merchant ships of the Spaniards as they pursued their slow 

 way toward the homeland. Cargoes were jBlched, their 

 crews killed or made captive, and the ships confiscated. 



It did not take long for the brigands of other nations 

 to discover the wealth to be gained by piracy on the 

 Spanish ships. In self-defense the Spanish formed their 

 merchant ships into organized convoys, protected by heav- 

 ily armed galleons. These gathered at appointed times in 

 the shelter of Havana harbor and then set out for Spain 

 under the protection of their escorts. Thus one hazard was 

 met. 



But, as we have seen in the case of the Looe, the prob- 

 lem of successfully navigating the richly laden ships 

 through these narrow straits, bordered on either side by 

 coral reefs and shallow banks, was not so easily solved. 

 Each nation — in fact, each navigator — guarded his hand- 

 made charts as a jealous chef would guard his recipes. 

 There were no really accurate charts of these dangerous 

 waters for many centuries, and every voyage was fraught 

 with peril. 



Even as late as 1763, Thomas Jefferys, geographer to 

 His Majesty the King of England, wrote, in An Account 

 of the First Discovery and Natural History of Florida: 



The navigation upon the extreme parts of 

 Florida is remarkably dangerous, not only because 

 it is within the course of the tradewinds but because 

 the whole shore upon which the current for the 

 most part sets is particularly low, flat, broken 

 ground, and full nine leagues into the sea the water 

 is in many places quite shallow, excepting some 

 winding deep channels in several parts of it, which 

 are the causes of frequent ship wrecks; for when- 

 ever a ship falls into one of these channels, she very 

 rarely, if ever, gets clear of it; because, being de- 

 ceived by the deep soundings, and having unwarily 



The Florida Keys 49 



