edication to Service

T H E H I S TO RY O F P I L O T I N G
O N T A M PA B AY T H RO U G H T H R E E C E N T U R I E S

Researched and written for the Tampa Bay Pilots Association

by Carrie Caignet

Dedication to Service

T H E H I S T O R Y OF P I L O T I N G O N T A M P A B A Y T H R O U G H T H R E E C E N T U R I E S

Caignet, Carrieann R., 1968Tampa Bay Pilots Association

1.Florida Maritime History
2.Tampa Bay Pilots Association
3.Tampa Bay History
A record of cataloging-in-publication is available from the Library of Congress.
Copyright 2012 by Carrie Caignet. All rights reserved.
ISBN: 098867131X
ISBN-13: 978-0-9886713-1-7
Published by Florida Maritime | www.FloridaMaritime.org

edication to Service
T H E H I S TO RY O F P I L O T I N G O N TA M PA B AY
T H RO U G H T H R E E C E N T U R I E S

RESEARCHED AND WRITTEN

FOR THE TAMPA BAY PILOTS ASSOCIATION
BY CARRIE CAIGNET

Our Mission
We are dedicated to providing the highest quality of reliable, efficient and modern pilotage services that are essential to the economy and public health, safety and welfare of the
Tampa Bay Region.
We are entrusted to preserve and protect the Tampa Bay ports, population and environment to the fullest extent possible.
We will facilitate and promote the safe and efficient flow of commercial vessel traffic
throughout the pilotage waters of Tampa Bay.
We will strive to serve the maritime industry with professionalism, courtesy and with a
commitment to excellence.
We will have mutual respect for each other and value the people that make up our association, our customer and our community.

TA B L E O F C O N T E N T S
Foreword by Captain Gary Maddox

Introduction by Captain John D. Ware

Chapter I
Early Pilotage on Tampa Bay
John Gomez The Perfect Pilot

22

Chapter II
Fort Brooke & the Harbor at Tampa

29

Chapter III
Tampa, the Railroad and the Civil War
Tampas Role in the Civil War
Piloting during the Civil War

34

Chapter IV
The Egmont Key Light & Fort Dade
Charles M. Moore: TBPA Manager, 1922-1948
Charlies Daughter Remembers Egmont Key

41

Chapter V
The Inception of Association
Recollections of Capt. C. W. Bahrt, 1921-1936

65

Chapter VI
Port Tampa
Port Tampa City
Port Tampa and the Phosphate Elevators
Capt. John Fitzgerald, TBPA, 1897-1909

70

Chapter VII
Port of Tampa
Philip Shore, Secretary to the TBPA, 1909-1921

79

Chapter VIII
The Twentieth Century: An Era of Change & Development

93

Chapter IX
The Pilot Boats of Tampa Bay

100

Chapter X
The History of Navigation on Tampa Bay
Sea Change
Port Heavy Weather Advisory Group
Capt. Carolyn Kurtz, A Florida First

107

Chapter XI
Entering a Third Century of Service and Dedication

117

Acknowledgments by Carrie Caignet

125

Port Partners/Underwriters

130

Index 1: Timeline of Events

145

Index 2: Pilot Roster: 1886-2012

152

Index 3: Reference Materials

153

Index 4: Images & Photographs

160

91

27

37
40

54
59

110
113
114

66

71
75
77

FOREWORD
In our research to find the start of pilots combining their services on these waters, we discovered a rich history of the
development of this whole geographic region. From the early days of Fort Brooke and the little village of Tampa in its shadows to
our present day city and the urban areas around it, there has been a constant need for waterborne commerce to provide the many
diverse cargoes that are the lifeblood to building and maintaining Floridas growing population. When you look into the history of
piloting on Tampa Bay you discover that it is tied to the history of the development of the channels, ports, commerce and cities
along its banks. The need for a reliable piloting service to guide ships safely from sea to their berths was vital.
As the area developed and grew, so did the needs for wider and deeper channels, more port facilities, and more pilots. You will
recognize the names of individuals who played integral parts in the growth of our bays and ports. Some channels, docks and port
areas carry their names, and their descendants are active in the marine community today.
The basic role of the pilots has changed very little over the years. Pilots are there to provide the local knowledge and
(Opposite page) This is a map of
Hillsborough County showing cities
and towns, water depths, inland
waters and property ownership by
name circa 1882. Scale {ca. 1:63,360].
Source J.J. Treveres, (New York, NY:
The South Publishing Company, 1882)
Courtesy of the Special Collections
Department at the University of South
Florida.

expertise to guide a vessel safely through the navigable waters of the ports. However, to
accomplish this goal has become much more complicated than in the early days of piloting.
Piloting ships in the early years established a supply chain in Tampa Bay necessary for local
expansion. Groundings, stranding and accidents in and around Tampa Bay resulted in losses
primarily to the ship and cargo owners, those directly involved in the movement of those
cargoes. It became clear that retaining local knowledge of the waterways preserved cargoes,
improved efficiency and above all, it assured safety. Todays vessels are so large and carry

such diverse cargoes in huge quantities that an accident can have a tremendous economic impact on everyone, not just those
directly involved in the shipping industry.
I would like to express my gratitude to Captain John D. Ware and Captain Carl W. Bahrt for their efforts to preserve some of
our history. It is valuable for us to recognize the important role that our predecessors played in the development of our region.
Understanding our professional roots and the vital service that the pilots provided throughout the history of Tampa Bay focuses
us on our duty today and in the future to continue to provide the most professional, reliable, efficient and safe service possible.
From Captain Wares Introduction written in 1969 to the present, the Tampa Bay area has experienced tremendous growth. In
the piloting venue, this has magnified the inherent challenges of Tampa Bays long winding transit and a constant need for
dredging to remain competitive. New port areas have been developed to handle the increased demands for more shipping. The
number of pilots has increased from 15 to the present number of 23. It wasnt just the number of pilots that changed on the Bay,
but also the demands placed on the pilots to develop maximum efficiency in the use of channels while maintaining a safe margin to
protect the State of Florida and its citizens.
The State of Florida recognizes the vital role that pilots play in protecting our environment and citizens. The State legislature
has enacted strong statutes to regulate piloting. These statutes have been reviewed several times over the years to ensure
effectiveness. However, despite all efforts, accidents happen. Tampa Bay has seen three major marine accidents, two in 1980 and
one in 1993. The Florida Board of Pilot Commissioners, the United States Coast Guard and the National Transportation and
Safety Board fully investigated these accidents and their findings are a matter of public record. However, an important duty of the
pilots is to analyze any marine accident and see if there is anything that can be done to prevent it from happening in the future.
Following the disasters of 1980 and throughout the many years to the present, a tremendous effort has been made by all to
prevent marine incidents on Tampa Bay. Physical changes to the channels, bridges and fenders, navigational aids, developing
5

technology updating tidal information, establishing safety guidelines, traffic information, communications, continuing education,
and bridge resource management are some of the many areas that have been reviewed. The pilots play an integral part in
evaluating and testing what will be most beneficial for the safe navigation of the vessels.
Todays ships have been designed to accommodate the type of cargo that they will carry. This results in a large variance in the
size, shape and the method of propulsion of these vessels that call on our ports. Each vessel has its own unique handling
characteristics and reacts differently to wind and current. Many new technologies are developing, some of which may be useful
tools to assist the pilot. Evaluating these technologies, knowing their limitations and interfacing their use with the vessels
personnel is important in maximizing efficiency while maintaining safety.
In 1969, 1,927 vessels were moved carrying almost 20 million tons of cargo. In 2011, 4,046 vessels were handled carrying 39
million tons of cargo into the Port of Tampa. Continued expansion in the future is inevitable. With the completion of the Panama
Canal Expansion and the Gulf Coast Advantage, an alliance between Port of Tampa and the ports of Houston and Mobile,
international freighters will find the ports of Tampa Bay ready to do business and the Tampa Bay Pilots Association ready to
serve. We look forward to meeting all the new challenges ahead and to continue to guide ships safely through the waters of
Tampa Bay.
-Captain Gary Maddox, December 2011

An Introduction
BY

CAPTAIN JOHN D. WARE, TAMPA BAY PILOT , 1952-1974

n the year 1969, one thousand nine hundred and twenty-seven (1,927) vessels, exclusive of tugs and barges, called at

the many facilities of the greater port of Tampa. The Tampa Bay Pilots handled virtually all of these in which almost 20 million
tons of cargo were transported. They ranged in size from the small Central American and island traders of less than 100 tons to
vessels of 76,000 dead-weight tons. This is a tremendous volume of cargo and a great number of vessels, the size and type of which
reflect the diversity of our trade. Obviously, all of this did not just happen overnight. The Port of Tampa and its shipping have
grown steadily over the years, each one more or less keeping pace with the other. The Tampa Bay Pilots Association is an integral
and, we hope, an important part of this activity. It is about this group in particular, and pilots and piloting in general that I wish to
speak.
First, let me discuss the historical background and certain of the legal aspects of the profession. Piloting, if not the oldest
profession, is at least one of the oldest. The first known reference is contained in the Holy Bible (Ezekiel, Chapter 27 to be
exact). It may be speculated in jest perhaps that this Biblical reference may explain in part the attitude of certain present-day
pilots. The name itself is shrouded in antiquity, but is thought to come from the Dutch Qijl and lood, meaning pile or pole and
lead. Incidentally, the modern Dutch word for pilot is simply loodse. Thus, a pilot is one who uses, among other things, a lead
suspended in a vertical line, as from a pole, to determine the depth of water. Undoubtedly, the best-known practitioner of this
profession was the famous author Samuel L. Clemens, whose familiar pen name Mark Twain, derived from mark two or two
fathoms, then considered the safe depth for most river craft of that era.

It will probably come as no surprise to those of you with some knowledge of Florida history that those explorers and voyagers
who first skirted the west coast of our State and thus could have entered Tampa Bay began with Juan Ponce de Leon in
1513. Even he may have been preceded by certain unlawful, and therefore unrecorded, traders in Indian slaves.
Others answering to this roll call would have been Panfilo de Narvaez and his pilot, Diego Miruelo, in 1528, followed by
Francisco Cordova, Alonso Pineda and Hernando de Soto and his advance man, Juan Anasco, the latter two in 1539. That the
Adelanto Pedro Menendez de Aviles entered Tampa Bay in 1566 guided by a friendly native is incontrovertible. This Indian
piloted Menendez to the village of Tocabaga, thought to be in or near present Philippi Park at the head of Old Tampa Bay. All of
these, are prime candidates for the first pilots on this spacious body of water. This bay has been known variously over the
centuries as Espiritu Santo, Tocabaga, Bahia Honda, San Fernando and now, Tampa, to cite only a few of its names, both ancient
and modern.
It is perhaps noteworthy that Barcias Chronological History of Florida, first published in Madrid in 1723, in referring to the
wages of certain members of the seafaring profession in Menendez s day, cited the following rates of pay: captains 40 ducats per
month, pilots 24, shipmasters 9, ships officers 6, seamen 4, and cabin boys 2. The gold ducado or ducat was worth about $4 in
terms of present day values.
Although these low wages were deplored, it may be seen that by comparison pilots were
rather well paid a view, incidentally, which has not changed much through the years. After
180 years of virtual neglect and indifference on the part of its Spanish owner, a Captain
Braddock in command of a privateer from Virginia entered and surveyed Tampa Bay,
presumably on a clandestine basis for his own country, England. Regrettably, his survey
record and chart, said to be quite accurate, appear to have been lost or now non-existent.

The latter part of the 18th century saw numbers of voyagers, explorers and pilots enter, survey, and draft charts of Tampa
Bay. Many left accurate and comprehensive accounts of these surveys. Among these were Juan Franco and Francisco Celi in 1756
and 1757 respectively. The British surveyor, George Gauld came in 1765 and that universal genius, Bernard Romans, five or six
years later. Before the century ended two more Spaniards, Jose de Evia and Vicente Folch y Juan, also entered and conducted
surveys, both of which they documented at some length. As one may correctly infer many of these men were not pilots as such, but
their very entry into Tampa Bay and in certain instances their examinations thereof certainly qualified them as pilots in an actual if
not a literal sense. Celi and Evia were in fact classified as pilots of the Spanish royal fleet and as a result of their surveys drafted
charts of varying degrees of usefulness of Tampa Bay.
From the foregoing one may correctly infer that a pilot in those days was a member of the ships complement who, after
navigating the vessel across the ocean or along the coast, also conducted or conned her into port. Gradually it was realized that
expert pilotage in such cases required the local knowledge of pilots attached to a given port or area, rather than traveling pilots
skilled in general navigation. From this realization, then, evolved the present day bar, bay, river, or harbor pilot in residence so
to speak. Such a pilot has the skill, experience, and local knowledge necessary to conduct ships over the bar, through the channels
or rivers, and when required, to dock these vessels As ports grew in size these individuals banded together for convenience and
greater efficiency of operation to form groups or associations as they are usually called.
Moving along in time, it is found that the 1840 federal census of Hillsborough County lists the following who gave their
occupation as pilot: Samuel Bishop, for whom Bishop Harbor on the east side of Tampa Bay may have been named, Louis
Covacevich, John Gomez, Alexander Green, and James Kelly. Hillsborough County, formed in 1834, then extended as far south as
the Caloosahatchee River and thus included not only Tampa Bay but Charlotte Harbor, as well. How many of these individuals
were members of the complement of certain vessels, or confined their piloting activity to Tampa Bay or the other waters of
Hillsborough County is not clear. The total population of the new county was 452 persons, including the garrison at Ft. Brooke.
9

Certain of these pilots

undoubtedly
vessels

served

which

the

few

supplied

this

military outpost, the forerunner of

modern Tampa.

There is no

known record that any were

associated or banded together in
any way. There can be no doubt
that not only sailing vessels but a
limited number of steamers as
well were
Tampa

then

Bay.

coming into
A

testimonial

entered in the county record book

praising an 1838 navigational
chart drafted by one Captain
Rufus De Kilgore, attests to this
fact. Robert May was pilot of the

Luis Covacevich and John Gomez are both listed as pilots in the 1850 United States Federal Census of Fort
Brooke, Tampa Bay, Hillsborough, Florida Roll: M432_58; Page 250A

steamer Chamois and Charles M.

Gallagher served as master of the steamer Coltbus. May was no doubt a member of his ships complement and not a resident of the
newly-formed Hillsborough County since his name did not appear on the census roll.
Of the several shipmasters who traded in the Tampa Bay area and beyond in the mid-19th century and who no doubt piloted
their own vessels thereon, three stand out indelibly: Captains James McKay, Fredrick Tresca and John W. Curry. The Scottish

born McKay, who left a rich legacy of accomplishment in shipping and public service and who has many descendants remaining in
Tampa, practically monopolized the industry in the Tampa Bay area during that period with his steamers Scottish Chief and
Salvor. In the early 1870s the Hiram J. Kool, a side-wheel steamer plied between Cedar Key and Tampa with intermediate stops at
Clearwater. Upon the death of the regular captain his replacement ran the vessel aground south of the Interbay Peninsula where
her wreck has remained for almost 100 years. With the introduction of pilot associations in residence there arose the need for laws
to regulate pilots and their services, so that today every maritime nation in the world, as well as our own seacoast states, has
adopted such regulatory measures. The power of the federal government to administer all matters relating to pilotage was
acquired as incidental to the authority conferred on it under the Constitution.
The first legislative action relating to pilots was an Act of Congress of August 7, 1789, whereby the federal government
delegated its authority to the several states (until further provision is made by Congress). Further legislation subsequently
enacted has restricted the broad powers of the states to regulate pilots and pilotage. However, the power of the federal government
is exclusive only when it is exercised; state laws regarding pilotage are therefore operative so long as they are not in conflict with
federal statutes. Of the several pilotage restrictions imposed on the states, perhaps the best-known in the maritime industry is
Revised Statute 4401, which, in effect, excludes American coastwise vessels from the provisions of state pilotage laws. Thus,
pilotage regulation involving foreign flagships and American registered vessels remains with the several maritime states.
Florida was ceded to the United States by Spain in 1821 and an Act of Congress approved March 10, 1822, established the
Territory of Florida, providing for a governor and a legislative council. This same year the mayor and city aldermen of St.
Augustine and Pensacola, respectively, were authorized to appoint pilots for those ports. In 1835, Chapter 871 empowered the
county court to appoint pilots for the port of Key West. The following year Chapter 938 provided that no pilots would be
appointed at St. Johns or the port of Nassau who did not reside at or near the mouth of such rivers. The first mention of regulation
of these services for Tampa Bay came in 1839, when on February 28, Chapter 17 authorized the governor and the legislative
11

council to appoint a Board of Port Wardens at Jacksonville, Tampa Bay and the mouth of the Suwannee River. Such board was
authorized to act as the Board of Commissioners of Pilotage, from 1839 until 1868, no less than thirty different laws were passed
by the legislative council and the state legislature, all having to do with the appointment of pilots and regulation thereof in the
various ports of Florida. Many of these are now little-known or non-existent as ports, for example: St. Augustine, the Suwannee
River, St. Marks, Apalachicola, Indian River and Jupiter bars, Cedar Keys, and the port of Bayport.
Out of this special and diverse abundance of regulation emerged Chapter 1670, Laws of Florida, which was the first
comprehensive general law governing pilots, and which provided the framework of our present Chapter 310, Title 21, Florida
Statutes. The practical effect of these laws, both state and federal, is that state pilots operate under a dual jurisdiction. When
piloting an American coastwise vessel or one operating under a certificate of enrollment, such pilot is acting under the authority of
his federal or Coast Guard license. When performing the same services on a foreign-flag vessel or on an American ship under
registry, that is, one plying in foreign trade, he is acting under the authority of State license or commission. This license is issued
by the local Board of Pilot Commissioners of each port, the members of which are appointed by the governor of the state. This
Board regulates pilots and pilotage in accordance with the aforesaid Chapter 310.
Port development on Tampa Bay was given its first impetus in 1880, when the Rivers and Harbors Act
of that year authorized a 19 foot channel to Port Tampa and an 8 foot channel to the mouth of the
Hillsborough River in Tampa. It was ten years later, however, before these improvements were completed, a
time lapse which, incidentally, does not appear to be unusually long as we view the progress of our current
bid for channel improvements. Completion of this project put Port Tampa on the map but left Tampa
woefully lacking in the ability to accommodate the larger vessels. They were required to anchor near
Ballast Point in Hillsborough Bay and there transport their passengers and cargo to and from Tampa in
smaller vessels. To take advantage of the deeper channels the Henry B. Plant System therefore extended

the railroad from Tampa across the Interbay Peninsula to Port Tampa. This provided their steamers, Mascotte and Olivette, direct
connections with their rail terminal. This nine mile extension and other facilities to accommodate these ocean vessels were
completed in 1888. It was not until 1908 that Tampa pretensions as a port of consequence was assured by the completion of a
channel 20 feet deep and 150 feet wide and a corresponding turning basin.
As suggested earlier, the beginning of piloting on
Tampa Bay in the relatively modern era appears to have
been performed on an individual basis. Shortly before the
Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railway Company
began construction of their narrow-gauge railroad from
Kissimmee to Tampa on February 25, 1882, a drifter
appeared on the Tampa scene. Dutch Bill as he was
known, offered his services as pilot to those schooners and
brigs, which brought the locomotives and rails into Tampa
for this extension. It has never been clearly established
whether Dutch Bill was brought here and hired by the
railroad company or if he came on his own initiative. The
South Florida Railway owned by the Plant Investment
Company acquired rights to this new rail line to Tampa.
This line was completed just two days before the state
charter expired and the first train arrived in Tampa

The Naphtha launch appeared in America in the mid 1880s after legislation was
passed requiring a licensed crew to attend to steam driven vessels. The Naphtha
powered launch, with no boiler, did not fall under this mandate and therefore did
not require the owner to maintain a licensed crew.

January 25, 1884.

