Florida Shipwrecks & Reefs
Locations > Shipwrecks & Reefs
Florida has thousands of shipwrecks and reefs, many still to be discovered. We created a webpage for each region with full details on sites that have a rich history or are interesting for fishing and diving. We give details of wrecks and reefs on regional pages and also present a full list of all the reefs we have researched below. There are also some interesting shipwrecks that are newly discovered or missing, so we include them on this page for lack of a better place to put them. Learning about Florida shipwrecks is fascinating, we hope you enjoy our pages. We try to be brief, just stating the facts, then we include links for you to learn more about each site. More to come soon...
Don't miss Lost & Found - Interesting Shipwrecks, this section follows the lists of reefs below.
Buy our handy PDF file loaded with 78 Florida Keys diagrams
| Shipwrecks & Reefs Pages |
Northwest | Big Bend| Northeast | Central West | Central East | Southwest |Southeast | Keys Upper . Middle . Lower |
| Shipwrecks & Reefs Alphabetical List | ||
Adelaide Baker - Monroe Middle |
The Eagle - Monroe Upper |
North East Patch - Monroe Upper |
| Shipwrecks & Reefs by Region | ||
| >Northwest | Big Bend | Northeast (coming soon!) |
| Oriskany - Escambia Joe Patti Reef Monica Lee - Okaloosa Jeff A Hovercraft - Bay |
||
| >Central West | Central | Central East |
| Blackthorn - Pinellas Sheridan - Pinellas Fin Barge - Manatee Nohab - Manatee Regina - Manatee Antonio Ensenat - Sarasota Bay Ronto - Sarasota Lynn Silvertooth - Sarasota |
Nathan F. Cobb - Volusia City of Vera Cruz - Brevard Laertes aka The Dutch Wreck - Brevard |
|
| >Southwest | Offshore | >Southeast |
| Mohawk - Lee Air Force Relay Towers - Collier Baja California - Collier |
Oculina Bank - Atlantic Pulley Ridge - Gulf Shipwreck Trail - The Keys Shipwreck Trail - Panhandle |
Georges Valentine - Martin Lofthus - Palm Beach Ancient Mariner - Broward Captain Dan - Broward Copenhagen - Broward The Nursery - Broward Ronald B Johnson - Broward Winward Trader/Rodeo 25 - Broward Biscayne Bay National Park - Miami-Dade HMS Fowey - Miami-Dade Half Moon - Miami-Dade Legare Anchorage - Miami-Dade Lugano - Miami-Dade |
| >The Keys - Upper | >The Keys - Middle | > The Keys - Lower |
| Alligator Reef - Monroe Upper Aquarius Lab - Monroe Upper Benwood - Monroe Upper Bibb - Monroe Upper Carysfort Reef - Monroe Upper Carysfort Trench - Monroe Upper Cheeca Rocks - Monroe Upper Christ of the Abyss - Monroe Conch Reef - Monroe Upper Cotton Key - Monroe Upper Crocker Reef - Monroe Upper Crocodile Lake - Monroe Upper Davis Reef - Monroe Upper Dove Key - Monroe Upper Duane - Monroe Upper The Eagle - Monroe Upper The Elbow - Monroe Upper French Reef - Monroe Upper Gercian Rocks Reef - Monroe Upper Hen and Chickens Reef - Monroe Upper Horseshoe Reef - Monroe Upper John Pennekamp - Monroe Upper Lake Surprise - Monroe Upper Key Largo Dry Rocks - Monroe Upper Key Largo EMA - Monroe Upper Molasses Reef - Monroe Upper North Dry Rocks - Monroe Upper North East Patch - Monroe Upper Pickles Reef - Monroe Upper Rodriguez Key - Monroe Upper San Pedro - Monroe Upper Sand Island - Monroe Upper Snake Key - Monroe Upper Snapper Ledge - Monroe Upper Spiegel Grove - Monroe Upper Tavernier Key - Monroe Upper Three Sisters Reef - Monroe Upper Turtle Rocks - Monroe Upper Turtle Shoal - Monroe Upper White Bank Dry Rocks - Monroe Upper Wolf Reef - Monroe Upper > |
Adelaide Baker - Monroe Middle Coffins Patch - Monroe Middle Marker 48 - Monroe Middle North American - Monroe Middle Sombrero Key - Monroe Middle Tennessee Reef - Monroe Middle Thunderbolt - Monroe Middle |
