Ðedication to Service THE H ISTORY OF P ILOTING ON TAMPA BAY THROUGH THREE CENTURIES

Researched and written for the Tampa Bay Pilots Association by Carrie Caignet

2

Dedication to Service

THE HISTORY OF PILOTING ON TAMPA BAY THROUGH THREE CENTURIES

Caignet, Carrieann R., 1968-

Tampa Bay Pilots Association

1.Florida– Maritime History

2.Tampa Bay Pilots Association

3.Tampa Bay– History

A record of cataloging-in-publication is available from the Library of Congress.

Copyright © 2012 by Carrie Caignet. All rights reserved.

ISBN: 098867131X

ISBN-13: 978-0-9886713-1-7

Published by Florida Maritime | www.FloridaMaritime.org

Ðedication to Service THE HISTORY OF PILOTING ON TAMPA BAY

THROUGH THREE CENTURIES

RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN

FOR THE TAMPA BAY PILOTS ASSOCIATION

BY CARRIE CAIGNET

6

Our Mission…

We are dedicated to providing the highest quality of reliable, efficient and modern pilo-tage services that are essential to the economy and public health, safety and welfare of the Tampa Bay Region. We are entrusted to preserve and protect the Tampa Bay ports, population and envi-ronment to the fullest extent possible. We will facilitate and promote the safe and efficient flow of commercial vessel traffic throughout the pilotage waters of Tampa Bay. We will strive to serve the maritime industry with professionalism, courtesy and with a commitment to excellence. We will have mutual respect for each other and value the people that make up our asso-ciation, our customer and our community.

Foreword by Captain Gary Maddox 4

Introduction by Captain John D. Ware 7

Chapter I 22

Early Pilotage on Tampa Bay John Gomez “The Perfect Pilot” 27

Chapter II 29

Fort Brooke & the Harbor at Tampa

Chapter III 34

Tampa, the Railroad and the Civil War

Tampa’s Role in the Civil War 37

Piloting during the Civil War 40

Chapter IV 41

The Egmont Key Light & Fort Dade

Charles M. Moore: TBPA Manager, 1922-1948 54

Charlie’s Daughter Remembers Egmont Key 59

Chapter V 65

The Inception of Association

Recollections of Capt. C. W. Bahrt, 1921-1936 66

Chapter VI 70

Port Tampa

Port Tampa City 71

Port Tampa and the Phosphate Elevators 75

Capt. John Fitzgerald, TBPA, 1897-1909 77

Chapter VII 79

Port of Tampa

Philip Shore, Secretary to the TBPA, 1909-1921 91

Chapter VIII 93

The Twentieth Century: An Era of Change & Development

Chapter IX 100

The Pilot Boats of Tampa Bay

Chapter X 107

The History of Navigation on Tampa Bay

Sea Change 110

Port Heavy Weather Advisory Group 113

Capt. Carolyn Kurtz, A Florida First 114

Chapter XI 117

Entering a Third Century of Service and Dedication

Acknowledgments by Carrie Caignet 125

Port Partners/Underwriters 130

Index 1: Timeline of Events 145

Index 2: Pilot Roster: 1886-2012 152

Index 3: Reference Materials 153

Index 4: Images & Photographs 160

T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S

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FOREWORD

In our research to find the start of pilots combining their services on these waters, we discovered a rich history of the

development of this whole geographic region. From the early days of Fort Brooke and the little village of Tampa in its shadows to

our present day city and the urban areas around it, there has been a constant need for waterborne commerce to provide the many

diverse cargoes that are the lifeblood to building and maintaining Florida’s growing population. When you look into the history of

piloting on Tampa Bay you discover that it is tied to the history of the development of the channels, ports, commerce and cities

along its banks. The need for a reliable piloting service to guide ships safely from sea to their berths was vital.

As the area developed and grew, so did the needs for wider and deeper channels, more port facilities, and more pilots. You will

recognize the names of individuals who played integral parts in the growth of our bays and ports. Some channels, docks and port

areas carry their names, and their descendants are active in the marine community today.

The basic role of the pilots has changed very little over the years. Pilots are there to provide the local knowledge and

expertise to guide a vessel safely through the navigable waters of the ports. However, to

accomplish this goal has become much more complicated than in the early days of piloting.

Piloting ships in the early years established a supply chain in Tampa Bay necessary for local

expansion. Groundings, stranding and accidents in and around Tampa Bay resulted in losses

primarily to the ship and cargo owners, those directly involved in the movement of those

cargoes. It became clear that retaining local knowledge of the waterways preserved cargoes,

improved efficiency and above all, it assured safety. Today’s vessels are so large and carry

(Opposite page) This is a map of

Hillsborough County showing cities

and towns, water depths, inland

waters and property ownership by

name circa 1882. Scale {ca. 1:63,360].

Source J.J. Treveres, (New York, NY:

The South Publishing Company, 1882)

Courtesy of the Special Collections

Department at the University of South

Florida.

5

such diverse cargoes in huge quantities that an accident can have a tremendous economic impact on everyone, not just those

directly involved in the shipping industry.

I would like to express my gratitude to Captain John D. Ware and Captain Carl W. Bahrt for their efforts to preserve some of

our history. It is valuable for us to recognize the important role that our predecessors played in the development of our region.

Understanding our professional roots and the vital service that the pilots provided throughout the history of Tampa Bay focuses

us on our duty today and in the future to continue to provide the most professional, reliable, efficient and safe service possible.

From Captain Ware’s Introduction written in 1969 to the present, the Tampa Bay area has experienced tremendous growth. In

the piloting venue, this has magnified the inherent challenges of Tampa Bay’s long winding transit and a constant need for

dredging to remain competitive. New port areas have been developed to handle the increased demands for more shipping. The

number of pilots has increased from 15 to the present number of 23. It wasn’t just the number of pilots that changed on the Bay,

but also the demands placed on the pilots to develop maximum efficiency in the use of channels while maintaining a safe margin to

protect the State of Florida and its citizens.

The State of Florida recognizes the vital role that pilots play in protecting our environment and citizens. The State legislature

has enacted strong statutes to regulate piloting. These statutes have been reviewed several times over the years to ensure

effectiveness. However, despite all efforts, accidents happen. Tampa Bay has seen three major marine accidents, two in 1980 and

one in 1993. The Florida Board of Pilot Commissioners, the United States Coast Guard and the National Transportation and

Safety Board fully investigated these accidents and their findings are a matter of public record. However, an important duty of the

pilots is to analyze any marine accident and see if there is anything that can be done to prevent it from happening in the future.

Following the disasters of 1980 and throughout the many years to the present, a tremendous effort has been made by all to

prevent marine incidents on Tampa Bay. Physical changes to the channels, bridges and fenders, navigational aids, developing

technology updating tidal information, establishing safety guidelines, traffic information, communications, continuing education,

and bridge resource management are some of the many areas that have been reviewed. The pilots play an integral part in

evaluating and testing what will be most beneficial for the safe navigation of the vessels.

Today’s ships have been designed to accommodate the type of cargo that they will carry. This results in a large variance in the

size, shape and the method of propulsion of these vessels that call on our ports. Each vessel has its own unique handling

characteristics and reacts differently to wind and current. Many new technologies are developing, some of which may be useful

tools to assist the pilot. Evaluating these technologies, knowing their limitations and interfacing their use with the vessel’s

personnel is important in maximizing efficiency while maintaining safety.

In 1969, 1,927 vessels were moved carrying almost 20 million tons of cargo. In 2011, 4,046 vessels were handled carrying 39

million tons of cargo into the Port of Tampa. Continued expansion in the future is inevitable. With the completion of the Panama

Canal Expansion and the Gulf Coast Advantage, an alliance between Port of Tampa and the ports of Houston and Mobile,

international freighters will find the ports of Tampa Bay ready to do business and the Tampa Bay Pilots Association ready to

serve. We look forward to meeting all the new challenges ahead and to continue to guide ships safely through the waters of

Tampa Bay.

-Captain Gary Maddox, December 2011

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I An Introduction

BY CAPTAIN JOHN D. WARE, TAMPA BAY PILOT , 1952-1974

n the year 1969, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven (1,927) vessels, exclusive of tugs and barges, called at

the many facilities of the greater port of Tampa. The Tampa Bay Pilots handled virtually all of these in which almost 20 million

tons of cargo were transported. They ranged in size from the small Central American and island traders of less than 100 tons to

vessels of 76,000 dead-weight tons. This is a tremendous volume of cargo and a great number of vessels, the size and type of which

reflect the diversity of our trade. Obviously, all of this did not “just happen overnight”. The Port of Tampa and its shipping have

grown steadily over the years, each one more or less keeping pace with the other. The Tampa Bay Pilots Association is an integral

and, we hope, an important part of this activity. It is about this group in particular, and pilots and piloting in general that I wish to

speak.

First, let me discuss the historical background and certain of the legal aspects of the profession. Piloting, if not the oldest

profession, is at least one of the oldest. The first known reference is contained in the Holy Bible (Ezekiel, Chapter 27 to be

exact). It may be speculated — in jest perhaps — that this Biblical reference may explain in part the attitude of certain present-day

pilots. The name itself is shrouded in antiquity, but is thought to come from the Dutch Qijl and lood, meaning “pile” or pole and

lead. Incidentally, the modern Dutch word for pilot is simply loodse. Thus, a pilot is one who uses, among other things, a lead

suspended in a vertical line, as from a pole, to determine the depth of water. Undoubtedly, the best-known practitioner of this

profession was the famous author Samuel L. Clemens, whose familiar pen name Mark Twain, derived from “mark two” or two

fathoms, then considered the safe depth for most river craft of that era.

It will probably come as no surprise to those of you with some knowledge of Florida history that those explorers and voyagers

who first skirted the west coast of our State and thus could have entered Tampa Bay began with Juan Ponce de Leon in

1513. Even he may have been preceded by certain unlawful, and therefore unrecorded, traders in Indian slaves.

Others answering to this roll call would have been Panfilo de Narvaez and his pilot, Diego Miruelo, in 1528, followed by

Francisco Cordova, Alonso Pineda and Hernando de Soto and his advance man, Juan Anasco, the latter two in 1539. That the

Adelanto Pedro Menendez de Aviles entered Tampa Bay in 1566 guided by a friendly native is incontrovertible. This Indian

piloted Menendez to the village of Tocabaga, thought to be in or near present Philippi Park at the head of Old Tampa Bay. All of

these, are prime candidates for the first pilots on this spacious body of water. This bay has been known variously over the

centuries as Espiritu Santo, Tocabaga, Bahia Honda, San Fernando and now, Tampa, to cite only a few of its names, both ancient

and modern.

It is perhaps noteworthy that Barcia’s Chronological History of Florida, first published in Madrid in 1723, in referring to the

wages of certain members of the seafaring profession in Menendez’ s day, cited the following rates of pay: captains 40 ducats per

month, pilots 24, shipmasters 9, ships’ officers 6, seamen 4, and cabin boys 2. The gold ducado or ducat was worth about $4 in

terms of present day values.

Although these low wages were deplored, it may be seen that by comparison pilots were

rather well paid — a view, incidentally, which has not changed much through the years. After

180 years of virtual neglect and indifference on the part of its Spanish owner, a Captain

Braddock in command of a privateer from Virginia entered and surveyed Tampa Bay,

presumably on a clandestine basis for his own country, England. Regrettably, his survey

record and chart, said to be quite accurate, appear to have been lost or now non-existent.

9

The latter part of the 18th century saw numbers of voyagers, explorers and pilots enter, survey, and draft charts of Tampa

Bay. Many left accurate and comprehensive accounts of these surveys. Among these were Juan Franco and Francisco Celi in 1756

and 1757 respectively. The British surveyor, George Gauld came in 1765 and that “universal genius,” Bernard Romans, five or six

years later. Before the century ended two more Spaniards, Jose de Evia and Vicente Folch y Juan, also entered and conducted

surveys, both of which they documented at some length. As one may correctly infer many of these men were not pilots as such, but

their very entry into Tampa Bay and in certain instances their examinations thereof certainly qualified them as pilots in an actual if

not a literal sense. Celi and Evia were in fact classified as “pilots of the Spanish royal fleet” and as a result of their surveys drafted

charts of varying degrees of usefulness of Tampa Bay.

From the foregoing one may correctly infer that a pilot in those days was a member of the ship’s complement who, after

navigating the vessel across the ocean or along the coast, also conducted or “conned” her into port. Gradually it was realized that

expert pilotage in such cases required the local knowledge of pilots attached to a given port or area, rather than traveling pilots

skilled in general navigation. From this realization, then, evolved the present day bar, bay, river, or harbor pilot ‘in residence” so

to speak. Such a pilot has the skill, experience, and local knowledge necessary to conduct ships over the bar, through the channels

or rivers, and when required, to dock these vessels As ports grew in size these individuals banded together for convenience and

greater efficiency of operation to form groups or “associations” as they are usually called.

Moving along in time, it is found that the 1840 federal census of Hillsborough County lists the following who gave their

occupation as pilot: Samuel Bishop, for whom Bishop Harbor on the east side of Tampa Bay may have been named, Louis

Covacevich, John Gomez, Alexander Green, and James Kelly. Hillsborough County, formed in 1834, then extended as far south as

the Caloosahatchee River and thus included not only Tampa Bay but Charlotte Harbor, as well. How many of these individuals

were members of the complement of certain vessels, or confined their piloting activity to Tampa Bay or the other waters of

Hillsborough County is not clear. The total population of the new county was 452 persons, including the garrison at Ft. Brooke.

Certain of these pilots

undoubtedly served the few

vessels which supplied this

military outpost, the forerunner of

modern Tampa. There is no

known record that any were

associated or banded together in

any way. There can be no doubt

that not only sailing vessels but a

limited number of steamers as

well were then coming into

Tampa Bay. A testimonial

entered in the county record book

praising an 1838 navigational

chart drafted by one Captain

Rufus De Kilgore, attests to this

fact. Robert May was pilot of the

steamer Chamois and Charles M.

Gallagher served as master of the steamer Coltbus. May was no doubt a member of his ship’s complement and not a resident of the

newly-formed Hillsborough County since his name did not appear on the census roll.

Of the several shipmasters who traded in the Tampa Bay area and beyond in the mid-19th century and who no doubt piloted

their own vessels thereon, three stand out indelibly: Captains James McKay, Fredrick Tresca and John W. Curry. The Scottish

Luis Covacevich and John Gomez are both listed as pilots in the 1850 United States Federal Census of Fort

Brooke, Tampa Bay, Hillsborough, Florida Roll: M432_58; Page 250A

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born McKay, who left a rich legacy of accomplishment in shipping and public service and who has many descendants remaining in

Tampa, practically monopolized the industry in the Tampa Bay area during that period with his steamers Scottish Chief and

Salvor. In the early 1870’s the Hiram J. Kool, a side-wheel steamer plied between Cedar Key and Tampa with intermediate stops at

Clearwater. Upon the death of the regular captain his replacement ran the vessel aground south of the Interbay Peninsula where

her wreck has remained for almost 100 years. With the introduction of pilot associations in residence there arose the need for laws

to regulate pilots and their services, so that today every maritime nation in the world, as well as our own seacoast states, has

adopted such regulatory measures. The power of the federal government to administer all matters relating to pilotage was

acquired as incidental to the authority conferred on it under the Constitution.

The first legislative action relating to pilots was an Act of Congress of August 7, 1789, whereby the federal government

delegated its authority to the several states (until further provision is made by Congress). Further legislation subsequently

enacted has restricted the broad powers of the states to regulate pilots and pilotage. However, the power of the federal government

is exclusive only when it is exercised; state laws regarding pilotage are therefore operative so long as they are not in conflict with

federal statutes. Of the several pilotage restrictions imposed on the states, perhaps the best-known in the maritime industry is

Revised Statute 4401, which, in effect, excludes American coastwise vessels from the provisions of state pilotage laws. Thus,

pilotage regulation involving foreign flagships and American registered vessels remains with the several maritime states.

Florida was ceded to the United States by Spain in 1821 and an Act of Congress approved March 10, 1822, established the

Territory of Florida, providing for a governor and a legislative council. This same year the mayor and city aldermen of St.

Augustine and Pensacola, respectively, were authorized to appoint pilots for those ports. In 1835, Chapter 871 empowered the

county court to appoint pilots for the port of Key West. The following year Chapter 938 provided that no pilots would be

appointed at St. Johns or the port of Nassau who did not reside at or near the mouth of such rivers. The first mention of regulation

of these services for Tampa Bay came in 1839, when on February 28, Chapter 17 authorized the governor and the legislative

council to appoint a Board of Port Wardens at Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and the mouth of the Suwannee River. Such board was

authorized to act as the Board of Commissioners of Pilotage, from 1839 until 1868, no less than thirty different laws were passed

by the legislative council and the state legislature, all having to do with the appointment of pilots and regulation thereof in the

various ports of Florida. Many of these are now little-known or non-existent as ports, for example: St. Augustine, the Suwannee

River, St. Marks, Apalachicola, Indian River and Jupiter bars, Cedar Keys, and the port of Bayport.

Out of this special and diverse abundance of regulation emerged Chapter 1670, Laws of Florida, which was the first

comprehensive general law governing pilots, and which provided the framework of our present Chapter 310, Title 21, Florida

Statutes. The practical effect of these laws, both state and federal, is that state pilots operate under a dual jurisdiction. When

piloting an American coastwise vessel or one operating under a certificate of enrollment, such pilot is acting under the authority of

his federal or Coast Guard license. When performing the same services on a foreign-flag vessel or on an American ship under

registry, that is, one plying in foreign trade, he is acting under the authority of State license or commission. This license is issued

by the local Board of Pilot Commissioners of each port, the members of which are appointed by the governor of the state. This

Board regulates pilots and pilotage in accordance with the aforesaid Chapter 310.

Port development on Tampa Bay was given its first impetus in 1880, when the Rivers and Harbors Act

of that year authorized a 19 foot channel to Port Tampa and an 8 foot channel to the mouth of the

Hillsborough River in Tampa. It was ten years later, however, before these improvements were completed, a

time lapse which, incidentally, does not appear to be unusually long as we view the progress of our current

bid for channel improvements. Completion of this project put Port Tampa on the map but left Tampa

woefully lacking in the ability to accommodate the larger vessels. They were required to anchor near

Ballast Point in Hillsborough Bay and there transport their passengers and cargo to and from Tampa in

smaller vessels. To take advantage of the deeper channels the Henry B. Plant System therefore extended

13

the railroad from Tampa across the Interbay Peninsula to Port Tampa. This provided their steamers, Mascotte and Olivette, direct

connections with their rail terminal. This nine mile extension and other facilities to accommodate these ocean vessels were

completed in 1888. It was not until 1908 that Tampa pretensions as a port of consequence was assured by the completion of a

channel 20 feet deep and 150 feet wide and a corresponding turning basin.

As suggested earlier, the beginning of piloting on

Tampa Bay in the relatively modern era appears to have

been performed on an individual basis. Shortly before the

Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway Company

began construction of their narrow-gauge railroad from

Kissimmee to Tampa on February 25, 1882, a drifter

appeared on the Tampa scene. “Dutch Bill” as he was

known, offered his services as pilot to those schooners and

brigs, which brought the locomotives and rails into Tampa

for this extension. It has never been clearly established

whether Dutch Bill was brought here and hired by the

railroad company or if he came on his own initiative. The

South Florida Railway owned by the Plant Investment

Company acquired rights to this new rail line to Tampa.

This line was completed just two days before the state

charter expired and the first train arrived in Tampa

January 25, 1884.

The Naphtha launch appeared in America in the mid 1880s after legislation was

passed requiring a licensed crew to attend to steam driven vessels. The Naphtha

powered launch, with no boiler, did not fall under this mandate and therefore did

not require the owner to maintain a licensed crew.

For a time, before there was an organized pilot group, the small foreign tramp steamers often stopped inside of Egmont Key to

borrow a chart of Tampa Bay from Mr. Charles Moore, the senior light keeper. With the aid of this chart, such vessels would find

their way to Port Tampa and return to Egmont Key, where the chart would be returned to the light keeper for the use of the next

incoming ship. The genesis of the Tampa Bay Pilots

as an organization began about 1888, when Captains

Harry G. Warner and W. A. Switzer joined forces to

serve the then-burgeoning Port Tampa. Thus, few

businesses in Tampa or this part of the state can

claim the longevity of our association.

It was not long after this that they established a

pilot station on Egmont Key and went into business

on a full-time basis. Prior to this, however, Captain

Switzer, who lived at Terra Ceia, would cross lower

Tampa Bay to Egmont Key and stay at the light

keeper’s home until the arrival of his ship, which he

then piloted to Port Tampa. Captain Warner, who

resided at Port Tampa and ran a ship chandlery there,

piloted the vessel to sea, towing a naphtha-powered

motor launch astern to provide his return transportation to Port Tampa and home. Thus, for a while, Switzer piloted the inbound

vessels and Warner the outbound traffic. As shipping eventually increased at Tampa and Port Tampa, so too, did the need for

expanded pilotage service increase. Thus, from time to time the quota of pilots for Tampa, Port Tampa and Manatee was increased

by legislative act.

Early pilot boat with a Naphtha powered engine, If you look closely you can what ap-

pears to be the exhaust stack astern. (St. Petersburg Museum of History)

15

The reference to “Manatee” may well be noted at this point. It is believed that this referred to the village of Manatee to the

east of present Bradenton. Manatee, along with its counterpart, Fogartyville, to the west of Bradenton, has long since become a

part of that city. After the inception of the Tampa Bay Pilots and for many years thereafter, the Phillip Shore Shipping Company,

despite a possible conflict of interest, acted as agent for the group and handled its accounts and other affairs. Thus, few if any

records are available to the researcher for these years. Interestingly, a facsimile of a bill dated November 25, 1903; of the “Tampa

Bay Board of Pilots” in the sum of $33 for services rendered to the schooner City of Baltimore, lists a total of six pilots — the

aforementioned Switzer and Warner and four others.