13

For a time, before there was an organized pilot group, the small foreign tramp steamers often stopped inside of Egmont Key to
borrow a chart of Tampa Bay from Mr. Charles Moore, the senior light keeper. With the aid of this chart, such vessels would find
their way to Port Tampa and return to Egmont Key, where the chart would be returned to the light keeper for the use of the next
incoming ship. The genesis of the Tampa Bay Pilots
as an organization began about 1888, when Captains
Harry G. Warner and W. A. Switzer joined forces to
serve the then-burgeoning Port Tampa. Thus, few
businesses in Tampa or this part of the state can
claim the longevity of our association.
It was not long after this that they established a
pilot station on Egmont Key and went into business
on a full-time basis. Prior to this, however, Captain
Switzer, who lived at Terra Ceia, would cross lower
Tampa Bay to Egmont Key and stay at the light
keepers home until the arrival of his ship, which he
Early pilot boat with a Naphtha powered engine, If you look closely you can what appears to be the exhaust stack astern. (St. Petersburg Museum of History)

then piloted to Port Tampa. Captain Warner, who

resided at Port Tampa and ran a ship chandlery there,
piloted the vessel to sea, towing a naphtha-powered

motor launch astern to provide his return transportation to Port Tampa and home. Thus, for a while, Switzer piloted the inbound
vessels and Warner the outbound traffic. As shipping eventually increased at Tampa and Port Tampa, so too, did the need for
expanded pilotage service increase. Thus, from time to time the quota of pilots for Tampa, Port Tampa and Manatee was increased
by legislative act.

The reference to Manatee may well be noted at this point. It is believed that this referred to the village of Manatee to the
east of present Bradenton. Manatee, along with its counterpart, Fogartyville, to the west of Bradenton, has long since become a
part of that city. After the inception of the Tampa Bay Pilots and for many years thereafter, the Phillip Shore Shipping Company,
despite a possible conflict of interest, acted as agent for the group and handled its accounts and other affairs. Thus, few if any
records are available to the researcher for these years. Interestingly, a facsimile of a bill dated November 25, 1903; of the Tampa
Bay Board of Pilots in the sum of $33 for services rendered to the schooner City of Baltimore, lists a total of six pilots the
aforementioned Switzer and Warner and four others.
As the Tampa Bay Pilots grew in size, and perhaps for other reasons, its members decided to
establish their own office. Accordingly, in the latter part of 1922 or early 1923, they employed
Charles M. Moore, son of the former light keeper of the Egmont Key lighthouse He opened their
office and served as agent, office manager, bookkeeper and dispatcher for 25 years, until his
retirement in February, 1948. Charley (sic) Moore was on the scene when the Tampa Bay Pilots,
as an association, was formed. Born in Tampa near the present Cass Street Bridge on October 25,
1876, he was taken to Egmont Key as an infant by his parents and lived there continuously, except
for periods of schooling at Fogartyville and Rollins College, until he came to
work with the pilot group. As a young man he was employed briefly by the
Marine Hospital Service on Egmont Key and for 25 years thereafter by the
U. S. Army Engineers . He eventually became superintendent and had
charge of construction of many of the installations at Fort Dade and Fort
DeSoto on Egmont and Mullet Keys, respectively.

15

Light keeper Charles

Moore with his son,
Charles M. Moore and his
bride Roberta Lightfoot
Moore, on their wedding
day at Egmont Key.
(Manatee County)

It was only after these projects were phased out that Charles M. Moore assumed the management of the affairs of the
Tampa Bay Pilots. His combined service on his two jobs spanned a period of more than a half century and three wars the
Spanish American, and World Wars I and II with all their attendant activity. It is reasonable to assume then, that no other
individual was ever more intimately acquainted with Egmont and Mullet Keys, the greater port of Tampa and the Tampa Bay
Pilots during those 51 years, than Charles M. Moore. It was the privilege of this speaker to have talked at length on two occasions
with Mr. Moore in 1966 some months before his death in his 90th year. He was then of sound mind and retentive memory and
provided this speaker with much valuable and interesting information. That is another story.
So much then, for the historical and legal background of pilots and piloting in general and certain of the individuals connected
with or having knowledge of our group from its beginning. In describing the present-day Tampa Bay Pilots Association, certain
aspects might well be listed as follows:
Organization
Physical

assets

Condition
Duties
Operation
Regulation
Fiscal characteristics

Our group consists of fifteen pilots and one apprentice, most former
shipmasters, two former tugboat captains, but all with years of experience
as deck officers before appointment as state pilots. Although Florida law
traditionally provides for a four-year apprenticeship as partial requirement

for qualification as pilot, we have encouraged the appointment of merchant marine officers
who have a first-class pilot endorsement on their masters license. This is prima facie
evidence of qualification to handle enrolled vessels and is usually accepted as such for
appointment as a state pilot, although not legally recognized or required.

THE PILOTAGE ROUTE

FROM SEA TO TAMPA IS
FORTY NAUTICAL MILES

Each Tampa Bay Pilot, insofar as the performance of his duties as a pilot is concerned,

-ALMOST TWICE AS
LONG AS JACKSONVIILLE,

is a free agent and is answerable only to the Board of Pilot Commissioners and/or the US

THE NEXT LONGEST

Coast Guard. He does, however, on all other matters, work within the framework of

FLORIDA.
THE SHORTEST ROUTE
PORT EVERGLADES IS
LESS THAN TWO MILES.

certain rules and regulations, which govern our association. He is an equal shareholder
and thus exercises an equal voice on all matters relating to the group. Perhaps no more
classic example of the democratic process at work exists today than that exemplified by
our operation. All decisions, except for those few wherein the signature of all members

ROUTE IN

are required, are made on the basis of a majority vote. Two managers, acting in a co-equal
capacity, carry out the wishes of the majority on matters involving the management of the association. Two other pilots act as
managers of the boats and station equipment. Our physical assets consist of four boats, with a replacement value of about $75,000
each, a pilot station on Egmont Key with some eighteen houses, a 300-foot pier, lookout tower, fuel storage tanks, emergency
generators and radio communications equipment. Our office, in one of the downtown bank buildings, in addition to its function as
our business headquarters, serves as the nerve center of our operation and has radio equipment which provides communication
with our station, boats and other ships.
The pilotage route from sea to Tampa is forty nautical milesalmost twice as long as Jacksonville, the next longest route in
Florida. The shortest route -Port Evergladesis less than two miles. Reduced to its simplest terms the duties of a Tampa Bay
Pilot are to board a vessel at Egmont sea buoy, nine miles offshore and provide the local knowledge, skill and ship-handling ability
17

necessary to safely conduct or con the vessel over the bar, through the channels, and in most

THE SUCCESS OF

cases to dock the vessel with or without tugs as indicated. To pilot the vessel out of port the same
procedure is followed but in reverse order. The pilot is nearly always the first personal contact a
foreign shipmaster makes as he enters the United States.

We therefore regard ourselves

additionally as ambassadors of good will. Whether our manner always reflects that attitude
may, of course, be open to question by those with whom we do business. To the uninformed who
might accompany a pilot on an assignment it might appear that the pilot goes aboard a vessel and

OUR OPERATION
DEPENDS IN VERY
LARGE MEASURE ON
OUR EMPLOYEES.

takes command so to speak. Nothing could be further from the truth; the master of the vessel is
always in command and has the final word on all matters pertaining to his vessel, including piloting. Indeed, the master may
relieve the pilot and take over the direction of his vessel any time he chooses. This is rarely done, but is not without precedent. As
a matter of practice and custom, however, the pilot boards the vessel and assumes direction of the piloting operation. This
includes giving advice and information to the master and all necessary orders and directions to the deck officer and helmsman
relative to engine maneuvers, speed, courses, wheel or steering orders, placement of tugs and the necessary orders to each of these
in docking or undocking.
Only rarely does the pilot actually steer or operate the engine order telegraph. In short, the pilot is merely an advisor who
gives the necessary information and orders to safely navigate the ship into and out of greater Tampa harbor. In light of certain
recent experiences, some in this regard might also debate our effectiveness. The operation of providing pilotage service for Tampa
and its many facilities goes on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Thus, our office is never closed and the pilots never sleep,
figuratively speaking. The only exception to this is during a hurricane or severe northwesters when it is considered unsafe to
attempt to board or disembark in the gulf.
Certain physical hazards incidental to piloting are ever-present, tragic proof of which has been provided on numbers of

occasions. One pilot lost his life by drowning and another was permanently disabled, necessitating his premature retirement. Some
months ago, another of our members was injured and is still unable to resume his duties. As in all businesses, the success of our
operation depends in very large measure on our employees. Twelve in number, they consist of our office manager, secretary, night
dispatchers, boatmen, mechanic, and cooks. They are skilled individuals and many of them have been with us for years. In terms of
number of vessels and tonnage, Tampa is by far the largest port in Florida. Moreover, as noted earlier, its 40-mile pilotage route is
almost twice as long as the next longest. For these reasons the port also has the greatest number of pilots of any Florida port.
Maintaining a pilot station on Egmont Key and certain other factors make it the most expensive such operation in the State.
Despite this, pilotage services are provided at the same cost to the ship-owner as in the other ports in Florida. Chapter 310,
Florida Statutes, as mentioned before, is the controlling state law insofar as pilot commissioners, pilots and pilotage are concerned.
This Board of Pilot Commissioners is our governing body and the state agency charged by law with the responsibility for insuring
adequate pilotage services. Thus, their regulation, while much simpler and confined to the local level, is, nevertheless, very similar
to that exercised by the Public Service Commission over the several power and communications utilities of the State of Florida.
Briefly stated, our Board of Pilot Commissioners is authorized by Chapter 310 to appoint pilots and apprentices, regulate pilotage
rates, and conduct hearings on casualties involving vessels coming under their purview and to take appropriate action in absolving
from blame or disciplining pilots in such cases.
These basic regulatory powers date back to 1868, and even earlier in some cases. Certain sections of Chapter 310 and another
chapter not related to pilots or piloting, all enacted before the turn of the century, provide for specific authority and duties, which
have become obsolete in view of modern port operations. For example, pilot commissioners are to act as port wardens to
examine vessels, cargo, and stowage thereof, and to attend public auctions of vessels or cargo and to oversee and direct such
auctions. The reason for these now-obsolete provisions was simple: there was then no other appropriate public body to attend to
these matters.
19

All of the foregoing brings us to the important question: who bears the expense of pilotage and how are pilots paid? To begin
with, the pilotage rate is $8-$25 per foot of draft. Thus, the total pilotage fee equals this figure times the draft of the vessel each
way. The ship is billed this amount by our association, usually through their local agent. After all monthly expenses for current
operations and capital expenditures are deducted. The remainder is divided equally among the fifteen pilots. The state pilotage
system has come under fire from time to time for various reasons and from diverse sources. It would take much time and serve no
useful purpose to recollect them. Yet one indisputable fact stands out above all others: Florida State pilotage in general and the
service offered by the Tampa Bay Pilots in particular has existed as a regulated public service from the beginning, at no expense to
the taxpayer, and with no risk or liability to anyone save the ship owner and the pilots themselves.
The needs of this port for deeper channels to accommodate the vessels of ever-increasing size and draft have been documented
time and again. Much has been done by public agencies and private interests to bring this about. The Tampa Port Authority in
particular should be singled out for commendation for their untiring efforts on this project. Yet much remains to be done at the
higher levels of government. Failure or inability on the part of the appropriate federal agencies to take timely and effective action
on these desperately needed improvements will, in the opinion of this speaker, inevitably force us all down the byway of immediate
decline and eventual oblivion as a port of worldwide importance.

-Captain John D. Ware, 1969

An early scene on Egmont Key. A steamer in port and striped marker being launched by a group of men (some soldiers). Mischief owned by Captain
Harry G. Warner making a beat on a schooner at the mouth of Tampa Bay. Mischief was described as fast and pretty but nasty in foul weather by
Captain C.W. Bahrt , Tampa Bay Pilot from 1907-1937. (USF Library collection).

21

Chapter 1

E ARLY P ILOTAGE ON T AMPA B AY

n 1819, the Adams-Onis treaty ceded Florida from Spain to the United States. Florida became an organized
territory of the United States on March 30, 1822 and under the direction of Governor William Duval, began
establishing infrastructure and regulation. In September 16, of that same year, the Legislative Council for
the Territory of Florida approved an act providing for the appointment of pilots. It is not until February 28,

1839, that Act No. 17 specified that the Florida Territory shall appoint three discreet and proper persons to act as port
wardens for the harbor of Tampa Bay. The port wardens were then given the authority within the limits of their respective
ports, to regulate the anchorage, mooring and dockage of vessels.

This act essentially established the process and

administration of the Commissioners of Pilotage who were licensed by the port wardens. In Act No. 17, Section 6 it specifies:
That the said board (of Port Wardens) within the limits of their respective ports, shall constitute a board of commissioners
of pilotage, and shall appoint and license such other persons as may be deemed most fit and proper, to act as pilots for the ports
or harbors aforesaid, respectively; which persons so licensed, shall hold their branches during good behavior; and the said
board of commissioners shall require from said pilots, such a bond and security, for the faithful performance of the duty
required of him or them, as the said board of commissioners shall deem proper; which bonds shall be made payable to the
governor of the Territory and his successor in office; and the pilots so appointed shall, moreover, take and subscribe an oath or
affirmation, well and truly to execute and discharge all the duties required of him or them as pilots; and the said
commissioners of pilotage shall have power to establish rates, and define rules and regulations for the government of the pilots;
which rates, rules and regulations, shall be officially promulgated, by publishing in any newspaper in the districts,
respectively.

From February 28, 1839, Laws of the Territory of Florida

Act No. 17 An Act constituting a Board of Wardens, Commissioners of Pilotage and Commissioners of Wrecks for the
Port of Jacksonville and other places including the harbor
of Tampa Bay. This act essentially established the process
and administration of the Commissioners of Pilotage in
Tampa Bay. (From the Library at Princeton University)

23

THE YEAR 1848

Records show that during the April term, the Hillsboro (sic) County

IS ONE TO REMEMBER IN
THE HISTORY OF THE PORT
OF TAMPA AND PILOTAGE

were Louis Covacevich and Samuel Bishop who both lived at Fort

Commission named two pilots for duties at Tampa Bay. Those men
Brooke at that time. Louis G. Covacevich was born in Trieste, Austria
in 1811 although some sources suggest he was born at sea. He arrived
in Tampa Bay, Florida around 1837. He applied for U.S. citizenship in
September of 1842 and applied for a land grant under the provisions of

the Armed Occupation Act of 1842.

Permit 380 was issued to Covacevich for 160 acres of land at Rocky Creek, just north of

Rocky Point on April 23, 1843.

Covacevich was the first of two pilots to be appointed at Tampa Bay through legislation in 1848 and served the ports of Tampa
Bay for at least twenty years. In his later years, Covacevich studied law and was admitted to the Florida bar. He became a
Hillsborough County Commissioner and lived in Tampa until his death in 1887. He is buried at Oaklawn Cemetery . In July 25,
1848, Congress appropriated land on which a town could be built. At that time, Tampa was a very small village of less than 100
inhabitants lying in the shadow of the garrison known as Fort Brooke. The garrison had a large commissary warehouse, two
hospital buildings, a bakeshop, a carpenters shop, the quartermasters office, ordinance warehouses, a clothing building, horse
sheds, army barracks and a blacksmith shop. Officers maintained homes on the bay at the foot of what would now be Nebraska
Avenue. The fort also had a large wharf at the present foot of Platt Street.
After the appointment of pilots in 1848, their association was not clear aside from being licensed and regulated by the County
Commissioners. The channel also remained shallow and difficult to navigate with large craft. The practice of hailing a pilot at the
entrance to Tampa Bay remained in place. Sometimes a pilot would respond and at other times, the vessels were left to their own
devices. U.S. military interests still independently contracted experienced pilots as the Seminole Wars began and skilled pilots

were retained by shipping interests for regular lines servicing the garrison. Some men who would later become the founding
members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association were masters for the schooners and steamers of the lines serving Tampa. There is a
particular pilot who worked in the service of the U.S. Navy in those days and through the Civil War who can undoubtedly be
credited for bringing the legend and tradition of Jose Gaspar and Gasprarilla to Tampa. His name was Juan (John) Gomez.
Census records of 1850 show that Gomez, age 28 at the time, lived in the Covacevich household and his occupation listedPilot.
With Gomez come some interesting insights on early piloting around Tampa Bay. As a pilot used by the U.S. Navy at Fort
Brooke, he quickly found a demand to bring excursionists out to Pass-a-Grille and Egmont Key for picnics and camping aboard his
schooner, Red Jack. His excursions were popular during the 1850s, the period of the Third Seminole War. Egmont became a more
frequented destination for excursionists due to the wartime activities which took place on Egmont. Seminole prisoners were
detained there until the Army could ship them to reservations in Arkansas and Oklahoma. Although the war was relatively minor,
it did bring government contractors, promoters, merchants and military officers and their families to the garrison at Tampa. Johns
excursions provided some relief from the tedium of life at Fort Brooke by hunting, fishing and general recreation.
Gomez quickly learned to beguile his passengers for fun and profit with piratical tales and fireside accounts of his exploits in
the Florida wilderness and at sea. He looked like a pirate, talked like one and had a reputation for high rascality that he tirelessly
cultivated according to Frank Hurley in his book on the history of Pass-a-Grille, Surf, Sand
and Postcard Sunsets published in 1977.
The following description is from Kenneth Ransom who met Gomez in 1898. His
complexion was brown, dark and rich in color like century old mahogany and his thick
white hair, bushy and plentiful framed a face seamed and lined but keen and full of vigor.
His voice was clear and full and he gestured freely as he talked with the animation of a
young man.
25

Ultimately the Civil War put John and his excursions aboard Red Jack out of business. The need for his piloting services
increased with the rising tensions between the North and South. Gomez provided piloting services to supply ships entering and
exiting Tampa and the gunboats USS Tahoma and the USS Adele. When not piloting vessels in and out of the port, he would serve
with a Tampa home guard unit. After a saloon brawl and amidst an increasingly hostile environment for a Unionist, Gomez left
Tampa and appeared in Key West where he served as pilot aboard the Federal schooner Two Sisters on blockading duty out of Key
West.
Piloting became a rather precarious endeavor in Tampa Bay throughout the Civil War. Martial Law was declared at Fort
Brooke in 1861 and the Egmont Key light was disassembled and buried on the mainland by Confederate interests. The lighthouse
remained dark from August 23, 1861 until June 6, 1866. The Union forces managed to occupy Egmont Key due to the Federal
Lighthouse Service (which was based in Union held Key West). Tampa and Fort Brooke remained under a Confederate flag for
most of the war. A succession of yellow fever epidemics compounded problems for vessels coming into Tampa Bay. To address this
public health issue federal regulation was implemented by the port inspector requiring a quarantine period.

The federal

regulations were to be enforced by any pilot working the ports of Tampa Bay.
Tampa was plagued with Yellow Fever outbreaks into the 20th century. Captain H. L. Johnson, was an early pilot who came
to Tampa with the Plant Steamship Line in 1893. Capt. Johnson had the first car in Port Tampa City. He contracted Yellow
Fever after shuttling the ill from Port Tampa City over to Tampa for medical attention. He died of the illness himself in 1901.

JOHN GOMEZ
T H E P ER F E C T P I LOT
John Gomez was a well-known character throughout the Florida territory from Cedar Key to Key
West. A foreign born man of Hispanic descent and longtime resident of Florida,

Gomez was

considered to be the perfect pilot by a Union Navy officer who he served under in the summer of
1863, Captain Charles H. Rockwell. In an 1896 edition of Forest and Stream, a predecessor of the
publication Field and Stream, Capt. Rockwell describes Gomez during his service in the Civil War:
Long year ago, say in the summer of 1863, I became the proprietor of John Gomez. The Commander-and-Chief of the East Gulf
Blockading Squadron selected me for the command of the U.S. schooner, Two Sisters, familiarly called the Two Shysters. The lofty vessel
was a Baltimore pungy of about 40 tons, drawing about 9 feet of water aft and 4 feet forward, as some suggested, so that she could climb hills
like a kangaroo. She carried under my command one-twelve pound howitzer and was manned by twelve seamen, three petty officers, one
masters mate and a pilot. When I proceeded on board to take charge of this my first command in the Government service, I found sitting on
deck smoking , silently and diligently, his knees near his chin, his back rounded like a bicycle scorcher, his old straw hat covering his head from
the nape of his neck to his eyebrows,
John Gomez, Pilot, U.S. Navy-a man swarthy and silent and looking like an Indian but when once opened up, like an oyster, with
considerable meat in him. John was my property until the war closed. He ate and drank with me and slept, when he did sleep, somewhere
near at hand. He knew a good many things not generally known and when he chose to talk could be very interesting. The duty on which I
was employed was of great interest and frequently very exciting-that of the inshore shoal water cruising and blockade of the west coast of
Florida, Gomez was in his way a perfect pilot. I think he knew familiarly every shoal, rock, oyster bed, creek, inlet, mud bank, fishing ledge,
roosting place for birds deer track and channel from Key West to Pensacola. It is my impression that most of our living came from his
direction about where to find fish, game, shellfish, etc. and it was a most fascinating specimen of yachting and hunting combined, where the
game was primarily blockade runners and men generally and secondarily everything edible that waved a wing or wiggled a fin.

