sentence, but don’t know
that for sure. I do
know that while he was at Fort Jefferson a serious outbreak of
Yellow Fever took place, inflicting the Fort’s Doctor among many
others. Dr. Mudd was released from his cell to care for the ill and
managed to save a large percentage of them.
As a result, many of the guards and other staff wrote
letters to President Andrew Johnson requesting that Dr. Mudd be
pardoned. Thankfully
it happened, and he was released to spend the rest of his life in
freedom.
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The
Army finally abandoned Fort Jefferson in 1874, and in 1908 the
area was proclaimed a wildlife refuge to protect the Sooty tern
rookery. In 1935, following a visit to the fort, President Franklin D.
Roosevelt named it (by proclamation) a National Monument.
In 1992, Congress passed legislation designating Fort
Jefferson, the seven islands and surrounding waters as Dry
Tortugas National Park with intent to protect both the natural and
historical features of the area.
Back
in Key West, I went over to Mallory Square after dinner. It’s the site of a year-round nightly festival of street
performers. I saw
musicians, magicians, dog acts, a bicyclist, a man who frees
himself from chains and (my favorite) a “mechanical” man
completely painted silver. The
best known act is “Cat Man,” who has trained dozens of
domestic cats to do tricks like those that lions and tigers do in
the circus, but he wasn’t there that night.
(Great
Adventures to Scenic Places)