As the Tampa Bay Pilots grew in size, and perhaps for other reasons, its members decided to

establish their own office. Accordingly, in the latter part of 1922 or early 1923, they employed

Charles M. Moore, son of the former light keeper of the Egmont Key lighthouse He opened their

office and served as agent, office manager, bookkeeper and dispatcher for 25 years, until his

retirement in February, 1948. “Charley” (sic) Moore was on the scene when the Tampa Bay Pilots,

as an association, was formed. Born in Tampa near the present Cass Street Bridge on October 25,

1876, he was taken to Egmont Key as an infant by his parents and lived there continuously, except

for periods of schooling at Fogartyville and Rollins College, until he came to

work with the pilot group. As a young man he was employed briefly by the

Marine Hospital Service on Egmont Key and for 25 years thereafter by the

U. S. Army Engineers . He eventually became superintendent and had

charge of construction of many of the installations at Fort Dade and Fort

DeSoto on Egmont and Mullet Keys, respectively.

Light keeper Charles

Moore with his son,

Charles M. Moore and his

bride Roberta Lightfoot

Moore, on their wedding

day at Egmont Key.

(Manatee County)

It was only after these projects were phased out that Charles M. Moore assumed the management of the affairs of the

Tampa Bay Pilots. His combined service on his two jobs spanned a period of more than a half century and three wars — the

Spanish American, and World Wars I and II — with all their attendant activity. It is reasonable to assume then, that no other

individual was ever more intimately acquainted with Egmont and Mullet Keys, the greater port of Tampa and the Tampa Bay

Pilots during those 51 years, than Charles M. Moore. It was the privilege of this speaker to have talked at length on two occasions

with Mr. Moore in 1966 some months before his death in his 90th year. He was then of sound mind and retentive memory and

provided this speaker with much valuable and interesting information. That is another story.

So much then, for the historical and legal background of pilots and piloting in general and certain of the individuals connected

with or having knowledge of our group from its beginning.’ In describing the present-day Tampa Bay Pilots Association, certain

aspects might well be listed as follows:

Organization

Physical assets

Condition

Duties

Operation

Regulation

Fiscal characteristics

Our group consists of fifteen pilots and one apprentice, most former

shipmasters, two former tugboat captains, but all with years of experience

as deck officers before appointment as state pilots. Although Florida law

traditionally provides for a four-year apprenticeship as partial requirement

17

for qualification as pilot, we have encouraged the appointment of merchant marine officers

who have a first-class pilot endorsement on their masters’ license. This is prima facie

evidence of qualification to handle enrolled vessels and is usually accepted as such for

appointment as a state pilot, although not legally recognized or required.

Each Tampa Bay Pilot, insofar as the performance of his duties as a pilot is concerned,

is a free agent and is answerable only to the Board of Pilot Commissioners and/or the US

Coast Guard. He does, however, on all other matters, work within the framework of

certain rules and regulations, which govern our association. He is an equal shareholder

and thus exercises an equal voice on all matters relating to the group. Perhaps no more

classic example of the democratic process at work exists today than that exemplified by

our operation. All decisions, except for those few wherein the signature of all members

are required, are made on the basis of a majority vote. Two managers, acting in a co-equal

capacity, carry out the wishes of the majority on matters involving the management of the association. Two other pilots act as

managers of the boats and station equipment. Our physical assets consist of four boats, with a replacement value of about $75,000

each, a pilot station on Egmont Key with some eighteen houses, a 300-foot pier, lookout tower, fuel storage tanks, emergency

generators and radio communications equipment. Our office, in one of the downtown bank buildings, in addition to its function as

our business headquarters, serves as the nerve center of our operation and has radio equipment which provides communication

with our station, boats and other ships.

The pilotage route from sea to Tampa is forty nautical miles—almost twice as long as Jacksonville, the next longest route in

Florida. The shortest route -Port Everglades—is less than two miles. Reduced to its simplest terms the duties of a Tampa Bay

Pilot are to board a vessel at Egmont sea buoy, nine miles offshore and provide the local knowledge, skill and ship-handling ability

“THE PILOTAGE ROUTE

FROM SEA TO TAMPA IS

FORTY NAUTICAL MILES

-ALMOST TWICE AS

LONG AS JACKSONVIILLE,

THE NEXT LONGEST

ROUTE IN FLORIDA.

THE SHORTEST ROUTE–

PORT EVERGLADES IS

LESS THAN TWO MILES.”

necessary to safely conduct or “con” the vessel over the bar, through the channels, and in most

cases to dock the vessel with or without tugs as indicated. To pilot the vessel out of port the same

procedure is followed but in reverse order. The pilot is nearly always the first personal contact a

foreign shipmaster makes as he enters the United States. We therefore regard ourselves

additionally as “ambassadors of good will.” Whether our manner always reflects that attitude

may, of course, be open to question by those with whom we do business. To the uninformed who

might accompany a pilot on an assignment it might appear that the pilot goes aboard a vessel and

“takes command” so to speak. Nothing could be further from the truth; the master of the vessel is

always in command and has the final word on all matters pertaining to his vessel, including piloting. Indeed, the master may

relieve the pilot and take over the direction of his vessel any time he chooses. This is rarely done, but is not without precedent. As

a matter of practice and custom, however, the pilot boards the vessel and “assumes direction” of the piloting operation. This

includes giving advice and information to the master and all necessary orders and directions to the deck officer and helmsman

relative to engine maneuvers, speed, courses, wheel or steering orders, placement of tugs and the necessary orders to each of these

in docking or undocking.

Only rarely does the pilot actually steer or operate the engine order telegraph. In short, the pilot is merely an advisor who

gives the necessary information and orders to safely navigate the ship into and out of greater Tampa harbor. In light of certain

recent experiences, some in this regard might also debate our effectiveness. The operation of providing pilotage service for Tampa

and its many facilities goes on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Thus, our office is never closed and the pilots never sleep,

“figuratively speaking”. The only exception to this is during a hurricane or severe northwesters when it is considered unsafe to

attempt to board or disembark in the gulf.

Certain physical hazards incidental to piloting are ever-present, tragic proof of which has been provided on numbers of

“THE SUCCESS OF

OUR OPERATION

DEPENDS IN VERY

LARGE MEASURE ON

OUR EMPLOYEES.”

19

occasions. One pilot lost his life by drowning and another was permanently disabled, necessitating his premature retirement. Some

months ago, another of our members was injured and is still unable to resume his duties. As in all businesses, the success of our

operation depends in very large measure on our employees. Twelve in number, they consist of our office manager, secretary, night

dispatchers, boatmen, mechanic, and cooks. They are skilled individuals and many of them have been with us for years. In terms of

number of vessels and tonnage, Tampa is by far the largest port in Florida. Moreover, as noted earlier, its 40-mile pilotage route is

almost twice as long as the next longest. For these reasons the port also has the greatest number of pilots of any Florida port.

Maintaining a pilot station on Egmont Key and certain other factors make it the most expensive such operation in the State.

Despite this, pilotage services are provided at the same cost to the ship-owner as in the other ports in Florida. Chapter 310,

Florida Statutes, as mentioned before, is the controlling state law insofar as pilot commissioners, pilots and pilotage are concerned.

This Board of Pilot Commissioners is our governing body and the state agency charged by law with the responsibility for insuring

adequate pilotage services. Thus, their regulation, while much simpler and confined to the local level, is, nevertheless, very similar

to that exercised by the Public Service Commission over the several power and communications utilities of the State of Florida.

Briefly stated, our Board of Pilot Commissioners is authorized by Chapter 310 to appoint pilots and apprentices, regulate pilotage

rates, and conduct hearings on casualties involving vessels coming under their purview and to take appropriate action in absolving

from blame or disciplining pilots in such cases.

These basic regulatory powers date back to 1868, and even earlier in some cases. Certain sections of Chapter 310 and another

chapter not related to pilots or piloting, all enacted before the turn of the century, provide for specific authority and duties, which

have become obsolete in view of modern port operations. For example, pilot commissioners are to “act as port wardens” — to

examine vessels, cargo, and stowage thereof, and to attend public auctions of vessels or cargo and to oversee and direct such

auctions. The reason for these now-obsolete provisions was simple: there was then no other appropriate public body to attend to

these matters.

All of the foregoing brings us to the important question: who bears the expense of pilotage and how are pilots paid? To begin

with, the pilotage rate is $8-$25 per foot of draft. Thus, the total pilotage fee equals this figure times the draft of the vessel each

way. The ship is billed this amount by our association, usually through their local agent. After all monthly expenses for current

operations and capital expenditures are deducted. The remainder is divided equally among the fifteen pilots. The state pilotage

system has come under fire from time to time for various reasons and from diverse sources. It would take much time and serve no

useful purpose to recollect them. Yet one indisputable fact stands out above all others: Florida State pilotage in general and the

service offered by the Tampa Bay Pilots in particular has existed as a regulated public service from the beginning, at no expense to

the taxpayer, and with no risk or liability to anyone save the ship owner and the pilots themselves.

The needs of this port for deeper channels to accommodate the vessels of ever-increasing size and draft have been documented

time and again. Much has been done by public agencies and private interests to bring this about. The Tampa Port Authority in

particular should be singled out for commendation for their untiring efforts on this project. Yet much remains to be done at the

higher levels of government. Failure or inability on the part of the appropriate federal agencies to take timely and effective action

on these desperately needed improvements will, in the opinion of this speaker, inevitably force us all down the byway of immediate

decline and eventual oblivion as a port of worldwide importance.

-Captain John D. Ware, 1969

21

An early scene on Egmont Key. A steamer in port and striped marker being launched by a group of men (some soldiers). “Mischief” owned by Captain

Harry G. Warner “making a beat” on a schooner at the mouth of Tampa Bay. “Mischief “was described as “fast and pretty but nasty in foul weather” by

Captain C.W. Bahrt , Tampa Bay Pilot from 1907-1937. (USF Library collection).

n 1819, the Adams-Onis treaty ceded Florida from Spain to the United States. Florida became an organized

territory of the United States on March 30, 1822 and under the direction of Governor William Duval, began

establishing infrastructure and regulation. In September 16, of that same year, the Legislative Council for

the Territory of Florida approved an act providing for the appointment of pilots. It is not until February 28,

1839, that Act No. 17 specified that the Florida Territory shall appoint three “discreet and proper” persons to act as port

wardens for the harbor of Tampa Bay. The port wardens were then given the authority within the limits of their respective

ports, to regulate the anchorage, mooring and dockage of vessels. This act essentially established the process and

administration of the Commissioners of Pilotage who were licensed by the port wardens. In Act No. 17, Section 6 it specifies:

“…That the said board (of Port Wardens) within the limits of their respective ports, shall constitute a board of commissioners

of pilotage, and shall appoint and license such other persons as may be deemed most fit and proper, to act as pilots for the ports

or harbors aforesaid, respectively; which persons so licensed, shall hold their branches during good behavior; and the said

board of commissioners shall require from said pilots, such a bond and security, for the faithful performance of the duty

required of him or them, as the said board of commissioners shall deem proper; which bonds shall be made payable to the

governor of the Territory and his successor in office; and the pilots so appointed shall, moreover, take and subscribe an oath or

affirmation, well and truly to execute and discharge all the duties required of him or them as pilots; and the said

commissioners of pilotage shall have power to establish rates, and define rules and regulations for the government of the pilots;

which rates, rules and regulations, shall be officially promulgated, by publishing in any newspaper in the districts,

respectively.”

Chapter 1

EARLY PILOTAGE ON TAMPA BAY

I

23

From February 28, 1839, Laws of the Territory of Florida

Act No. 17 “An Act constituting a Board of Wardens, Com-

missioners of Pilotage and Commissioners of Wrecks for the

Port of Jacksonville and other places” including the harbor

of Tampa Bay. This act essentially established the process

and administration of the Commissioners of Pilotage in

Tampa Bay. (From the Library at Princeton University)

Records show that during the April term, the Hillsboro (sic) County

Commission named two pilots for duties at Tampa Bay. Those men

were Louis Covacevich and Samuel Bishop who both lived at Fort

Brooke at that time. Louis G. Covacevich was born in Trieste, Austria

in 1811 although some sources suggest he was born at sea. He arrived

in Tampa Bay, Florida around 1837. He applied for U.S. citizenship in

September of 1842 and applied for a land grant under the provisions of

the Armed Occupation Act of 1842. Permit 380 was issued to Covacevich for 160 acres of land at Rocky Creek, just north of

Rocky Point on April 23, 1843.

Covacevich was the first of two pilots to be appointed at Tampa Bay through legislation in 1848 and served the ports of Tampa

Bay for at least twenty years. In his later years, Covacevich studied law and was admitted to the Florida bar. He became a

Hillsborough County Commissioner and lived in Tampa until his death in 1887. He is buried at Oaklawn Cemetery . In July 25,

1848, Congress appropriated land on which a town could be built. At that time, Tampa was a very small village of less than 100

inhabitants lying in the shadow of the garrison known as Fort Brooke. The garrison had a large commissary warehouse, two

hospital buildings, a bakeshop, a carpenter’s shop, the quartermaster’s office, ordinance warehouses, a clothing building, horse

sheds, army barracks and a blacksmith shop. Officers maintained homes on the bay at the foot of what would now be Nebraska

Avenue. The fort also had a large wharf at the present foot of Platt Street.

After the appointment of pilots in 1848, their association was not clear aside from being licensed and regulated by the County

Commissioners. The channel also remained shallow and difficult to navigate with large craft. The practice of hailing a pilot at the

entrance to Tampa Bay remained in place. Sometimes a pilot would respond and at other times, the vessels were left to their own

devices. U.S. military interests still independently contracted experienced pilots as the Seminole Wars began and skilled pilots

T H E Y E A R 1 8 4 8 IS ONE TO REMEMBER IN

THE HISTORY OF THE PORT

OF TAMPA AND PILOTAGE

25

were retained by shipping interests for regular lines servicing the garrison. Some men who would later become the founding

members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association were masters for the schooners and steamers of the lines serving Tampa. There is a

particular pilot who worked in the service of the U.S. Navy in those days and through the Civil War who can undoubtedly be

credited for bringing the legend and tradition of Jose Gaspar and Gasprarilla to Tampa. His name was Juan (John) Gomez.

Census records of 1850 show that Gomez, age 28 at the time, lived in the Covacevich household and his occupation listed…Pilot.

With Gomez come some interesting insights on early piloting around Tampa Bay. As a pilot used by the U.S. Navy at Fort

Brooke, he quickly found a demand to bring excursionists out to Pass-a-Grille and Egmont Key for picnics and camping aboard his

schooner, Red Jack. His excursions were popular during the 1850’s, the period of the Third Seminole War. Egmont became a more

frequented destination for excursionists due to the wartime activities which took place on Egmont. Seminole prisoners were

detained there until the Army could ship them to reservations in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Although the war was relatively minor,

it did bring government contractors, promoters, merchants and military officers and their families to the garrison at Tampa. John’s

excursions provided some relief from the tedium of life at Fort Brooke by hunting, fishing and general recreation.

Gomez quickly learned to beguile his passengers for fun and profit with piratical tales and fireside accounts of his exploits in

the Florida wilderness and at sea. He looked like a pirate, talked like one and had a reputation for “high rascality” that he tirelessly

cultivated according to Frank Hurley in his book on the history of Pass-a-Grille, “Surf, Sand

and Postcard Sunsets” published in 1977.

The following description is from Kenneth Ransom who met Gomez in 1898. “His

complexion was brown, dark and rich in color like century old mahogany and his thick

white hair, bushy and plentiful framed a face seamed and lined but keen and full of vigor.

His voice was clear and full and he gestured freely as he talked with the animation of a

young man”.

Ultimately the Civil War put John and his excursions aboard Red Jack out of business. The need for his piloting services

increased with the rising tensions between the North and South. Gomez provided piloting services to supply ships entering and

exiting Tampa and the gunboats USS Tahoma and the USS Adele. When not piloting vessels in and out of the port, he would serve

with a Tampa home guard unit. After a saloon brawl and amidst an increasingly hostile environment for a Unionist, Gomez left

Tampa and appeared in Key West where he served as pilot aboard the Federal schooner Two Sisters on blockading duty out of Key

West.

Piloting became a rather precarious endeavor in Tampa Bay throughout the Civil War. Martial Law was declared at Fort

Brooke in 1861 and the Egmont Key light was disassembled and buried on the mainland by Confederate interests. The lighthouse

remained dark from August 23, 1861 until June 6, 1866. The Union forces managed to occupy Egmont Key due to the Federal

Lighthouse Service (which was based in Union held Key West). Tampa and Fort Brooke remained under a Confederate flag for

most of the war. A succession of yellow fever epidemics compounded problems for vessels coming into Tampa Bay. To address this

public health issue federal regulation was implemented by the port inspector requiring a quarantine period. The federal

regulations were to be enforced by any pilot working the ports of Tampa Bay.

Tampa was plagued with Yellow Fever outbreaks into the 20th century. Captain H. L. Johnson, was an early pilot who came

to Tampa with the Plant Steamship Line in 1893. Capt. Johnson had the first car in Port Tampa City. He contracted Yellow

Fever after shuttling the ill from Port Tampa City over to Tampa for medical attention. He died of the illness himself in 1901.

27

JOHN GOMEZ “THE PERFECT PILOT” John Gomez was a well-known character throughout the Florida territory from Cedar Key to Key

West. A foreign born man of Hispanic descent and longtime resident of Florida, Gomez was

considered to be the “perfect pilot” by a Union Navy officer who he served under in the summer of

1863, Captain Charles H. Rockwell. In an 1896 edition of Forest and Stream, a predecessor of the

publication Field and Stream, Capt. Rockwell describes Gomez during his service in the Civil War:

Long year ago, say in the summer of 1863, I became the proprietor of John Gomez. The Commander-and-Chief of the East Gulf

Blockading Squadron selected me for the command of the U.S. schooner, Two Sisters, familiarly called the “Two Shysters”. The lofty vessel

was a Baltimore pungy of about 40 tons, drawing about 9 feet of water aft and 4 feet forward, as some suggested, so that she could climb hills

like a kangaroo. She carried under my command one-twelve pound howitzer and was manned by twelve seamen, three petty officers, one

master’s mate and a pilot. When I proceeded on board to take charge of this my first command in the Government service, I found sitting on

deck smoking , silently and diligently, his knees near his chin, his back rounded like a bicycle scorcher, his old straw hat covering his head from

the nape of his neck to his eyebrows,

John Gomez, Pilot, U.S. Navy-a man swarthy and silent and looking like an Indian but when once opened up, like an oyster, with

considerable meat in him. John was my property until the war closed. He ate and drank with me and slept, when he did sleep, somewhere

near at hand. He knew a good many things not generally known and when he chose to talk could be very interesting. The duty on which I

was employed was of great interest and frequently very exciting-that of the inshore shoal water cruising and blockade of the west coast of

Florida, Gomez was in his way a perfect pilot. I think he knew familiarly every shoal, rock, oyster bed, creek, inlet, mud bank, fishing ledge,

roosting place for birds deer track and channel from Key West to Pensacola. It is my impression that most of our living came from his

direction about where to find fish, game, shellfish, etc. and it was a most fascinating specimen of yachting and hunting combined, where the

game was primarily blockade runners and men generally and secondarily everything edible that waved a wing or wiggled a fin.

His age was apparently between 40 and 70. Over that range you could guess at will. There were no fences on that range. He had lived many

years in Florida, had intimate knowledge of the Everglades and an acquaintance with the Indian residents there, He had apparently made his

headquarters at or about Tampa. When the war broke out he was there about but a time soon came when he found it convenient to cross the

line and not to be slow about it. So he “took to the bush” and found rest for his wandering feet in Key West. He found employment as pilot on

Government ships but he did not like to serve on the steamers or larger ships.

Once when employed running a fast steamer up the coast at night to Tampa, close inshore, the night be very dark. John did not make out how

to go slower as he desired to do so and unaware that he should tell his fears to the officer on deck, he wandered about until he found the engine

room and advised the engineer on watch (in a heavy accent I will not attempt to reproduce), “don’t boil your water too hot” which was his

idea of going slower. He carried somewhere about him a flint and steel and a horn full of tinder and produced fire from it to light his pipe.

He was always perfectly clean and neat but his clothing was tropical and free; I do not think he liked to wear shoes. Squatted on deck with his

old pipe was his usual posture. His language was calm and slow, I rarely saw him vehement. But there was a secret slumbering force about

him which savored of helpfulness and power and I have rarely met a man whom I would tie to, for outing or danger, ashore or afloat with

more confidence than I would to John Gomez.”

“Panther Key John”, as he was later known, appeared in many

sportsmen’s publications of the time, praised for his skill as a guide,

and a waterman. He was also a familiar and fond subject of Donald

Brenham McKay, grandson of Captain James McKay, Sr. In his years

as publisher for the Tampa Times and later in the column he wrote for

the Tampa Tribune called “Pioneer Florida”, D.B. McKay would

collect tales and first person accounts of Gomez from all around. He

was particularly fascinated with Gomez’s purported association with

Jose Gaspar, a legendary pirate who plundered ships of any flag in the

Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean; he served as the

impetus for the legend of Gasprarilla, a common subject of his

animated fireside tales on Pass-a-Grille before the Civil War.

John Gomez and his wife on Panther Key (Charlotte Harbor) where

he lived out his days fishing. John was a pilot for the U.S. Navy dur-

ing the Civil War and was notorious for telling a story about a pirate

named Jose Gaspar. (Manatee County)

29

he establishment of Fort Brooke can be

traced back to September of 1823 and the

Treaty of Moultrie Creek when a retired

army officer named Col. James Gadsden

negotiated with the Seminole Indians placing them on a

reservation and under the protection of the United States;

effectively giving up all claim to Florida. The Seminole

reservation of four million acres ran down the middle of

Florida from present day Ocala to a line even with the

bottom of Tampa Bay. Implementation of the treaty stalled

and Col. George Mercer Brooke was dispatched to assist in

identifying a strategic location for a fort to maintain four

companies of infantry and a military presence on the central

west coast of Florida. Despite the terms of the treaty,

Gadsden explained in a letter to the Secretary of War, John

C. Calhoun that the Seminoles in the area would not move

into the reservation if the United States government

neglected to show “power and disposition to compel

obedience”. Gadsden also hastily wrote a letter to Brooke on

December 1, 1823. He wanted to insure Brooke would arrive

on the scene at

Tampa Bay at the

same time or before

his own arrival.

Gadsden, acting as

Indian Commissioner

was clearly concerned

about his exposure to

hostilities from the

loca l Se mi no le s

occupying the Tampa

Bay area.