27

His age was apparently between 40 and 70. Over that range you could guess at will. There were no fences on that range. He had lived many
years in Florida, had intimate knowledge of the Everglades and an acquaintance with the Indian residents there, He had apparently made his
headquarters at or about Tampa. When the war broke out he was there about but a time soon came when he found it convenient to cross the
line and not to be slow about it. So he took to the bush and found rest for his wandering feet in Key West. He found employment as pilot on
Government ships but he did not like to serve on the steamers or larger ships.
Once when employed running a fast steamer up the coast at night to Tampa, close inshore, the night be very dark. John did not make out how
to go slower as he desired to do so and unaware that he should tell his fears to the officer on deck, he wandered about until he found the engine
room and advised the engineer on watch (in a heavy accent I will not attempt to reproduce), dont boil your water too hot which was his
idea of going slower. He carried somewhere about him a flint and steel and a horn full of tinder and produced fire from it to light his pipe.
He was always perfectly clean and neat but his clothing was tropical and free; I do not think he liked to wear shoes. Squatted on deck with his
old pipe was his usual posture. His language was calm and slow, I rarely saw him vehement. But there was a secret slumbering force about
him which savored of helpfulness and power and I have rarely met a man whom I would tie to, for outing or danger, ashore or afloat with
more confidence than I would to John Gomez.

Panther Key John, as he was later known, appeared in many

sportsmens publications of the time, praised for his skill as a guide,
and a waterman.

He was also a familiar and fond subject of Donald

Brenham McKay, grandson of Captain James McKay, Sr. In his years

as publisher for the Tampa Times and later in the column he wrote for
the Tampa Tribune called Pioneer Florida, D.B. McKay would
collect tales and first person accounts of Gomez from all around. He
was particularly fascinated with Gomezs purported association with
Jose Gaspar, a legendary pirate who plundered ships of any flag in the
Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean; he served as the
impetus for the legend of Gasprarilla, a common subject of his
animated fireside tales on Pass-a-Grille before the Civil War.

John Gomez and his wife on Panther Key (Charlotte Harbor) where
he lived out his days fishing. John was a pilot for the U.S. Navy during the Civil War and was notorious for telling a story about a pirate
named Jose Gaspar. (Manatee County)

Chapter 2

F ORT B ROOKE & THE

H ARBOR AT T AMPA

he establishment of Fort Brooke can be

into the reservation if the United States government

traced back to September of 1823 and the

neglected to show power and disposition to compel

Treaty of Moultrie Creek when a retired

obedience. Gadsden also hastily wrote a letter to Brooke on

army officer named Col. James Gadsden

December 1, 1823. He wanted to insure Brooke would arrive

negotiated with the Seminole Indians placing them on a

on

reservation and under the protection of the United States;

Tampa Bay at the

effectively giving up all claim to Florida.

same time or before

The Seminole

the

scene

reservation of four million acres ran down the middle of

his

Florida from present day Ocala to a line even with the

Gadsden, acting as

bottom of Tampa Bay. Implementation of the treaty stalled

Indian Commissioner

and Col. George Mercer Brooke was dispatched to assist in

was clearly concerned

identifying a strategic location for a fort to maintain four

about his exposure to

companies of infantry and a military presence on the central

hostilities from the

west coast of Florida.

local

Despite the terms of the treaty,

own

at

arrival.

Seminoles

Gadsden explained in a letter to the Secretary of War, John

occupying the Tampa

C. Calhoun that the Seminoles in the area would not move

Bay area.
29

Plat map from 1842 showing Ft. Brooke and

the waterways, (Florida State Archives)

Col. Brooke selected the east bank of the Hillsborough River as the site for an army garrison. It is widely accepted that he
chose the spot because a young New Yorker, Robert J. Hackley, had built a comfortable homestead and cleared land for a
plantation that would provide excellent quarters for his officers and himself in short order. On February 20, 1824, the first tree
was felled to construct the garrison. Colonel Brooke paid no attention to the fact that the channel to the Hillsborough River was
only seven feet deep which meant that any seagoing vessel would have to anchor at least two miles down the bay, beyond the sandy
shoals. Considering his healthy militia force and no other orders aside from providing a military presence on the site, Brooke had
plenty of men on hand to bring supplies on lighters (small craft) and all the time in the world to get the task done. So why worry
about a harbor? The Colonel didnt but it wasnt long before others did. By 1846 merchants who were establishing businesses
adjacent to the fort were petitioning congress for appropriations to deepen the channel a few feet and mitigate some of the tortuous
curves in the channel leading into the port. Congress gave nothing.
Tampas first school session began on Monday,
September 11, 1848 and two weeks later classes were
interrupted by the worst storm ever experienced in the
Tampa Bay region.

The stormy weather preceding the

hurricane started on Saturday, the 23rd. By Sunday, the wind

was barreling out of the east and complimented with heavy
rain. The schooner, John T. Sprague, a payroll carrier, was
seen coming up the bay. After hours of effort, a crew of
soldiers managed to bring her in. Early Monday morning
the wind shifted to the south and finally to the southwest and
gained in strength. Water from the Gulf was blown into the
bay and the wind kept sweeping it northward. The islands in

(Above) Ft. Brooke in 1870 during the Seminole Wars with the notorious Live
Oaks growing through the roof of the barracks.

the Bay and the Interbay Peninsula were underwater and the

saw that the waves were going to engulf the island. He placed

garrison almost completely inundated with crashing waves.

his family in a boat, waded with it to the center of the island,

The wind was so strong that people were forced to crawl on

and tied the line to the highest point he could on a cabbage

the ground in order to get to shelter from the storm.

palm. The family survived the ordeal but their possessions

had been washed right out of their home.

Before the storm reached its peak, residents living on lower

ground began fleeing their homes for higher ground.

An

By Monday afternoon, the storm had waned and the

account from one of the resident merchants tells of wading in

villagers began to assess the damage. The fort was in shambles.

water up to his armpits through the fort.

Then, looking

The officers homes on the bay were gone along with the

southward, he saw the commissary building rolling straight

barracks and the horse sheds and the pinewoods north of the

towards him in the surge. He got away just as it crashed into

reservation were littered with debris and derelict craft. The

his own warehouse. Both buildings were swept up the river.

damage was surreal. Many villagers were literally dazed for

Meanwhile, the John T. Sprague with her army payroll and

days by the site of the destruction and loss.

crew still onboard was anchored at the shipyard just up river.

During the peak of the storm, the hull of a derelict vessel

The hurricane of 1848 caused serious damage to Tampa

crashed into her and broke her cables. She was blown into the

but, strangely enough, it contributed in a marked degree to

pinewoods close to Franklin and Madison.

the growth of the infant town. In fact, the real growth of

Tampa might be said to date from that day in September of

On Egmont Key, the lighthouse built during the Seminole

1848 when the wind blew so furiously. The hurricane sped up

War was badly damaged, as

development tremendously due to the damage done at Fort

was the lighthouse keepers

Brooke. The War Department wanted to rebuild the fort but

home. During the storm, the

to a lesser scale than it had existed before. A new wharf was

light keeper, Marvel Edwards,

constructed, along with barracks, new officers quarters and

31

warehouses. The work required tradesmen of all skills who

was completed in 1855 after 32,121 soundings had been

came to Tampa in large crews and many remained, bringing

taken. The conclusion was not good for Tampa but instead

their families with them.

The reconstruction meant more

favored the port of St. Petersburg. It showed Tampa had

business for Tampa merchants and more activity in every

only five feet of water or less for a distance of two miles from

field. Tampa began to boom and so did shipping. Equipment

shore while at the present site of St. Petersburg, eleven feet

and supplies began coming into port for the reconstruction of

of water was found less than half a mile out.

Fort Brooke and the village of Tampa en masse. The need for
pilots became quite clear.

After much persuasion, Congress finally relented and

provided money to dredge the channel in 1880, after railroad

During the 1848 hurricane, the size and shape of many of

promoters began showing interest in Tampa Bay and her

the islands and bars along the coast underwent great change.

harbor. After Henry B. Plant committed to building a line into

Some were washed away completely while the shifting sands

Tampa, dredging began.

built others up. A number of new passes were opened and

appeared in January of 1883 and Tampa had a narrow, writhing

others were closed.

8-foot channel up the Hillsborough River to just below the

Government charts made before the

hurricane proved to be almost valueless after the storm

The government dredge Alabama

bridge at Lafayette Street, by the end of 1885.

because of submerged debris and the changes in channel

depth. As a result, the County Commission appointed two

U. S. Engineers balked at the expense of creating a big ship

more pilots to Tampa Bay in the December session of that

channel and opted to favor Old Tampa Bay where a natural

year.

deep-water channel was comparatively close to shore.

Those men were William L. Nelson and John

Commack.

Regardless, shallow draft steamers were now able to dock in

the city. Plant scrambled to extend the railroad to Port Tampa.

In 1854, the United States Navy surveyed Tampa Bay to

identify the best location for a railroad terminal. The report

By 1891, a 20-foot channel, 200 feet wide was completed to

Port Tampa.

Unloading at Port Tampa in the late 1880s. (Florida State Archives)

33

Chapter 3

T AMPA , THE R AILROAD

AND THE CIVIL WAR
village for years, Tampa was destined for

hostilities. The state also mustered troops for Federal service

growth which began in earnest in the last

and for a time there were ten independent companies of

decade of the 18th century. The Territory of Florida became

mounted Florida infantry at Tampa serving under the federal

the 27th state in 1845 and pilots were appointed four years

government.

later to Tampa Bay. On January 18, 1849, Tampa was

quartermasters men, who were charged with scouting the

populated enough (185 residents) to officially incorporate as

inland waters using metal boats. Government supplies were

the Village of Tampa adjacent to Fort Brooke. By the time

brought from New Orleans by steamer periodically and along

of the 1850 census Tampa-Fort Brooke, as it was listed,

with the troop buildup came an increase in business and trade.

There were also two boat companies, called

included 974 residents including military personnel.

In addition to frequent attacks and mayhem from the local
In 1855 Manatee County was parted out of Hillsborough

Indian population who were resisting a continuous push

County and in 1861 Polk County was established but

towards containment in designated lands in the states

expansion and trade were hindered by the outbreak of the

interior, there were frequent and devastating bouts of yellow

Second Seminole War in 1856. In February of that same year,

fever.

a company of infantry was organized to combat the Indian

assign monies to any of the school districts and were not

From 1856-1858 county commissioners refused to

required to maintain roads and bridges due to the unsettled

Bay were unassociated, often acting as pilot, master and agent

conditions in the region. On July 14, 1856 the Tampa mayor

for a regular line. Failure to comply with the laws came with

and city council members ordained that the port of Tampa be

the threat of imprisonment for up to three months or a $100

under government specified quarantine laws. A point half

fine. The punishment applied to masters and pilots alike. The

way between the outer stakes of the channel and Ballast Point

ordinance appeared in the Florida Peninsular newspaper and

was declared to be a quarantine station and designated by a

was signed by Mayor J.B. Lancaster. By September 11, 1856

yellow flag fixed on the shoreline.

town ordinance No. 16 required all agents and owners of

property situated within the city limits to cut down and clean

Dr. Darwin A. Branch was appointed port inspector to

up scrub, weeds, and stumps on and about their lots extending

insure compliance with the quarantine and duly authorized to

one-half of the street their property is situated on. Failure to

appoint suitable assistance. His duty was to board any vessel

comply resulted in a tax to the property owners. This practice

believed to have arrived from seaward and not displaying a

continued well into the 20th century as Tampa continued to

white flag before it passed Gadsden Point. Then the master,

grow.

owner or agent of the vessel would be required to pay for a

certificate confirming a clean bill of health. The minimum
charge was $3 for vessels under 25 tons and a maximum of

In 1856, Dr. Branch assumed the duties of mayor from

Lancaster when he became ill.

$10 for vessels of 150 tons and over.

Lancaster later died.

Dr.

Branch began the minutes of the mayors

court, City of Tampa while completing

Dr. Branch was soon overwhelmed with

Lancasters term in office. At 24, Darwin

the task of boarding each vessel and turned

Branch had already served as port

to the pilots of the port of Tampa to make

inspector and mayor of Tampa. He would

known all health laws to the masters of the

serve a full term as the Mayor of Tampa

vessels. At this time the pilots of Tampa

from 1857-1858 during the peak of a

35

Yellow Fever epidemic. In 1858, the future of Tampa seemed

The water route between the east coast and gulf coast of

bright and assured when a charter was granted to build a

the United States included a 1,000 mile circumnavigation of

railroad line, called the Florida Railroad, from Fernandina

the entire Florida peninsula. Ships would come down the

to Tampa Bay with a branch to Cedar Key.

eastern seaboard through the Straits of Florida, named the

martyrs, by the Spanish for their treacherous reef system and

David Levy Yulee is a name associated with the earliest

shoals, and up the interior coast on the Gulf of Mexico. A

American interests and activities in Florida. Congressman,

railroad across the northeastern end of Florida would allow

Senator and Confederate , he was born in Charlotte Amalie on

cargoes from ships in the Gulf to be transferred to ships in the

St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands in 1810, the son of a wealthy

Atlantic without the risk of passage through the Straits of

lumber baron. The family immigrated to the United States

Florida all while cutting 800 miles off the trip each way.

after his father purchased 50,000 acres of land in the north

east region of the Florida Territory. Yulees father, Moses, a

There was a thirteen year lull in the Indian hostilities

Sephardic Jew from Morocco, had a vision to establish a New

between 1842 and 1855 and being defeated for re-election to

Jerusalem for Jewish settlers in the burgeoning territory. In

the senate in 1850, Yulee directed his efforts to building a state

1841, near the end of the Second Seminole War, David Yulee

owned railroad on his lands which would connect the Atlantic

was elected as a delegate from the Florida Territory to the US

with ports in the Gulf of Mexico. Yulee issued private stock for

House of Representatives. After Florida was admitted as a

the Florida Railroad, a company which won the federal grant

state, the Florida Legislature elected Yulee

to construct the railroad line eastern and

to the United States Senate. During his time

western terminals at deep-water ports in

in the Senate, Congress commissioned a

Florida. The project would be the first of

survey of a route for a railroad in north

its kind using state grants under the

Florida between the St. Marys River and

Florida Internal Improvement Act of 1855, as

Cedar Key.

collateral and capital raised from his initial

public offering; Yulee began construction on the intrastate

railroad line the same year. By 1858, the third and last of the
Seminole Wars was over and a period of peace and prosperity
resumed.

TAMPAS ROLE IN
TH E C IV I L WA R

Construction of the line progressed and would

include a port at Fernandina on Amelia Island for the Atlantic

side, and Tampa was to be the original western terminal with a
branch to Cedar Key. The Cedar Key extension was completed
first and the Tampa connection was all but abandoned due to
an increasingly charged political environment between the
states and the election of Abraham Lincoln in 1860.
On January 10, 1861, Florida declared its secession from
the Union three months before the start of the Civil War. Ten
days after its declaration, Florida became a founding member
of the Confederate States of America. On March 1, 1861, the
first train arrived in Cedar Key from the east coast and by
April 12, 1861 the War Between the States had begun. The
most feasible route travelers could reach Tampa for the next
25 years, was by rail from Fernandina or Jacksonville to Cedar
Key, and then by schooner or occasionally by steamer to Clear
Water Harbor (sic) and then overland (or by boat all the way
from Cedar Key and up Tampa Bay) to Tampa. The great
period of development in Tampa foundered.

In January of 1861, Florida seceded from the United

States to form the Confederate States of America.

Fort

Brooke was soon under Confederate control and martial law

was declared by January of 1862. Tampas city government
ceased to exist for the duration of the war. During the Civil
War, a critical component to the Union war strategy was the
Anaconda Plan.

Proposed by General-in-Chief Winfield

Scott, the plan called for a rigorous blockade of Southern

shipping and Union occupation of southern seaports. Key
West remained a Union held port due to the naval base and
the Union Navy eventually controlled the ports at Cedar
Key, Jacksonville and Pensacola. Tampa was considered a
diminutive port at the time and cattle was the primary export
from the area. Captain James McKay won the contract for
sutler (a sutler or victualer is a civilian merchant who sells
provisions

to

soldiers the field,

in

camp

or

in

quarters) at Fort

37

cattle waiting shipment at Tampa and the partners moved

their loading operation to Charlotte Harbor and the mouth
of the Peace River. The political climate was accelerating
and along with it the cattle business. In the confusion of
1861 and the secession, no one in Union controlled Key
West or Confederate occupied Tampa interfered with
McKays operation. As the Civil War began to ramp up,
McKay found allies on both sides and benefited by his
association. He entered into an agreement to provide beef
Myers and built a fleet to facilitate shipping on Floridas gulf

to Union troops at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas

coast. He chose Tampa as his shipping hub. As the Indian

under the condition that the Union would not interfere

Wars ended in 1858, troops were relocated from Florida

with his Cuban cattle trade. McKays shipping endeavors

encampments and cattlemen such as McKay, Francis Asbury

became quite complicated after the Florida secession. He

Hendry, William Brinton Hooker and Jacob Summerlin

was complicit with the Union presence in Key West, selling

found that their thriving cattle businesses which (based on

cattle from Confederate business interests in Tampa and

demand from federal soldiers) was evaporating with the

transporting to foreign markets in Cuba in one singular

troop withdrawal. A new market was needed for the cattle

route. After getting into a bit of trouble over his business

business set to boom with the newly opened ranges near the

associations and ties to Confederate interest, McKay was

Kissimmee River and Lake Okeechobee.

given permission to pass through the Union blockade at

Summerlin and McKay found a market in Cuba where they

Tampa which he apparently utilized and continued running

could sell cattle for a healthy profit. By 1860, McKay had

cattle and other increasingly profitable supplies such as

shipped 4,016 head of cattle compared to 679 the year

cotton to the Union, the Confederacy and the Cuban

before. A disastrous drought in 1860 killed thousands of

market.

wounded ten, and took seven prisoner. Confederate losses

were not reported.

The Battle of Tampa was the first of two minor

engagements at Tampa Bay during the Civil War. On June 30,
1862, the Union gunboat Sagamore turned her broadside on the
town of Tampa and demanded surrender.

OCTOBER 17, 1863 - The famed Cow Cavalry

continued its roundup of cattle in the Tampa region for
movement to Confederate troops in Virginia and
Tennessee.

Sporadic firing

occurred through July first and the Sagamore withdrew

accomplishing little or nothing in the way of controlling the
port. Union occupation would not come to Fort Brooke until

OCTOBER 18, 1863 - Federal soldiers wounded in

October of 1863 after the Battle of Fort Brooke.

yesterdays skirmish near Tampa were evacuated to the

lighthouse on Egmont Key. In a display of 19th century
gallantry, Confederate Captain James Westcott, who
commanded the successful action against the Federals,
informed the Union soldiers that their dead would be
buried with full military honors in Tampa.

OCTOBER 16, 1863 - The U.S.S. Tahoma and the

U.S.S. Adela were ordered to seize two Confederate
blockade-runners, the Scottish Chief (owned by Captain
James MacKay) and the Kate Dale. The Union plan was
to shell the town and Fort Brooke and, under the cover of
darkness, to send men ashore to destroy the blockaderunners. The citizens of Tampa held an emergency
meeting to form a military company to defend the city
against the Union forces. Confederate troops from the 2nd
Florida Infantry Battalion were on hand to help repel the
Federal invasion.

OCTOBER 17, 1863 - The Union ships, Adela and

Tahoma, shelled Tampa today. A number of casualties
were inflicted. On land, Federal troops reached the
Hillsborough River at about 6:00 a.m. Sighting the
Scottish Chief and the Kate Dale, they set both ships on
fire. The Scottish Chief had a cargo of 156 bales of cotton,
while the Kate Dale carried 11 bales. Confederate forces,
under the command of Captain James Westcott, attacked
the Federals later in the evening and killed five soldiers,

Involved in a delicate balance between Union and

Confederate forces, lighthouse keeper George V. Richards was
technically under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Collector of
Customs at Key West when the Civil War broke out.
Confederate authorities transferred this authority to the
Customs House at St. Marks and word was passed through to
the Deputy Collector of Customs at Tampa that the lighthouses third order Fresnel lens required safeguarding from
Federal attack.

After receiving payment for services through

September 30th, Richards obliged the Confederate request and

disassembled the apparatus, taking it to Tampa and later
39

Brooksville to be hidden. Tampa remained a Confederate port but was under Union control
by virtue of the Unions occupation of Egmont Key (July 1861) and its use of Egmont Key as
a base, fuel depot and hospital for the East Gulf Blockade Squadron.

