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Dry Tortugas National Park
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Dry Tortugas National Park, located 68 miles west of Key West, Florida, encompasses seven small islands within its 100-square-mile jurisdiction. Central to the area is Fort Jefferson, a masonry third-system fort with a half-mile-long perimeter wall 50 feet high and 8 feet thick located on Garden Key. The Dry Tortugas are situated on the edge of the main ship channel between the Gulf of Mexico, the western Caribbean and the Atlantic Ocean. Any ships traveling the more than 1,200 miles of United States Gulf coastline will pass close to the Tortugas. The associated shallows pose a serious navigation hazard and have been the site of hundreds of marine casualties. |
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| The maritime archeological sites within the park reflect the long history of the Dry Tortugas, which were discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513 and discussed by the English as early as 1565. The earliest known shipwreck site is from the 1622 Spanish plate fleet, however, it is reasonable to expect many undocumented shipwrecks in the park. Maritime casualties occurred frequently in the past and still occur here. The NPS has conducted underwater investigations in the park for more than three decades and SRC has conducted extensive archeological fieldwork in the Tortugas, particularly in the early and mid 1990s.
- July-August 1997 GIS-based, remote sensing survey and site testing. Mapping, documentation, and anomaly investigation. Larry Murphy, Principal Investigator.
- May-June 1996 Site and anomaly investigation and documentation. Larry Murphy, Principal Investigator.
- May-September 1995 GIS-based, remote sensing survey and site testing. Mapping, documentation, and anomaly investigation. Larry Murphy, Principal Investigator.
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- May-September 1994 GIS-based, remote sensing survey and site testing. Mapping, documentation, anomaly investigation and test excavation. Larry Murphy, Principal Investigator.
- May-September 1993 GIS-based, remote sensing survey and site testing. Mapping, documentation, anomaly investigation, site evaluation, and mapping. Involved 25 volunteers and 12 US Navy instructors from the Naval Salvage and Diving School. Larry Murphy, Principal Investigator.
- July-August 1990 Fort Jefferson Archeological Project. Survey and mapping of 5 shipwrecks. Involvement of 34 volunteers. Larry Murphy, Principal Investigator.
- March 1988 Avanti site documentation project. Larry Nordby, Principal Investigator.
- August-September 1985 Fort Jefferson National Monument Project. Photography, video documentation and evaluation of shipwreck sites and natural areas. Daniel Lenihan, Project Director.
- May 1974 Shipwreck survey of Fort Jefferson National Monument by Underwater Archeological Research Section, Florida Division of Archives, History and Records Management, under contract to the National Park Service. W.A. Cockrell, Principal Investigator. Larry Murphy field supervisor and Dan Lenihan was NPS observer.
References:
- Murphy, Larry E., Editor, 1993, Dry Tortugas National Park Submerged Cultural Resources Assessment. Submerged Resources Center Professional Report No. 13. National Park Service, Santa Fe, NM.
- Lenihan, Daniel, 2002, Chapters 5 & 21 in Submerged: Adventures of Americas Most Elite Underwater Archeology Team. Newmarket Press, NY.
- Lenihan, Daniel J., 1997, The Tortugas Triangle, Natural History Magazine,, Vol. 106, No. 3.
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Related Links
Dry Tortugas National Park
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