Adolph Busch - Monroe Lower Amesbury - Monroe Lower Archer Key - Monroe Lower Bay Keys - Monroe Lower Boca Grande Key - Monroe Lower Caymen Salvor - Monroe Lower Cayo Agua Keys - Monroe Lower Content Keys - Monroe Lower East Content Keys - Monroe Lower Cottrell Key - Monroe Lower Crane Key - Monroe Lower Dry Tortugas - Monroe Lower Eastern Dry Rocks - Monroe Lower Harbor Key - Monroe Lower Upper Harbor Key - Monroe Lower Horseshoe Key - Monroe Lower Joe's Tug - Monroe Lower Looe Key - Monroe Lower Marker 32 - Monroe Lower Marquesas Keys - Monroe Lower Marvin Keys - Monroe Lower Mud Keys - Monroe Lower Mule Key - Monroe Lower 9 Foot Stake - Monroe Lower Newfound Harbor - Monroe Lower Pelican Shoal - Monroe Lower Rock Key - Monroe Lower Sand Key - Monroe Lower Eastern Sambo - Monroe Lower Western Sambo - Monroe Lower Sawyer Keys - Monroe Lower Snipe Keys - Monroe Lower Vandenberg - Monroe Lower Western Dry Rocks - Monroe Lower Woman Key - Monroe Lower |
Lost & Found - Interesting Shipwrecks
200 Year Old Wreck Discovered 2012
NOAA's Okeanos Explorer ship discovered a copper-plated wooden-hulled ship believed to be 200 years old. Using underwater robots with lights and HD cameras they photographed remnants of the vessel with included glass bottles, ceramic plates, canons, anchors, boxes of muskets and a rare ships stove.
The shipwreck was originally discovered during a 2011 oil and gas survey for Shell Oil Company, identified by sonar in 4,000 feet of water, 200 miles off Florida's Gulf coast. NOAA was notified and the exploration of the site conducted in 2012.
The Okeanos Explorer's 2012 journey between April and May 2012 is shown on this satellite image; the exact location of the new shipwreck is being kept a secret.
For more pictures of the 2012 trip visit the Okeanos Explorer's website. Read the full NOAA Report.
This amazing video is of the shipwreck site showing artifacts.
Zalophus - John Ringling's Personal Yacht
We ran across a fascinating story researching the Sarasota shipwreck Zalophus, which sank in 1930 about a mile off Lido Key. This 125 foot luxury yacht was owned by John & Mabel Ringling. He owned several yachts, the one prior to the Zalophus called Vidoffner II, burned. The Ringlings purchased the new Zalophus for a whopping $200,000, equipping it with every luxury available at the time. Zalophus was docked in the Ringlings back yard and was used mostly to tour distinguished guests around his real estate developments. John wasn't much of a boater, so he let many big wiggs use his boat to entertain.
The Zalophus, which only drew 4 feet of water, found its resting place after hitting a rock in Sarasota's Big Pass February 4, 1930. Settling on the bottom in 12 feet of water, the ships smokestack was visible from the shore until it broke up in a storm, scattering its contents to unknown resting places. Expensive doors, chairs, boxes and other items were found many days after the sinking and returned to the Ringlings.
There was a big scandal in 1958 after the doctor who treated two injured passengers leaked a secret about the sinking ? the Mayor of New York City, Jimmy Walker and his mistress, the beautiful actress Betty Compton, were on the boat when it sunk. The mayor and his mistress escaped the disaster by taking a launch and went to Fort Myers. A few days later the mayor returned to the Ringling estate on Barron Collier's yacht, alone. The mayor was quite an overzealous character that was charged with corruption after the depression broke out due to his free-wheeling adventures.
The only mention of Zalophus's location is on NOAA’s AWOIS list which is out of date because the ship is no longer there. We have the coordinates on our Sarasota's reef chart just for the fun of it; you never know if artifacts might resurface someday.
A Sarasota Magazine article mentions the Spanish Main Treasure Company found the still-intact deck of the vessel and applied for a permit from the State of Florida to salvage the wreck. There is no date on this article and we couldn't find anything more on this. So the ships whereabouts and salvage efforts are a mystery, to us anyway. Read this story to get the full details of the sinking.
Did you know John Ringling died at 70 with $311 in the bank. He was one of the wealthiest men at one time. He died just 5 days before they were going to bankrupt him and take everything. He willed his estate to the State of Florida which was lucky for us or it would have been liquidated. Image Source: Sarasota County History Center