PILOTING DURING

TH E C IV I L WA R
John Whitehurst, a resident of Tampa who refused to join the Confederate Army aided the
Union after approaching a Federal vessel anchored in Tampa and reporting on the defenses of
Tampa. Whitehurst along with his brother, Scott, his wife and three boys, were relocated to
Egmont along with other Union sympathizers for their safety. Whitehurst assisted the Union
forces as a guide and pilot for weeks but was ultimately wounded mortally while gathering
supplies on the mainland near Old Tampa. Whitehursts brother Scott was also shot and
killed instantly. After drifting in his boat for two days, Whitehurst was discovered clinging
to life and brought to Egmont Key where he told the others of his attack and later died of his
injuries. He was buried just south of the lighthouse; perhaps the first pilot to be laid to rest
on the island.
At the end of the Civil War federal troops occupied Fort Brooke and the Port of Tampa until 1869. The residents voted to
abolish the government of the Port of Tampa that same year because it was a mess and the village began to slowly slip away.
Yellow Fever returned and populations began to move out of the area around the garrison and into the growing enclaves in the
areas of Manatee, Pasco and eventually Pinellas.

Chapter 4

E GMONT K EY
& F ORT D ADE
1882-1916

41

rancisco Maria Celi, pilot of the Spanish Royal Fleet, surveyed Tampa Bay in 1757 during the first period of Spanish
occupation of Florida. The island to which he gave the name San Blas y Barreda was identified as Egmont Key.

He named the island after the General Commander of the Royal Naval Forces in Habana, Blas de Barreda. Great Britain acquired
Florida from Spain in 1763 and promptly sent a surveyor over to assess the navigable waterways. The 1769 maps of Thomas
Jefferys, Geographer to King George III
who was sent to chart the waters also
identified Egmont Island. In a 1774 map,
Bernard Romans designates the island
Egmont Isle or Castor Key. His maps
were used long after Great Britain ceded
the territories of East and West Florida
back to Spain in 1783 as a stipulation in
the Treaty of Paris at the end of the

From late 1700s, a remake of the Celi map

of Tampa Bay which was published by some
rather unscrupulous mapmakers in England. It is widely accepted as the original.
The map is identical with the exceptions of
the ornate scale key and the crowded text
in the upper right corner. These features
were added to the map made by Celi.
(South Florida Museum)

American Revolution. The territory that would

become the state of Florida remained under British
rule throughout the American Revolution.
Commercial shipping increased rapidly after
Spain ceded Florida to the United States in 1821
after the Adams-Onis Treaty was ratified by the
Spanish Government. A lighthouse was requested
as early as 1833 as an aid to navigation for vessels
running up the coast from Key West to Pensacola.
In 1838, recommendations were made to Congress
to build a lighthouse on Egmont Key to replace a
beacon consisting of a barrel painted black and
A squared rigger off the coast of Egmont Key. M01-08813-A (Manatee County
Public Library)

white perched on top of an fifty foot spar installed

in 1836.

Congress obliged with a $7,580

appropriation to construct a lighthouse and keepers house at the north end of the island. The lighthouse would enter into service
in May of 1848. At that time, it was the only lighthouse between St. Marks and Key West but on September of that same year.
The worst hurricane to ever hit Tampa Bay caused extensive damage to the structures.
In 1849, a board of Engineers visited coastal Florida between Pensacola and Amelia Island. Travelling with them in the
capacity of recorder was none other than Colonel Robert E. Lee. They made recommendations to the War Department for future
(military) works and the construction of a fortification on Egmont Key. After six years of successive deterioration by the shifting
sands and the elements, a new tower was approved and construction began around 1856.
43

The new lighthouse was completed 1858 and is the same

services at Tampa Bay naturally found company with the

structure used today. Although the new lighthouse was said

genial light keeper at Egmont in the late 1800s. Before any

to withstand any storm it was damaged again by the storm

pilots erected dwellings on the island, they would enjoy the

of rebellion we know as the Civil War (1861-1865) and

hospitality of the Moore family and their comfortable home

between 1864 and 1866 the Egmont Key light was dark. The

adjacent the lighthouse. Captain Charles Moore worked as

details of the event are unclear but on May 12, 1864, Brig.

the Senior Light keeper for 31 years, from 1877 until 1902.

General David Woodbury reported on a temporary Union

He came to Tampa shortly after the Civil War and

occupation of Tampa and stated that the lens could not be

announced a few months thereafter, I am a damn Yankee,

found.

Another officer reported, a part of the property

belonging to the lighthouse at Egmont Key was found and

brought away. The only other reference to the Egmont Key
lighthouse occurred during a Federal naval raid on Tampa
Bay in October of 1863 and indicated that refugees from the
Confederate territory used the key as a refuge. The account
states:
The wounded were taken to a Government building near
the lighthouse, on Egmond (sic) Key and left in charge of
Dr. Gunning of the (vessel) Tahoma.
By 1882, a military reservation called Fort Dade was
established on Egmont Key.

It covered 378 acres and

included dozens of buildings and a tennis court. It was an

active military base as late as 1918.

Pilots providing

The barracks and hospital at Fort Dade. Egmont was used as a detention
facility for Seminole Indians being transported to reservations out west
after the Seminole Wars . It was also used as a quarantine station during
the yellow fever epidemic in the late 1880s.

but I like the town and I like the people and Im going to

chart from the Light keeper to navigate the channels and

stay here-if theyll let me.

find their way up to Port Tampa. Upon their outbound

passage, they would stop again and return the chart.

Capt. Moores kind disposition and longevity at the post

made him familiar to residents across the region and

Captain William Austin Switzer would eventually

throughout the maritime community. In the years before

build the first pilot dwelling and lookout tower on the island

regular piloting services were offered at Tampa Bay, foreign

of Egmont Key along with Captain Henry G. Warner, a

tramp steamers and vessels coming into the ports around

Tampa resident and member of a pioneering Manatee family,

Tampa Bay would stop inside of Egmont Key and pick up a

who operated a chandlery with his brother in Port Tampa.

Prior to that, Switzer would come over from Terra Ceia,
staying at the Light keepers home as he awaited incoming
ships. Capt. Moore would say (in jest), Capt. Switzer must
surely have glue on the seat of his pants, as he would rather
be cold than get up to replenish the old wood stove with
fuel.
Captain Moore had a young son, who was born in
Tampa on October 25, 1876 and taken as an infant to
Egmont when the family relocated to tend the light. He
remained on the island until he relocated to Tampa in
November, 1922 to work with the first organized group of
professional pilots. Charlie Moore served as office manager,

Light Keeper, Charles Moore sitting on his front porch on Egmont Key.
(Manatee County).

bookkeeper, dispatcher and agent for 25 years retiring from

45

his position with the Tampa Bay Pilots Association in

purposes) was reserved from the public domain for military

February of 1948.

purposes on November 17, 1882 but was ceded to the State

of Florida on June 28th 1904 as the War Department began

The 1900 census indicates that Capt. Switzer was an

to decommission military encampments.

employee of the Plant Steam Ship Co. and likely went

from running a line to providing piloting services to vessels
serving the Plant Railroad at Tampa. His life on the island
was short-lived and by 1900 he and his family left Egmont
Key and were living in Tampa. The pilots were provided
with a land lease by the Department of War on May 20,
1901 to maintain a small wharf, a lookout tower and four
small dwellings.
Later, Capt. John J. Fogarty, a member of the Tampa
Bay Pilots Association was given permission to erect an
additional four room cottage on the property designated
to the association. By February 17, 1912 the Quartermaster
General of the United States issued a license for the Tampa
Bay Pilots Association to maintain its existing pilot wharf,
lookout station and a maximum of seven dwellings.
Jurisdiction of the Fort Dade reservation (excluding 15
acres at the north end which were reserved for lighthouse

Lighthouse Keeper Charles Moore posing with a fresh catch of grouper on

Egmont Key (Manatee County)

From the report titled Military Reservations, National Cemeteries and Military Parks, Title and Jurisdiction prepared by the Judge Advocate General in
1904. This document outlines the jurisdiction of Fort Dade and specifies the issuance of a Revocable License to the Tampa Bay Pilots Association on May
20, 1901. (Princeton University Library).
The following license, issued on October 15, 1903 provides for the Palmetto Ice and Power Company. Creature comforts for island living. (Manatee
County Public Library Historic Photograph Collection)
47

From the Report of the Quartermaster General of the United States Army to the Secretary of War 1912, p. 83 shows approval for Captain
John Fogarty to erect an additional cottage and for the Tampa Bay Pilots Association (sic) to continue to maintain the reservation at Fort
Dade on Egmont Key.

A panoramic view of Fort Dade and Egmont Key in 1911 taken from the water tank. The building and dock make up the Quarter Masters Wharf House.
Most of the buildings on the left are the N.C.O. (non-commissioned officers) quarters. The elongated roof behind N.C.O. quarters is the Quarter Masters
Warehouse. The building with two chimneys and the buildings on the right are likely officers quarters where commissioned officers and their families
lived. To the far right is the hospital. The beach in front of the row of waterfront houses is a landing strip. Notice that each building has a cistern or water
reservoir for collecting and storing rainwater. There were no natural freshwater resources on the island. (MCHPC)
49

A mine laying ship off the coast of Egmont Key (above). Submerged mines staged at Fort Dade and used at the mouth of
Tampa during the Spanish American War and possibly during
WWI (below). (USF Libraries)
51

The July 4th celebration at Fort

Dade on Egmont Key in 1898.
Young troops in their dress whites
prepare to fire a 21 gun salute as
part of the festivities. In its
heyday, Fort Dade was a budding
military town with a gymnasium,
tennis court, two hospitals, a post
office and dozens of buildings and
families. Regular transport to
Manatee, Tampa and St. Petersburg was available from Egmont
Key. (Manatee County)

(Top) A striped marker lies next to an exploding mine.

The officers homes at Fort Dade can be seen on shore in
the background. The striped marker (or one like it) can
be seen in another photograph on page 20.
(Bottom) Damage to the pilot boat Egmont (seen on
page 105) after a mine was accidently detonated nearby.
(USF Libraries)

53

CHARLES M. MOORE

1876 -1967
TAMPA BAY PILOT ASSOCIATION
O FFICE M ANAGER 1922-1948

The following is a biographical sketch related to Capt. John D. Ware

of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association by Mr. Charles M. Moore. Capt.
Ware interviewed Mr. Moore at his home at 316 West Columbus
Drive on two occasions between June and July, 1966. Capt. Ware
remarked in his notes that Charles M. Moore, was of sound mind and
maintained a truly remarkable memory, yet his innate modesty would
permit only a fragmentary account of his achievements.
Charles Mortimer Moore, the son of Charles and Emily
Reyfield Moore, was born October 25, 1876 near what is now
the Cass Street Bridge in Tampa, Florida. He died January 3,
1967 in his 91st year. He was named after his father, Charles
Moore (no middle name), who was appointed the Senior Light
keeper for Egmont Key Lighthouse in June, 1877. The elder
Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Moore on their wedding day in 1904.
(Manatee County)

Moore remained at that post for 30 years. Charles M. was taken

as an infant of one year to Egmont Key by his mother and father.

Young Charlie as he was known, was taught by his

mother until he was 13 years of age. At that time he enrolled
in school at Fogartyville, now known as West Bradenton, on
the southern shore of the Manatee River. He also attended a
two-room school called Williamsonburg Academy in
Manatee County and was a student of Rollins College in
Winter Park for a year and a half. During his school years
he lived with Bartholomew W. Fogarty.
At twenty years of age, Charles M. left school and
according to his daughter, worked for Bat W. Fogarty,
later becoming a partner in the boatyard. He left this job
Capt. Robert Stanton, his wife and Roberta Lightfoot Moore and children.
(Manatee County)

after about a year to accept temporary employment for six

weeks as a Boatman with the Marine Hospital Service on

Egmont Key. This temporary job stretched into one of several months and although Charlie was by now rated as a Property Clerk,
he performed other duties such as fumigation, night watchman and weed-cutting.
As related by Charles M., the Medical Officer-in-Charge at the time was Dr. Geddings. During the years 1897-1898, this was
little more than a camp which was used as a quarantine and detention station for all persons arriving by sea. This was during the
period of the Spanish American War and yellow fever was prevalent. All persons arriving from a port suspected of contagious disease
were required to submit to a fumigation of the personal effects and remain in quarantine 10 days at the camp. According to his
daughter, Charles worked here only about five months and left this job because of the way in which they handled the sick. Mr. Moore
stated that during a seven month period, seven patients died. It had indeed become a sick camp.
55

Charlies next job lasted 24 years and was with the U.S. Army Engineers construction crew on Egmont and Mullet Keys.
He was soon promoted to Carpenter Foreman and shortly thereafter was placed in charge of all construction. His salary was
$149.00 per month, just one dollar short of the $150 scale paid to a Superintendent. The position of Superintendent was almost
always held by a Graduate Engineer. Despite Charlies lack of an engineering degree, he performed all duties of this nature,
including design and engineering of many of the installations. According to his daughter, he built fortifications on Egmont,
caissons, five, 6-inch search lights, docks, storerooms, and supervised the laying of telephone cable to Bradenton. He also built
seawalls and groins around Fort DeSoto on Mullet Key and later did the same work around Fort Dade on Egmont Key to protect
these fortifications against the ever-present erosion of wind and sea.
An elaborate dock of poured concrete piles and stringers was designed and built by Charlie Moore as a mine layers
dock during World War I. The remains of this structure, along with certain groin work erected many years earlier to protect Fort
Dade still remains. Although long since abandoned, both are in remarkably good shape, a mute testimony to Mr. Moores skill and
ingenuity. This ingenuity was evidenced in just one instance by his use of the trunks of Sabal Palms in the groins system built out
from the shoreline at right angles or nearly so. These trunks, used in this case as pilings are very soft, flexible and fibrous but are
impervious to the attack of the salt water organism, TEREDO NAVALIS commonly called the Teredo worm.
Charles M. Moore married Roberta Lightfoot of Bradenton, Florida on May 26, 1904. A daughter, Roberta, was born
August 26, 1910. In November of 1922, the Egmont Key project closed. Charles and all of the family possessions were transported
on government barge to Tampa. After a vacation of a little more than a month, he started working with the Tampa Bay Pilots
Association, the first organized group of such professional pilots on the Bay. Charlie Moore served as office manager, bookkeeper,
dispatcher and agent for 25 years before retiring in February of 1948.

Mr. Moores service on Egmont Key and the Tampa Bay Pilots Association spanned a period of three wars; The Spanish
American World War I and World War II with all of their attendant activity. It is perhaps safe to say, therefore, that no other
individual has been more intimately acquainted with Egmont and Mullet Keys and the Port of Tampa during these years than
Charles M. Moore.

(Right) The secret underground

bunker at Egmont Key built under
the supervision of Charles M.
Moore. (Manatee County)

57

Young Roberta Moore (Cole) with her father, Charles M. Moore, next to the family launch at Fogartyville. (Manatee County)

C HARLIE S D AUGHTER R EMEMBERS

ROBERTA MOORE COLE (1910-2009) RECOUNTS THE PEOPLE & EVENTS ON

EGMONT KEY

IN THE

EARLY 20TH CENTURY

Mrs. Moore was the daughter of Charles M. Moore, the first

administrative officer for the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. His
life is recounted in the previous chapter. Mrs. Moores
recollections reflect the close relationship the Moore family had
with the first pilots who founded the association and subsequent
pilots on Tampa Bay. The documentarian for this conversation
in 1986 was Libby Warner, kin to the founding member of the
pilots, Captain Henry (Harry) G. Warner.
Mom and I went to Egmont Key because Dad had learned to
build a boat, courtesy of the Fogarty family. Dad, you see, was a
resident of the key and lived there ever since he was a tiny baby
and through the first half of his life.
He took Mom there in that boat and later when I came along he
proudly took me back in the same little homemade boat that he
took us over first in. And so it was there that I was to learn of
the importance of this little old piece of land. To the historic
development of old Tampa Bay and its shores. We just called it
home.
On the knees of my elders I heard the sagas of the Indians, the

Cuban fisherman, the exploration, the conquest, the wars and in

short the history of the area which extended from the 15th century
well into the 19th century. It is important to commerce because
nature provided navigable waters and channels both on its north
and south end. It has, by fate, become a part of this areas
history. A destiny and a past that has been filled with
excitement, tragedy and importance.
You know, Egmont Key is to me a character -a very much loved
character. In my youth she shared some of her secrets with me. I
wish she could have told me more. But a discernment of a child
in her pre-teens was not great. Egmont showed me arrowheads
left by Indians. She showed me a white sandy rim of beach with
spots just ideal for beaching or anchoring a long ago schooner.
There was an excellent freshwater spring. Egmont had cedar
trees on the gulf side and tall palmettos everywhere that offered
shade and shelters for all ages. There were sweet ripe sea
grapes, heart of palm, turtle steaksyum, yum!! And a lot of
seafood which were treats for visitors and later those who lived
there. We had no problem with meat during WWII. Our
family just ate turtle steak.
My Mothers favorite breakfast was fish and grits. While she
would do the fixings, Dad would run down to the engineers dock
and come back with the exact amount of fish that was needed.
When we watched and participated in the bluefish, mackerel and
kingfish runs, I would always think of those Cuban fishermen

59

because that is what they were doingfollowing the ancestors of

this fish which came to Egmont. I also would really think about
those fishermen and the Indians, too, when all the big ships would
pass the channel because it was they who passed Egmont on their
historic bartering and trading routes, Tampa Bay and the
Caribbean, long before as well as long after European
exploration.
Along its eastern coastline, Florida and the south had a slow
molasses-like arrival of people. Tampa Bay and Egmont really
had a dubious honor. Everyone who came from foreign shores
passed that gateway in the 16th century. That is how the title
came to the area as the gateway to the 16th century world.
When there was so much conquest and so much exploring it was
the in place to come. It was not by chance knowing how
professional helmsmen think. From my family having known any
number of them, it is very reasonable to me that those professional
helmsmen knew about Tampa Bay from the Cuban fishermen,
from Indians and eventually the word passed among all of the
professional helmsmen. There were only a handful that were
very, very good. So they were the ones who drew crude maps and
brought many of the early explorers here. The Spanish left many
footprints in the sand.
During the gateway
period there were all
kinds of people who

came - thieves, ruthless murderers, adventurers, loyal soldiers of

noble birth, gentlemen, priests, geographers, map makers; they
came from Spain. They came by Egmont and they came to our
bay but none stayed except the fishermen. A talented Spanish
gentleman named Don Francisco Maria Celi visited Egmont
and charted the first useful map of Egmont and the area. The
late Captain John D. Ware, a Tampa Bay Pilot and another
family that had roots in Bradentown (sic). Captain Ware was a
true scholar and historian. He collected charts, ancient ones and
he really had an admiration for Celis surveys. He also respected
a similar map which was made in the early 1770s by Bernard
Romans, deputy surveyor of East Florida. His work became the
second most accurate chart to go down in history and equally
important as a reference in making environmental comparisons
today.
One day, my husband Bud and I were standing on the dock
talking to Captain Ware and you know he said that since Celis
map, Egmont Key was between 15%-20% larger than Celis
survey. So it does mean that through the ages, old Mother
Nature just keeps adding and subtracting. I hope that she adds
more than she subtracts. Egmont has always been a very special
place to all parts of the bay. Although it can be seen with the
naked eye from very close range in Pinellas County and Manatee
County, the key was eventually placed in Hillsborough County
due to its importance to the modern-day Tampa shipping
industry. I should say Tampa Bay.

87 tall. It was opened the following year in 1848. It was

inundated with nine and a half feet of gulf water a few months
later when a hurricane came through. Captain Marvel, the light
keeper, resigned right fast after that experience. I believe it was
the shortest term of any lighthouse keeper. It was under four
months. Repair cost $2,000 but seven years later an unruly tidal
wave spawned by a hurricane climbed back in the tower. This
time it was only six feet of gulf water but this time it needed
$16,000 for a complete rebuild. The original had to be
condemned.