Chapter 2

FORT BROOKE & THE

HARBOR AT TAMPA

T

Plat map from 1842 showing Ft. Brooke and

the waterways, (Florida State Archives)

Col. Brooke selected the east bank of the Hillsborough River as the site for an army garrison. It is widely accepted that he

chose the spot because a young New Yorker, Robert J. Hackley, had built a comfortable homestead and cleared land for a

plantation that would provide excellent quarters for his officers and himself in short order. On February 20, 1824, the first tree

was felled to construct the garrison. Colonel Brooke paid no attention to the fact that the channel to the Hillsborough River was

only seven feet deep which meant that any seagoing vessel would have to anchor at least two miles down the bay, beyond the sandy

shoals. Considering his healthy militia force and no other orders aside from providing a military presence on the site, Brooke had

plenty of men on hand to bring supplies on lighters (small craft) and all the time in the world to get the task done. So why worry

about a harbor? The Colonel didn’t but it wasn’t long before others did. By 1846 merchants who were establishing businesses

adjacent to the fort were petitioning congress for appropriations to deepen the channel a few feet and mitigate some of the tortuous

curves in the channel leading into the port. Congress gave nothing.

Tampa’s first school session began on Monday,

September 11, 1848 and two weeks later classes were

interrupted by the worst storm ever experienced in the

Tampa Bay region. The stormy weather preceding the

hurricane started on Saturday, the 23rd. By Sunday, the wind

was barreling out of the east and complimented with heavy

rain. The schooner, John T. Sprague, a payroll carrier, was

seen coming up the bay. After hours of effort, a crew of

soldiers managed to bring her in. Early Monday morning

the wind shifted to the south and finally to the southwest and

gained in strength. Water from the Gulf was blown into the

bay and the wind kept sweeping it northward. The islands in (Above) Ft. Brooke in 1870 during the Seminole Wars with the notorious Live

Oaks growing through the roof of the barracks.

31

the Bay and the Interbay Peninsula were underwater and the

garrison almost completely inundated with crashing waves.

The wind was so strong that people were forced to crawl on

the ground in order to get to shelter from the storm.

Before the storm reached its peak, residents living on lower

ground began fleeing their homes for higher ground. An

account from one of the resident merchants tells of wading in

water up to his armpits through the fort. Then, looking

southward, he saw the commissary building rolling straight

towards him in the surge. He got away just as it crashed into

his own warehouse. Both buildings were swept up the river.

Meanwhile, the John T. Sprague with her army payroll and

crew still onboard was anchored at the shipyard just up river.

During the peak of the storm, the hull of a derelict vessel

crashed into her and broke her cables. She was blown into the

pinewoods close to Franklin and Madison.

On Egmont Key, the lighthouse built during the Seminole

War was badly damaged, as

was the lighthouse keeper’s

home. During the storm, the

light keeper, Marvel Edwards,

saw that the waves were going to engulf the island. He placed

his family in a boat, waded with it to the center of the island,

and tied the line to the highest point he could on a cabbage

palm. The family survived the ordeal but their possessions

had been washed right out of their home.

By Monday afternoon, the storm had waned and the

villagers began to assess the damage. The fort was in shambles.

The officer’s homes on the bay were gone along with the

barracks and the horse sheds and the pinewoods north of the

reservation were littered with debris and derelict craft. The

damage was surreal. Many villagers were literally dazed for

days by the site of the destruction and loss.

The hurricane of 1848 caused serious damage to Tampa

but, strangely enough, it contributed in a marked degree to

the growth of the infant town. In fact, the real growth of

Tampa might be said to date from that day in September of

1848 when the wind blew so furiously. The hurricane sped up

development tremendously due to the damage done at Fort

Brooke. The War Department wanted to rebuild the fort but

to a lesser scale than it had existed before. A new wharf was

constructed, along with barracks, new officers’ quarters and

warehouses. The work required tradesmen of all skills who

came to Tampa in large crews and many remained, bringing

their families with them. The reconstruction meant more

business for Tampa merchants and more activity in every

field. Tampa began to boom and so did shipping. Equipment

and supplies began coming into port for the reconstruction of

Fort Brooke and the village of Tampa en masse. The need for

pilots became quite clear.

During the 1848 hurricane, the size and shape of many of

the islands and bars along the coast underwent great change.

Some were washed away completely while the shifting sands

built others up. A number of new passes were opened and

others were closed. Government charts made before the

hurricane proved to be almost valueless after the storm

because of submerged debris and the changes in channel

depth. As a result, the County Commission appointed two

more pilots to Tampa Bay in the December session of that

year. Those men were William L. Nelson and John

Commack.

In 1854, the United States Navy surveyed Tampa Bay to

identify the best location for a railroad terminal. The report

was completed in 1855 after 32,121 soundings had been

taken. The conclusion was not good for Tampa but instead

favored the port of St. Petersburg. It showed Tampa had

only five feet of water or less for a distance of two miles from

shore while at the present site of St. Petersburg, eleven feet

of water was found less than half a mile out.

After much persuasion, Congress finally relented and

provided money to dredge the channel in 1880, after railroad

promoters began showing interest in Tampa Bay and her

harbor. After Henry B. Plant committed to building a line into

Tampa, dredging began. The government dredge Alabama

appeared in January of 1883 and Tampa had a narrow, writhing

8-foot channel up the Hillsborough River to just below the

bridge at Lafayette Street, by the end of 1885.

U. S. Engineers balked at the expense of creating a big ship

channel and opted to favor Old Tampa Bay where a natural

deep-water channel was comparatively close to shore.

Regardless, shallow draft steamers were now able to dock in

the city. Plant scrambled to extend the railroad to Port Tampa.

By 1891, a 20-foot channel, 200 feet wide was completed to

Port Tampa.

33 Unloading at Port Tampa in the late 1880s. (Florida State Archives)

village for years, Tampa was destined for

growth which began in earnest in the last

decade of the 18th century. The Territory of Florida became

the 27th state in 1845 and pilots were appointed four years

later to Tampa Bay. On January 18, 1849, Tampa was

populated enough (185 residents) to officially incorporate as

the “Village of Tampa” adjacent to Fort Brooke. By the time

of the 1850 census Tampa-Fort Brooke, as it was listed,

included 974 residents including military personnel.

In 1855 Manatee County was parted out of Hillsborough

County and in 1861 Polk County was established but

expansion and trade were hindered by the outbreak of the

Second Seminole War in 1856. In February of that same year,

a company of infantry was organized to combat the Indian

hostilities. The state also mustered troops for Federal service

and for a time there were ten independent companies of

mounted Florida infantry at Tampa serving under the federal

government. There were also two boat companies, called

quartermaster’s men, who were charged with scouting the

inland waters using metal boats. Government supplies were

brought from New Orleans by steamer periodically and along

with the troop buildup came an increase in business and trade.

In addition to frequent attacks and mayhem from the local

Indian population who were resisting a continuous push

towards containment in designated lands in the state’s

interior, there were frequent and devastating bouts of yellow

fever. From 1856-1858 county commissioners refused to

assign monies to any of the school districts and were not

Chapter 3

TAMPA, THE RAILROAD

A N D T H E C I V I L W A R

A

35

required to maintain roads and bridges due to the unsettled

conditions in the region. On July 14, 1856 the Tampa mayor

and city council members ordained that the port of Tampa be

under government specified quarantine laws. A point half

way between the outer stakes of the channel and Ballast Point

was declared to be a quarantine station and designated by a

yellow flag fixed on the shoreline.

Dr. Darwin A. Branch was appointed port inspector to

insure compliance with the quarantine and duly authorized to

appoint suitable assistance. His duty was to board any vessel

believed to have arrived from seaward and not displaying a

white flag before it passed Gadsden Point. Then the master,

owner or agent of the vessel would be required to pay for a

certificate confirming a clean bill of health. The minimum

charge was $3 for vessels under 25 tons and a maximum of

$10 for vessels of 150 tons and over.

Dr. Branch was soon overwhelmed with

the task of boarding each vessel and turned

to the pilots of the port of Tampa to make

known all health laws to the masters of the

vessels. At this time the pilots of Tampa

Bay were unassociated, often acting as pilot, master and agent

for a regular line. Failure to comply with the laws came with

the threat of imprisonment for up to three months or a $100

fine. The punishment applied to masters and pilots alike. The

ordinance appeared in the Florida Peninsular newspaper and

was signed by Mayor J.B. Lancaster. By September 11, 1856

town ordinance No. 16 required all agents and owners of

property situated within the city limits to cut down and clean

up scrub, weeds, and stumps on and about their lots extending

one-half of the street their property is situated on. Failure to

comply resulted in a tax to the property owners. This practice

continued well into the 20th century as Tampa continued to

grow.

In 1856, Dr. Branch assumed the duties of mayor from

Lancaster when he became ill. Lancaster later died. Dr.

Branch began the “minutes of the mayor’s

court, City of Tampa” while completing

Lancaster’s term in office. At 24, Darwin

Branch had already served as port

inspector and mayor of Tampa. He would

serve a full term as the Mayor of Tampa

from 1857-1858 during the peak of a

Yellow Fever epidemic. In 1858, the future of Tampa seemed

bright and assured when a charter was granted to build a

railroad line, called the “Florida Railroad”, from Fernandina

to Tampa Bay with a branch to Cedar Key.

David Levy Yulee is a name associated with the earliest

American interests and activities in Florida. Congressman,

Senator and Confederate , he was born in Charlotte Amalie on

St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in 1810, the son of a wealthy

lumber baron. The family immigrated to the United States

after his father purchased 50,000 acres of land in the north

east region of the Florida Territory. Yulee’s father, Moses, a

Sephardic Jew from Morocco, had a vision to establish a “New

Jerusalem” for Jewish settlers in the burgeoning territory. In

1841, near the end of the Second Seminole War, David Yulee

was elected as a delegate from the Florida Territory to the US

House of Representatives. After Florida was admitted as a

state, the Florida Legislature elected Yulee

to the United States Senate. During his time

in the Senate, Congress commissioned a

survey of a route for a railroad in north

Florida between the St. Mary’s River and

Cedar Key.

The water route between the east coast and gulf coast of

the United States included a 1,000 mile circumnavigation of

the entire Florida peninsula. Ships would come down the

eastern seaboard through the Straits of Florida, named the

martyrs, by the Spanish for their treacherous reef system and

shoals, and up the interior coast on the Gulf of Mexico. A

railroad across the northeastern end of Florida would allow

cargoes from ships in the Gulf to be transferred to ships in the

Atlantic without the risk of passage through the Straits of

Florida all while cutting 800 miles off the trip each way.

There was a thirteen year lull in the Indian hostilities

between 1842 and 1855 and being defeated for re-election to

the senate in 1850, Yulee directed his efforts to building a state

owned railroad on his lands which would connect the Atlantic

with ports in the Gulf of Mexico. Yulee issued private stock for

the “Florida Railroad”, a company which won the federal grant

to construct the railroad line eastern and

western terminals at deep-water ports in

Florida. The project would be the first of

its kind using state grants under the

Florida Internal Improvement Act of 1855, as

collateral and capital raised from his initial

37

public offering; Yulee began construction on the intrastate

railroad line the same year. By 1858, the third and last of the

Seminole Wars was over and a period of peace and prosperity

resumed. Construction of the line progressed and would

include a port at Fernandina on Amelia Island for the Atlantic

side, and Tampa was to be the original western terminal with a

branch to Cedar Key. The Cedar Key extension was completed

first and the Tampa connection was all but abandoned due to

an increasingly charged political environment between the

states and the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.

On January 10, 1861, Florida declared its secession from

the Union three months before the start of the Civil War. Ten

days after its declaration, Florida became a founding member

of the Confederate States of America. On March 1, 1861, the

first train arrived in Cedar Key from the east coast and by

April 12, 1861 the “War Between the States” had begun. The

most feasible route travelers could reach Tampa for the next

25 years, was by rail from Fernandina or Jacksonville to Cedar

Key, and then by schooner or occasionally by steamer to Clear

Water Harbor (sic) and then overland (or by boat all the way

from Cedar Key and up Tampa Bay) to Tampa. The great

period of development in Tampa foundered.

TAMPA’S ROLE IN THE CIVIL WAR

In January of 1861, Florida seceded from the United

States to form the Confederate States of America. Fort

Brooke was soon under Confederate control and martial law

was declared by January of 1862. Tampa’s city government

ceased to exist for the duration of the war. During the Civil

War, a critical component to the Union war strategy was the

Anaconda Plan. Proposed by General-in-Chief Winfield

Scott, the plan called for a rigorous blockade of Southern

shipping and Union occupation of southern seaports. Key

West remained a Union held port due to the naval base and

the Union Navy eventually controlled the ports at Cedar

Key, Jacksonville and Pensacola. Tampa was considered a

diminutive port at the time and cattle was the primary export

from the area. Captain James McKay won the contract for

sutler (a sutler or victualer is a civilian merchant who sells

provisions to

soldiers the field,

in camp or in

quarters) at Fort

Myers and built a fleet to facilitate shipping on Florida’s gulf

coast. He chose Tampa as his shipping hub. As the Indian

Wars ended in 1858, troops were relocated from Florida

encampments and cattlemen such as McKay, Francis Asbury

Hendry, William Brinton Hooker and Jacob Summerlin

found that their thriving cattle businesses which (based on

demand from federal soldiers) was evaporating with the

troop withdrawal. A new market was needed for the cattle

business set to boom with the newly opened ranges near the

Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee.

Summerlin and McKay found a market in Cuba where they

could sell cattle for a healthy profit. By 1860, McKay had

shipped 4,016 head of cattle compared to 679 the year

before. A disastrous drought in 1860 killed thousands of

cattle waiting shipment at Tampa and the partners moved

their loading operation to Charlotte Harbor and the mouth

of the Peace River. The political climate was accelerating

and along with it the cattle business. In the confusion of

1861 and the secession, no one in Union controlled Key

West or Confederate occupied Tampa interfered with

McKay’s operation. As the Civil War began to ramp up,

McKay found allies on both sides and benefited by his

association. He entered into an agreement to provide beef

to Union troops at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas

under the condition that the Union would not interfere

with his Cuban cattle trade. McKay’s shipping endeavors

became quite complicated after the Florida secession. He

was complicit with the Union presence in Key West, selling

cattle from Confederate business interests in Tampa and

transporting to foreign markets in Cuba in one singular

route. After getting into a bit of trouble over his business

associations and ties to Confederate interest, McKay was

given permission to pass through the Union blockade at

Tampa which he apparently utilized and continued running

cattle and other increasingly profitable supplies such as

cotton to the Union, the Confederacy and the Cuban

market.

39

The Battle of Tampa was the first of two minor

engagements at Tampa Bay during the Civil War. On June 30,

1862, the Union gunboat Sagamore turned her broadside on the

town of Tampa and demanded surrender. Sporadic firing

occurred through July first and the Sagamore withdrew

accomplishing little or nothing in the way of controlling the

port. Union occupation would not come to Fort Brooke until

October of 1863 after the Battle of Fort Brooke.

OCTOBER 16, 1863 - The U.S.S. Tahoma and the U.S.S. Adela were ordered to seize two Confederate blockade-runners, the Scottish Chief (owned by Captain James MacKay) and the Kate Dale. The Union plan was to shell the town and Fort Brooke and, under the cover of darkness, to send men ashore to destroy the blockade-runners. The citizens of Tampa held an emergency meeting to form a military company to defend the city against the Union forces. Confederate troops from the 2nd Florida Infantry Battalion were on hand to help repel the Federal invasion. OCTOBER 17, 1863 - The Union ships, Adela and Tahoma, shelled Tampa today. A number of casualties were inflicted. On land, Federal troops reached the Hillsborough River at about 6:00 a.m. Sighting the Scottish Chief and the Kate Dale, they set both ships on fire. The Scottish Chief had a cargo of 156 bales of cotton, while the Kate Dale carried 11 bales. Confederate forces, under the command of Captain James Westcott, attacked the Federals later in the evening and killed five soldiers,

wounded ten, and took seven prisoner. Confederate losses were not reported. OCTOBER 17, 1863 - The famed “Cow Cavalry” continued its roundup of cattle in the Tampa region for movement to Confederate troops in Virginia and Tennessee. OCTOBER 18, 1863 - Federal soldiers wounded in yesterday’s skirmish near Tampa were evacuated to the lighthouse on Egmont Key. In a display of 19th century gallantry, Confederate Captain James Westcott, who commanded the successful action against the Federals, informed the Union soldiers that their dead would be buried with full military honors in Tampa.

Involved in a delicate balance between Union and

Confederate forces, lighthouse keeper George V. Richards was

technically under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Collector of

Customs at Key West when the Civil War broke out.

Confederate authorities transferred this authority to the

Customs House at St. Marks and word was passed through to

the Deputy Collector of Customs at Tampa that the light-

house’s third order Fresnel lens required safeguarding from

Federal attack. After receiving payment for services through

September 30th, Richards obliged the Confederate request and

disassembled the apparatus, taking it to Tampa and later

Brooksville to be hidden. Tampa remained a Confederate port but was under Union control

by virtue of the Union’s occupation of Egmont Key (July 1861) and its use of Egmont Key as

a base, fuel depot and hospital for the East Gulf Blockade Squadron.

PILOTING DURING

THE CIVIL WAR

John Whitehurst, a resident of Tampa who refused to join the Confederate Army aided the

Union after approaching a Federal vessel anchored in Tampa and reporting on the defenses of

Tampa. Whitehurst along with his brother, Scott, his wife and three boys, were relocated to

Egmont along with other Union sympathizers for their safety. Whitehurst assisted the Union

forces as a guide and pilot for weeks but was ultimately wounded mortally while gathering

supplies on the mainland near “Old Tampa”. Whitehurst’s brother Scott was also shot and

killed instantly. After drifting in his boat for two days, Whitehurst was discovered clinging

to life and brought to Egmont Key where he told the others of his attack and later died of his

injuries. He was buried just south of the lighthouse; perhaps the first pilot to be laid to rest

on the island.

At the end of the Civil War federal troops occupied Fort Brooke and the Port of Tampa until 1869. The residents voted to

abolish the government of the Port of Tampa that same year because it was a mess and the village began to slowly slip away.

Yellow Fever returned and populations began to move out of the area around the garrison and into the growing enclaves in the

areas of Manatee, Pasco and eventually Pinellas.

41

EGMONT KEY

& FORT DADE 1 8 8 2 - 1 9 1 6

Chapter 4

From late 1700’s, a remake of the Celi map

of Tampa Bay which was published by some

rather unscrupulous mapmakers in Eng-

land. It is widely accepted as the original.

The map is identical with the exceptions of

the ornate scale key and the crowded text

in the upper right corner. These features

were added to the map made by Celi.

(South Florida Museum)

F

rancisco Maria Celi, pilot of the Spanish Royal Fleet, surveyed Tampa Bay in 1757 during the first period of Spanish

occupation of Florida. The island to which he gave the name “San Blas y Barreda” was identified as Egmont Key.

He named the island after the General Commander of the Royal Naval Forces in Habana, Blas de Barreda. Great Britain acquired

Florida from Spain in 1763 and promptly sent a surveyor over to assess the navigable waterways. The 1769 maps of Thomas

Jefferys, Geographer to King George III

who was sent to chart the waters also

identified Egmont Island. In a 1774 map,

Bernard Romans designates the island

“Egmont Isle or Castor Key”. His maps

were used long after Great Britain ceded

the territories of East and West Florida

back to Spain in 1783 as a stipulation in

the Treaty of Paris at the end of the

43

American Revolution. The territory that would

become the state of Florida remained under British

rule throughout the American Revolution.

Commercial shipping increased rapidly after

Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821

after the Adams-Onis Treaty was ratified by the

Spanish Government. A lighthouse was requested

as early as 1833 as an aid to navigation for vessels

running up the coast from Key West to Pensacola.

In 1838, recommendations were made to Congress

to build a lighthouse on Egmont Key to replace a

beacon consisting of a barrel painted black and

white perched on top of an fifty foot spar installed

in 1836. Congress obliged with a $7,580

appropriation to construct a lighthouse and keeper’s house at the north end of the island. The lighthouse would enter into service

in May of 1848. At that time, it was the only lighthouse between St. Marks and Key West but on September of that same year.

The worst hurricane to ever hit Tampa Bay caused extensive damage to the structures.

In 1849, a board of Engineers visited coastal Florida between Pensacola and Amelia Island. Travelling with them in the

capacity of recorder was none other than Colonel Robert E. Lee. They made recommendations to the War Department for future

(military) works and the construction of a fortification on Egmont Key. After six years of successive deterioration by the shifting

sands and the elements, a new tower was approved and construction began around 1856.

A squared rigger off the coast of Egmont Key. M01-08813-A (Manatee County

Public Library)

The new lighthouse was completed 1858 and is the same

structure used today. Although the new lighthouse was said

to “withstand any storm” it was damaged again by the storm

of rebellion we know as the Civil War (1861-1865) and

between 1864 and 1866 the Egmont Key light was dark. The

details of the event are unclear but on May 12, 1864, Brig.

General David Woodbury reported on a temporary Union

occupation of Tampa and stated that the lens “could not be

found”. Another officer reported, “a part of the property

belonging to the lighthouse at Egmont Key was found and

brought away.” The only other reference to the Egmont Key

lighthouse occurred during a Federal naval raid on Tampa

Bay in October of 1863 and indicated that refugees from the

Confederate territory used the key as a refuge. The account

states:

The wounded were taken to a Government building near the lighthouse, on Egmond (sic) Key and left in charge of Dr. Gunning of the (vessel) “Tahoma”.

By 1882, a military reservation called Fort Dade was

established on Egmont Key. It covered 378 acres and

included dozens of buildings and a tennis court. It was an

active military base as late as 1918. Pilots providing

services at Tampa Bay naturally found company with the

genial light keeper at Egmont in the late 1800s. Before any

pilots erected dwellings on the island, they would enjoy the

hospitality of the Moore family and their comfortable home

adjacent the lighthouse. Captain Charles Moore worked as

the Senior Light keeper for 31 years, from 1877 until 1902.

He came to Tampa shortly after the Civil War and

announced a few months thereafter, “I am a damn Yankee,

The barracks and hospital at Fort Dade. Egmont was used as a detention

facility for Seminole Indians being transported to reservations out west

after the Seminole Wars . It was also used as a quarantine station during

the yellow fever epidemic in the late 1880s.

45

but I like the town and I like the people and I’m going to

stay here-if they’ll let me.”

