tained in Mexico and South America at that time, they 

 failed to secure their hold on the seemingly valueless 

 lands of Florida and the Bahamas by colonizing them. 



They did not realize their mistake until it was too 

 late. Before their first century in the New World had 

 passed, the Spaniards had given up attempting to settle 

 the Florida peninsula, with the exception of St. Augustine 

 and its environs. And by the beginning of the seventeenth 

 century, the Bahamas had become a hiding place for the 

 enemy ships of other nations, as well as pirate ships, both 

 of which preyed upon Spanish shipping. From then on 

 her ships were forced to run the gantlet of the straits 

 without benefit of protection from either shore. 



During these years, hundreds of ships, alone or in con- 

 voy, were destroyed on the reefs along the keys. When- 

 ever they foundered in such shallow water that they could 

 be reached from the surface, they were salvaged — not only 

 by the Spaniards, who hurried from Havana to reclaim their 

 property, but also by the Key Indians, who swarmed 

 from the shores in their dugout canoes. These Indians 

 were amazingly good skin divers, and anything of value 

 which they could reach by skillful and successive dives of 

 three to four minutes did not remain long on these 

 wrecks. 



Whatever they left was later picked over by roust- 

 about pirate crews looking for salvage and, still later, by 

 wreckers from the Bahamas and Key West, whose liveli- 

 hood depended on what could be scrounged from the 

 misfortunes of passing ships. 



It was apparent that there could not be much left 

 for the treasure seeker of the present day. Our greatest 

 hope was that, with modern diving paraphernalia, we 

 could stay doMm and work the wrecks an indefinite period 

 of time. With the additional advantage of up-to-date 

 salvage equipment and explosives, we would be able to 



The Florida Keys 51 