Some of those who were slow to settle came a little more readily
when Fort Brooke was established. In its heyday, Fort Brooke
must have been something to see. A model showplace, it was a
decorative and very fashionable place with all the beautiful
uniforms. Because it was a model outpost, every general and
every VIP military figure on all of the United States wanted to
see it. When they could, they did and everyone who came were
escorted down to Egmont for recreational tours and visits.
My grandfather Moore being something of an entrepreneur had
to become an instant mule driver to get down to Florida after
the War Between the States. He got himself a job for a year at
Fort Brooke as a reservationist caretaker, so that he would have
a place to live. Captain Moores love of Egmont and its bay
began in this period. From pioneer days, Tampa Bay settlements
and the villages of Egmont were pretty special to all events
because of its location and its suitability for a lighthouse.
I should say a light station. Grandfather Moores good friend,
D.B. McKay, swore the first lighthouse was built by the Spanish.
He was mayor of Tampa as I was entering high school and I
learned that he had books from the archives which proved this.

This rebuilt lighthouse was to endure. The stonework and the

U.S. insignia outlined in the entrance foyer is as beautiful
today as it was when I learned to count to one hundred by
climbing the lighthouse steps during WWI. I must not have
counted right because there is not quite that many steps today.
Grandfather Moore eventually fell in love with a real lady
instead of a bay and an island. As a child, I really believe that
all boats, the lighthouse and Egmont and even the bay should be
referred to as she.
Captain Moore married the daughter of a Tampa grocer. It
was about the time that the Captain lost the second of what had
been a flourishing business; one to a hurricane and the other to
fate. He may have decided that he needed a more stable family
life as a family man. The Moore son, Charlie, was 6 months old
at the time the captain decided to move his family from Tampa

All of the early lighthouses were made of wooden shafts. Finally

in 1847, the government must have responded like they do today,
there was a heavy populace demand and pressure which resulted
in a $10,000 grant to construct a beautiful brick tower that was
61

to Egmont. It was in 1877.

Our family was the first to settle permanently on Egmont Key
and three generations of us became a part of a 45-year era. We
could not own the land because of the government. The island
was under government protection but due to my father and
earlier my grandfathers positions we were permitted to have a
full and enjoyable civilian life there, all of those years. My Dad
had a great system for doing that. He said to always remember
that the War Department had it in the beginning and most of
the time. When the government, in all of its wisdom, decided to
conserve time and effort and minimize red tape they would
simply move Egmont from one department to another.

studies, so they moved into the Agriculture Department.

In 1940 they said, put it back in the War Department. so the
islands of Egmont and Mullet Key would be available for
amphibious aircraft doing maneuvers at MacDill and they had a
little Quonset hut built to house aircraft on the island. To clear
something up, Egmont was never bombed nor did it bomb anyone,
luckily. Captain Moore, my grandfather, was a licensed captain
as was my father. The family enjoyed the birthing of the Tampa
Bay pilots business of Captains Harry G. Warner and then there
was W.A. Switzer. Both were frequent visitors in the Moore
home. They eventually received government permission to build
residences at the south end.

There were so many agencies when people ask me who was the
governing authority of Egmont it takes a couple of minutes to
answer. For example, the Marine Hospital Service was there.
This was early- before 1898. They thought, gee if we are going
to have all of this yellow fever from Cuba we had better get it
over to a more isolated place and that took money. So it was
transferred over to the
Treasury Department
where they had some
money. In 1938 the
islands were not needed
for war.
It was a
relatively quiet period.
They wanted to do bird

How we all enjoyed the excursion boat era. My dad said that the
Manatee was the best boat on the bay and I would say it was
the Favorite. Dad liked the Manatee because he felt a great
deal of respect for the Stanton judgment and he thought it was the
right size for the bay. He just liked the way it was set up. I
remember one trip to Tampa, Captain John Fogarty (Tampa
Bay Pilot) was the captain at the time. He invited us up to the
wheelhouse but Dad was dying to get down in the engine room.
Honestly, it was so clean and so beautiful. As a child the only
thing I could think of was, Oh my Mother would approve of
this. You could have eaten off the floor of that engine room.
Captain Bat Fogarty also became interested in Egmont. I think
he was the one that transported some of the first military

encampment to the key, in 1898, when preparations were in

order for the event of war. Lt. Col. Beauregard was placed in
charge of work and it began-BANG! Just like that thousands
and thousands of soldiers began arriving within two months.
Teddy Roosevelt and the men he called the Rough Riders were
following the service from all over the world and news reporters
from everywhere. There was plenty of excitement and what you
call hype. Perhaps because of this the ill-fated SpanishAmerican War started and finished in Cuba, all within five
months.
Charles M. Moore began his work of installing seawalls, groins
and other engineering installations such as caissons, docks, even
an underground command center. By 1900, Egmont had its own
post office which was meaningful in the Moore household. They
could now order from Sears and Roebuck, Bloomingfield (sic)
and Spiegel catalogs and in my Mothers day it was often. In
1905 a channel was completed and it was 20 deep all the way
to the upper bay. The next item of interest was what the Tampa
Board of Trade did. They sat around after the SpanishAmerican War and said, Were going to sit around and be
nothing or were going to be something. The Tampa Board of
Trade had a committee called, The Marine Committee. They
said, Let us think up something. They did a survey, a marine
survey and published a report which gave everything that
anybody would want to know about Tampa Bay from charts to
markers, port tonnage rates; you just think of it and that had it.

They wanted to share in the trade so they secured lists of licensed

captains on the continent and in America and sent a copy to
everybody. They sent them to every port authority in the area.
One of the earliest vessels that came following this promotion
lacked two feet of being 500 feet long. The people raved as it
was as high as the tallest house on Bayshore as it passed by.
They wrote glowing accounts of the vessel, Rio Grande..
Today, they are thousands of feet and they pass and no one
notices.
According to our records, the pilots got going about in the
1890s. It was in this period that Captain Switzer used to use my
grandparents home as his hotel and he was a regular guest.
There were just two pilots, Captain Harry Warner out of Port
Tampa - he was from a Bradenton family. There was a need for
ships guides or pilots that moved the ships up to Port Tampa.
63

So he would get on the boat in the bay. You know there just
wasnt that many coming and going.
Captain Warner would get aboard a freighter (outbound) and
drag his little boat for the return. It was power but it wasnt
gasoline that they used, it was naphtha. Captain Switzer would
come to my grandparents and stay when they wanted somebody to
go up, why he would go out and bring the vessel in. I guess he
had some kind of small boat he kept there but everything was out
of the lighthouse. I think it was 1895 when he got permission to
build a residence at the south end and I imagine it was at that
time or shortly thereafter that they built some kind of little dock.
-Roberta Moore Cole, 1989

Chapter 5

THE INCEPTION OF A SSOCIATION

R E C O L L E C T I O N O F T H E E A R LY DAY S I N T H E W O R D S O F
C A P T A I N C . W. B A H R T , T A M P A B A Y P I L O T F R O M 1 9 0 7 - 1 9 3 7

A group of man on a dock in front of a tugboat. Possibly the members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association and port businessmen at Port Tampa.
(Manatee County Library)
65

Captain Arthur C. Bahrt (right) penned these notes from his

older brother, Captain Carl W. Bahrt back in 1937. Carl was a
Tampa Bay Pilot from 1921 to 1936 when he took ill. Brother
Arthur spent most of his career on yachts running between New
York and Miami but returned to Tampa Bay in his later years to
become a Tampa Bay Pilot from 1936 until his death in 1939.

n 1888 and 1889, when Tampa was a very small city and a small channel of eight or nine foot depth winding its way near
Ballast Point then up west of what is now Davis Island along what is now the superb Platt Street Bridge. There began a schooner trade
operated by the Banner Line carrying general cargo from New York. There was a dock in the river bank between Whiting and Washington
Streets, quite a large warehouse, owned by Gunn & Seckinger who acted as agents for said Line. Here full cargos of the schooner were handled
and reshipped or hauled by teams to outlying towns such as Clearwater, Lakeland and St. Petersburg, This led to the necessity for guides or
pilots as we are termed. Port Tampa which about this same time having been developed into a landing and exporting terminal by the late H.B.
Plant and the Plant System Railroad and Steamship Company consisting at first of the then handsome, palatial steamships Mascotte and
Olivette. Foreign ships at this time began coming to load phosphate rock at this terminal. From this came the present Tampa Bay Pilots
Association of which we are proud.
Captain H.G. Warner and W.A. Switzer were the two who established a bonafide
station at the present site in Egmont Key, having for their first boat a small sailing
sloop Gulnare. A lookout tower was built, fifty feet high and Captain Switzer built a
home and lived on Egmont Key. Captain Warner lived at Port
Captain C.W. Bahrt with
Tampa and brought all the ships out which Switzer had taken
his two sons, Carl
in. The writer at that time, being about ten years of age, lived at
William (standing) and
the station and my duties were to keep a lookout from the tower
Robert who is seated on
his Dads lap next to an
for the ships approaching that required the services of a local pilot
unidentified young girl.
and a handy boy for everybody. Our nearest and only neighbors
The photo was taken in
were Mr. and Mrs. Charles Moore. Mr. Moore was the light
1910. (Ancestry.com )
keeper at the Egmont Key Lighthouse.

After a year, we needed a larger boat. Captain Warner

brought his very fast sailing sloop, Mischief, and was she a
beauty but every fisherman from Cape Cod and steamship
master who had run to Tampa years before as captain of the
steamers of the Miller & Henderson Line then joined our
association and soon came the much larger schooner, Belle,
from Savannah, she being built there for a pilot boat and
indeed she was a beauty. Belle was a fast sailer, good seaboat and fixed up like a yacht.
There we lived and how! The writer put in six happy years
and during this time we saw a number of changes; some very
unfortunate. Captain Walker boarded out on the last turn
for a land beyond. Then Captain Miner left us and went on
to become master of the Mascotte. Captain John Fitzgerald
came with us and a real fellow was he. Later Captain H. L.
Johnson from a schooner, the J.R. Teal, came with us.
Our business increased with the growth of Tampa and Port
Tampa City as ports and ships of all classes and flags called
at these ports.
(Above) The Belle, a pilot boat at the dock at Egmont Key.
Aides to navigation can be seen on the dock to the right and the
steamer Mistletoe approaches on the left. 1890s. (Manatee
County)
(Left) Captain Robert Stanton smokes his pipe and plays his hand
with an unidentified man, (possibly an apprenticing pilot or
Pilot Cub as they were called in the early 1900s) likely sitting
on the porch of a cottage on Egmont. Mrs. Stanton is the woman
standing behind. (Manatee County)
67

Captain John J. Fogarty (left) and Captain Henry G. Warner (right) were founding members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association along with Captain
William Austin Switzer and Captain John W. Fitzgerald. These were the four original pilots of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. Each also contributed a
great deal to the community. Warner was a sharp business man in real estate and also founded the Purity Water Co. of Tampa. Warner and Fitzgerald
along with other maritime interests bought the land to develop Port Tampa City and the Port Tampa City Building and Loan Association (the building is
now the Port Tampa Library Branch). Fogarty was from the boat building family of Fogartyville in Manatee County.

A steamer unloading at Port Tampa with a view of the railroad and the Port Tampa Hotel in 1899 at the buildup of the Spanish American War. Thousands of troops congregated at Port Tampa awaiting passage to Cuba. While the troops lived in tents on the Interbay peninsula, members of the press and
other guests of the hotel could fish from their rooms and have their fresh catch prepared in the restaurant. (USF Library, Special Collections)

69

Chapter 6

P O RT
TAMPA
The intersection of Commerce Street and the railroad tracks near Port Tampa City known as Black Point, was closer to the
entrance to Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico than was downtown Tampa at the mouth of the Hillsborough River. Henry B.
Plant began construction on a nine-mile spur to this location to serve a steamship line. A 19-foot channel was dredged and soon
freight and passenger stations, railroad yards, a railroad car repair shop, worker's homes, a pier, and a brick power plant were
constructed here.
The railroad spur line opened on February 5, 1888. By June of 1888, the Plant Steamship Company was providing service to
Havana on the 1676-ton Olivette and the 884-ton Mascotte. These boats connected Port Tampa to St. Petersburg, Egmont Key and
Green Springs. On March 28, 1898, the survivors of the sinking of the battleship Maine arrived here on the steamship Olivette.
Through June of that year, this was the embarkation point for troops and dignitaries headed to Cuba, including Theodore
Roosevelt. William Jennings Bryan and Clara Barton also visited the facilities here. On June 14, 1898, an invasion force of 16,000
left here for Cuba. The facilities at Port Tampa were expanded after the phosphate industry became the largest export industry at

the port. In 1892, two large wooden phosphate elevators were constructed, followed by a steam-operated wooden elevator in 1903,
a larger one in 1906, and a steel elevator in 1925. The warehouses were dismantled in 1951 and the elevators were torn down in
January of 1971.

PORT
TAMPA
CITY
The influence on a maritime community of affluence was embodied in Port Tampa City. The Calumet Club was founded on
November 30, 1897, by 37 ships' captains and their wives. A clubhouse was originally located on Interbay Boulevard with a billiard
room, dance floor and social areas. It was the city hall from 1923 until 1947, and was then moved to the north side of Prescott
Street between Commerce and Desoto Street to serve as a community social center. It was razed in 1975. The masonry vernacular
home on DeSoto Street just south of W. Prescott Street was built in 1885 with a Spanish style, second story balcony and a flat roof.
The Plant Steamship Lines built this and other one-story 50 x 16 foot homes for workers with front and back porches. Beginning
in 1893, Norwegian seaman and Tampa Bay Pilot Capt. Henry L. Johnson remodeled the structure by removing the balcony and
adding a New England style hipped roof and front and side balustrade porch. Johnson had the first automobile in Port Tampa in
1901, and used it to take malaria patients to Tampa for treatment during a major outbreak. He caught the disease himself and died.
The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 24, 1974.
Fitzgerald Street is named for the towns founder, Capt. James W. Fitzgerald, the superintendent of the Plant Steamship Lines
and one of the first members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. Capt. Fitzgerald preferred two-story frame homes with high
ceilings and extensive porches upstairs and downstairs as did many of the pilots. He had one which fit that description but it
burned down in 1931.
71

A ship and tug near the phosphate conveyor at Port Tampa, 1920. Burgert Bros. Collection B29-v-00000209 (USF Library, Tampa)

In 1886, U. S. Engineers balked at the expense of creating a big ship channel up the bay to Fort Brooke and the harbor at Tampa, and opted to favor Old
Tampa Bay, where a natural deep-water channel was comparatively close to shore.
Port Tampa was a result of the decision to establish shipping operations in a naturally deeper portion of Tampa Bay in order to avoid the exacerbating
expense of dredging a deeper channel up to Fort Brooke. Instead of loading and unloading at Gadsden Point or Ballast Point at the bottom of the Interbay
peninsula. The plan was to bring a big ship channel up to Port Tampa to meet the Plant & Occidental line. Henry Plant scrambled to extend his railroad to
Port Tampa. By 1891, a 20-foot channel, 200 feet wide was completed to Port Tampa.

73

The Port Tampa facilities remained active despite the development of the land once held for Fort Brooke, the Ybor estuary area and the succession of
dredging projects undertaken by the U.S. Army Corp. of Engineers, through the advocacy of the Hon. S.M. Sparkman.

PORT TAMPA & THE PHOSPHATE ELEVATORS

75

The view from Port Tampa in 1920 with freight steamers waiting to load . The Tampa Hotel can be seen on the far right. (Below) The phosphate
elevator was built by 1924.

A WORD ABOUT

Captain John Fitzgerald was a consummate businessman

and civic leader. His brother, Captain James W. Fitzgerald

CAPT. JOHN

was the superintendant of the Plant Steamship Lines.

F ITZGERALD

urged the need of deeper water in the port as an incentive to

A M PA

AY

ILOT

18971909

long-time resident of Tampa and effective advocate, he

a greater maritime Tampa. Capt. Fitzgerald had followed a
life on the water almost from early boyhood days having a
devout passion for the call of the sea. He was born in Wales
in 1846 and moved to Tampa in 1894.

Capt. John Fitzgerald had the distinction of bringing in the largest vessel
ever entering this port, the steamer, Rio Grande.

He was said to have a

splendid presence and winning manner, he easily made friends and no man
succeeded any more admirably in holding and cementing strongly these ties of
good fellowship and friendliness. Fitzgerald Street in Port Tampa is named
for him and he once had a two -story home there with extensive porches both
upstairs and down.
Along with C.W. Prescott, a wealthy businessman from Erie, Pennsylvania
(who had financed the first docking facilities built at Port Tampa in the
1890s) and Capt. Henry G. Warner, a fellow Tampa Bay Pilot, Capt.
Fitzgerald formed the Port Tampa Building and Loan Association. The
earliest lot purchasers after development began in the 1880s, were Tampa
Bay Pilots and Spanish merchants from Havana.
77

Chapter 7

P ORT OF

TAMPA
79

The shipping scene in Tampa Bay 100 years ago was decidedly
different from that of today. The channel leading into Hillsborough Bay
was shallow and narrow. In order that the account of port development
may be readily understood, the following is a geographical and
topographical description of Tampas harbor from 1925 in the words of
Judge S. M. Sparkman, the man primarily responsible for facilitating
federal appropriation to improve the channel into Port Tampa:
The form of the Bay resembles that of the letter Y, of which Tampa Bay
proper constitutes the stem, Old Tampa Bay the upper left branch and
Hillsborough Bay into which flows the Hillsborough River, the upper right

ENTRANCE ABOUT 220

MILES NORTH OF KEY WEST;
330 MILES SOUTH
OF PENSACOLA; 360 MILES
FROM MOBILE AND 512 MILES
FROM NEW ORLEANS

OLD TAMPA BAY

IS ABOUT 13 MILES
LONG, 2 MILES TO
6 MILES WIDE.
NATURAL DEPTH
OF 1 TO 36 FEET

branch. The Bay varies from

Bridge, and then averaging 125 feet to Sulfur Springs, 8 miles by

seven to 10 miles in width

the river above the mouth. The Hillsborough River rises northeast

and has two main entrances

of Tampa, is about 51 miles in length and has a drainage area of

from the Gulf of Mexico.

approximately 260 square miles.

The main channel running

north of Egmont Key is
k now n

as

Channel

and

The City of Tampa lies at the head of Hillsborough Bay and

No r th w est
lesser

Prior to any work being done a draft from 20-21 feet could be

Egmont Key as Southwest Channel.

carried at mean low water from the Gulf of Mexico to deep water

Hillsborough Bay is about 9 miles long; 4- miles wide, natural

south of Interbay Peninsular, and 15 feet over the shoals to Tampa

depth varies from about 14 feet at the entrance to 16 to 18 feet

Bay to Port Tampa. Vessels drawing 12 feet could enter

between the center portion, diminishing to 5 or 6 feet near its head

Hillsborough Bay at low water. There was a channel from the

at the mouth of the Hillsborough River. The width of the river

entrance of Hillsborough Bay to Tampa of 12 feet to a point about

channel is from 300 to 500 feet wide below the Lafayette Street

3 miles south of Tampa, the channel from thence running west of

channel south of

the

Port Tampa at the southwest corner of Interbay Peninsular (sic).

what was known as the Big Island, now a part of Davis Island,
was a tortuous crooked channel through the Hillsborough River
with a channel depth of not more than 5 feet up to a point about
200 feet south of the Lafayette street Bridge. Small boats wishing
to come into Tampa had to wait at Ballast Point for high tide in
order to make the remainder of their voyage. These ships ranged
from three hundred to seven hundred tons, as a rule.

81

The first survey was ordered by Congress in March of 1871.

This survey was conducted under the direction of a Colonel out of
Mobile, Alabama but no actual improvements resulted. In 1879,
another survey was ordered which was directed by Lieutenant
Colonel Damrell of the Mobile headquarters, his survey was for the
purpose of determining the feasibility of deepening the natural

SMALL BOATS WISHING TO COME

INTO TAMPA HAD TO WAIT AT
BALLAST POINT FOR HIGH TIDE IN
ORDER TO MAKE THE REMAINDER
OF THEIR VOYAGE

channel in Hillsborough Bay to 9 feet.

Hillsborough Bay and make a channel 200 feet wide and 20 feet
This project resulted in the adoption of the River and Harbor
Act of June 1880, providing for work through Hillsborough Bay to
the River, modified in 1888. The amount expended on this project
was $130,000 of which $50,000 was expended in Old Tampa Bay,
$80,000 in Hillsborough Bay. These expenditures deepened the
channel through Tampa Bay to Port Tampa to about 19 feet, in
Hillsborough Bay up to the mouth of the river to about 7 feet. By
1886, $60,000 had been spent making channel improvements in

deep from the outer bar to the harbor of Port Tampa.