Capt. Moore’s kind disposition and longevity at the post

made him familiar to residents across the region and

throughout the maritime community. In the years before

regular piloting services were offered at Tampa Bay, foreign

tramp steamers and vessels coming into the ports around

Tampa Bay would stop inside of Egmont Key and pick up a

chart from the Light keeper to navigate the channels and

find their way up to Port Tampa. Upon their outbound

passage, they would stop again and return the chart.

Captain William Austin Switzer would eventually

build the first pilot dwelling and lookout tower on the island

of Egmont Key along with Captain Henry G. Warner, a

Tampa resident and member of a pioneering Manatee family,

who operated a chandlery with his brother in Port Tampa.

Prior to that, Switzer would come over from Terra Ceia,

staying at the Light keeper’s home as he awaited incoming

ships. Capt. Moore would say (in jest), ”Capt. Switzer must

surely have glue on the seat of his pants, as he would rather

be cold than get up to replenish the old wood stove with

fuel.”

Captain Moore had a young son, who was born in

Tampa on October 25, 1876 and taken as an infant to

Egmont when the family relocated to tend the light. He

remained on the island until he relocated to Tampa in

November, 1922 to work with the first organized group of

professional pilots. Charlie Moore served as office manager,

bookkeeper, dispatcher and agent for 25 years retiring from Light Keeper, Charles Moore sitting on his front porch on Egmont Key.

(Manatee County).

his position with the Tampa Bay Pilots Association in

February of 1948.

The 1900 census indicates that Capt. Switzer was an

employee of the “Plant Steam Ship Co.” and likely went

from running a line to providing piloting services to vessels

serving the Plant Railroad at Tampa. His life on the island

was short-lived and by 1900 he and his family left Egmont

Key and were living in Tampa. The pilots were provided

with a land lease by the Department of War on May 20,

1901 to maintain a small wharf, a lookout tower and four

small dwellings.

Later, Capt. John J. Fogarty, a member of the Tampa

Bay Pilots Association was given permission to erect an

additional “four room cottage” on the property designated

to the association. By February 17, 1912 the Quartermaster

General of the United States issued a license for the Tampa

Bay Pilots Association to “maintain” its existing pilot wharf,

lookout station and a maximum of seven dwellings.

Jurisdiction of the Fort Dade reservation (excluding 15

acres at the north end which were reserved for lighthouse

purposes) was reserved from the public domain for military

purposes on November 17, 1882 but was ceded to the State

of Florida on June 28th 1904 as the War Department began

to decommission military encampments.

Lighthouse Keeper Charles Moore posing with a fresh catch of grouper on

Egmont Key (Manatee County)

47

From the report titled “Military Reservations, National Cemeteries and Military Parks, Title and Jurisdiction” prepared by the Judge Advocate General in

1904. This document outlines the jurisdiction of Fort Dade and specifies the issuance of a Revocable License” to the Tampa Bay Pilots Association on May

20, 1901. (Princeton University Library).

The following license, issued on October 15, 1903 provides for the Palmetto Ice and Power Company. Creature comforts for island living. (Manatee

County Public Library Historic Photograph Collection)

From the “Report of the Quartermaster General of the United States Army to the Secretary of War” 1912, p. 83 shows approval for Captain

John Fogarty to erect an additional cottage and for the Tampa Bay Pilots’ Association (sic) to continue to maintain the reservation at Fort

Dade on Egmont Key.

49

A panoramic view of Fort Dade and Egmont Key in 1911 taken from the water tank. The building and dock make up the Quarter Master’s Wharf House.

Most of the buildings on the left are the N.C.O. (non-commissioned officers) quarters. The elongated roof behind N.C.O. quarters is the Quarter Master’s

Warehouse. The building with two chimneys and the buildings on the right are likely officers quarters where commissioned officers and their families

lived. To the far right is the hospital. The beach in front of the row of waterfront houses is a landing strip. Notice that each building has a cistern or water

reservoir for collecting and storing rainwater. There were no natural freshwater resources on the island. (MCHPC)

51

A mine laying ship off the coast of Egmont Key (above). Sub-

merged mines staged at Fort Dade and used at the mouth of

Tampa during the Spanish American War and possibly during

WWI (below). (USF Libraries)

The July 4th celebration at Fort

Dade on Egmont Key in 1898.

Young troops in their dress whites

prepare to fire a 21 gun salute as

part of the festivities. In its

heyday, Fort Dade was a budding

military town with a gymnasium,

tennis court, two hospitals, a post

office and dozens of buildings and

families. Regular transport to

Manatee, Tampa and St. Peters-

burg was available from Egmont

Key. (Manatee County)

53

(Top) A striped marker lies next to an exploding mine.

The officers’ homes at Fort Dade can be seen on shore in

the background. The striped marker (or one like it) can

be seen in another photograph on page 20.

(Bottom) Damage to the pilot boat “Egmont” (seen on

page 105) after a mine was accidently detonated nearby.

(USF Libraries)

CHARLES M. MOORE

1876 -1967 TAMPA BAY PILOT ASSOCIATION

OFFICE MANAGER 1922-1948

The following is a biographical sketch related to Capt. John D. Ware

of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association by Mr. Charles M. Moore. Capt.

Ware interviewed Mr. Moore at his home at 316 West Columbus

Drive on two occasions between June and July, 1966. Capt. Ware

remarked in his notes that Charles M. Moore, “was of sound mind and

maintained a truly remarkable memory, yet his innate modesty would

permit only a fragmentary account of his achievements.

Charles Mortimer Moore, the son of Charles and Emily

Reyfield Moore, was born October 25, 1876 near what is now

the Cass Street Bridge in Tampa, Florida. He died January 3,

1967 in his 91st year. He was named after his father, Charles

Moore (no middle name), who was appointed the Senior Light

keeper for Egmont Key Lighthouse in June, 1877. The elder

Moore remained at that post for 30 years. Charles M. was taken

as an infant of one year to Egmont Key by his mother and father. Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Moore on their wedding day in 1904.

(Manatee County)

55

“Young Charlie” as he was known, was taught by his

mother until he was 13 years of age. At that time he enrolled

in school at Fogartyville, now known as West Bradenton, on

the southern shore of the Manatee River. He also attended a

two-room school called Williamsonburg Academy in

Manatee County and was a student of Rollins College in

Winter Park for a year and a half. During his school years

he lived with Bartholomew W. Fogarty.

At twenty years of age, Charles M. left school and

according to his daughter, worked for “Bat” W. Fogarty,

later becoming a partner in the boatyard. He left this job

after about a year to accept temporary employment for six

weeks as a Boatman with the Marine Hospital Service on

Egmont Key. This “temporary job” stretched into one of several months and although Charlie was by now rated as a Property Clerk,

he performed other duties such as fumigation, night watchman and weed-cutting.

As related by Charles M., the Medical Officer-in-Charge at the time was Dr. Geddings. During the years 1897-1898, this was

little more than a camp which was used as a quarantine and detention station for all persons arriving by sea. This was during the

period of the Spanish American War and yellow fever was prevalent. All persons arriving from a port suspected of contagious disease

were required to submit to a fumigation of the personal effects and remain in quarantine 10 days at the camp. According to his

daughter, Charles worked here only about five months and left this job because of the way in which they handled the sick. Mr. Moore

stated that during a seven month period, seven patients died. It had indeed become a “sick camp”.

Capt. Robert Stanton, his wife and Roberta Lightfoot Moore and children.

(Manatee County)

Charlie’s next job lasted 24 years and was with the U.S. Army Engineers construction crew on Egmont and Mullet Keys.

He was soon promoted to Carpenter Foreman and shortly thereafter was placed in charge of all construction. His salary was

$149.00 per month, just one dollar short of the $150 scale paid to a Superintendent. The position of Superintendent was almost

always held by a Graduate Engineer. Despite Charlie’s lack of an engineering degree, he performed all duties of this nature,

including design and engineering of many of the installations. According to his daughter, he built fortifications on Egmont,

caissons, five, 6-inch search lights, docks, storerooms, and supervised the laying of telephone cable to Bradenton. He also built

seawalls and groins around Fort DeSoto on Mullet Key and later did the same work around Fort Dade on Egmont Key to protect

these fortifications against the ever-present erosion of wind and sea.

An elaborate dock of poured concrete piles and stringers was designed and built by Charlie Moore as a mine layers

dock during World War I. The remains of this structure, along with certain groin work erected many years earlier to protect Fort

Dade still remains. Although long since abandoned, both are in remarkably good shape, a mute testimony to Mr. Moore’s skill and

ingenuity. This ingenuity was evidenced in just one instance by his use of the trunks of Sabal Palms in the groins system built out

from the shoreline at right angles or nearly so. These trunks, used in this case as pilings are very soft, flexible and fibrous but are

impervious to the attack of the salt water organism, TEREDO NAVALIS commonly called the Teredo worm.

Charles M. Moore married Roberta Lightfoot of Bradenton, Florida on May 26, 1904. A daughter, Roberta, was born

August 26, 1910. In November of 1922, the Egmont Key project closed. Charles and all of the family possessions were transported

on government barge to Tampa. After a vacation of a little more than a month, he started working with the Tampa Bay Pilots

Association, the first organized group of such professional pilots on the Bay. Charlie Moore served as office manager, bookkeeper,

dispatcher and agent for 25 years before retiring in February of 1948.

57

Mr. Moore’s service on Egmont Key and the Tampa Bay Pilots Association spanned a period of three wars; The Spanish

American World War I and World War II with all of their attendant activity. It is perhaps safe to say, therefore, that no other

individual has been more intimately acquainted with Egmont and Mullet Keys and the Port of Tampa during these years than

Charles M. Moore.

(Right) The secret underground

bunker at Egmont Key built under

the supervision of Charles M.

Moore. (Manatee County)

Young Roberta Moore (Cole) with her father, Charles M. Moore, next to the family launch at Fogartyville. (Manatee County)

59

CHARLIE’S DAUGHTER REMEMBERS

ROBERTA MOORE COLE (1910-2009) RECOUNTS THE PEOPLE & EVENTS ON

EGMONT KEY IN THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Mrs. Moore was the daughter of Charles M. Moore, the first

administrative officer for the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. His

life is recounted in the previous chapter. Mrs. Moore’s

recollections reflect the close relationship the Moore family had

with the first pilots who founded the association and subsequent

pilots on Tampa Bay. The documentarian for this conversation

in 1986 was Libby Warner, kin to the founding member of the

pilots, Captain Henry (Harry) G. Warner.

Mom and I went to Egmont Key because Dad had learned to

build a boat, courtesy of the Fogarty family. Dad, you see, was a

resident of the key and lived there ever since he was a tiny baby

and through the first half of his life.

He took Mom there in that boat and later when I came along he

proudly took me back in the same little homemade boat that he

took us over first in. And so it was there that I was to learn of

the importance of this little old piece of land. To the historic

development of old Tampa Bay and its shores. We just called it

home.

On the knees of my elders I heard the sagas of the Indians, the

Cuban fisherman, the exploration, the conquest, the wars and in

short the history of the area which extended from the 15th century

well into the 19th century. It is important to commerce because

nature provided navigable waters and channels both on its north

and south end. It has, by fate, become a part of this area’s

history. A destiny and a past that has been filled with

excitement, tragedy and importance.

You know, Egmont Key is to me a character -a very much loved

character. In my youth she shared some of her secrets with me. I

wish she could have told me more. But a discernment of a child

in her pre-teens was not great. Egmont showed me arrowheads

left by Indians. She showed me a white sandy rim of beach with

spots just ideal for beaching or anchoring a long ago schooner.

There was an excellent freshwater spring. Egmont had cedar

trees on the gulf side and tall palmettos everywhere that offered

shade and shelters for all ages. There were sweet ripe sea

grapes, heart of palm, turtle steaks—yum, yum!! And a lot of

seafood which were treats for visitors and later those who lived

there. We had no problem with meat during WWII. Our

family just ate turtle steak.

My Mother’s favorite breakfast was fish and grits. While she

would do the fixings, Dad would run down to the engineer’s dock

and come back with the exact amount of fish that was needed.

When we watched and participated in the bluefish, mackerel and

kingfish runs, I would always think of those Cuban fishermen

because that is what they were doing—following the ancestors of

this fish which came to Egmont. I also would really think about

those fishermen and the Indians, too, when all the big ships would

pass the channel because it was they who passed Egmont on their

historic bartering and trading routes, Tampa Bay and the

Caribbean, long before as well as long after European

exploration.

Along its eastern coastline, Florida and the south had a slow

molasses-like arrival of people. Tampa Bay and Egmont really

had a dubious honor. Everyone who came from foreign shores

passed that gateway in the 16th century. That is how the title

came to the area as the gateway to the 16th century world.

When there was so much conquest and so much exploring it was

the “in” place to come. It was not by chance knowing how

professional helmsmen think. From my family having known any

number of them, it is very reasonable to me that those professional

helmsmen knew about Tampa Bay from the Cuban fishermen,

from Indians and eventually the word passed among all of the

professional helmsmen. There were only a handful that were

very, very good. So they were the ones who drew crude maps and

brought many of the early explorers here. The Spanish left many

footprints in the sand.

During the gateway

period there were all

kinds of people who

came - thieves, ruthless murderers, adventurers, loyal soldiers of

noble birth, gentlemen, priests, geographers, map makers; they

came from Spain. They came by Egmont and they came to our

bay but none stayed except the fishermen. A talented Spanish

gentleman named Don Francisco Maria Celi visited Egmont

and charted the first useful map of Egmont and the area. The

late Captain John D. Ware, a Tampa Bay Pilot and another

family that had roots in Bradentown (sic). Captain Ware was a

true scholar and historian. He collected charts, ancient ones and

he really had an admiration for Celi’s surveys. He also respected

a similar map which was made in the early 1770’s by Bernard

Romans, deputy surveyor of East Florida. His work became the

second most accurate chart to go down in history and equally

important as a reference in making environmental comparisons

today.

One day, my husband Bud and I were standing on the dock

talking to Captain Ware and you know he said that since Celi’s

map, Egmont Key was between 15%-20% larger than Celi’s

survey. So it does mean that through the ages, old Mother

Nature just keeps adding and subtracting. I hope that she adds

more than she subtracts. Egmont has always been a very special

place to all parts of the bay. Although it can be seen with the

naked eye from very close range in Pinellas County and Manatee

County, the key was eventually placed in Hillsborough County

due to its importance to the modern-day Tampa shipping

industry. I should say Tampa Bay.

61

Some of those who were slow to settle came a little more readily

when Fort Brooke was established. In its heyday, Fort Brooke

must have been something to see. A model showplace, it was a

decorative and very fashionable place with all the beautiful

uniforms. Because it was a model outpost, every general and

every VIP military figure on all of the United States wanted to

see it. When they could, they did and everyone who came were

escorted down to Egmont for recreational tours and visits.

My grandfather Moore being something of an entrepreneur had

to become an instant mule driver to get down to Florida after

the War Between the States. He got himself a job for a year at

Fort Brooke as a reservationist caretaker, so that he would have

a place to live. Captain Moore’s love of Egmont and its bay

began in this period. From pioneer days, Tampa Bay settlements

and the villages of Egmont were pretty special to all events

because of its location and its suitability for a lighthouse.

I should say a light station. Grandfather Moore’s good friend,

D.B. McKay, swore the first lighthouse was built by the Spanish.

He was mayor of Tampa as I was entering high school and I

learned that he had books from the archives which proved this.

All of the early lighthouses were made of wooden shafts. Finally

in 1847, the government must have responded like they do today,

there was a heavy populace demand and pressure which resulted

in a $10,000 grant to construct a beautiful brick tower that was

87’ tall. It was opened the following year in 1848. It was

inundated with nine and a half feet of gulf water a few months

later when a hurricane came through. Captain Marvel, the light

keeper, resigned right fast after that experience. I believe it was

the shortest term of any lighthouse keeper. It was under four

months. Repair cost $2,000 but seven years later an unruly tidal

wave spawned by a hurricane climbed back in the tower. This

time it was only six feet of gulf water but this time it needed

$16,000 for a complete rebuild. The original had to be

condemned.

This rebuilt lighthouse was to endure. The stonework and the

U.S. insignia outlined in the entrance foyer is as beautiful

today as it was when I learned to count to one hundred by

climbing the lighthouse steps during WWI. I must not have

counted right because there is not quite that many steps today.

Grandfather Moore eventually fell in love with a real lady

instead of a bay and an island. As a child, I really believe that

all boats, the lighthouse and Egmont and even the bay should be

referred to as “she”.

Captain Moore married the daughter of a Tampa grocer. It

was about the time that the Captain lost the second of what had

been a flourishing business; one to a hurricane and the other to

fate. He may have decided that he needed a more stable family

life as a family man. The Moore son, Charlie, was 6 months old

at the time the captain decided to move his family from Tampa

to Egmont. It was in 1877.

Our family was the first to settle permanently on Egmont Key

and three generations of us became a part of a 45-year era. We

could not own the land because of the government. The island

was under government protection but due to my father and

earlier my grandfather’s positions we were permitted to have a

full and enjoyable civilian life there, all of those years. My Dad

had a great system for doing that. He said to always remember

that the War Department had it in the beginning and most of

the time. When the government, in all of its wisdom, decided to

conserve time and effort and minimize red tape they would

simply move Egmont from one department to another.

There were so many agencies when people ask me who was the

governing authority of Egmont it takes a couple of minutes to

answer. For example, the Marine Hospital Service was there.

This was early- before 1898. They thought, “gee if we are going

to have all of this yellow fever from Cuba we had better get it

over to a more isolated place and that took money. So it was

transferred over to the

Treasury Department

where they had some

money. In 1938 the

islands were not needed

for war. It was a

relatively quiet period.

They wanted to do bird

studies, so they moved into the Agriculture Department.

In 1940 they said, “put it back in the War Department.” so the

islands of Egmont and Mullet Key would be available for

amphibious aircraft doing maneuvers at MacDill and they had a

little Quonset hut built to house aircraft on the island. To clear

something up, Egmont was never bombed nor did it bomb anyone,

luckily. Captain Moore, my grandfather, was a licensed captain

as was my father. The family enjoyed the birthing of the Tampa

Bay pilots business of Captains Harry G. Warner and then there

was W.A. Switzer. Both were frequent visitors in the Moore

home. They eventually received government permission to build

residences at the south end.

How we all enjoyed the excursion boat era. My dad said that the

“Manatee” was the best boat on the bay and I would say it was

the “Favorite”. Dad liked the Manatee because he felt a great

deal of respect for the Stanton judgment and he thought it was the

right size for the bay. He just liked the way it was set up. I

remember one trip to Tampa, Captain John Fogarty (Tampa

Bay Pilot) was the captain at the time. He invited us up to the

wheelhouse but Dad was dying to get down in the engine room.

Honestly, it was so clean and so beautiful. As a child the only

thing I could think of was, “Oh my Mother would approve of

this.” You could have eaten off the floor of that engine room.

Captain Bat Fogarty also became interested in Egmont. I think

he was the one that transported some of the first military

63

encampment to the key, in 1898, when preparations were in

order for the event of war. Lt. Col. Beauregard was placed in

charge of work and it began-BANG! Just like that thousands

and thousands of soldiers began arriving within two months.

Teddy Roosevelt and the men he called the Rough Riders were

following the service from all over the world and news reporters

from everywhere. There was plenty of excitement and what you

call “hype”. Perhaps because of this the ill-fated Spanish-

American War started and finished in Cuba, all within five

months.

Charles M. Moore began his work of installing seawalls, groins

and other engineering installations such as caissons, docks, even

an underground command center. By 1900, Egmont had its own

post office which was meaningful in the Moore household. They

could now order from Sears and Roebuck, Bloomingfield (sic)

and Spiegel catalogs and in my Mother’s day it was often. In

1905 a channel was completed and it was 20’ deep all the way

to the upper bay. The next item of interest was what the Tampa

Board of Trade did. They sat around after the Spanish-

American War and said, “We’re going to sit around and be

nothing or we’re going to be something”. The Tampa Board of

Trade had a committee called, “The Marine Committee.” They

said, “Let us think up something.” They did a survey, a marine

survey and published a report which gave everything that

anybody would want to know about Tampa Bay from charts to

markers, port tonnage rates; you just think of it and that had it.

They wanted to share in the trade so they secured lists of licensed

captains on the continent and in America and sent a copy to

everybody. They sent them to every port authority in the area.

One of the earliest vessels that came following this promotion

lacked two feet of being 500 feet long. The people raved as it

was as high as the tallest house on Bayshore as it passed by.

They wrote glowing accounts of the vessel, “Rio Grande.”.

Today, they are thousands of feet and they pass and no one

notices.

According to our records, the pilots got going about in the

1890’s. It was in this period that Captain Switzer used to use my

grandparent’s home as his hotel and he was a regular guest.

There were just two pilots, Captain Harry Warner out of Port

Tampa - he was from a Bradenton family. There was a need for

ship’s guides or pilots that moved the ships up to Port Tampa.

So he would get on the boat in the bay. You know there just

wasn’t that many coming and going.

Captain Warner would get aboard a freighter (outbound) and

drag his little boat for the return. It was power but it wasn’t

gasoline that they used, it was naphtha. Captain Switzer would

come to my grandparents and stay when they wanted somebody to

go up, why he would go out and bring the vessel in. I guess he

had some kind of small boat he kept there but everything was out

of the lighthouse. I think it was 1895 when he got permission to

build a residence at the south end and I imagine it was at that

time or shortly thereafter that they built some kind of little dock.

-Roberta Moore Cole, 1989

65

THE INCEPTION OF ASSOCIATION R E C O L L E C T I O N O F T H E E A R L Y D A Y S I N T H E W O R D S O F

C A P T A I N C . W. B A H R T , T A M P A B A Y P I L O T F R O M 1 9 0 7 - 1 9 3 7

Chapter 5

A group of man on a dock in front of a tugboat. Possibly the members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association and port businessmen at Port Tampa.

(Manatee County Library)

n 1888 and 1889, when Tampa was a very small city and a small channel of eight or nine foot depth winding its way near

Ballast Point then up west of what is now Davis Island along what is now the superb Platt Street Bridge. There began a schooner trade

operated by the Banner Line carrying general cargo from New York. There was a dock in the river bank between Whiting and Washington

Streets, quite a large warehouse, owned by Gunn & Seckinger who acted as agents for said Line. Here full cargos of the schooner were handled

and reshipped or hauled by teams to outlying towns such as Clearwater, Lakeland and St. Petersburg, This led to the necessity for guides or

pilots as we are termed. Port Tampa which about this same time having been developed into a landing and exporting terminal by the late H.B.

