The reef near Indian Key claimed the Dutch-built ship, San Pedro. The newly Americanized port of New Orleans shipped the commerce of the rapidly growing American interior throughout the New World. This increase in shipping was accompanied by an increase in shipwrecks in the Keys. During the middle 1800s, so many ships went down in the Keys that several thriving communities of wreckers sprang up to retrieve cargo and vessel remains for resale. When viewing these remains we can reflect on what the lives of the sailors and passengers aboard may have been like.
Shipwrecks still occur in modern times despite dramatic improvements in propulsion and navigation.
The City of Washington and Benwood are examples of modern vessels that came to grief in the Keys. Other ships were sunk deliberately as artificial reefs. The Amesbury, Duane, Eagle and Thunderbolt serve the same functions in this underwater trail as do museums on land. Paul Caputo One of the goals of the National Marine Sanctuary System is to provide opportunities for people to learn about our maritime heritage. Through the Shipwreck Trail, the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is seeking to make our rich maritime heritage more visible and to encourage an appreciation and understanding of these irreplaceable remnants of our past.