In the annual report of 1886, it was stated:
For a comparatively small sum, this entrance (to Port
Tampa) can be improved to admit vessels with a 20 draft
and such vessels lying at wharves near Little Mangrove
Point would be but little further from Tampa than the
present anchorage of 10 draft. The South Florida Railroad is
even now running its track to this point with the design of
making its terminal there for the Key West and Havana
steamship, vessels of which are served by lighters from
Tampa.

Tampa Bay resulting in a tortuous channel ranging from 60 to 160

feet in width and averaging 8.3 feet deep from deep water in Tampa

The work on this 20 foot channel was begun in 1889 and

and Hillsborough Bay up to the mouth of the Hillsborough River.

completed in 1891. The next project was adopted by the Rivers

Realizing the impracticality of making Tampa even a third-class

and Harbors Act of 1899 which provided for a depth of 12 feet

seaport with a channel so difficult to navigate, it was recommended

from a point 200 feet south of the Lafayette Street Bridge to the

that the U.S. engineers modify the 9 foot project to 8 feet in

mouth of the river. A third project was adopted by the Rivers

and Harbors Act of 1903 which provided for a channel 20 feet

deep from the mouth of the river to the 20 foot contour in the
Bay and embracing the 12 foot channel above described. This
project was completed by the middle of 1909. In the meantime,
Hendry & Knight had begun and completed the construction of
a 20 foot channel from the turning basin at the mouth of the
Hillsborough River for about 2,000 feet to a point near the
S.A.L. railroad extension. This channel was about 300 feet
wide. When the 12 foot channel was competed, a steamship line
to Cuba from Tampa was started, but was abandoned after a
The docks at Tampa in 1885 when the population in Tampa was approximately 600.

short service interval.

The 20 foot channel made Tampa a real seaport in every sense

and unloading. As a result of this congested condition, the Rivers

of the word. Both coastal and foreign trades were attracted to

and Harbors Act of 1910 adopted a fourth project providing for

the citys wharves. Wharves, warehouses, phosphate elevators

a depth of 24 feet from the Gulf to the mouth of the Hillsborough

and coal chutes were constructed to meet the demand of Tampas

River, thence eastward from the turning basin to Hendry &

increased shipping. Lumber from the backcountry of the county

Knight channel to the mouth of the Estuary, thence northward

began to come in for shipment in much greater quantities than

through the

heretofore. Railroads were extended to connect with the

basin at the mouth of the Estuary, thence through what is known

increased harbor facilities and big ships arrived in ever-

as Sparkman Bay to a connection with the main channel

increasing numbers until Tampa harbor again needed

running south from the mouth of the river, the width generally

expansion. Not only was the channel too narrow, but also the

being about 300 feet except in the main ship channel at the

waterfront was inadequate for safe accomplishment of loading

entrance to the Gulf which was 500 feet in width.

83

Estuary to the head of the same with a turning

This project was coupled with a condition that no

feet

over

the

same

NO OTHER PLACE

expenditures should be made on that part of the harbor between

reaches of the channel

the new turning basin and Ybor City channel until the Secretary

above

of War should be assured that the local municipality would

coupled

construct wharves with slips having an available length of not

condition that no work

less than 1400 feet which should be open for the use of the

should be done by the

general public, under reasonable regulations and charges, and

U.S. under such project

OVER ITS ORIGINAL

also that the municipality would obtain such control of the

until the City of Tampa

property for at least 700 feet on each side of the proposed Ybor

should

CHARGES AND OVER

Channel throughout its length as would insure its use primarily

assurances satisfactory

in the interest of general commerce on equal terms to all, and

to the

that all wharfage charges and regulations should be reasonable

War that the City of

and fully controlled by the municipal authorities, subject to

Tampa would within

approval of the Secretary of War.

reasonable time and when in his opinion the facilities are needed,

mentioned,
with

have

the

given

Secretary of

IN THE COUNTRY
PERHAPS HAS SUCH
COMPLETE CONTROL

THE HANDLING OF ITS

WATER COMMERCE
THAN TAMPA.

acquire full ownership and possession of sufficient land for the

These conditions were met by the city managers within a

establishment of terminals fronting on the Ybor Estuary to

year or so after the passage of the Act of 1910 by the securing

complete the construction thereon of piers and slips in accordance

1400 feet of frontage on the Estuary, 700 feet on the west side

with plans for development of the Ybor Estuary Zone railroad by

and 700 feet on the east side thereof, and by having given

the Secretary of War or such other plans as he might approve to

satisfaction to the Secretary of War that the other conditions

build adequate warehouses and storage sheds on these piers and

would be complied with. This project was partially completed

equip them with suitable rail facilities and freight handling

when in 1917 a 5th project was adopted calling for a depth of 27

appliances and would construct and put in operation a municipal

railroad having physical connection with all railroads entering

and control in the United States as no other place in the country

the City of Tampa.

perhaps has such complete control over its original charges and
over the handling of its water commerce. The cost of all the work

Having physical connection with all railroads entering the

undertaken by the Federal Government during the years from

City of Tampa and available channel frontage on both sides of

1880 to 1926 was $5,354,114.45 with a maintenance charge of

the Estuary in accordance with the plan of development of the

$542,532.40, all of which, except $130,000 was expended after

Estuary zone approved by the Secretary of War, would open, pave

the adoption of projects of 1899 calling for a 12-foot channel.

and make available for use a sufficient number of streets and

The result of this work and expenditures is a 27-foot channel

highways to give proper access to all parts of the Estuary Channel

with a minimum width of 300-feet, both to Port Tampa and to

frontage, would open these terminals for business under a schedule

the City of Tampa, enabling deep draft vessels to reach these

of reasonable wharfage charges and a set of regulations to be

places and investing them with all the advantages of a deep-

approved by the Secretary of War for the control and operation of

water port.

the property fronting on the Estuary Channel designed to insure

its use primarily in the interest of general commerce on equal
terms to all. All these conditions have practically been complied

Hon. S.M. Sparkman

with and the work has been completed within the last year to a 27

from his chapter on the development of the ports in the

book Hillsborough County History (1928)

-foot depth. In addition to this, the city has constructed a slip on

the west side of the Estuary channel 27 feet in depth, about 900
feet long and 250 feet wide, with a well equipped warehouse and
wharves adequate no doubt for the present, but hardly for the near
future.
It may be further added that the control by the city of Tampa
over the inner harbor is somewhat unusual in harbor development
85

Judge S.M. Sparkman, 1925 (Library of Congress)

87

(Above) Looking at the waterfront on June 11, 1924 with Sparkman Channel to the right and Garrison Channel off to the left. The Scherzer
rolling bridge mechanism to Seddon Island is visible to the far left (Burgert Bros. Cirkuit Images, John F. Germany Library, Tampa)

89

This image was taken May 4, 1926 looking South over Sparkman Channel with Garrison Channel to the right. A freighter is tied up at what

would be cruise terminal #2 in front of Channelside today. Seddon Island (Harbor Island) is on the right and Hookers Point in the background.
(Burgert Bros. Cirkuit Images, John F. Germany Library, Tampa)

PHILIP SHORE

19061921
FIRST SECRETARY
OF THE TAMPA BAY
PILOTS ASSOCIATION

Philip Shore was a pioneer steamship agent

and president of the Philip Shore Shipping Co.
Philip Costa, his surname later Anglicized from
Costa to Shore was born in Introacqua, Italy
on July 7, 1875 and moved to Tampa in 1885.
Shores first job was as clerk for the Port
Tampa General Store.

After getting familiar

with the business, he purchased a store of his

own. In 1889 he was appointed agent for the

Plant System of Railways and Steamships keeping Port Tampa as his headquarters. When the organization was taken over by the
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, he was promoted to a higher position which he held until 1908, entering the shipping business for
himself thereafter.
Shore built his organization to one of the largest steam shipping and forwarding agencies in South Florida. He owned several
tug boats and small freight steamers. He organized the Tampa Inter Ocean Steamship Co. and was President for many years and
maintained financial interests in several other local enterprises. For 15 years he was Secretary for the Tampa Bay Pilots
Association.
Philip Shore took an active part in many civic affairs. He was chairman of the county school board from 1917 to 1922. Philip
Shore Elementary School, now the Philip Shore Magnet School, was one of his first projects, establishing a school in Ybor City.
During WWI, Shore was agent here in Tampa Bay for the Sea Service Bureau and placed in charge of a nautical school. He also
was a member of the board of port commissioners from 1913 to 1920. Shore lost his life at the age of 54 from injuries sustained in a
car accident in March of 1929. On the day of his funeral shipping offices and allied industries closed during the funeral hour. River
craft and ships in port remained at anchor as well, out of respect for the man who had a tremendous influence on shipping at the
ports of Tampa.

91

Chapter 8
TH

THE 20

CENTURY

AN ERA OF CHANGE AND

D E V E LO P M E N T

August 7, 1970 The M/V Fermland is the first ship to

dock at Port Manatee. (Manatee County)
93

IT IS ALL A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

The

following

two

pages

are

two

panoramic

photographs taken by the Burgert Bros. in 1919 showing

different perspectives. One looking south from the east side
of Ybor Channel (top) and the other looking southwest
(bottom). The rooftop of the large warehouse where the
upper image was taken appears in the center of the lower
image. The two images presented together demonstrate
the fish-eye effect of the Cirkuit camera. The images were
taken from the roof of the warehouse of the Oscar Daniels
Co. Oscar Daniels, a businessman from Chicago leased a
portion of the shipyard after receiving a government
contract to build ten-10,000 ton ships.

The ships were

completed during WWI . The Oscar Daniels Co. employed

The world's largest electrical sign was illuminated at the wharf on October 30,
1953. It spelled out "Atlantic Coast Line Port Tampa Terminals" with letters
19 feet tall and up to 13 feet wide. The whole sign was 76 feet tall and 387.5
feet wide, and used 4,000 feet of red neon tubing.

3,400 men at its zenith. The lease was for a 6-year term and in 1923 Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering took possession once
more. Tampa Dock Co. and Oscar Daniels Co. employed more than 5,000 men during 1918. In 1919, the two ships being built
would have been the last of the ships built by Oscar Daniels Co.; two-12,000 ton steel tankers for Standard Oil. After this project,
Oscar Daniels Co. stopped operations. By the end of 1920 Tampas bright future was beginning to lose it shine and the recordbreaking prosperity achieved during the war period was becoming a thing of the past.
During WWI shipbuilding became an outstanding industry in Tampa. Large ships construction was undertaken in 1916 when
Ernest Kreher, the head of Tampa Foundry & Machine Co. acquired a contract to build a 2,500 ton icebreaker. Shortly before the
completion of this ship, Poughkeepsie , Kreher organized the Tampa Shipbuilding & Engineering Co.

95

97

Another perspective (above) clearly shows a view looking southwest down the Ybor Channel and across the south Tampa peninsula.

PILOT BOATS
OF TAMPA BAY
99

Chapter 9

Wooden hulled Tampa Bay Pilots boat "The Egmont" plying the waters of Tampa Bay in 1943.

he earliest boats used by the pilots on Tampa Bay were fast sailing vessels named Gulnare, Mischief, Gazelle, Pilots Bride,

Magic, Belle, and Lettie. Later pilot craft included motor craft with names such as Anclote, Mitzio B, and Egmont. The Gulnare
appears to be the first pilot boat bought by partners for service on Tampa Bay. In addition to Gulnare, Pilots Bride was listed as
Pilot boat built in Cedar Key in the Annual List of Merchant Vessels of the United States, Vol. 36 and showed her build date
as 1886.
Speculation is that Pilots Bride was built by William Cottrell, a pilot for the P & O Railroad in Cedar Key. He participated
in an annual sailboat race on the Fourth of July in the late 1880s against Captain Henry G. Warner, who was the master of
Mischief. The race made national news and was satirized in the popular magazine Judge after Capt. Cottrell, aboard his vessel,
Nannie, pulled out a shotgun and threatened to shoot Capt. Warner after Mischief had taken the lead in a deft maneuver resulting
in winning the popular race. Cottrells own crew subdued him and no injuries were reported. These events were observed by a
young D.B. McKay who was aboard the Mistletoe. McKay later wrote of the event in his popular series, Pioneer Florida.
There is conjecture, yet to be confirmed, that William Cottrell was making efforts to establish himself as a pilot at Tampa
after losing his job in Cedar Key. It appears that a succession of tragedies plagued Cottrell. In 1886 his wife, Nannie, passed away.
Pilots Bride, the vessel built in Cedar Key for service in Tampa was completed that same year. Shortly after the unfortunate events
of the Fourth of July race with Warner, Cottrell was incarcerated for threatening to kill a Sheriff in North Carolina (who also
happened to be his cousin). His cousin the Sheriff, shot him dead shortly after his release, due to Cottrells apparent intent to
actualize his threats. Perhaps William Cottrell was, Wild Bill, a character mentioned in the early history of the Tampa Bay
Pilots.
A fast boat, sophisticated boat-handling skills and a keen eye were necessary attributes for a Bar Pilot. The first pilot who
reached the hailing craft won the right to bring her in. Later a more sophisticated system emerged and boats requiring the
services of a pilot were spoken for in a coordinated system of association that would become the Tampa Bay Pilots Association.
101

(Above) an unidentified pilot, possibly Capt. John Fogarty.

Another example of the pilot boats of the early twentieth century (Captain John J. Fogarty Pilot from 1910-1925) flanked by his sisters Katherine and
Leticia (Lettie) in front of his schooner, Lettie. (Manatee County)
103

A pilot boat under power off the coast of Egmont Key in the late 1800s. The stack of a power plant can be seen on the aft deck suggesting that this might
be the Naphtha powered launch belonging to Captain Warner, a founding member of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. (Manatee County)

The pilot boat Manatee at Port Manatee in 1971. (Manatee County)

105

Pilot boat Tampa currently serves the waters of Tampa Bay. (Courtesy of Capt. Jorge Viso)

Chapter 10

T H E H I S T O RY
OF NAVIGATION ON TAMPA BAY
The early pilots used a compass, a timepiece, navigational markers and their senses to traverse the channel from Egmont to the ports within
Tampa Bay. Understanding the changes in channel depth, tides, currents and the spontaneous nature of the weather on the Gulf of Mexico
remain critical to the pilots of today.
107

The earliest pilots on

Tampa Bay were required to
set and maintain their own
aids to navigation as well as
stand ready to rendezvous
with any vessels needing the
services of a pilot to enter
the bay.

Prior to the

presence of regular pilotage

services on Tampa Bay,
vessels would stop in at the
lighthouse at Egmont and
borrow a chart of the bay
from

the

returning

light
it

on

keeper,
their

outbound passage.

Capt. John J. Fogarty (Tampa Bay

Pilot from 1912-1925) on deck
aboard Manatee, a passenger
vessel of the Favorite Line. In
1910, her schedule began at 5:45
A.M. at Terra Ceia, then on to St.
Petersburg, arriving at 8:00 A.M.
and on to Tampa for arrival at 10:00
A.M. Since the Favorite and the
H.B. Plant stopped serving Terra
Ceia in January 1910, the
Manatee was the island's main
freight and passenger service. The
Manatee left Tampa at 5:00 P.M.,
and arrived at Terra Ceia, via St.
Petersburg, at 9:00 P.M. each night.
By October, the Manatee had
added Bradentown, Palmetto and
Ellenton to the list, giving good
transportation service to the north
side of the Manatee River. A stop at
Anna Maria Island was added for
the summer of 1911, when the new
Anna Maria City Pier was
constructed. (Manatee County)

When pilots began regular service for Tampa Bay, they relied on the hospitality of the light keeper to maintain a presence on
Egmont Key. Shortly before 1900, the pilots established a station of their own and since that time have maintained a presence on
the island under the jurisdiction of no less than three federal agencies; the Department of the Interior, the Department of
Commerce and the Department of War. Anecdotal information on the agencies are remembered by Roberta Cole (the light
keepers granddaughter whose father, Charles Moore, worked as the administrator for the Tampa Bay Pilots Association) can be
found in the previous chapter on the island.

The piloting of merchant vessels is an activity fraught

The Supreme Court and Acts of Congress validated and

with danger and pervaded by the constant threat of disaster.

annulled pilotage regulation in America until 1871 when

The piloting profession is a demanding one; it is a calling that

Congress passed legislation returning some control to the

allows little tolerance for mistakes. The consequences of error

separate states. The contradiction of federal and state

in the practice of piloting can be catastrophic. For these

regulation produced gaps and overlaps that survive to this

reasons, the selection, licensing, training, and performance

day.

monitoring of pilots are very important tasks. Piloting has

been regulated under Florida Law since 1839 and in 1868

Chapter 21SS-8 of the Florida Administrative Code

states:
All collisions, groundings, stranding, or other marine perils
sustained by vessels on which there was employed a licensed
state pilot or certificated deputy pilot shall be reported to the
office of the board or the piloting consultant within 48 hours
of the occurrence. In cases of reported marine casualties
involving licensed state pilots or certificated deputy pilots, a
probable cause panel of the Board of Pilot Commissioners
determines whether there is sufficient evidence to indicate that
violations of rules and regulations have occurred. This panel
consists of three members, at least two of whom are to be state
pilots.

Chapter 1670 was passed. From 1880 to 1970 legislation

concerning pilots and pilotage in the state changed very little.
However in the 1970s and 1980s centralized regulation and a
tightening of licensing requirements resulted from major
changes in the statutes.
Territorial laws have provided for the regulation of pilots
since the 17th century. In 1789, Congress specified that pilots
would be subject to state law until such time as the federal
government saw fit to exercise its legislative authority in the
matter.

In 1852, Congress passed the first federal act

affecting pilots and pilotage. This act required all engineers

In the six-year period from 1978 to 1983, there were no

and pilots of steamships be licensed by federal inspectors in an

complaints filed against any Florida state pilot or deputy

effort by legislators to improve marine safety.

pilot. Yet, during this time, there were 219 marine casualties
reported
109

involving

state

pilots

and

deputy

pilots.

Presumably, parties affected by casualties involving pilots

increasing size and load, in and out of the ports of Tampa Bay

(vessel owners, masters, port authorities, etc.) had not needed

safely.

to file complaints because of the stringent state requirements

for reporting even the most minor incidents and accidents.

If you were to ask any one of the current pilots of Tampa

Bay what their primary tools are, you would likely get the

Throughout the history of navigating the waters of

same response as you would from a pilot serving here 100

Tampa Bay, some dramatic incidents have occurred that

years ago. Their tools are their eyes and their experience. As

would change how information is collected and disseminated

one pilot put it, Our experience is born of intense training

for the entire maritime community. On January 28, 1980, the

under the tutelage of experienced senior pilots. As it has been

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Blackthorn and the U.S.-flag tanker

for centuries, pilots learn to handle vessels by repeatedly

Capricorn collided in Tampa Bay, an accident that resulted in

putting a vessel through its paces.

the capsizing and sinking of the Blackthorn, and the deaths of

23 of her crew.
carrier

On May 9, 1980, the Liberian-flag bulk

M/V Summit Venture struck the Sunshine Skyway

Bridge in Tampa Bay in a heavy squall.

The collision

destroyed a support pier causing 1,297 feet of bridge deck and

superstructure to collapse. A passenger bus, six cars, and a
pickup truck fell 150 feet into the bay below, killing 35 people.
These events left an indelible and palpable impression on
the members of the association. They also precipitated an era
of technological advancements in navigation, communication
and dissemination of data used to navigate vessels of ever

SEA
CHANGE
What the sea-going community has seen in the way of
technological advances over the last century should astound
us all. In 1884, the Prime Meridian was established, and by
1984, we were implementing a Global Positioning System.
Twentieth century mariners had access to radio beacons,
radar, gyroscopic compass and ship-to-shore communication.
Sextants became arcane and only found on board in the event

of emergency (if at all). The gyrocompass was introduced in

Satellite System (DNSS).

1907, providing a reference to true north on board any vessel

It was at this meeting

anywhere in the world. Radio detection and ranging or

that "the real synthesis

RADAR systems were introduced by 1935 allowing ships to

that became the global

TRAINING UNDER

locate each other in limited visibility. By the beginning of

positioning system or

WWII the U.S. navigational system known as Long Range

GPS was created." Later

THE TUTELAGE

Navigation or LORAN was developed. Loran used pulse

that year, the DNSS

radio transmissions from master and slave stations to

program

determine ships position.

Navstar.

was

named

With

OUR EXPERIENCE
IS BORN OF INTENSE

OF EXPERIENCED
SENIOR PILOTS

the

individual satellites being associated with the name Navstar

During Labor Day weekend in 1973, 12 military officers

(as with the predecessors Transit and Timation), a more fully

at the Pentagon discussed the creation of a Defense Navigation

encompassing name was used to identify the constellation of

Navstar satellites, Navstar-GPS, which was later shortened
simply to GPS.
While there were wide needs for accurate navigation in
military and civilian sectors, almost none of those were seen as
justification for the billions of dollars it would cost in research,
development, deployment, and operation for a constellation of
navigation satellites. During the Cold War, the nuclear threat
to the existence of the United States was the one need that did
justify this cost in the view of the United States Congress.