Plant and the Plant System Railroad and Steamship Company consisting at first of the then handsome, palatial steamships “Mascotte” and

“Olivette”. Foreign ships at this time began coming to load phosphate rock at this terminal. From this came the present Tampa Bay Pilots

Association of which we are proud.

Captain H.G. Warner and W.A. Switzer were the two who established a bonafide

station at the present site in Egmont Key, having for their first boat a small sailing

sloop “Gulnare”. A lookout tower was built, fifty feet high and Captain Switzer built a

home and lived on Egmont Key. Captain Warner lived at Port

Tampa and brought all the ships out which Switzer had taken

in. The writer at that time, being about ten years of age, lived at

the station and my duties were to keep a lookout from the tower

for the ships approaching that required the services of a local pilot

and a handy boy for everybody. Our nearest and only neighbors

were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Moore. Mr. Moore was the light

keeper at the Egmont Key Lighthouse.

Captain C.W. Bahrt with

his two sons, Carl

William (standing) and

Robert who is seated on

his Dad’s lap next to an

unidentified young girl.

The photo was taken in

1910. (Ancestry.com )

I

Captain Arthur C. Bahrt (right) penned these notes from his

older brother, Captain Carl W. Bahrt back in 1937. Carl was a

Tampa Bay Pilot from 1921 to 1936 when he took ill. Brother

Arthur spent most of his career on yachts running between New

York and Miami but returned to Tampa Bay in his later years to

become a Tampa Bay Pilot from 1936 until his death in 1939.

67

After a year, we needed a larger boat. Captain Warner

brought his very fast sailing sloop, “Mischief”, and was she a

beauty but every fisherman from Cape Cod and steamship

master who had run to Tampa years before as captain of the

steamers of the Miller & Henderson Line then joined our

association and soon came the much larger schooner, “Belle”,

from Savannah, she being built there for a pilot boat and

indeed she was a beauty. “Belle” was a fast sailer, good sea-

boat and fixed up like a yacht.

There we lived and how! The writer put in six happy years

and during this time we saw a number of changes; some very

unfortunate. Captain Walker boarded out on the last turn

for a land beyond. Then Captain Miner left us and went on

to become master of the “Mascotte”. Captain John Fitzgerald

came with us and a real fellow was he. Later Captain H. L.

Johnson from a schooner, the “J.R. Teal”, came with us.

Our business increased with the growth of Tampa and Port

Tampa City as ports and ships of all classes and flags called

at these ports.

(Above) The “Belle”, a pilot boat at the dock at Egmont Key.

Aides to navigation can be seen on the dock to the right and the

steamer “Mistletoe” approaches on the left. 1890’s. (Manatee

County)

(Left) Captain Robert Stanton smokes his pipe and plays his hand

with an unidentified man, (possibly an apprenticing pilot or

“Pilot Cub” as they were called in the early 1900’s) likely sitting

on the porch of a cottage on Egmont. Mrs. Stanton is the woman

standing behind. (Manatee County)

Captain John J. Fogarty (left) and Captain Henry G. Warner (right) were founding members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association along with Captain

William Austin Switzer and Captain John W. Fitzgerald. These were the four original pilots of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. Each also contributed a

great deal to the community. Warner was a sharp business man in real estate and also founded the Purity Water Co. of Tampa. Warner and Fitzgerald

along with other maritime interests bought the land to develop Port Tampa City and the Port Tampa City Building and Loan Association (the building is

now the Port Tampa Library Branch). Fogarty was from the boat building family of Fogartyville in Manatee County.

69

A steamer unloading at Port Tampa with a view of the railroad and the Port Tampa Hotel in 1899 at the buildup of the Spanish American War. Thou-

sands of troops congregated at Port Tampa awaiting passage to Cuba. While the troops lived in tents on the Interbay peninsula, members of the press and

other guests of the hotel could fish from their rooms and have their fresh catch prepared in the restaurant. (USF Library, Special Collections)

Chapter 6 .

PORT

TAMPA

The intersection of Commerce Street and the railroad tracks near Port Tampa City known as Black Point, was closer to the

entrance to Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico than was downtown Tampa at the mouth of the Hillsborough River. Henry B.

Plant began construction on a nine-mile spur to this location to serve a steamship line. A 19-foot channel was dredged and soon

freight and passenger stations, railroad yards, a railroad car repair shop, worker's homes, a pier, and a brick power plant were

constructed here.

The railroad spur line opened on February 5, 1888. By June of 1888, the Plant Steamship Company was providing service to

Havana on the 1676-ton Olivette and the 884-ton Mascotte. These boats connected Port Tampa to St. Petersburg, Egmont Key and

Green Springs. On March 28, 1898, the survivors of the sinking of the battleship Maine arrived here on the steamship Olivette.

Through June of that year, this was the embarkation point for troops and dignitaries headed to Cuba, including Theodore

Roosevelt. William Jennings Bryan and Clara Barton also visited the facilities here. On June 14, 1898, an invasion force of 16,000

left here for Cuba. The facilities at Port Tampa were expanded after the phosphate industry became the largest export industry at

71

the port. In 1892, two large wooden phosphate elevators were constructed, followed by a steam-operated wooden elevator in 1903,

a larger one in 1906, and a steel elevator in 1925. The warehouses were dismantled in 1951 and the elevators were torn down in

January of 1971.

P O R T

TAMPA

C I T Y

The influence on a maritime community of affluence was embodied in Port Tampa City. The Calumet Club was founded on

November 30, 1897, by 37 ships' captains and their wives. A clubhouse was originally located on Interbay Boulevard with a billiard

room, dance floor and social areas. It was the city hall from 1923 until 1947, and was then moved to the north side of Prescott

Street between Commerce and Desoto Street to serve as a community social center. It was razed in 1975. The masonry vernacular

home on DeSoto Street just south of W. Prescott Street was built in 1885 with a Spanish style, second story balcony and a flat roof.

The Plant Steamship Lines built this and other one-story 50 x 16 foot homes for workers with front and back porches. Beginning

in 1893, Norwegian seaman and Tampa Bay Pilot Capt. Henry L. Johnson remodeled the structure by removing the balcony and

adding a New England style hipped roof and front and side balustrade porch. Johnson had the first automobile in Port Tampa in

1901, and used it to take malaria patients to Tampa for treatment during a major outbreak. He caught the disease himself and died.

The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1974.

Fitzgerald Street is named for the town’s founder, Capt. James W. Fitzgerald, the superintendent of the Plant Steamship Lines

and one of the first members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. Capt. Fitzgerald preferred two-story frame homes with high

ceilings and extensive porches upstairs and downstairs as did many of the pilots. He had one which fit that description but it

burned down in 1931.

A ship and tug near the phosphate conveyor at Port Tampa, 1920. Burgert Bros. Collection B29-v-00000209 (USF Library, Tampa)

73

In 1886, U. S. Engineers balked at the expense of creating a big ship channel up the bay to Fort Brooke and the harbor at Tampa, and opted to favor Old

Tampa Bay, where a natural deep-water channel was comparatively close to shore.

Port Tampa was a result of the decision to establish shipping operations in a naturally deeper portion of Tampa Bay in order to avoid the exacerbating

expense of dredging a deeper channel up to Fort Brooke. Instead of loading and unloading at Gadsden Point or Ballast Point at the bottom of the Interbay

peninsula. The plan was to bring a big ship channel up to Port Tampa to meet the Plant & Occidental line. Henry Plant scrambled to extend his railroad to

Port Tampa. By 1891, a 20-foot channel, 200 feet wide was completed to Port Tampa.

The Port Tampa facilities remained active despite the development of the land once held for Fort Brooke, the Ybor estuary area and the succession of

dredging projects undertaken by the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers, through the advocacy of the Hon. S.M. Sparkman.

75

PORT TAMPA & THE PHOSPHATE ELEVATORS

The view from Port Tampa in 1920 with freight steamers waiting to load . The Tampa Hotel can be seen on the far right. (Below) The phosphate

elevator was built by 1924.

77

Captain John Fitzgerald was a consummate businessman

and civic leader. His brother, Captain James W. Fitzgerald

was the superintendant of the Plant Steamship Lines. A

long-time resident of Tampa and effective advocate, he

urged the need of deeper water in the port as an incentive to

a greater maritime Tampa. Capt. Fitzgerald had followed a

life on the water almost from early boyhood days having a

devout passion for the call of the sea. He was born in Wales

in 1846 and moved to Tampa in 1894.

Capt. John Fitzgerald had the distinction of bringing in the largest vessel

ever entering this port, the steamer, Rio Grande. He was said to have a

splendid presence and winning manner, he easily made friends and no man

succeeded any more admirably in holding and cementing strongly these ties of

good fellowship and friendliness. Fitzgerald Street in Port Tampa is named

for him and he once had a two-story home there with extensive porches both

upstairs and down.

Along with C.W. Prescott, a wealthy businessman from Erie, Pennsylvania

(who had financed the first docking facilities built at Port Tampa in the

1890’s) and Capt. Henry G. Warner, a fellow Tampa Bay Pilot, Capt.

Fitzgerald formed the Port Tampa Building and Loan Association. The

earliest lot purchasers after development began in the 1880’s, were Tampa

Bay Pilots and Spanish merchants from Havana.

A WORD ABOUT

CAPT. JOHN

FITZGERALD T A M P A B A Y P I L O T

1897—1909

79

PORT OF

TAMPA

Chapter 7

The shipping scene in Tampa Bay 100 years ago was decidedly

different from that of today. The channel leading into Hillsborough Bay

was shallow and narrow. In order that the account of port development

may be readily understood, the following is a geographical and

topographical description of Tampa’s harbor from 1925 in the words of

Judge S. M. Sparkman, the man primarily responsible for facilitating

federal appropriation to improve the channel into Port Tampa:

The form of the Bay resembles that of the letter Y, of which Tampa Bay

proper constitutes the stem, Old Tampa Bay the upper left branch and

Hillsborough Bay into which flows the Hillsborough River, the upper right

“ENTRANCE ABOUT 220

MILES NORTH OF KEY WEST;

330 MILES SOUTH

OF PENSACOLA; 360 MILES

FROM MOBILE AND 512 MILES

FROM NEW ORLEANS”

81

branch. The Bay varies from

seven to 10 miles in width

and has two main entrances

from the Gulf of Mexico.

The main channel running

north of Egmont Key is

known as Northwest

Channel and the lesser

channel south of Egmont Key as Southwest Channel.

Hillsborough Bay is about 9 miles long; 4-½ miles wide, natural

depth varies from about 14 feet at the entrance to 16 to 18 feet

between the center portion, diminishing to 5 or 6 feet near its head

at the mouth of the Hillsborough River. The width of the river

channel is from 300 to 500 feet wide below the Lafayette Street

Bridge, and then averaging 125 feet to Sulfur Springs, 8 miles by

the river above the mouth. The Hillsborough River rises northeast

of Tampa, is about 51 miles in length and has a drainage area of

approximately 260 square miles.

The City of Tampa lies at the head of Hillsborough Bay and

Port Tampa at the southwest corner of Interbay Peninsular (sic).

Prior to any work being done a draft from 20-21 feet could be

carried at mean low water from the Gulf of Mexico to deep water

south of Interbay Peninsular, and 15 feet over the shoals to Tampa

Bay to Port Tampa. Vessels drawing 12 feet could enter

Hillsborough Bay at low water. There was a channel from the

entrance of Hillsborough Bay to Tampa of 12 feet to a point about

3 miles south of Tampa, the channel from thence running west of

what was known as the Big Island, now a part of Davis Island,

was a tortuous crooked channel through the Hillsborough River

with a channel depth of not more than 5 feet up to a point about

200 feet south of the Lafayette street Bridge. Small boats wishing

to come into Tampa had to wait at Ballast Point for high tide in

order to make the remainder of their voyage. These ships ranged

from three hundred to seven hundred tons, as a rule.

“OLD TAMPA BAY

IS ABOUT 13 MILES

LONG, 2 MILES TO

6 MILES WIDE.

NATURAL DEPTH

OF 1 TO 36 FEET”

The first survey was ordered by Congress in March of 1871.

This survey was conducted under the direction of a Colonel out of

Mobile, Alabama but no actual improvements resulted. In 1879,

another survey was ordered which was directed by Lieutenant

Colonel Damrell of the Mobile headquarters, his survey was for the

purpose of determining the feasibility of deepening the natural

channel in Hillsborough Bay to 9 feet.

This project resulted in the adoption of the River and Harbor

Act of June 1880, providing for work through Hillsborough Bay to

the River, modified in 1888. The amount expended on this project

was $130,000 of which $50,000 was expended in Old Tampa Bay,

$80,000 in Hillsborough Bay. These expenditures deepened the

channel through Tampa Bay to Port Tampa to about 19 feet, in

Hillsborough Bay up to the mouth of the river to about 7 feet. By

1886, $60,000 had been spent making channel improvements in

Tampa Bay resulting in a tortuous channel ranging from 60 to 160

feet in width and averaging 8.3 feet deep from deep water in Tampa

and Hillsborough Bay up to the mouth of the Hillsborough River.

Realizing the impracticality of making Tampa even a third-class

seaport with a channel so difficult to navigate, it was recommended

that the U.S. engineers modify the 9 foot project to 8 feet in

Hillsborough Bay and make a channel 200 feet wide and 20 feet

deep from the outer bar to the harbor of Port Tampa.

In the annual report of 1886, it was stated:

For a comparatively small sum, this entrance (to Port Tampa) can be improved to admit vessels with a 20’ draft and such vessels lying at wharves near Little Mangrove Point would be but little further from Tampa than the present anchorage of 10’ draft. The South Florida Railroad is even now running its track to this point with the design of making its terminal there for the Key West and Havana steamship, vessels of which are served by lighters from Tampa.

The work on this 20 foot channel was begun in 1889 and

completed in 1891. The next project was adopted by the Rivers

and Harbors Act of 1899 which provided for a depth of 12 feet

from a point 200 feet south of the Lafayette Street Bridge to the

mouth of the river. A third project was adopted by the Rivers

and Harbors Act of 1903 which provided for a channel 20 feet

“SMALL BOATS WISHING TO COME

INTO TAMPA HAD TO WAIT AT

BALLAST POINT FOR HIGH TIDE IN

ORDER TO MAKE THE REMAINDER

OF THEIR VOYAGE”

83

deep from the mouth of the river to the 20 foot contour in the

Bay and embracing the 12 foot channel above described. This

project was completed by the middle of 1909. In the meantime,

Hendry & Knight had begun and completed the construction of

a 20 foot channel from the turning basin at the mouth of the

Hillsborough River for about 2,000 feet to a point near the

S.A.L. railroad extension. This channel was about 300 feet

wide. When the 12 foot channel was competed, a steamship line

to Cuba from Tampa was started, but was abandoned after a

short service interval.

The 20 foot channel made Tampa a real seaport in every sense

of the word. Both coastal and foreign trades were attracted to

the city’s wharves. Wharves, warehouses, phosphate elevators

and coal chutes were constructed to meet the demand of Tampa’s

increased shipping. Lumber from the backcountry of the county

began to come in for shipment in much greater quantities than

heretofore. Railroads were extended to connect with the

increased harbor facilities and big ships arrived in ever-

increasing numbers until Tampa harbor again needed

expansion. Not only was the channel too narrow, but also the

waterfront was inadequate for safe accomplishment of loading

and unloading. As a result of this congested condition, the Rivers

and Harbors Act of 1910 adopted a fourth project providing for

a depth of 24 feet from the Gulf to the mouth of the Hillsborough

River, thence eastward from the turning basin to Hendry &

Knight channel to the mouth of the Estuary, thence northward

through the Estuary to the head of the same with a turning

basin at the mouth of the Estuary, thence through what is known

as Sparkman Bay to a connection with the main channel

running south from the mouth of the river, the width generally

being about 300 feet except in the main ship channel at the

entrance to the Gulf which was 500 feet in width.

The docks at Tampa in 1885 when the population in Tampa was approxi-

mately 600.

This project was coupled with a condition that no

expenditures should be made on that part of the harbor between

the new turning basin and Ybor City channel until the Secretary

of War should be assured that the local municipality would

construct wharves with slips having an available length of not

less than 1400 feet which should be open for the use of the

general public, under reasonable regulations and charges, and

also that the municipality would obtain such control of the

property for at least 700 feet on each side of the proposed Ybor

Channel throughout its length as would insure its use primarily

in the interest of general commerce on equal terms to all, and

that all wharfage charges and regulations should be reasonable

and fully controlled by the municipal authorities, subject to

approval of the Secretary of War.

These conditions were met by the city managers within a

year or so after the passage of the Act of 1910 by the securing

1400 feet of frontage on the Estuary, 700 feet on the west side

and 700 feet on the east side thereof, and by having given

satisfaction to the Secretary of War that the other conditions

would be complied with. This project was partially completed

when in 1917 a 5th project was adopted calling for a depth of 27

feet over the same

reaches of the channel

abov e men t ion ed ,

coupled with the

condition that no work

should be done by the

U.S. under such project

until the City of Tampa

should have given

assurances satisfactory

to the Secretary of

War that the City of

Tampa would within

reasonable time and when in his opinion the facilities are needed,

acquire full ownership and possession of sufficient land for the

establishment of terminals fronting on the Ybor Estuary to

complete the construction thereon of piers and slips in accordance

with plans for development of the Ybor Estuary Zone railroad by

the Secretary of War or such other plans as he might approve to

build adequate warehouses and storage sheds on these piers and

equip them with suitable rail facilities and freight handling

appliances and would construct and put in operation a municipal

“NO OTHER PLACE

IN THE COUNTRY

PERHAPS HAS SUCH

COMPLETE CONTROL

OVER ITS ORIGINAL

CHARGES AND OVER

THE HANDLING OF ITS

WATER COMMERCE

THAN TAMPA.”

85

railroad having physical connection with all railroads entering

the City of Tampa.

Having physical connection with all railroads entering the

City of Tampa and available channel frontage on both sides of

the Estuary in accordance with the plan of development of the

Estuary zone approved by the Secretary of War, would open, pave

and make available for use a sufficient number of streets and

highways to give proper access to all parts of the Estuary Channel

frontage, would open these terminals for business under a schedule

of reasonable wharfage charges and a set of regulations to be

approved by the Secretary of War for the control and operation of

the property fronting on the Estuary Channel designed to insure

its use primarily in the interest of general commerce on equal

terms to all. All these conditions have practically been complied

with and the work has been completed within the last year to a 27

-foot depth. In addition to this, the city has constructed a slip on

the west side of the Estuary channel 27 feet in depth, about 900

feet long and 250 feet wide, with a well equipped warehouse and

wharves adequate no doubt for the present, but hardly for the near

future.

It may be further added that the control by the city of Tampa

over the inner harbor is somewhat unusual in harbor development

and control in the United States as no other place in the country

perhaps has such complete control over its original charges and

over the handling of its water commerce. The cost of all the work

undertaken by the Federal Government during the years from

1880 to 1926 was $5,354,114.45 with a maintenance charge of

$542,532.40, all of which, except $130,000 was expended after

the adoption of projects of 1899 calling for a 12-foot channel.

The result of this work and expenditures is a 27-foot channel

with a minimum width of 300-feet, both to Port Tampa and to

the City of Tampa, enabling deep draft vessels to reach these

places and investing them with all the advantages of a deep-

water port.

– Hon. S.M. Sparkman

from his chapter on the development of the ports in the book “Hillsborough County History “(1928)

Judge S.M. Sparkman, 1925 (Library of Congress)

87

(Above) Looking at the waterfront on June 11, 1924 with Sparkman Channel to the right and Garrison Channel off to the left. The Scherzer

rolling bridge mechanism to Seddon Island is visible to the far left (Burgert Bros. Cirkuit Images, John F. Germany Library, Tampa)

89

This image was taken May 4, 1926 looking South over Sparkman Channel with Garrison Channel to the right. A freighter is tied up at what

would be cruise terminal #2 in front of Channelside today. Seddon Island (Harbor Island) is on the right and Hooker’s Point in the background.

(Burgert Bros. Cirkuit Images, John F. Germany Library, Tampa)

91

Philip Shore was a pioneer steamship agent

and president of the Philip Shore Shipping Co.

Philip Costa, his surname later Anglicized from

Costa to Shore was born in Introacqua, Italy

on July 7, 1875 and moved to Tampa in 1885.

Shore’s first job was as clerk for the Port

Tampa General Store. After getting familiar

with the business, he purchased a store of his

own. In 1889 he was appointed agent for the

Plant System of Railways and Steamships keeping Port Tampa as his headquarters. When the organization was taken over by the

Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, he was promoted to a higher position which he held until 1908, entering the shipping business for

himself thereafter.

Shore built his organization to one of the largest steam shipping and forwarding agencies in South Florida. He owned several

tug boats and small freight steamers. He organized the Tampa Inter Ocean Steamship Co. and was President for many years and

maintained financial interests in several other local enterprises. For 15 years he was Secretary for the Tampa Bay Pilots

Association.

Philip Shore took an active part in many civic affairs. He was chairman of the county school board from 1917 to 1922. Philip

Shore Elementary School, now the Philip Shore Magnet School, was one of his first projects, establishing a school in Ybor City.

During WWI, Shore was agent here in Tampa Bay for the Sea Service Bureau and placed in charge of a nautical school. He also

was a member of the board of port commissioners from 1913 to 1920. Shore lost his life at the age of 54 from injuries sustained in a

car accident in March of 1929. On the day of his funeral shipping offices and allied industries closed during the funeral hour. River

craft and ships in port remained at anchor as well, out of respect for the man who had a tremendous influence on shipping at the

ports of Tampa.

PHILIP SHORE

1906—1921 FIRST SECRETARY OF THE TAMPA BAY PILOTS ASSOCIATION

93

THE 20TH CENTURY A N ER A O F C HA NG E AND DEVELOPMENT

Chapter 8

August 7, 1970 The M/V Fermland is the first ship to

dock at Port Manatee. (Manatee County)

IT IS ALL A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE…

The following two pages are two panoramic

photographs taken by the Burgert Bros. in 1919 showing

different perspectives. One looking south from the east side

of Ybor Channel (top) and the other looking southwest

(bottom). The rooftop of the large warehouse where the

upper image was taken appears in the center of the lower

image. The two images presented together demonstrate

the fish-eye effect of the Cirkuit camera. The images were

taken from the roof of the warehouse of the Oscar Daniels

Co. Oscar Daniels, a businessman from Chicago leased a

portion of the shipyard after receiving a government

contract to build ten-10,000 ton ships. The ships were

completed during WWI . The Oscar Daniels Co. employed

3,400 men at its zenith. The lease was for a 6-year term and in 1923 Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering took possession once

more. Tampa Dock Co. and Oscar Daniels Co. employed more than 5,000 men during 1918. In 1919, the two ships being built

would have been the last of the ships built by Oscar Daniels Co.; two-12,000 ton steel tankers for Standard Oil. After this project,

Oscar Daniels Co. stopped operations. By the end of 1920 Tampa’s bright future was beginning to lose it shine and the record-

breaking prosperity achieved during the war period was becoming a thing of the past.

During WWI shipbuilding became an outstanding industry in Tampa. Large ships construction was undertaken in 1916 when

Ernest Kreher, the head of Tampa Foundry & Machine Co. acquired a contract to build a 2,500 ton icebreaker. Shortly before the

completion of this ship, Poughkeepsie , Kreher organized the Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Co.

The world's largest electrical sign was illuminated at the wharf on October 30,

1953. It spelled out "Atlantic Coast Line Port Tampa Terminals" with letters

19 feet tall and up to 13 feet wide. The whole sign was 76 feet tall and 387.5

feet wide, and used 4,000 feet of red neon tubing.

95

97

Another perspective (above) clearly shows a view looking southwest down the Ybor Channel and across the south Tampa peninsula.

99

PILOT BOATS

OF TAMPA BAY

Wooden hulled Tampa Bay Pilots’ boat "The Egmont" plying the waters of Tampa Bay in 1943.

Chapter 9

101

T he earliest boats used by the pilots on Tampa Bay were fast sailing vessels named Gulnare, Mischief, Gazelle, Pilot’s Bride,

Magic, Belle, and Lettie. Later pilot craft included motor craft with names such as Anclote, Mitzio B, and Egmont. The Gulnare

appears to be the first pilot boat bought by partners for service on Tampa Bay. In addition to Gulnare, Pilot’s Bride was listed as

“Pilot boat” built in Cedar Key in the “Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States, Vol. 36” and showed her build date

as 1886.

Speculation is that Pilot’s Bride was built by William Cottrell, a pilot for the P & O Railroad in Cedar Key. He participated

in an annual sailboat race on the Fourth of July in the late 1880s against Captain Henry G. Warner, who was the master of

Mischief. The race made national news and was satirized in the popular magazine “Judge” after Capt. Cottrell, aboard his vessel,

Nannie, pulled out a shotgun and threatened to shoot Capt. Warner after Mischief had taken the lead in a deft maneuver resulting

in winning the popular race. Cottrell’s own crew subdued him and no injuries were reported. These events were observed by a

young D.B. McKay who was aboard the Mistletoe. McKay later wrote of the event in his popular series, “Pioneer Florida”.

There is conjecture, yet to be confirmed, that William Cottrell was making efforts to establish himself as a pilot at Tampa

after losing his job in Cedar Key. It appears that a succession of tragedies plagued Cottrell. In 1886 his wife, Nannie, passed away.

Pilot’s Bride, the vessel built in Cedar Key for service in Tampa was completed that same year. Shortly after the unfortunate events

of the Fourth of July race with Warner, Cottrell was incarcerated for threatening to kill a Sheriff in North Carolina (who also

happened to be his cousin). His cousin the Sheriff, shot him dead shortly after his release, due to Cottrell’s apparent intent to

actualize his threats. Perhaps William Cottrell was, “Wild Bill”, a character mentioned in the early history of the Tampa Bay

Pilots.

A fast boat, sophisticated boat-handling skills and a keen eye were necessary attributes for a Bar Pilot. The first pilot who

reached the hailing craft won the right to bring her in. Later a more sophisticated system emerged and boats requiring the

services of a pilot were “spoken for” in a coordinated system of association that would become the Tampa Bay Pilots Association.

(Above) an unidentified pilot, possibly Capt. John Fogarty.

103

Another example of the pilot boats of the early twentieth century (Captain John J. Fogarty Pilot from 1910-1925) flanked by his sisters Katherine and

Leticia (Lettie) in front of his schooner, “Lettie”. (Manatee County)

A pilot boat under power off the coast of Egmont Key in the late 1800’s. The stack of a power plant can be seen on the aft deck suggesting that this might

be the Naphtha powered launch belonging to Captain Warner, a founding member of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. (Manatee County)

105

The pilot boat “Manatee” at Port Manatee in 1971. (Manatee County)

Pilot boat “Tampa” currently serves the waters of Tampa Bay. (Courtesy of Capt. Jorge Viso)

107

T H E H I S TO RY OF NAVIGATION ON TAMPA BAY

The early pilots used a compass, a timepiece, navigational markers and their senses to traverse the channel from Egmont to the ports within

Tampa Bay. Understanding the changes in channel depth, tides, currents and the spontaneous nature of the weather on the Gulf of Mexico remain critical to the pilots of today.

Chapter 10

The earliest pilots on

Tampa Bay were required to

set and maintain their own

aids to navigation as well as

stand ready to rendezvous

with any vessels needing the

services of a pilot to enter

the bay. Prior to the

presence of regular pilotage

services on Tampa Bay,

vessels would stop in at the

lighthouse at Egmont and

borrow a chart of the bay

from the light keeper,

returning it on their

outbound passage.

When pilots began regular service for Tampa Bay, they relied on the hospitality of the light keeper to maintain a presence on

Egmont Key. Shortly before 1900, the pilots established a station of their own and since that time have maintained a presence on

the island under the jurisdiction of no less than three federal agencies; the Department of the Interior, the Department of

Commerce and the Department of War. Anecdotal information on the agencies are remembered by Roberta Cole (the light

keeper’s granddaughter whose father, Charles Moore, worked as the administrator for the Tampa Bay Pilots Association) can be

found in the previous chapter on the island.

Capt. John J. Fogarty (Tampa Bay

Pilot from 1912-1925) on deck

aboard “Manatee”, a passenger

vessel of the Favorite Line. In

1910, her schedule began at 5:45

A.M. at Terra Ceia, then on to St.

Petersburg, arriving at 8:00 A.M.

and on to Tampa for arrival at 10:00

A.M. Since the “Favorite” and the

“H.B. Plant” stopped serving Terra

Ceia in January 1910, the

“Manatee” was the island's main

freight and passenger service. The

“Manatee” left Tampa at 5:00 P.M.,

and arrived at Terra Ceia, via St.

Petersburg, at 9:00 P.M. each night.

By October, the “Manatee” had

added Bradentown, Palmetto and

Ellenton to the list, giving good

transportation service to the north

side of the Manatee River. A stop at

Anna Maria Island was added for

the summer of 1911, when the new

Anna Maria City Pier was

constructed. (Manatee County)

109

The piloting of merchant vessels is an activity fraught

with danger and pervaded by the constant threat of disaster.

The piloting profession is a demanding one; it is a calling that

allows little tolerance for mistakes. The consequences of error

in the practice of piloting can be catastrophic. For these

reasons, the selection, licensing, training, and performance

monitoring of pilots are very important tasks. Piloting has

been regulated under Florida Law since 1839 and in 1868

Chapter 1670 was passed. From 1880 to 1970 legislation

concerning pilots and pilotage in the state changed very little.

However in the 1970s and 1980s centralized regulation and a

tightening of licensing requirements resulted from major

changes in the statutes.

Territorial laws have provided for the regulation of pilots

since the 17th century. In 1789, Congress specified that pilots

would be subject to state law until such time as the federal

government saw fit to exercise its legislative authority in the

matter. In 1852, Congress passed the first federal act

affecting pilots and pilotage. This act required all engineers

and pilots of steamships be licensed by federal inspectors in an

effort by legislators to improve marine safety.

The Supreme Court and Acts of Congress validated and

annulled pilotage regulation in America until 1871 when

Congress passed legislation returning some control to the

separate states. The contradiction of federal and state

regulation produced gaps and overlaps that survive to this

day.

Chapter 21SS-8 of the Florida Administrative Code

states:

All collisions, groundings, stranding, or other marine perils

sustained by vessels on which there was employed a licensed

state pilot or certificated deputy pilot shall be reported to the

office of the board or the piloting consultant within 48 hours

of the occurrence. In cases of reported marine casualties

involving licensed state pilots or certificated deputy pilots, a

probable cause panel of the Board of Pilot Commissioners

determines whether there is sufficient evidence to indicate that

violations of rules and regulations have occurred. This panel

consists of three members, at least two of whom are to be state

pilots.

In the six-year period from 1978 to 1983, there were no

complaints filed against any Florida state pilot or deputy

pilot. Yet, during this time, there were 219 marine casualties

reported involving state pilots and deputy pilots.

Presumably, parties affected by casualties involving pilots

(vessel owners, masters, port authorities, etc.) had not needed

to file complaints because of the stringent state requirements

for reporting even the most minor incidents and accidents.

Throughout the history of navigating the waters of

Tampa Bay, some dramatic incidents have occurred that

would change how information is collected and disseminated

for the entire maritime community. On January 28, 1980, the

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn and the U.S.-flag tanker

Capricorn collided in Tampa Bay, an accident that resulted in

the capsizing and sinking of the Blackthorn, and the deaths of

23 of her crew. On May 9, 1980, the Liberian-flag bulk

carrier M/V Summit Venture struck the Sunshine Skyway

Bridge in Tampa Bay in a heavy squall. The collision

destroyed a support pier causing 1,297 feet of bridge deck and

superstructure to collapse. A passenger bus, six cars, and a

pickup truck fell 150 feet into the bay below, killing 35 people.

These events left an indelible and palpable impression on

the members of the association. They also precipitated an era

of technological advancements in navigation, communication

and dissemination of data used to navigate vessels of ever

increasing size and load, in and out of the ports of Tampa Bay

safely.

If you were to ask any one of the current pilots of Tampa

Bay what their primary tools are, you would likely get the

same response as you would from a pilot serving here 100

years ago. Their tools are their eyes and their experience. As

one pilot put it, “Our experience is born of intense training

under the tutelage of experienced senior pilots”. As it has been

for centuries, pilots learn to handle vessels by repeatedly

putting a vessel through its paces.

SEA CHANGE

What the sea-going community has seen in the way of

technological advances over the last century should astound

us all. In 1884, the Prime Meridian was established, and by

1984, we were implementing a Global Positioning System.

Twentieth century mariners had access to radio beacons,

radar, gyroscopic compass and ship-to-shore communication.

Sextants became arcane and only found on board in the event

111

of emergency (if at all). The gyrocompass was introduced in

1907, providing a reference to true north on board any vessel

anywhere in the world. Radio detection and ranging or

RADAR systems were introduced by 1935 allowing ships to

locate each other in limited visibility. By the beginning of

WWII the U.S. navigational system known as Long Range

Navigation or LORAN was developed. Loran used pulse

radio transmissions from master and slave stations to

determine ship’s position.

During Labor Day weekend in 1973, 12 military officers

at the Pentagon discussed the creation of a Defense Navigation

Satellite System (DNSS).

It was at this meeting

that "the real synthesis

that became the global

positioning system or

GPS was created." Later

that year, the DNSS

program was named

Navstar. With the

individual satellites being associated with the name Navstar

(as with the predecessors Transit and Timation), a more fully

encompassing name was used to identify the constellation of

Navstar satellites, Navstar-GPS, which was later shortened

simply to GPS.

While there were wide needs for accurate navigation in

military and civilian sectors, almost none of those were seen as

justification for the billions of dollars it would cost in research,

development, deployment, and operation for a constellation of

navigation satellites. During the Cold War, the nuclear threat

to the existence of the United States was the one need that did

justify this cost in the view of the United States Congress.

“OUR EXPERIENCE

IS BORN OF INTENSE

TRAINING UNDER

THE TUTELAGE

OF EXPERIENCED

SENIOR PILOTS”

Ships passing in Tampa Bay . (Capt. Jorge Viso)

This “deterrent effect” is why GPS was ultimately funded. It is

also the reason for the ultra secrecy at that time. In 1983, after

Soviet interceptor aircraft shot down the civilian airliner KAL

007 that strayed into prohibited airspace because of

navigational errors, killing all 269 people on board, President

Ronald Reagan announced that GPS would be made available

for civilian uses once it was completed. The first satellite was

launched in 1989, and the 24th satellite was launched in 1994.

By the end of the twentieth century, GPS had replaced

Loran. The introduction of GPS provided harbor pilots with

an accurate speed indicator. GPS was closely followed by the

development of the Portable Piloting Unit or PPU. The PPU

brought modern information sources together into an

electronic information platform that the pilot uses as a decision

making tool. Now continuity of information, accuracy and

availability are all conveyed with the pilot in this portable

device.

In 2005, the Automatic Identification System (AIS) was

introduced as another layer of information for the pilot. AIS

provides precise and current traffic information. The Tampa

Bay Pilots were carrying the AIS as an experimental prototype

beginning in 1998. Known as ROSS units, the self-contained

AIS units allowed pilots to “see” other vessels carrying AIS

units. After beta testing, AIS vessel-mounted units were

phased in during 2005.

ARINC (Aeronautical Radio Incorporated) portable

piloting units have been carried by the members of the Tampa

Bay Pilots Association since 2005 and incorporate the AIS data

stream along with the NOAA PORTS data stream. Data from

these sources are decoded by the ARINC units then

synthesized and displayed, on-screen, to aid the pilots in

determining vessel movement.

A n o t h e r

advancement seen

on the waters of

Tampa Bay has

been in tug

technology. With

t h e m a r k e d

increase in vessel

size over the years,

Tampa Bay is

A pilot conning a vessel with a PPU and other

modern tools of the trade . (photograph courtesy of

Capt. Jorge Viso)

113

equipped with the latest Azimuthing Stern Drive or ASD tugs

along with Ship Docking Modules or SDMs. This

sophisticated equipment allows for precise handling of ships in

and out of port as well as vessel movement within the port.

PORT HEAVY WEATHER

ADVISORY GROUP

The hurricane season of 1996 made it evident that the Port

Heavy Weather Plan was inefficient, and complications during

Tropical Storm Josephine suggested that the Tampa Bay

maritime community was incurring unacceptable risk.

Changes needed to be made to improve precision,

communication and discretion with port evacuation orders. A

port evacuation order foreshadows large economic impact to

the port community. There is a price to pay for a premature

evacuation order and the potential of an even greater loss, both

economically and environmentally, if the order comes too late.

With regular personnel changes, the U.S. Coast Guard is

challenged by the difficulty of maintaining a level of expertise

in determining threats to Tampa Bay from approaching

storms. Additionally, the logistics involved in thoroughly

evaluating the port in a reasonable period failed to allow for

the preemptive measures necessary when the threat of a

storm was present. The maritime community, who operated

within the port daily, could facilitate protocols necessary to

improve response. A partnership emerged from the quandary

involving the maritime community and the Coast Guard in

1997. The group collects data to determine appropriate

action to the USCG Captain of the Port (COTP) for the best

course of action in the event of dangerous weather

conditions. The group also centralizes information from the

Tampa Bay Pilots Association including vessel movement

and the Tampa Bay Cooperative Vessel Traffic Service

operated by the Tampa Port Authority. The group maintains

a sophisticated software program called HURRTRAK

Advanced, providing state of the art weather tracking and

projection capabilities. By combining their resources into

shared knowledge, the

members of the Port

H e a v y W e a t h e r

A d v i s o r y G r o u p

collaborate to insure the

highest level of efficiency

and preparedness.

CAPTAIN CAROLYN J. KURTZ,

A FLORIDA FIRST

Captain Carolyn Kurtz has explained that her position as a

Pilot and Member of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association is “very

satisfying”. “(At work and on board) is the one time in my life

that everyone does exactly what I say.” She is a U.S. Merchant

Marine Academy graduate and in 1986, Captain Kurtz went from

a King’s Point cap and gown to a sea-going ship in one week.

During her eight years at sea with the Maritime Overseas

Corporation, Captain Kurtz rose through the ranks from third

officer to chief mate with confidence and authority. She obtained

an unlimited master’s license in 1993 and identified a new goal. In

1995, Kurtz decided to reach for appointment as a Harbor Pilot in

the State of Florida and became the first female to enter the

training program. “It seemed very straight forward and fair to

me; you do the best on the test and you get the job.” Kurtz

recalls.

115

Captain Kurtz was appointed as the first female pilot in the State of Florida and since her appointment, has continued to pilot

ships and minds towards a greater understanding of professional excellence and the faculty of women in the maritime workplace.

Kurtz explained her credo in a simple and straightforward manner when she accepted the "Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award in

2010 from the Jewish Museum of Florida.

Don’t act like you are doing your job in a man’s world or that you have to do your job as a women…just go out into the world and do it. Don’t act like the girl and you won’t get treated like the girl. Just go out there and do what you know you can do. It is that simple and it works!

There is an assumption that when you walk on a ship as a pilot that it is not your first day on the job. Piloting is the pinnacle of the maritime professions. The crew of a ship respects the position of the Pilot and the person who carries that title. In an industry so dominated by men, I have not experienced any hesitation to turn over command to a woman…not even by mariners from other countries that may have never seen a woman on a ship or in command.

Captain Kurtz has served at the executive level for the Florida Harbor Pilots Association, formerly in the position of director

and currently as secretary. She serves as guest instructor at Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS)

and the Maritime Pilots Institute. She was co-manager of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association from 2007-2009 and was recognized

as a “Woman of Distinction” by the Girl Scouts of America.

In 2012, Captain Kurtz was appointed by the United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, to

serve on the advisory council as a member representing the viewpoint of professional mariners. She was recognized by the Tampa

Bay Organization of Women in International Trade as the International Business Person of the Year in 2012 as well. Captain

Kurtz in is one of 32 female harbor pilots working in ports around the nation and one of nearly 100 highly-skilled and highly-

trained harbor pilots serving Florida’s 14 deepwater ports.

117

Chapter 11

ENTERING A THIRD CENTURY

OF SERVICE AND DEDICATION

TO PUBLIC SAFETY

“Orange Sun”. (Capt .Jorge Viso)

I he past holds a vast wealth of knowledge and perspective that will serve

us well as we look towards the future. Through the centuries, piloting has

facilitated regional and national development by providing safe passage for

shipping and insuring the safety of the citizen and the environment. The era of

change and development on Tampa Bay continues into the new millennium.

Technology increases the precision of the tools and information available to the

pilots, thus increasing their capabilities and the demands placed upon them. Irony

is not lost on the fact that the only limitation to the size of vessels calling on the

ports of Tampa Bay is the ceiling or air draft of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, a

contrivance of man.

As time passes, we can look back upon history and see parallels and trends that are hallmarks of our ever changing, ever

evolving maritime industry. The correlation between the Tampa Bay's regional prosperity and her ports is self evident. It is

demonstrated by the urban growth and industrialization of the region that has shadowed successive increases in gross tonnage and

cruise volume handled by the ports that serve Tampa Bay. As the ports have thrived, so has business and urban development. The

history of the Pilots of Tampa Bay and the history of the ports they serve are inextricably linked and yet, as with many who serve

Pilot transferring to inbound vessel . (photograph

courtesy of Capt. Jorge Viso)

119

the public trust, their work and their role is invisible to most of the citizens of this

region.

There was a time, not so long ago, that vessel movement and shipping traffic was

published in the daily press because everyone in the region had a vested interest in

shipping. It was our lifeline to the world. Shipping was so important to the

Tampa of the last century that a holiday was declared in 1908 on the day the Rio

Grande, the largest ocean-going freighter to ever enter the port made her way

down Sparkman Channel. It was not just the ships that were larger than life. The

pilots of this association were larger than life, often putting themselves onboard

ships under quarantine for Yellow Fever, enduring weather hazards, navigating

vessels of all kinds through a long and twisting channel, and using their knowledge, experience

and discretion to insure safe passage through the waters of Tampa Bay, to vessels of all flags.

Many of the pilots of this association have literally left their names on the landscape of our

region, Bishop Harbor, Warner Bayou, Fogartyville, Ware Creek, and Fitzgerald Street, all named for

pilots who served this association or their family. An early pilot, John Gomez, who served as a pilot for

the US Navy during the Civil War gave us the legend of Jose Gaspar, the fountainhead of our Gasparilla Festival in

Tampa. Through their commitment to facilitate and promote the safe and efficient flow of commercial vessel traffic throughout the

pilotage waters of Tampa Bay, the members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association have become an intrinsic part of our community,

our economy and ambassadors of trade. The historical accounts and images held in this volume provide an idea of the people,

methods and the experience of piloting in the past. These were fathers, brothers, sons and husbands. They were deft mariners

who loved this area and the sea.

The Tampa Bay Pilots Association has existed through three centuries from that time when a narrow line of railroad tracks

made its way into Port of Tampa and over to Port Tampa City, sparking the dawn of the shipping industry in Tampa Bay. Today,

the primary international trading partners of the ports of Tampa Bay are India, Mexico, Trinidad, Canada, Brazil, Japan and

China. The covenant of association of the maritime community here in Tampa Bay has made Tampa the largest port in the State

surrounded by a vibrant metropolitan area.

The ports of Tampa Bay continue to grow, keeping in step with the demand for bigger and better facilities to serve

shipping interests, tourism and trade. At the Port of Tampa, Florida's largest port, 39 million tons of cargo, fuel, phosphate,

automobiles and building materials were handled in 2011. In 2012 the Tampa Port Authority began a $45 million modernization

and expansion project of its Richard E. Knight (REK) Petroleum Terminal Complex, providing infrastructure for meeting the

needs of Central Florida consumers plus the

aviation fuel demands of Orlando

International Airport. Upon the project's

completion the complex will be able to

handle more than 70 million barrels of fuel

annually

The Tampa Gateway Rail Terminal

which was unveiled at the port in

September, 2012 was completed in about

one year. The new $30 million, 2-mile

railroad loop and pipeline system will

Cruise and container ships at Port of Tampa in the early morning hours. (Wikimedia Commons)

121

quickly deliver ethanol and cargo via unit trains. A fast and highly efficient method for delivering commodities, CSX rail will allow

port partners like Kinder Morgan to unload 66,000 barrels of ethanol from one 96-car unit train in 24 hours. The new terminal and

13, 244 linear feet of rail will provide direct on-dock access to the extensive CSX rail network; a major development in the Port's

container capability. The Richard E. Knight Petroleum Terminal Complex and the Tampa Gateway Rail Terminal in concert with

the I-4 Crosstown Connector Project will enhance the Port's ability to serve customers in the Tampa/Orlando I-4 Corridor region

and beyond.