Ships passing in Tampa Bay . (Capt. Jorge Viso)

111

This deterrent effect is why GPS was ultimately funded. It is

beginning in 1998. Known as ROSS units, the self-contained

also the reason for the ultra secrecy at that time. In 1983, after

AIS units allowed pilots to see other vessels carrying AIS

Soviet interceptor aircraft shot down the civilian airliner KAL

units. After beta testing, AIS vessel-mounted units were

007 that strayed into prohibited airspace because of

phased in during 2005.

navigational errors, killing all 269 people on board, President

Ronald Reagan announced that GPS would be made available

ARINC

(Aeronautical

Radio

Incorporated)

portable

for civilian uses once it was completed. The first satellite was

piloting units have been carried by the members of the Tampa

launched in 1989, and the 24th satellite was launched in 1994.

Bay Pilots Association since 2005 and incorporate the AIS data
stream along with the NOAA PORTS data stream. Data from

By the end of the twentieth century, GPS had replaced

these sources are decoded by the ARINC units then

Loran. The introduction of GPS provided harbor pilots with

synthesized and displayed, on-screen, to aid the pilots in

an accurate speed indicator. GPS was closely followed by the

determining vessel movement.

development of the Portable Piloting Unit or PPU. The PPU

brought modern information sources together into an

A n o t h e r

electronic information platform that the pilot uses as a decision

advancement seen

making tool. Now continuity of information, accuracy and

on the waters of

availability are all conveyed with the pilot in this portable

Tampa Bay has

device.

been

in

tug

technology. With
In 2005, the Automatic Identification System (AIS) was

the

marked

introduced as another layer of information for the pilot. AIS

increase in vessel

provides precise and current traffic information. The Tampa

size over the years,

Bay Pilots were carrying the AIS as an experimental prototype

Tampa

Bay

is

A pilot conning a vessel with a PPU and other

modern tools of the trade . (photograph courtesy of
Capt. Jorge Viso)

equipped with the latest Azimuthing Stern Drive or ASD tugs

evaluating the port in a reasonable period failed to allow for

along with Ship Docking Modules or SDMs. This

the preemptive measures necessary when the threat of a

sophisticated equipment allows for precise handling of ships in

storm was present. The maritime community, who operated

and out of port as well as vessel movement within the port.

within the port daily, could facilitate protocols necessary to

improve response. A partnership emerged from the quandary
involving the maritime community and the Coast Guard in

P ORT H EAVY W EATHER

1997.

A DVISORY G ROUP

The group collects data to determine appropriate

action to the USCG Captain of the Port (COTP) for the best

The hurricane season of 1996 made it evident that the Port

course of action in the event of dangerous weather

Heavy Weather Plan was inefficient, and complications during

conditions. The group also centralizes information from the

Tropical Storm Josephine suggested that the Tampa Bay

Tampa Bay Pilots Association including vessel movement

maritime

community

was

risk.

and the Tampa Bay Cooperative Vessel Traffic Service

Changes

needed

be

precision,

operated by the Tampa Port Authority. The group maintains

communication and discretion with port evacuation orders. A

a sophisticated software program called HURRTRAK

port evacuation order foreshadows large economic impact to

Advanced, providing state of the art weather tracking and

the port community. There is a price to pay for a premature

projection capabilities. By combining their resources into

evacuation order and the potential of an even greater loss, both

shared knowledge, the

economically and environmentally, if the order comes too late.

members of the Port

to

incurring
made

to

unacceptable
improve

Heavy
With regular personnel changes, the U.S. Coast Guard is

Advisory

Weather
Group

challenged by the difficulty of maintaining a level of expertise

collaborate to insure the

in determining threats to Tampa Bay from approaching

highest level of efficiency

storms. Additionally, the logistics involved in thoroughly

and preparedness.
113

CAPTAIN CAROLYN J. KURTZ,

A FLORIDA FIRST
Captain Carolyn Kurtz has explained that her position as a
Pilot and Member of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association is very
satisfying. (At work and on board) is the one time in my life
that everyone does exactly what I say. She is a U.S. Merchant
Marine Academy graduate and in 1986, Captain Kurtz went from
a Kings Point cap and gown to a sea-going ship in one week.
During her eight years at sea with the Maritime Overseas
Corporation, Captain Kurtz rose through the ranks from third
officer to chief mate with confidence and authority. She obtained
an unlimited masters license in 1993 and identified a new goal. In
1995, Kurtz decided to reach for appointment as a Harbor Pilot in
the State of Florida and became the first female to enter the
training program. It seemed very straight forward and fair to
me; you do the best on the test and you get the job. Kurtz
recalls.

Captain Kurtz was appointed as the first female pilot in the State of Florida and since her appointment, has continued to pilot
ships and minds towards a greater understanding of professional excellence and the faculty of women in the maritime workplace.
Kurtz explained her credo in a simple and straightforward manner when she accepted the "Breaking the Glass Ceiling Award in
2010 from the Jewish Museum of Florida.
Dont act like you are doing your job in a mans world or that you have to do
your job as a womenjust go out into the world and do it. Dont act like the
girl and you wont get treated like the girl. Just go out there and do what you
know you can do. It is that simple and it works!
There is an assumption that when you walk on a ship as a pilot that it is not
your first day on the job. Piloting is the pinnacle of the maritime professions.
The crew of a ship respects the position of the Pilot and the person who carries
that title. In an industry so dominated by men, I have not experienced any
hesitation to turn over command to a womannot even by mariners from other
countries that may have never seen a woman on a ship or in command.
Captain Kurtz has served at the executive level for the Florida Harbor Pilots Association, formerly in the position of director
and currently as secretary. She serves as guest instructor at Maritime Institute of Technology and Graduate Studies (MITAGS)
and the Maritime Pilots Institute. She was co-manager of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association from 2007-2009 and was recognized
as a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of America.
In 2012, Captain Kurtz was appointed by the United States Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, to
serve on the advisory council as a member representing the viewpoint of professional mariners. She was recognized by the Tampa
Bay Organization of Women in International Trade as the International Business Person of the Year in 2012 as well. Captain
Kurtz in is one of 32 female harbor pilots working in ports around the nation and one of nearly 100 highly-skilled and highlytrained harbor pilots serving Floridas 14 deepwater ports.

115

Chapter 11
ENTERING A THIRD CENTURY
OF SERVICE AND DEDICATION

TO P U B L I C S A F E T Y

Orange Sun. (Capt .Jorge Viso)

117

he past holds a vast wealth of knowledge and perspective that will serve

us well as we look towards the future. Through the centuries, piloting has
facilitated regional and national development by providing safe passage for
shipping and insuring the safety of the citizen and the environment. The era of
change and development on Tampa Bay continues into the new millennium.
Technology increases the precision of the tools and information available to the
pilots, thus increasing their capabilities and the demands placed upon them. Irony
is not lost on the fact that the only limitation to the size of vessels calling on the
ports of Tampa Bay is the ceiling or air draft of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, a
contrivance of man.

Pilot transferring to inbound vessel . (photograph

courtesy of Capt. Jorge Viso)

As time passes, we can look back upon history and see parallels and trends that are hallmarks of our ever changing, ever
evolving maritime industry. The correlation between the Tampa Bay's regional prosperity and her ports is self evident. It is
demonstrated by the urban growth and industrialization of the region that has shadowed successive increases in gross tonnage and
cruise volume handled by the ports that serve Tampa Bay. As the ports have thrived, so has business and urban development. The
history of the Pilots of Tampa Bay and the history of the ports they serve are inextricably linked and yet, as with many who serve

the public trust, their work and their role is invisible to most of the citizens of this
region.
There was a time, not so long ago, that vessel movement and shipping traffic was
published in the daily press because everyone in the region had a vested interest in
shipping. It was our lifeline to the world. Shipping was so important to the
Tampa of the last century that a holiday was declared in 1908 on the day the Rio
Grande, the largest ocean-going freighter to ever enter the port made her way
down Sparkman Channel. It was not just the ships that were larger than life. The
pilots of this association were larger than life, often putting themselves onboard
ships under quarantine for Yellow Fever, enduring weather hazards, navigating
vessels of all kinds through a long and twisting channel, and using their knowledge, experience
and discretion to insure safe passage through the waters of Tampa Bay, to vessels of all flags.
Many of the pilots of this association have literally left their names on the landscape of our
region, Bishop Harbor, Warner Bayou, Fogartyville, Ware Creek, and Fitzgerald Street, all named for
pilots who served this association or their family. An early pilot, John Gomez, who served as a pilot for
the US Navy during the Civil War gave us the legend of Jose Gaspar, the fountainhead of our Gasparilla Festival in
Tampa. Through their commitment to facilitate and promote the safe and efficient flow of commercial vessel traffic throughout the
pilotage waters of Tampa Bay, the members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association have become an intrinsic part of our community,
our economy and ambassadors of trade. The historical accounts and images held in this volume provide an idea of the people,
methods and the experience of piloting in the past. These were fathers, brothers, sons and husbands. They were deft mariners
who loved this area and the sea.
119

The Tampa Bay Pilots Association has existed through three centuries from that time when a narrow line of railroad tracks
made its way into Port of Tampa and over to Port Tampa City, sparking the dawn of the shipping industry in Tampa Bay. Today,
the primary international trading partners of the ports of Tampa Bay are India, Mexico, Trinidad, Canada, Brazil, Japan and
China. The covenant of association of the maritime community here in Tampa Bay has made Tampa the largest port in the State
surrounded by a vibrant metropolitan area.
The ports of Tampa Bay continue to grow, keeping in step with the demand for bigger and better facilities to serve
shipping interests, tourism and trade. At the Port of Tampa, Florida's largest port, 39 million tons of cargo, fuel, phosphate,
automobiles and building materials were handled in 2011. In 2012 the Tampa Port Authority began a $45 million modernization
and expansion project of its Richard E. Knight (REK) Petroleum Terminal Complex, providing infrastructure for meeting the
needs of Central Florida consumers plus the
aviation

fuel

demands

of

Orlando

International Airport. Upon the project's

completion the complex will be able to
handle more than 70 million barrels of fuel
annually
The Tampa Gateway Rail Terminal
which

was

unveiled

at

the

port

in

September, 2012 was completed in about

one year. The new $30 million, 2-mile
railroad loop and pipeline system will
Cruise and container ships at Port of Tampa in the early morning hours. (Wikimedia Commons)

quickly deliver ethanol and cargo via unit trains. A fast and highly efficient method for delivering commodities, CSX rail will allow
port partners like Kinder Morgan to unload 66,000 barrels of ethanol from one 96-car unit train in 24 hours. The new terminal and
13, 244 linear feet of rail will provide direct on-dock access to the extensive CSX rail network; a major development in the Port's
container capability. The Richard E. Knight Petroleum Terminal Complex and the Tampa Gateway Rail Terminal in concert with
the I-4 Crosstown Connector Project will enhance the Port's ability to serve customers in the Tampa/Orlando I-4 Corridor region
and beyond.
Across the Bay, Port Manatee continues to
grow and expand providing facilities for vessels up to
Panamax. The closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the
Panama Canal, the port and its partners move
approximately 9 million tons of containerized
breakbulk, bulk and project cargo each year. The
Manatee County Port Authority is committed to
protecting and enhancing Tampa Bay's pristine
ecosystem, too. The port's groundbreaking seagrass
mitigation

program

and

Manbirtee

Key

Bird

Sanctuary prove that nature and ports can coexist.

The project's success attracted global attention and
earned several honors including the Gulf Guardian
Award from the Environmental Protection Agency's
Gulf of Mexico Program. The American Association
North Sea , a container vessel in Tampa Bay. (Tampa Bay Pilots Association)

121

of Port Authorities also selected the project as the

Western Hemisphere's top environmental program in

2006. The effort to conduct maritime related activities

in a profitable and environmentally responsible
manner isn't just a mission statement, it is an action
plan.

Port Manatee continues to be a catalyst in

countywide economic growth and a leading economic

engine adding more than $2.3 billion dollars annually
to the regional economy. The Manatee Port
Authority approved a 584-foot extension of berth 12
and a 10-acre container yard that will be up and
operational by 2013 well in advance of the Panama
Canal expansion. The port remains, in the words of
the Manatee County Port Authority, "the right turn
on Tampa Bay".

Inbound ship on Tampa Bay. (Tampa Bay Pilots Association)

Today the Tampa Bay Pilots Association is comprised of 23 highly trained harbor pilots that provide pilotage services for
the ports of Tampa, Manatee and St. Petersburg. Cruise passenger numbers are at an all time high and an era of advancements in
technology and intermodal efficiency is well underway. The United States is closer to trade with Cuba than it has been in over 50
years. That, along with the expansion of the Panama Canal which is due to be completed in 2015, the future promises to bring a
new chapter to the industry of global trade and shipping to Tampa Bay's ports, and to this institution of men and women we call
the Tampa Bay Pilots Association.

"Leading the way on Tampa Bay"

123

An aerial view of the Channel District. (Courtesy of the Tampa Port Authority)

Acknowledgements
The maritime history of our region is a lens which provides great clarity. It shows us how interconnected we are as a community
and how, despite the odds and due in great part to people working together, we have become a vibrant port community. As a
maritime historian, pilots are a perfect subject, as they have facilitated trade, nation building and community development for
centuries.
The events leading up to the inception of this association provide a sense of place and insight on what was occurring here
and why the year 1886 was so germane to Tampa Bay, her ports and burgeoning global trade.

May 7th, 1885 Tampa Board of Trade is founded.

October 5, 1885 the newly formed Tampa Board of Trade pledges $4,000 to insure Vincente Ybor
builds his cigar factory near the Port of Tampa.

1886 The Plant Railroad lays track from Cedar Key to Port Tampa.

1886 U.S. Army Corp of Engineers dredges a channel 200' wide and 20' deep from the outer bar
of the harbor to Port Tampa.

January 7, 1886 the vessel Mascotte, of the Plant Steamship Co. begins 36 years of service between
Tampa, Key West and Havana.

February 24, 1887 Tampa becomes a U.S. Port of Entry.

125

The history of the Pilots of Tampa Bay and the history of the ports they serve are inextricably linked and yet as with many
who serve the public trust, their work and their role has become obscured to most of the citizens of this region over the years. It is
my wish that this book sheds a little light on the importance of maritime trade and the significance of the Pilots in making the
ports of Tampa Bay, Americas corridors of global trade.
This project owes a debt of gratitude to many who contributed insight, access and resources. The information collected for
this publication came from libraries and heritage repositories throughout the State of Florida, often with the assistance of librarians
who dutifully held the lamp of illumination high enough to see into the past. Many thanks should go to the John F. Germany
Library and the Port Tampa Library (both within the Hillsborough County Library Co-Op) in Tampa, Florida, for maintaining
public access to very specific reference materials relevant to our regional maritime heritage around Tampa Bay. Accolades to Andy
Huse, along with the staff at the University of South Florida Library, Florida Studies Reading Room in Tampa, who provided
access to the Hillsborough County Maritime Collection, held in their stacks. Jim Schnur, Special Collections Librarian at the
University of South Floridas Nelson Poynter Library in St. Petersburg not only provided guidance and assurance during this
project but also great insight preceding it.
Many thanks to Pam Gibson and her staff at the Manatee County Public Library for providing insight on the Eaton
Collection and the Manatee County Photography Collection (accessible through the University of South Florida Library CORAL
Digital & Oral History Collection). The Manatee County Historical Society, a recent resource of great regional significance also
played a key role in providing access to oral history transcripts for this publication through its online collection. Unprecedented
online access to maritime reference materials, public records and newspaper archives on the worldwide web allowed for validation
and fact checking of some ambiguous facts through access to obscure federal reference materials Finally, my eternal gratitude to
Irwin Schuster, who provided invaluable and necessary editing services, advice and insight that made this book better.

My personal thanks go to Capt. Allen Thompson, Kelley Fowler and the office staff and members of the Tampa Bay Pilots
Association who commissioned this body of work. Together they facilitated its progress and development from start to finish with
great attention to detail and patience. Corporate histories can be a daunting task for a modern institution but their importance
remains self-evident, and clearly of high importance to the members of this maritime community who so diligently availed
themselves for this project.

-Carrie Caignet, Tampa Bay 2012

127

Fancied by tourist and resident alike and a familiar site in the early part of the 1900s. The Favorite and the Manatee provided commuter service
to the Tampa Bay region before the bridges where developed. (St. Petersburg Museum of History)

129

Many thanks to the following Project Partners for making our

maritime history a principal worthy of investment.

131

Port
St. Petersburg
ESTABLISHED 1915
In November of 1908, when St.
Petersburg had a population under 1,600
people, Capt. William Thornton began
dredging a sand bar in an effort to deepen
the channel leading to the city dock in
St. Petersburgs Bayboro waterfront.
Capt. Thornton owned the Home Line,
which operated passenger vessels on the St. Petersburg-Tampa run. By December of that year, the St. Petersburg city
council established the dimensions and boundaries of a possible harbor but it was not until March 1913, that the council
approved the Bayboro site. By March 1915, work on the Bayboro Municipal docks had begun.
On November 13, 1920, a Navy radio plant sent the first message from the new landing field at Bayboro Harbor, and by
1924 the U.S Coast Guard base was built as an anti-bootlegging site. Abandoned in 1933, the base was reopened in 1939
to train seamen of the Merchant Marine. That year, the square-rigged sailing vessel Joseph Conrad built in 1882, arrived
at Bayboro Harbor. By the time the Conrad was decommissioned in 1944, the U.S. Merchant Marine Training Services
Center had trained some 25, 000 Merchant Mariners.

133

NT ER NATI O NA L SH I P

REPAIR & MARINE SERVICES

International Ship & Repair began repairing ocean-going vessels in 1973. Since its beginning, the dedication of our
employees has given us a worldwide reputation for prompt, efficient, quality service.
Herbert Bonnabel was a member of the first class to
graduate from the US Merchant Marine Academy at Kings
Point New York and among our first notable clients here at
ISR. Bonnie helped founder Robert DelValle, get his start
in business.

Today, George Lorton, owner and CEO,

continues the legacy of providing the high level of service

and expertise right here in the heart of the Port of Tampa.
Twenty-four hour, seven-day-a-week shifts insure minimum
down time for vessels under repair. Our customers, many of
whom have used the services of International Ship Repair
for years, gain the advantage of having shipyard workers
more knowledgeable with vessels than their own crews.
From a small voyage repair, to conversions, to scheduled
major repairs, the work is performed efficiently and at
competitive rate.

135

WE ARE PROUD
TO BE PART OF
THE BACKBONE
THAT SUSTAINS
TAMPA BAYS
ECONOMY.

Mosaic is the worlds leading producer of phosphate crop nutrients.

Phosphate is a natural product for which there is no man-made substitute,
and Florida phosphate is of strategic importance to critical sectors of the
state and national economy, including farming, manufacturing, shipping,
trucking and rail. American farmers rely on Florida phosphate to keep the
food supply abundant, rich and affordable to consumers everywhere.
Mosaic employs more than 3,000
Central Florida residents, and tens of
thousands of Floridians work in other
jobs dependent upon the industry. The
company utilizes state-of-the-art
environmental technologies to recycle
more than 95 percent of its water, and
return land that it uses to its natural
beauty, or utilize it for parks,
playgrounds and community amenities.

137

ESTABLISHED 1945

he Tampa Port Authority has actively responded to the needs of the port with
imaginative leadership since the end of WW II. Tampa has been a port-of-entry since
1887, it did not begin to reach its full potential until after 1945. Before that time,
operations were in most cases conducted independent of general community interests.
With the end of the war, local leaders foresaw that a well-organized and well-managed
governmental agency was required to promote orderly and effective long-range
development within the framework of the best use of the land available for transportation
purposes. The objective was a combination of public and private activity working in the
best interest of the port as a whole.
The Port of Tampa has long been one of the worlds premier ports for the shipment of
fertilizer products. Florida fertilizer is shipped through Tampa to points around the globe
to help feed the world. Tampa is the energy conduit for central Florida, handling the
gasoline and jet fuel needs of the region with increasing volumes of ethanol moving
through the port. Shipments of fertilizer and petroleum products account for almost 75
percent of the total annual tonnage of cargo that passes through the port.