Across the Bay, Port Manatee continues to

grow and expand providing facilities for vessels up to

Panamax. The closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the

Panama Canal, the port and its partners move

approximately 9 million tons of containerized

breakbulk, bulk and project cargo each year. The

Manatee County Port Authority is committed to

protecting and enhancing Tampa Bay's pristine

ecosystem, too. The port's groundbreaking seagrass

mitigation program and Manbirtee Key Bird

Sanctuary prove that nature and ports can coexist.

The project's success attracted global attention and

earned several honors including the Gulf Guardian

Award from the Environmental Protection Agency's

Gulf of Mexico Program. The American Association

of Port Authorities also selected the project as the

Western Hemisphere's top environmental program in North Sea , a container vessel in Tampa Bay. (Tampa Bay Pilots Association)

2006. The effort to conduct maritime related activities

in a profitable and environmentally responsible

manner isn't just a mission statement, it is an action

plan. Port Manatee continues to be a catalyst in

countywide economic growth and a leading economic

engine adding more than $2.3 billion dollars annually

to the regional economy. The Manatee Port

Authority approved a 584-foot extension of berth 12

and a 10-acre container yard that will be up and

operational by 2013 well in advance of the Panama

Canal expansion. The port remains, in the words of

the Manatee County Port Authority, "the right turn

on Tampa Bay".

Today the Tampa Bay Pilots Association is comprised of 23 highly trained harbor pilots that provide pilotage services for

the ports of Tampa, Manatee and St. Petersburg. Cruise passenger numbers are at an all time high and an era of advancements in

technology and intermodal efficiency is well underway. The United States is closer to trade with Cuba than it has been in over 50

years. That, along with the expansion of the Panama Canal which is due to be completed in 2015, the future promises to bring a

new chapter to the industry of global trade and shipping to Tampa Bay's ports, and to this institution of men and women we call

the Tampa Bay Pilots Association.

"Leading the way on Tampa Bay"

Inbound ship on Tampa Bay. (Tampa Bay Pilots Association)

123

An aerial view of the Channel District. (Courtesy of the Tampa Port Authority)

125

Acknowledgements

The maritime history of our region is a lens which provides great clarity. It shows us how interconnected we are as a community

and how, despite the odds and due in great part to people working together, we have become a vibrant port community. As a

maritime historian, pilots are a perfect subject, as they have facilitated trade, nation building and community development for

centuries.

The events leading up to the inception of this association provide a sense of place and insight on what was occurring here

and why the year 1886 was so germane to Tampa Bay, her ports and burgeoning global trade.

May 7th, 1885 Tampa Board of Trade is founded. October 5, 1885 the newly formed Tampa Board of Trade pledges $4,000 to insure Vincente Ybor

builds his cigar factory near the Port of Tampa. 1886 The Plant Railroad lays track from Cedar Key to Port Tampa. 1886 U.S. Army Corp of Engineers dredges a channel 200' wide and 20' deep from the outer bar

of the harbor to Port Tampa. January 7, 1886 the vessel Mascotte, of the Plant Steamship Co. begins 36 years of service between

Tampa, Key West and Havana. February 24, 1887 Tampa becomes a U.S. Port of Entry.

The history of the Pilots of Tampa Bay and the history of the ports they serve are inextricably linked and yet as with many

who serve the public trust, their work and their role has become obscured to most of the citizens of this region over the years. It is

my wish that this book sheds a little light on the importance of maritime trade and the significance of the Pilots in making the

ports of Tampa Bay, America’s corridors of global trade.

This project owes a debt of gratitude to many who contributed insight, access and resources. The information collected for

this publication came from libraries and heritage repositories throughout the State of Florida, often with the assistance of librarians

who dutifully held the lamp of illumination high enough to see into the past. Many thanks should go to the John F. Germany

Library and the Port Tampa Library (both within the Hillsborough County Library Co-Op) in Tampa, Florida, for maintaining

public access to very specific reference materials relevant to our regional maritime heritage around Tampa Bay. Accolades to Andy

Huse, along with the staff at the University of South Florida Library, Florida Studies Reading Room in Tampa, who provided

access to the Hillsborough County Maritime Collection, held in their stacks. Jim Schnur, Special Collections Librarian at the

University of South Florida’s Nelson Poynter Library in St. Petersburg not only provided guidance and assurance during this

project but also great insight preceding it.

Many thanks to Pam Gibson and her staff at the Manatee County Public Library for providing insight on the Eaton

Collection and the Manatee County Photography Collection (accessible through the University of South Florida Library CORAL

Digital & Oral History Collection). The Manatee County Historical Society, a recent resource of great regional significance also

played a key role in providing access to oral history transcripts for this publication through its online collection. Unprecedented

online access to maritime reference materials, public records and newspaper archives on the worldwide web allowed for validation

and fact checking of some ambiguous facts through access to obscure federal reference materials Finally, my eternal gratitude to

Irwin Schuster, who provided invaluable and necessary editing services, advice and insight that made this book better.

127

My personal thanks go to Capt. Allen Thompson, Kelley Fowler and the office staff and members of the Tampa Bay Pilots

Association who commissioned this body of work. Together they facilitated its progress and development from start to finish with

great attention to detail and patience. Corporate histories can be a daunting task for a modern institution but their importance

remains self-evident, and clearly of high importance to the members of this maritime community who so diligently availed

themselves for this project.

-Carrie Caignet, Tampa Bay 2012

129

Fancied by tourist and resident alike and a familiar site in the early part of the 1900’s. The “Favorite” and the “Manatee” provided commuter service

to the Tampa Bay region before the bridges where developed. (St. Petersburg Museum of History)

Many thanks to the following Project Partners for making our

maritime history a principal worthy of investment.

131

Port

St. Petersburg

ESTABLISHED 1915 In November of 1908, when St.

Petersburg had a population under 1,600

people, Capt. William Thornton began

dredging a sand bar in an effort to deepen

the channel leading to the city dock in

St. Petersburg’s Bayboro waterfront.

Capt. Thornton owned the Home Line,

which operated passenger vessels on the St. Petersburg-Tampa run. By December of that year, the St. Petersburg city

council established the dimensions and boundaries of a possible harbor but it was not until March 1913, that the council

approved the Bayboro site. By March 1915, work on the Bayboro Municipal docks had begun.

On November 13, 1920, a Navy radio plant sent the first message from the new landing field at Bayboro Harbor, and by

1924 the U.S Coast Guard base was built as an anti-bootlegging site. Abandoned in 1933, the base was reopened in 1939

to train seamen of the Merchant Marine. That year, the square-rigged sailing vessel Joseph Conrad built in 1882, arrived

at Bayboro Harbor. By the time the Conrad was decommissioned in 1944, the U.S. Merchant Marine Training Services

Center had trained some 25, 000 Merchant Mariners.

133

I

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Herbert Bonnabel was a member of the first class to

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Point New York and among our first notable clients here at

ISR. “Bonnie” helped founder Robert DelValle, get his start

in business. Today, George Lorton, owner and CEO,

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and expertise right here in the heart of the Port of Tampa.

Twenty-four hour, seven-day-a-week shifts insure minimum

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135

Mosaic is the world’s leading producer of phosphate crop nutrients. Phosphate is a natural product for which there is no man-made substitute, and Florida phosphate is of strategic importance to critical sectors of the state and national economy, including farming, manufacturing, shipping, trucking and rail. American farmers rely on Florida phosphate to keep the food supply abundant, rich and affordable to consumers everywhere. Mosaic employs more than 3,000 Central Florida residents, and tens of thousands of Floridians work in other jobs dependent upon the industry. The company utilizes state-of-the-art environmental technologies to recycle more than 95 percent of its water, and return land that it uses to its natural beauty, or utilize it for parks, playgrounds and community amenities.

WE ARE PROUD

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137

T he Tampa Port Authority has actively responded to the needs of the port with

imaginative leadership since the end of WW II. Tampa has been a port-of-entry since

1887, it did not begin to reach its full potential until after 1945. Before that time,

operations were in most cases conducted independent of general community interests.

With the end of the war, local leaders foresaw that a well-organized and well-managed

governmental agency was required to promote orderly and effective long-range

development within the framework of the best use of the land available for transportation

purposes. The objective was a combination of public and private activity working in the

best interest of the port as a whole.

The Port of Tampa has long been one of the world’s premier ports for the shipment of

fertilizer products. Florida fertilizer is shipped through Tampa to points around the globe

to help feed the world. Tampa is the energy conduit for central Florida, handling the

gasoline and jet fuel needs of the region with increasing volumes of ethanol moving

through the port. Shipments of fertilizer and petroleum products account for almost 75

percent of the total annual tonnage of cargo that passes through the port.

“OUR PLEDGE IS TO

CONTINUE WORKING

CLOSELY WITH OUR

PORT COMMUNITY TO

HELP ENSURE YOUR

SUCCESS AND THE

SUCCESS OF THE

PORT OF TAMPA”

ESTABLISHED 1945

139

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within the industry. Another partner, James S. Kimbrell, came to Tampa in 1965 as

one of the founders of the St. Philip Towing Company and remained to serve in just

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Dwayne Keith and James R. Brantner held key management positions in the

St Philip Towing operation.

In January 2003, after a six-year hiatus from the towing business, members of the

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the family's Bay Transportation Corp.) as partners in Marine Towing of Tampa,

LLC. Steve Swindal and Hal Steinbrenner, both General Partners of the New York

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happy to again be furthering the family's maritime interests, which began on the

Great Lakes in 1859.

Marine Towing is proud to have "an all Tractor Tug" fleet serving the ships calling

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141

Seabulk Towing, Inc. is recognized by the towing industry as an established leader in harbor ship assist operations and

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143

In 1965, Manatee County purchased 357 acres near Piney Point for $900 an acre to launch the

Barge Port and Industrial Port, later renamed Port Manatee. Florida Legislature also passes the Manatee County Port Authority

Act in 1965, officially creating the port and its oversight board.

Located in the eastern Gulf of Mexico at the entrance to Tampa Bay, Port Manatee is one of

Florida’s largest ports and the closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the Panama Canal – providing

shippers with speedy access to Pacific Rim markets. This booming Gulf Coast gateway of

international trade is unique and offers distinct advantages – superior intermodal connectivity,

competitive rates and a prime location with nearly 5,000 acres of surrounding green space ripe for

development.

The port and its partners move approximately 9 million tons of containerized, break-bulk, bulk and

project cargo each year including fresh produce, forestry products, petroleum products, citrus

juices, fertilizer, steel, aluminum, automobiles, cement, aggregate and more. Port Manatee has

historically been a diverse port. Its cargo diversification strategy involves handling a sweeping

range of imported and exported commodities, insulating the port from extreme global market

fluctuations.

As a leading economic engine, Port Manatee adds $2.3 billion dollars

annually in economic impact to the region and supports more than 24,000 jobs. Eight million Floridians

live within a two-hour drive of Port Manatee, and the majority of Florida’s nearly 8.5 million annual visitors

are within three hours.

With room to grow, extensive development incentives and a growing consumer base at hand, Port Manatee

offers significant benefits to current and potential customers, manufacturers, shippers and ocean carriers.

The port offers more than one million square feet of public warehouse and office space, nine berths and is

one of only a few ports in the state operating its own railroad facility.

AFTER MORE

THAN 41 YEARS IN

THE SHIPPING AND

INTERNATIONAL

TRADE BUSINESS,

PORT MANATEE

HAS A BRIGHT

FUTURE WITH

UNLIMITED

OPPORTUNITIES.

Port Manatee was the vision of Bradenton realtor, Bob Kessler. Kessler looked south from

the Piney Point ferry landing in the early 1950s and envisioned a thriving seaport to

promote trade and commerce, provide a steady tax base for the community and create new

jobs in Manatee County.

145

INDEX 1: TIMELINE OF EVENTS 1526 April 10, Panfillo de Narvaez landed in Tampa Bay area probably the western side of the Pinellas peninsula. 1757 May, Don Francisco Maria Celi, pilot of the Spanish royal fleet, spends a month charting Tampa and Hillsborough bays. 1772 August 14, Hillsborough River and Hillsborough Bay given present names by Bernard Romans, British deputy surveyor 1775 February 20, first map (made by Bernard Romans) published showing Hillsborough River and Hillsborough Bay. 1775 June 12, first Merchant Marine action in the war took place when a group of Machias, Maine citizens, after hearing the news

of what happened in the Battles of Concord and Lexington, boarded and captured the schooner and British warship HMS Margareta.

1789 August 7, Congress specified that pilots would be subject to state law until such time as the Federal Government saw fit to

exercise its legislative authority in the matter. 1822 March 3, territory of Florida organized and established by congress. 1822 September 16, the legislative council for the territory of Florida approved an act providing for the appointment of pilots

within state waters. 1839 February 28 Florida territory legislative act no 17 section 1 governor and legislative council begins licensing pilots. 1839 February 28 Sec 6 (Duval) Board of Port Wardens to Act as Commissioners of Pilotage. 1842 Sec 6 1839 Act repealed and transfers commissioners of pilotage to pilots and the judge of the county of Hillsborough. 1845 Statute of the State of Florida Act 17 now exercised by county judge and pilots.

1845 March 3 State of Florida admitted as a State of the Union. 1847 Florida Statutes gives the judge of Hillsborough County authority to appoint one or more pilots and prescribe

the rate of pilotage. 1848 Two pilots appointed by the County Commissioners in April; Louis Covacevich and Samuel Bishop. (U.S. Census) 1848 July 25, Congress appropriated land on which a town could be built. At that time, Tampa was a very small

village of less than 100 inhabitants lying in the shadow of the garrison known as Fort Brooke. 1848 September 23-26 hurricane almost completely destroys Fort Brooke and Tampa. Worst storm in the history of

the Tampa Bay area. 1848 Two more pilots appointed in December. (Turner and Commack) 1849 January 18th, Tampa was officially incorporated as the "Village of Tampa" adjacent to Fort Brooke. 1852 Congress passed the first federal act affecting pilots and pilotage. This act, which decreed that all engineers and

pilots of steamships be licensed by federal inspectors resulted from the desire of legislators to improve marine safety.

1852 October 10, Tampa abolishes its civic government. 1855 Third Seminole War 1855 -1858 Yellow fever epidemic begins and Port Tampa placed under government

quarantine control. 1856 "Branch pilots of the port of Tampa are to make known the health laws to the masters of vessels…a pilot who

brings in any vessel in violation face fines and imprisonment for said violation." 1858 Cedar Key is chosen as the West coast port connected with the Atlantic Coast by rail instead of Tampa. 1861 Civil War era. Florida's ordinance of secession January 10, 1861. 1861 March 1, the first train arrived in Cedar Key. For the next 25 years, travelers could only reach Tampa by rail

from Fernandina or Jacksonville to Cedar Key and then by schooner (or occasionally by steamer) to Clearwater harbor, then overland or by boat all the way from Cedar Key and up Tampa Bay to Tampa.

147

1862 July, Union occupies Egmont Key as a base, fuel depot and hospital for the East Gulf Blockade Squadron during the Civil War.

1861 August 23, The lens from the Egmont key lighthouse is removed by confederate interests and remained dark until after the war. 1862 October 17, 1862 – US blockade ships USS Adele and USS Tahoma bombard Tampa. 1862 October 18, 1862– Union raiding party lands at Gadsden Point, marches to the Hillsborough River, and burns the Confederate blockade-runners Scottish Chief and Kate Dale. 1864 May 6, 1864 – Ft. Brooke is captured by a federal landing party from the USS Adele the Federals leave after 2 days of occupation. 1866 June 6, 1866 Egmont key lighthouse relit after the civil war. the light had remained dark for 5 years.

1868 August 3 chapter 1670 passed. First extensive legislation for pilot commissioners, pilots and pilotage. 1868 August 7th, the first Congress of the United States enacted a law giving the states the right to regulate pilotage in their waters. 1871 Congress passed legislation returning partial regulatory control over pilotage to the separate states. The ensuing dichotomy of regulation produced gaps and overlaps that have survived to the present day. 1874 No pilots at the entrance of Tampa Bay reported by the United States Geological Survey while installing aids to navigation.

1880 June, 1880 Rivers and Harbors Act providing for work through Hillsborough Bay to the river deepened the channel through Tampa Bay to port Tampa to about 19 feet, in Hillsborough Bay up to the mouth of the river to about 7 feet. 1883 January 7, The first port development started by the federal government with the dredging of the Hillsborough River by the dredge Alabama. 1883 April 3, Phosphate is discovered in the bed of the Hillsborough River. 1885 May 7th, Tampa Board of Trade is founded to transform a tiny fishing hamlet into a productive metropolis.

1885 October 5, The newly formed board of trade pledge $4,000 to insure Vincente Ybor builds his cigar factory. The shipping of cigars brings Tampa from small village to a thriving city and port. 1886 Plant Railroad Co. lays track from Cedar Key to Port Tampa. U.S. engineers dredge a channel 200' wide and 20'

deep from the outer bar of the harbor to Port Tampa. 1886 January 7, Mascotte, a vessel in the Plant Steamship Co. began 36 years of service between Tampa, Key West and Havana. 1886 Federal project begins to widen the channel into Tampa. 1886 April 26, First cigars manufactured in Ybor City. 1886 Keel of steamer Manatee laid in Tampa by Capt. John Fogarty. 1887 February 24 House Bill (s2992) makes Tampa a U.S. Port of Entry . 1888 February 5, Henry B. Plant built a 9-mile spur line from downtown Tampa to Port Tampa because it was closer to the mouth of Tampa Bay. 1888 August 11, The Rivers and Harbors Act established a goal of a 20 foot deep channel to Port Tampa. By 1893, the channel was completed to the twenty-foot level while the Hillsborough Bay channel remained at its hundred-foot width and 7 foot depth. 1889 Work on a 20 foot channel begins deepening the 10' channel to anchorage. 1897 November 30, The Calumet Club was founded by 37 ships' captains and their wives. A clubhouse was built on Interbay Boulevard with a billiard room, dance floor and social areas. It was razed in 1975. 1897 June 3, Florida legislature designates no more than eight pilots at the Port of Tampa. 1898 April 25, Spanish-American War begins (and ends August 12th). 1898 February 15, USS Maine ordered to Havana, Cuba, to protect Americans, explodes in Havana Harbor, killing 260. 1898 March 28, The survivors of the sinking of the battleship Maine arrived at Port Tampa on the steamship Olivette.

149

1899 Phosphate mining begins around Tampa. 1899 Rivers and Harbors Act provides for a channel 20 feet deep from the mouth of the river to the 20 foot contour in

the bay and embracing the 12 foot channel made previously. 1900 Between 300-400 vessels pass the Egmont Key bar to come into Tampa. 1901 May 20, Tampa Bay Pilots Association permitted to maintain a small wharf, a pilot look-out and four small dwellings. 1902 Piloting services and port statistics from reported by the United States Geological Survey. 1904 Egmont Key jurisdiction ceded Tampa Bay Pilot station to Tampa Bay Pilots Association and deed from governor recorded. 1904 6 pilots and a harbor master are reported at Tampa. 1904 May 4, The first Gasparilla invasion is celebrated in Tampa. The legend of José Gaspar came from early pilot, John Gomez. 1905 March 3, the Rivers and Harbors Act modified the depth of the channel in old Tampa Bay to 27 feet while it increased the Hillsborough channel to 20 feet. 1905 September 22, the United States Coast Guard and the American Pilots' Association entered into a partnership

agreement regarding maritime security. 1906 Tampa Bay Pilots Association began paying government-appointed harbormaster at Port of Tampa. 1908 The first ocean-going steamer, Rio Grande of the Mallory Line, docks at the Hendry & Knight Channel. A city

holiday is observed throughout Tampa for this watershed event; Tampa is observed as a deepwater port. 1908 Charter members of Tampa Harbor identified by National Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots,. 1908 National Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots No. 82, meets every first and third Saturday, Easley Building

on Franklin Street.

1909 8 Pilots cover all ports on Tampa Bay. 1909 First freighter leaves the Port of Tampa. Josephine loaded at the Southern Steamship Company docks (later the Gulf and Southern Steamship Company) left with a cargo of switch ties. 1909 First schooner to load at Hooker's Point (Mexican Petroleum Co.) Harry W. Haynes. 1909 Florida Attorney General appoints pilot commissioners to identify apprentice pilots. 1910 Rivers and Harbors Act increases depth to 24 foot from the gulf to the mouth of the Hillsborough River, eastward from the turning basin to Hendry & Knight channel (Project 4). 1911 February 17, Tampa Bay Pilots Association are licensed to maintain its existing pilot wharf, lookout station and seven dwellings on Egmont Key. 1911 November 11, Capt. John J. Fogarty, a member of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association is given a license to build a four-room cottage at the pilot reservation on Egmont Key. 1911 Legislation establishes eight pilots for Tampa Bay. 1912 Secretary of War defines property and dwellings on Egmont. February 17. 1914 Act 1293 specifies eight pilots designated for Port Tampa, Tampa, Manatee and St. Petersburg inclusively. 1914 United States Geological Survey description of Tampa Bay and tributaries is published. 1914 WW I begins. July 28th. 1917 Secretary of War adopts Project 5, increasing depth in the channel to 27 feet. 1921 October 24-26, A serious hurricane hits Tampa bay damaging 21 aids to navigation as well as the loss of 2 buoys and damage to the lighthouse on Egmont Key. Tide recorded 10 feet above normal. 1922 September 22, Rivers and Harbors Act combined the works on the inner bays into one project known as the

Tampa Harbor Project at the same time a standard depth of 27 feet was established for Tampa Bay. This goal was achieved in 1928.

151

1922 February 6, Tampa Bay Pilots Association appeals to Congress to provide additional appropriation to repair the Aids to Navigation and lighthouse on Egmont. 1926 Engineers complete work on the channel making it 27' deep with a minimum width of 300' to Port Tampa and city of Tampa. 1944 July 7, The Tampa Shipbuilding and Engineering Company (TASCO), receives the Army-Navy "E" award for

ship production. 1945 November 16, The Hillsborough County Port Authority held its first organizational meeting in the old chamber of commerce building located at the corner of Morgan and Lafayette Streets (now Kennedy Boulevard). 1953 October 30, The world's largest electrical sign was installed at Port Tampa. It spelled out "Atlantic Coast Line Port Tampa Terminals" with letters 19 feet tall and up to 13 feet wide. The whole sign was 76 feet tall and 387.5 feet wide, and used 4,000 feet of red neon tubing. 1970 August 7, The M/V Fermland is the first ship to dock at Port Manatee. 1970 October 29, official dedication of Port Manatee.

INDEX 2: PILOT

ROSTER 1886-2012 (alphabetical by last name)

Travis Bacon*

Thomas A. Baggett

C. W. Bahrt

Arthur Bahrt

David Besser*

Samuel Bishop

Harold Brandenburg*

W. H. Brown

J. Michael Buffington*

Warwick Cahill

John Commack

Luis Covacevich

Stephen Cropper*

Kinchen E. Cross

Walter N. Egan

Fred F. Enno, Jr.

Fred F. Enno, Sr.

Cyrus Epler

Earl G. Evans

Douglas Ferguson

John Fitzgerald

John J. Fogarty

Earl Gallagher

James Gallagher

Peter Glynn*

David D. Goddard

John Gomez

Alexander Green

Alex Harvey

Richard Heston*

Walter W. Holmes

Allen Hopkins

Terrence Jednaszewski*

H. L. Johnson

Luther T. Johnson

James Kelly

J. F. Kleishman

H. Eugene Knight

Vesta Knowles

Harold Krueger

Carolyn Kurtz*

Joseph Lachnicht*

John Lerro

Allen Lindsey*

Gregg MacLaren*

Gary Maddox*

George H. McDonald

Mark Miner

Everett W. Myers

William L. Nelson

Joseph J. O'Connell

James V. Oliver

Robert F. Park

David Rabren

Steven R. Ray

G. H. Risley

Tobias Rose*

Mark Ryan

John G. Schiffmacher

Joseph Shary*

Fred Smith

Steven Sottak*

Paul Spear*

Robert W. Stanton

William B. Stanton

Whit Stanton

Vincent W. Straigis

W. H. Strock

Louis E. Stuart

W. A. Switzer

Brian Tahaney*

C. D. Thames

John Timmel*

L.. C. Towles

J. Turner

Rick Van Enige*

Jorge Viso*

H. M. Walker

Houston Wall

John D. Ware

Lambert M. Ware

Harry G. Warner

Gilbert S. Warner

Harry J. Williams

B. F. Wiltshire

Ray E. Wingler

Frank Wood*

John Wrasse*

Elmer S. Yates

* Represents the current members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association (2012)

153

INDEX 3: REFERENCE

MATERIALS

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Resolution of the Legislature of Florida in Favor of Extending Mail Facilities in Hillsborough County, in that State: January 18, 1849 / Referred to the Committee on the Post Roads, and Ordered to be Printed [Washington?]: Tippin & Streeper, 1849.

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Printer, 1872. Campbell, Carlos Elmer, Libby Warner, Joe G. Warner, and Manatee County Historical Society (Manatee County, Fla.). Interview with Carlos Elmer Campbell, 1988

March 9 : Soldier on Ft. Dade-- 1917-- World War I, 1988. Cole, Roberta Moore, Kent Chetlain, and Manatee County Historical Society (Manatee County, Fla.). Interview with Roberta Moore Cole, 1989 : On Egmont Key1989. Cole, Roberta Moore, Carl D. King , Libby Warner, and Manatee County Historical Society (Manatee County, Fla.). Interview with Mrs. Roberta Moore Cole : Memories

of Egmont Key, 1981 September 241981. Cole, Roberta. Egmont Key.1986. Conference on Florida's Maritime Heritage, Barbara A. Purdy. "Conference on Florida's Maritime Heritage : Curtis-Hixon Convention Center, Tampa, Florida,

March 22-23, 1980."Florida State Museum, 1980. DeSalvo, Joseph S., Debra L. Fuller, and University of South Florida. Center for Economic and Management Research. The Economic Impact of the Port of Tampa.

Tampa, Fla. (4202 E. Fowler Ave., Tampa 33620-5500): Center for Economic and Management Research, College of Business Administration, University of South Florida, 1988.

Federal Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration for the State of Florida. History of Hillsborough County. 1936. Florida Historical Society., University of Central Florida. Dept. of History. Jay I. Kislak Reference Collection (Library of Congress). "Florida Historical Quarterly."

Florida Historical Quarterly. (1937).

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Florida. Dept. of Legal Affairs. Special Projects Section. Laws of Florida Relating to Water and Water Bodies, 1822-1941. Tallahassee: Dept. of Legal Affairs, 1991. Florida., Thompson, Leslie A. and Florida. General Assembly. "A Manual Or Digest of the Statute Law of the State of Florida of a General and Public Character, in

Force at the End of the Second Session of the General Assembly of the State on the Sixth Day of January, 1847." C.C. Little and J. Brown. Fogarty, Ollie Z., They Called it Fogartyville; a Story of the Fogartys and Fogartyville. Brooklyn, N.Y.: T. Gaus' Sons, 1972. Fogarty, Ollie Z., Libby Warner, Joe G. Warner, and Manatee County Historical Society (Manatee County, Fla.). Interview with Ollie Zipperer, Fogarty, 1991 September Fuller, Walter P. 1860 Census Manatee County.1 968. Gandy, George. George Gandy Papers, 1905-1941. 1905. Goodrich, Caspar F. and United States Naval Institute. Our Navy and the West Indian Pirates: A Documentary History. Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute, 1916. Gordon, Julius J. Marine History of Tampa Bay, Florida, 19th Century. Tampa, Fla.: J.J. Gordon, 1994. Gray & James. Tampa Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. T.F. Gray and James, 1837. Harrison, Murray. Early Days North of the Manatee.1981. Hawes, Leland M. Leland Hawes Collection, 1982-2004, 1982. Hawes, Leland M., Walker, David S., University of South Florida Libraries. Florida Studies Center. Oral History Program. and University of South Florida. Tampa

Library. "Leland Hawes Oral History Interview." University of South Florida Tampa Library. Heerschap, Michael. Some Historical Accounts of the Natural Conditions in Tampa Bay and Hillsborough County/Compiled by Michael Heerschap[Tampa, Fla.] : Hillsbor-

ough County Environmental Protection Commission, Energy Dept. [1980?], 1980. Hurley, Neil E. and Geoff Mohlman. Lighthouses of Egmont Key [S.l.]: Historic Lighthouse Publishers, 2000. J.J Taveres. Hillsborough County Showing Cities and Towns, Water Depths, Inland Waters and Property Ownership by Name Circa 1882. Vol. 1:63,360. New York, NY: The

South Publishing Company, 1882. Jahoda, Gloria. River of the Golden Ibis / Gloria Jahoda; Illustrated by Ben F. Stahl, Jr. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000. Kennedy, Sara, “Ferry may someday connect Manatee to Cuba, officials suggest”, Bradenton Herald, http://www.bradenton.com/2012/11/16/4280750/ferry-may-

someday-connect-manatee.html. November 16, 2012 Lawrence, Marion Blood. On the Banks of Manatee. Bennington, Vt.: M.B. Lawrence, 1978.

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Manatee County Historical Society. Characters in Old Florida History: Meeting Address before the Manatee County Historical Society. E. A. "Frog" Smith.1979. Manatee County Historical Society (Manatee County, Fla.). Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1999. ———. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1998.

———. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1988.

———. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1987.

———. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1984.

———. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1983.

———. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1982.

———. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1977.

———. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1973.

———. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1973.

Manatee County Port Authority, website. http://www.portmanatee.com/index.aspx, accessed November 15, 2012 Mayell, Hillary. Shipwrecks. Farmington Hills, MI: Lucent Books, 2004. McCall, Bruce Edward. Coastal Defenses of Tampa Bay. 1996. McCarthy, John and Manatee County Historical Society (Manatee County, Fla.). History of Sarasota County: [Address Given to the Manatee County Historical Society]

1987. McKay, Donald Brenham. "Gomez, John-Pilot." Tampa Tribune, 05 31 1959, 1959. 2. ———. "Gomez - Navy Pilot in Civil War ." Tampa Tribune, 10 13 1957, 1957. 2. ———. "Capt. Harry Warner." Tampa Tribune, 10 13 1946, 1946. TBHC Scrapbook 1946-1952; Col. 1. McKay, Donald Brenham. Donald Brenham "D.B." McKay Collection, 1880-1980. 1880. McKay, Donald Brenham,. Pioneer Florida. Tampa, Fla.: Southern Pub. Co., 1959. ———. Pioneer Florida. Tampa, Fla.: Southern Pub. Co., 1959. McMurria, Mary and Manatee County Historical Society (Manatee County, Fla.). "Early Days of Industry in Manatee" 1981. Mormino, Gary Ross, Richard M. Bernard, and Bradley Robert Rice . "Tampa : From Hell Hole to the Good Life." Sunbelt Cities. (1983). Mueller, E. A., Libby Warner, and Manatee County Historical Society (Manatee County, Fla.). Westcoast Steamboating, 1973. Mueller, Edward A. Steamships of the Two Henrys : Being an Account of the Maritime Activities of Henry Morrison Flagler and Henry Bradley Plant. Jacksonville, Fla: E.A.

Mueller, 1996.

National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Advances in Navigation and Piloting. "Minding the Helm Marine Navigation and Piloting." National Academy Press.

Navigation Data Center (U.S.) and Water Resources Support Center (U.S.). The Ports of Tampa and Port Manatee, Florida. [Fort Belvoir, Va.]; Alexandria, Va.;

Washington, DC: The Corps; For sale by the Navigation Data Center; U.S. G.P.O. [distributor], 1996. Pizzo, Anthony P. Tony Pizzo Collection, 1900-1994. Port Tampa City Woman's Club, Inc. Port Tampa City : A History of Change. Port Tampa City, Fla. (P.O. Box 19067, Port Tampa City 33686-9067): Port Tampa City

Woman's Club Inc., 2003. Port Tampa City Woman's Club. History of the City of Port Tampa, 1888-1961. Port Tampa Robinson, Ernest Lauren. History of Hillsborough County, Florida: Narrative and Biographical, Saint Augustine, Fla.: The Record Company, printers, 1928, 1928. Sanchez, Arsenio M. West Florida : A Short History. S.l.: s.n., 1998. Schneider, Mabel and Manasota Genealogical Society. Extractions from Manatee County Censuses of 1860, 1870, 1880, 1885, 1895. Bradenton, Fla.: Manasota Genealogi-

cal Society, 1985. Schorsch, Peter. Tampa Bay Harbor Pilot Carolyn Kurtz Appointed Homeland Security Navigation Safety Advisory Council, 2012. Secretary of War and Annual report of the Secretary of War for the years... "Annual Report of the Secretary of War to the President." Annual Report of the Secretary of

War to the President. (1850). South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium. Coastal Heritage Program. "Coastal Heritage." Anonymous A History of Manatee County. Directed by Charles Stark. Sarasota, Fla.: Hack Swain Productions., 200u. Tampa Bay Pilots Association, Annual Report to the Florida Harbor Pilots’ Association, Tampa, Fl.. October 15, 2012 Tampa Port Authority. Port Facilities at Tampa, Florida. Tampa, Fla.: Tampa Port Authority, 1975. ———. Port of Tampa Foreign Commerce. n.p: n.p., 1971.

———. The Economic Impact of the Tampa Port on the City of Tampa, Florida, Hillsborough County & the Seven Surrounding Counties. Tampa, Fla.: Tampa Port Authority,

1969.

Tampa Port Authority and Business Research & Economic Advisors. The Contribution of the Port of Tampa to the Tampa Bay and Florida Economies in 2001. Exton, PA:

Business Research & Economic Advisors, 2002. Tampa Port Authority and Florida. Division of Economic Development. Port Report : What the Port of Tampa Means to You. Tampa, Fla.: Tampa Port Authority in

cooperation with the Division of Economic Development, Florida Dept. of Commerce, 1980.

159

Thompson, Leslie A. "A Manual Or Digest of the Statute Law of the State of Florida of a General and Public Character in Force at the End of the Second Session of the General Assembly of the State, on the Sixth Day of January, 1847: Digested and Arranged Under and in Pursuance of an Act of the General Assembly, Ap-proved December 10, 1845." Charles C. Little & James Brown.

United States Army Corps of Engineers., United States Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors and United States Maritime Administration. "The Port of Tampa,

Florida." The Port of Tampa, Florida (1947). United States. Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors. The Ports of Tampa and Port Manatee, Florida. Washington: GPO, 1979. United States. Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors. and U.S. Maritime Commi ssion. The Port of Tampa, Florida. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off., 1948. United States. Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors., United States. Army. Corps of Engineers., and United States. Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors.

Origin of Imports and Destination of Exports at Tampa, Fla., during 1928. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1931. United States. Coast Guard. and United States. Coast Guard. Marine Board of Investigation. Marine Casualty Report : USCGC Blackthorn, SS Capricorn, Collision in

Tampa Bay on 28 January 1980 with Loss of Life. [Washington, D.C.]; Springfield, Va.: The Guard ; National Technical Information Service, 1980. United States National Archives and Records Service. and United States. Office of Naval Records and Library. Letters Received by the Secretary of the Navy from

Commissioned Officers Below the Rank of Commander and from Warrant Officers: ("Officers Letters") 1802-1884. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Service, General Services Administration, 1981.

United States National Transportation Safety Board. Marine Accident Report: Ramming of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge by the Liberian Bulk Carrier Summit Venture, Tampa

Bay, Florida, May 9, 1980. Washington, D.C.; Springfield, Va.: The Board ; National Technical Information Service, 1981.

United States War Dept. Inspector General's Office. "Annual Report to the Secretary of War." Annual Report to the Secretary of War. (18uu). University of Florida. International Marketing Resource Center. The Economic Impact of the Tampa Port. Gainesville, Fla.: 1968. ———. The Economic Impact of the Tampa Port. Gainesville, Fla.: 1968.

Ware, John D., Robert Right Rea , and Jay I. Kislak Reference Collection (Library of Congress). George Gauld, Surveyor and Cartographer of the Gulf Coast. Gainesville:

University Press of Florida, 1982. Ware, John D., Charles Mortimer Moore, and Manatee County Historical Society (Manatee County, Fla.). Notes on Egmont Key/Mullet Key. 1967. Warner, Joe G. Palmetto Revisited. S.l.: Printed for the Palmetto Historical Commission, 1991. ———. The Legend of John Gomez: The Last Pirate, Fact or Fiction? 1980.

Warner, Joe G. and Libby Warner. The Singing River : [a History of the People, Places, and Events Along the Manatee River]. Florida: s.n., 1986. ———. To the Wilderness they Came: Story of Myakka City, 1980.

Yerrid, C. Steven. When Justice Prevails. New York: Yorkville Press, 2003.

INDEX 4: IMAGES &

PHOTOS Fig 1. J.J. Taveres. Hillsborough County Showing Cities and Towns, Water Depths, Inland Waters and Property Ownership by Name Circa 1882. Vol.

1:63,360. New York, NY: The South Publishing Company, 1882. Fig 2. United States. Census Office. 1850 United States Federal Census of Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, Hillsborough, Florida1851. Fig 3. “The Only Naphtha Launch”, Gas Engine & Power Co. Morris Dock Station, New York. 1891

Fig 4. Unknown. Early Pilot Boat with a Naphtha Powered Engine St. Petersburg Museum of History, 1910.

Fig 5. Light keeper Charles Moore with his son and bride, Roberta Lightfoot Moore, Egmont Key, (1900s) Manatee County Library Fig 6. An early scene on Egmont. Manatee County Library

Fig 7. John Gomez and his wife on Panther Key (Charlotte Harbor). 1899. Manatee County Library

Fig 8. Plat map of Ft. Brooke. 1842. Florida State Archives

Fig 9 Ft. Brooke in the 1870s. Illustration. Florida State Archives

Fig 10. Unloading at the Port of Tampa, 1880s. Florida State Archives

Fig 11. Egmont Key Lighthouse. 1900s. Manatee County Library

Fig 12. Gray & James. Tampa Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. T.F. Gray and James, 1837. Fig 13. Barracks and hospital at Ft. Dade, Egmont Key. 1880s. Manatee County Library

161

Fig 14. Light Keeper Charles Moore on Egmont Key. 1900. Manatee County Library Fig 15. Light Keeper Charles Moore with fresh catch of grouper on Egmont Key. 1900. Manatee County Library Fig 15. Panoramic view of Fort Dade. 1911 Manatee County Library Fig 16. Mine laying ship off the coast of Egmont during the Spanish American War. Manatee County Library Fig 17. Mines staged at Ft. Dade. 1898. Manatee County Library Fig 18. July 4th Celebration at Ft. Dade on Egmont Key. 1898. Manatee County Library Fig 19. Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Moore on their wedding day. 1904. Manatee County Library Fig 20. A striped marker seen next to an exploding mine. Manatee County Library Fig 21. Capt. Robert Stanton with Mrs. Stanton and Roberta Lightfoot Moore (Roberta Moore Cole is pictured in the foreground.). Manatee County Fig 22. Underground bunker at Egmont Key/Ft. Dade built under the supervision of Charles M. Moore. Manatee County Library Fig 23. Young Roberta Moore (Cole) with her father on the family launch at the Fogartyville Boatworks. Manatee County Library Fig 24. Group photograph of Port of Tampa partners, possibly including members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. 1908. Manatee County Library Fig. 25. Capt Arthur C. Bahrt. 1937. Manatee County Library Fig. 26. Capt. Carl W. Bahrt with children on Egmont Key, 1910. Ancestry.com Fig 27. The “Belle” at the dock at Egmont with “Mistletoe” approaching from the left. 1890s. Manatee County Library Fig 28 . Capt. Robert Stanton and possibly a pilot “cub” playing cards on Egmont Key. 1900s. Manatee County Library Fig 29. Capt John J. Fogarty and Capt Henry Warner, founding members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. Manatee County Library Fig. 30. Steamer loading at Port Tampa with a view of the railroad and the Port Tampa Hotel. 1899. USF Special Collections Fig 31. A ship and tug near the phosphate conveyor at Port Tampa, 1920. Burgert Bros. Collection B29-v-00000209 (USF Library, Tampa)

Fig. 32. Judge S. M. Sparkman, 1925 Library of Congress

Fig 33. Philip Shore, Tampa Times, 1921

Burgert Brothers. Aerial View of Florida Portland Cement Plant on Sparkman Channel: Showing Waterfront South of Downtown: Tampa, FL. Tampa-

Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1992. ———.The Texas Company Oil Storage Facility : (Three-Tanks with Sand Berms): Tampa, FL. Tampa, Fla.: Tampa-Hillsborough County Public

Library System, 1992. ———. Mexican Petroleum Corporation Facility with Oil Tanks, Related Buildings, and Dock : (Hookers Point) Tampa, FL. Tampa, Fla.: Tampa-

Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1992. ———. Asphalt Storage at Towles Steam Ship Line on South Waters Avenue: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System,

1977. ———. Looking South to the Foot of Franklin Street Across Water Street: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1977. ———. Unloading of Lumber from a Cargo Ship at Port of Tampa: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1977. ———. Ship being Loaded with Cargo at Waterman Steamship Corp. Dock: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1950. ———. Motor Schooner "Narwhal" Moored at Dock by Warehouse: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1926. ———. McCloskey & Co. Shipyard; Printed with Tampa Marine Corp. Building: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System,

1994. ———.Texas Company Oil Facility: Track, Tank-Cars, and Grounds: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1993. ———.The Texas Company Oil Storage Facility: (Three-Tanks with Sand Berms): Tampa, FL. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1992. ———. Grounds of United States Army Garrison at Fort Brooke with Structures in Background: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public

Library System, 1994. ———. Aerial View of Florida Portland Cement Plant on Sparkman Channel: Showing Waterfront South of Downtown: Tampa, FL. Tampa-

Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1992. ———.Sinclair Refining Company, Tampa Terminal Storage Facility and Railroad Tank Cars: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public

Library System, 1993. ———.Shell Petroleum Corporation, Unidentified Tanker Docked at Facility: Port Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library Sys-

tem, 1993. Fig. 36. Tampa Bay Pilot Boat the Egmont. 1943 Manatee County Library

Fig. 37. Pilot boat of the early twentieth century. Manatee County Library

Fig. 38. Capt. J.J. Fogarty flanked by his sisters Leticia (Lettie) and Katherine in front of schooner Lettie. Manatee County Library

Fig. 39. A pilot board under power off the coast of Egmont Key. 1800s. Manatee County Library

Fig. 40. Port Manatee and Pilot Boat, Manatee. Vol. 01-30975-B1971. Manatee County Library

Fig. 41. Viso, Jorge. Pilot Boat “Tampa” Currently Serves the Waters of Tampa Bay.

163

Fig. 42———. "Orange Sun" from the private collection of Capt. Jorge Viso,

Fig. 43———. "Pilot Boarding Vessel at Tampa Bay, Florida", from the private collection of Capt. Jorge Viso,

Fig. 44———. A Pilot conning a vessel with a PPU and other modern tools of the trade, from the private collection of Capt. Jorge Viso,

Old Fashioned Nautical Illustrations. 173. Edited by Carol Bellanger Grafton. 2nd ed. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications Intl., 2002.

Fig. 45 Captain Carolyn Kurtz, Tampa Bay Pilots Association. 2011

"Watching the Pelicans from Steamers Favorite and Manatee at St. Petersburg, Fla.” St. Petersburg Museum of History, 1927. Favorite at Dock by Moonlight, St. Petersburg, Fla."St. Petersburg Museum of History, 1925. W06-06. Ships and Ferries make their Way in and Out of the Port of Tampa, during the Time Troops Trained in Tampa before Sailing to

Cuba to Fight in the Spanish-American War. Vol. Wehman Photograph Collection University of South Florida, 1898. "The Fogarty’s Schooner Lettie off the Fogartyville dock” (M01-00424-A)(Manatee County).

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pa Bay P

ilots Association—125th A

nniversary TAMPA BAY PILOTS ASSOCIATION

Serving the ports of Tampa Bay since 1886.