OUR PLEDGE IS TO
CONTINUE WORKING
CLOSELY WITH OUR
PORT COMMUNITY TO
HELP ENSURE YOUR
SUCCESS AND THE
SUCCESS OF THE

PORT OF TAMPA

139

MARINE TOWING OF TAMPA, LLC

Marine Towing was founded in October 1999 by a group of local towing
professionals - ending a monopoly on harbor tug services that existed for several
decades in the Tampa Bay area. One partner, Captain James C. Brantner, began
operating tugboats on the Tampa waterfront in 1957 and has served at every level
within the industry. Another partner, James S. Kimbrell, came to Tampa in 1965 as
one of the founders of the St. Philip Towing Company and remained to serve in just
about every onshore position imaginable with the firm (and successor companies)
until ultimately serving as its President. The other three partners , Norman Atkins,
Dwayne Keith and James R. Brantner held key management positions in the
St Philip Towing operation.

In January 2003, after a six-year hiatus from the towing business, members of the
Steinbrenner family reunited with the Marine Towing group (all former employees of
the family's Bay Transportation Corp.) as partners in Marine Towing of Tampa,
LLC. Steve Swindal and Hal Steinbrenner, both General Partners of the New York
Yankees, served, respectively, as Chairman and Vice Chairman of the company and are
happy to again be furthering the family's maritime interests, which began on the
Great Lakes in 1859.
Marine Towing is proud to have "an all Tractor Tug" fleet serving the ships calling
in the ports of Tampa and Manatee. When push comes to shove, Marine Towing
provides its customers with the top-notch equipment, first class tug operators and a
premier management team with the most extensive local knowledge within the towing
industry.

SERVING PORT OF TAMPA, PORT MANATEE & ALL OF TAMPA BAY

WWW.MARINETOWINGTAMPA.COM

141

Seabulk Towing, Inc. is recognized by the towing industry as an established leader in harbor ship assist operations and
offshore towing services. Founded on the basic principles of safety and service excellence, Seabulk Towing assists
petroleum and chemical product tankers, barges, container ships and other cargo vessels in docking and undocking and
provides LNG terminal support services along the Gulf Coast and the Southeastern Seaboard.
Respected shipping companies and pilot organizations have requested the services of its Ship Docking Module (SDM)
fleet to dock thousands of commercial ships in Mobile Bay, Tampa Bay and Port Everglades, Florida.
The SDM provides powerful performance with its ability to maneuver ultra-large commercial ships within narrow
channels and environmentally sensitive waterways.
The SDM is powered by twin Z-drives, mounted fore and aft, and together generating 4,200 horsepower. The
unique design of this 90-foot tug can produce 100% of its ABS-certified bollard pull of 120,000 lbs. in any direction.
W W W . S E A B U L K TO W I N G . C O M

143

Port Manatee was the vision of Bradenton realtor, Bob Kessler. Kessler looked south from
the Piney Point ferry landing in the early 1950s and envisioned a thriving seaport to
promote trade and commerce, provide a steady tax base for the community and create new
jobs in Manatee County.

In 1965, Manatee County purchased 357 acres near Piney Point for $900 an acre to launch the
Barge Port and Industrial Port, later renamed Port Manatee. Florida Legislature also passes the Manatee County Port Authority
Act in 1965, officially creating the port and its oversight board.
Located in the eastern Gulf of Mexico at the entrance to Tampa Bay, Port Manatee is one of
Floridas largest ports and the closest U.S. deepwater seaport to the Panama Canal providing
shippers with speedy access to Pacific Rim markets. This booming Gulf Coast gateway of
international trade is unique and offers distinct advantages superior intermodal connectivity,
competitive rates and a prime location with nearly 5,000 acres of surrounding green space ripe for
development.

AFTER MORE
THAN 41 YEARS IN
THE SHIPPING AND
INTERNATIONAL
TRADE BUSINESS,

The port and its partners move approximately 9 million tons of containerized, break-bulk, bulk and
project cargo each year including fresh produce, forestry products, petroleum products, citrus
juices, fertilizer, steel, aluminum, automobiles, cement, aggregate and more. Port Manatee has
historically been a diverse port. Its cargo diversification strategy involves handling a sweeping
range of imported and exported commodities, insulating the port from extreme global market
fluctuations.

PORT MANATEE
HAS A BRIGHT
FUTURE WITH
UNLIMITED
OPPORTUNITIES.

As a leading economic engine, Port Manatee adds $2.3 billion dollars

annually in economic impact to the region and supports more than 24,000 jobs. Eight million Floridians
live within a two-hour drive of Port Manatee, and the majority of Floridas nearly 8.5 million annual visitors
are within three hours.
With room to grow, extensive development incentives and a growing consumer base at hand, Port Manatee
offers significant benefits to current and potential customers, manufacturers, shippers and ocean carriers.
The port offers more than one million square feet of public warehouse and office space, nine berths and is
one of only a few ports in the state operating its own railroad facility.

INDEX 1:
TIMELINE
OF EVENTS
1526

April 10, Panfillo de Narvaez landed in Tampa Bay area probably the western side of the Pinellas peninsula.

1757

May, Don Francisco Maria Celi, pilot of the Spanish royal fleet, spends a month charting Tampa and Hillsborough bays.

1772

August 14, Hillsborough River and Hillsborough Bay given present names by Bernard Romans, British deputy surveyor

1775

February 20, first map (made by Bernard Romans) published showing Hillsborough River and Hillsborough Bay.

1775

June 12, first Merchant Marine action in the war took place when a group of Machias, Maine citizens, after hearing the news
of what happened in the Battles of Concord and Lexington, boarded and captured the schooner and British warship HMS
Margareta.

1789

August 7, Congress specified that pilots would be subject to state law until such time as the Federal Government saw fit to
exercise its legislative authority in the matter.

1822

March 3, territory of Florida organized and established by congress.

1822

September 16, the legislative council for the territory of Florida approved an act providing for the appointment of pilots
within state waters.

1839

February 28 Florida territory legislative act no 17 section 1 governor and legislative council begins licensing pilots.

1839

February 28 Sec 6 (Duval) Board of Port Wardens to Act as Commissioners of Pilotage.

1842

Sec 6 1839 Act repealed and transfers commissioners of pilotage to pilots and the judge of the county of Hillsborough.

1845

Statute of the State of Florida Act 17 now exercised by county judge and pilots.

145

1845

March 3 State of Florida admitted as a State of the Union.

1847

Florida Statutes gives the judge of Hillsborough County authority to appoint one or more pilots and prescribe
the rate of pilotage.

1848

Two pilots appointed by the County Commissioners in April; Louis Covacevich and Samuel Bishop. (U.S. Census)

1848

July 25, Congress appropriated land on which a town could be built. At that time, Tampa was a very small
village of less than 100 inhabitants lying in the shadow of the garrison known as Fort Brooke.

1848

September 23-26 hurricane almost completely destroys Fort Brooke and Tampa. Worst storm in the history of
the Tampa Bay area.

1848

Two more pilots appointed in December. (Turner and Commack)

1849

January 18th, Tampa was officially incorporated as the "Village of Tampa" adjacent to Fort Brooke.

1852

Congress passed the first federal act affecting pilots and pilotage. This act, which decreed that all engineers and
pilots of steamships be licensed by federal inspectors resulted from the desire of legislators to improve marine
safety.

1852

October 10, Tampa abolishes its civic government.

1855

Third Seminole War 1855 -1858 Yellow fever epidemic begins and Port Tampa placed under government
quarantine control.

1856

"Branch pilots of the port of Tampa are to make known the health laws to the masters of vesselsa pilot who
brings in any vessel in violation face fines and imprisonment for said violation."

1858

Cedar Key is chosen as the West coast port connected with the Atlantic Coast by rail instead of Tampa.

1861

Civil War era. Florida's ordinance of secession January 10, 1861.

1861

March 1, the first train arrived in Cedar Key. For the next 25 years, travelers could only reach Tampa by rail
from Fernandina or Jacksonville to Cedar Key and then by schooner (or occasionally by steamer) to Clearwater
harbor, then overland or by boat all the way from Cedar Key and up Tampa Bay to Tampa.

1862

July, Union occupies Egmont Key as a base, fuel depot and hospital for the East Gulf Blockade Squadron during
the Civil War.

1861

August 23, The lens from the Egmont key lighthouse is removed by confederate interests and remained dark
until after the war.

1862

October 17, 1862 US blockade ships USS Adele and USS Tahoma bombard Tampa.

1862

October 18, 1862 Union raiding party lands at Gadsden Point, marches to the Hillsborough River, and burns the
Confederate blockade-runners Scottish Chief and Kate Dale.

1864

May 6, 1864 Ft. Brooke is captured by a federal landing party from the USS Adele the Federals leave after 2
days of occupation.

1866

June 6, 1866 Egmont key lighthouse relit after the civil war. the light had remained dark for 5 years.

1868

August 3 chapter 1670 passed. First extensive legislation for pilot commissioners, pilots and pilotage.

1868

August 7th, the first Congress of the United States enacted a law giving the states the right to regulate pilotage
in their waters.

1871

Congress passed legislation returning partial regulatory control over pilotage to the separate states. The ensuing
dichotomy of regulation produced gaps and overlaps that have survived to the present day.

1874

No pilots at the entrance of Tampa Bay reported by the United States Geological Survey while installing aids to
navigation.

1880

June, 1880 Rivers and Harbors Act providing for work through Hillsborough Bay to the river deepened the
channel through Tampa Bay to port Tampa to about 19 feet, in Hillsborough Bay up to the mouth of the river to
about 7 feet.

1883

January 7, The first port development started by the federal government with the dredging of the Hillsborough
River by the dredge Alabama.

1883

April 3, Phosphate is discovered in the bed of the Hillsborough River.

1885

May 7th, Tampa Board of Trade is founded to transform a tiny fishing hamlet into a productive metropolis.
147

1885

October 5, The newly formed board of trade pledge $4,000 to insure Vincente Ybor builds his cigar factory. The
shipping of cigars brings Tampa from small village to a thriving city and port.

1886

Plant Railroad Co. lays track from Cedar Key to Port Tampa. U.S. engineers dredge a channel 200' wide and 20'
deep from the outer bar of the harbor to Port Tampa.

1886

January 7, Mascotte, a vessel in the Plant Steamship Co. began 36 years of service between Tampa, Key West and
Havana.

1886

Federal project begins to widen the channel into Tampa.

1886

April 26, First cigars manufactured in Ybor City.

1886

Keel of steamer Manatee laid in Tampa by Capt. John Fogarty.

1887

February 24 House Bill (s2992) makes Tampa a U.S. Port of Entry .

1888

February 5, Henry B. Plant built a 9-mile spur line from downtown Tampa to Port Tampa because it was closer
to the mouth of Tampa Bay.

1888

August 11, The Rivers and Harbors Act established a goal of a 20 foot deep channel to Port Tampa. By 1893, the
channel was completed to the twenty-foot level while the Hillsborough Bay channel remained at its hundred-foot
width and 7 foot depth.

1889

Work on a 20 foot channel begins deepening the 10' channel to anchorage.

1897

November 30, The Calumet Club was founded by 37 ships' captains and their wives. A clubhouse was built on
Interbay Boulevard with a billiard room, dance floor and social areas. It was razed in 1975.

1897

June 3, Florida legislature designates no more than eight pilots at the Port of Tampa.

1898

April 25, Spanish-American War begins (and ends August 12th).

1898

February 15, USS Maine ordered to Havana, Cuba, to protect Americans, explodes in Havana Harbor, killing 260.

1898

March 28, The survivors of the sinking of the battleship Maine arrived at Port Tampa on the steamship Olivette.

1899

Phosphate mining begins around Tampa.

1899

Rivers and Harbors Act provides for a channel 20 feet deep from the mouth of the river to the 20 foot contour in
the bay and embracing the 12 foot channel made previously.

1900

Between 300-400 vessels pass the Egmont Key bar to come into Tampa.

1901

May 20, Tampa Bay Pilots Association permitted to maintain a small wharf, a pilot look-out and four small
dwellings.

1902

Piloting services and port statistics from reported by the United States Geological Survey.

1904

Egmont Key jurisdiction ceded Tampa Bay Pilot station to Tampa Bay Pilots Association and deed from
governor recorded.

1904

6 pilots and a harbor master are reported at Tampa.

1904

May 4, The first Gasparilla invasion is celebrated in Tampa. The legend of Jos Gaspar came from early pilot,
John Gomez.

1905

March 3, the Rivers and Harbors Act modified the depth of the channel in old Tampa Bay to 27 feet while it
increased the Hillsborough channel to 20 feet.

1905

September 22, the United States Coast Guard and the American Pilots' Association entered into a partnership
agreement regarding maritime security.

1906

Tampa Bay Pilots Association began paying government-appointed harbormaster at Port of Tampa.

1908

The first ocean-going steamer, Rio Grande of the Mallory Line, docks at the Hendry & Knight Channel. A city
holiday is observed throughout Tampa for this watershed event; Tampa is observed as a deepwater port.

1908

Charter members of Tampa Harbor identified by National Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots,.

1908

National Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots No. 82, meets every first and third Saturday, Easley Building
on Franklin Street.

149

1909

8 Pilots cover all ports on Tampa Bay.

1909

First freighter leaves the Port of Tampa. Josephine loaded at the Southern Steamship Company docks (later the
Gulf and Southern Steamship Company) left with a cargo of switch ties.

1909

First schooner to load at Hooker's Point (Mexican Petroleum Co.) Harry W. Haynes.

1909

Florida Attorney General appoints pilot commissioners to identify apprentice pilots.

1910

Rivers and Harbors Act increases depth to 24 foot from the gulf to the mouth of the Hillsborough River,
eastward from the turning basin to Hendry & Knight channel (Project 4).

1911

February 17, Tampa Bay Pilots Association are licensed to maintain its existing pilot wharf, lookout station and
seven dwellings on Egmont Key.

1911

November 11, Capt. John J. Fogarty, a member of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association is given a license to build a
four-room cottage at the pilot reservation on Egmont Key.

1911

Legislation establishes eight pilots for Tampa Bay.

1912

Secretary of War defines property and dwellings on Egmont. February 17.

1914

Act 1293 specifies eight pilots designated for Port Tampa, Tampa, Manatee and St. Petersburg inclusively.

1914

United States Geological Survey description of Tampa Bay and tributaries is published.

1914

WW I begins. July 28th.

1917

Secretary of War adopts Project 5, increasing depth in the channel to 27 feet.

1921

October 24-26, A serious hurricane hits Tampa bay damaging 21 aids to navigation as well as the loss of 2 buoys
and damage to the lighthouse on Egmont Key. Tide recorded 10 feet above normal.

1922

September 22, Rivers and Harbors Act combined the works on the inner bays into one project known as the
Tampa Harbor Project at the same time a standard depth of 27 feet was established for Tampa Bay. This goal was
achieved in 1928.

1922

February 6, Tampa Bay Pilots Association appeals to Congress to provide additional appropriation to repair the
Aids to Navigation and lighthouse on Egmont.

1926

Engineers complete work on the channel making it 27' deep with a minimum width of 300' to Port Tampa and
city of Tampa.

1944

July 7, The Tampa Shipbuilding and Engineering Company (TASCO), receives the Army-Navy "E" award for
ship production.

1945

November 16, The Hillsborough County Port Authority held its first organizational meeting in the old chamber
of commerce building located at the corner of Morgan and Lafayette Streets (now Kennedy Boulevard).

1953

October 30, The world's largest electrical sign was installed at Port Tampa. It spelled out "Atlantic Coast Line
Port Tampa Terminals" with letters 19 feet tall and up to 13 feet wide. The whole sign was 76 feet tall and 387.5
feet wide, and used 4,000 feet of red neon tubing.

1970

August 7, The M/V Fermland is the first ship to dock at Port Manatee.

1970

October 29, official dedication of Port Manatee.

151

Cyrus Epler

Joseph Lachnicht*

Whit Stanton

Earl G. Evans

John Lerro

Vincent W. Straigis

Douglas Ferguson

Allen Lindsey*

W. H. Strock

John Fitzgerald

Gregg MacLaren*

Louis E. Stuart

John J. Fogarty

Gary Maddox*

W. A. Switzer

Earl Gallagher

George H. McDonald

Brian Tahaney*

James Gallagher

Mark Miner

C. D. Thames

Travis Bacon*

Peter Glynn*

Everett W. Myers

John Timmel*

Thomas A. Baggett

David D. Goddard

William L. Nelson

L.. C. Towles

C. W. Bahrt

John Gomez

Joseph J. O'Connell

J. Turner

Arthur Bahrt

Alexander Green

James V. Oliver

Rick Van Enige*

David Besser*

Alex Harvey

Robert F. Park

Jorge Viso*

Samuel Bishop

Richard Heston*

David Rabren

H. M. Walker

Harold Brandenburg*

Walter W. Holmes

Steven R. Ray

Houston Wall

W. H. Brown

Allen Hopkins

G. H. Risley

John D. Ware

J. Michael Buffington*

Terrence Jednaszewski*

Tobias Rose*

Lambert M. Ware

Warwick Cahill

H. L. Johnson

Mark

Ryan

Harry G. Warner

John Commack

Luther T. Johnson

John G. Schiffmacher

Gilbert S. Warner

Luis Covacevich

James Kelly

Joseph Shary*

Harry J. Williams

Stephen Cropper*

J. F. Kleishman

Fred Smith

B. F. Wiltshire

Kinchen E. Cross

H. Eugene Knight

Steven Sottak*

Ray E. Wingler

Walter N. Egan

Vesta Knowles

Paul Spear*

Frank Wood*

Fred F. Enno, Jr.

Harold Krueger

Robert W. Stanton

John Wrasse*

Fred F. Enno, Sr.

Carolyn Kurtz*

William B. Stanton

Elmer S. Yates

INDEX 2:
PILOT
ROSTER
1886-2012
(alphabetical by last name)

* Represents the current members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association (2012)

INDEX 3:
REFERENCE
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155

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Fuller, Walter P. 1860 Census Manatee County.1 968.
Gandy, George. George Gandy Papers, 1905-1941. 1905.
Goodrich, Caspar F. and United States Naval Institute. Our Navy and the West Indian Pirates: A Documentary History. Annapolis: U.S. Naval Institute, 1916.
Gordon, Julius J. Marine History of Tampa Bay, Florida, 19th Century. Tampa, Fla.: J.J. Gordon, 1994.
Gray & James. Tampa Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. T.F. Gray and James, 1837.
Harrison, Murray. Early Days North of the Manatee.1981.
Hawes, Leland M. Leland Hawes Collection, 1982-2004, 1982.
Hawes, Leland M., Walker, David S., University of South Florida Libraries. Florida Studies Center. Oral History Program. and University of South Florida. Tampa
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Heerschap, Michael. Some Historical Accounts of the Natural Conditions in Tampa Bay and Hillsborough County/Compiled by Michael Heerschap[Tampa, Fla.] : Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission, Energy Dept. [1980?], 1980.
Hurley, Neil E. and Geoff Mohlman. Lighthouses of Egmont Key [S.l.]: Historic Lighthouse Publishers, 2000.
J.J Taveres. Hillsborough County Showing Cities and Towns, Water Depths, Inland Waters and Property Ownership by Name Circa 1882. Vol. 1:63,360. New York, NY: The
South Publishing Company, 1882.
Jahoda, Gloria. River of the Golden Ibis / Gloria Jahoda; Illustrated by Ben F. Stahl, Jr. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2000.
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Manatee County Historical Society. Characters in Old Florida History: Meeting Address before the Manatee County Historical Society. E. A. "Frog" Smith.1979.
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. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1973.
. Oral History Interviews of the Manatee County Oral History Project,1973.
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McCall, Bruce Edward. Coastal Defenses of Tampa Bay. 1996.
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McKay, Donald Brenham. Donald Brenham "D.B." McKay Collection, 1880-1980. 1880.
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157

National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on Advances in Navigation and Piloting. "Minding the Helm Marine Navigation and Piloting." National Academy
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Pizzo, Anthony P. Tony Pizzo Collection, 1900-1994.
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. Port of Tampa Foreign Commerce. n.p: n.p., 1971.
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. The Economic Impact of the Tampa Port. Gainesville, Fla.: 1968.
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University Press of Florida, 1982.
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. The Legend of John Gomez: The Last Pirate, Fact or Fiction? 1980.
Warner, Joe G. and Libby Warner. The Singing River : [a History of the People, Places, and Events Along the Manatee River]. Florida: s.n., 1986.
. To the Wilderness they Came: Story of Myakka City, 1980.
Yerrid, C. Steven. When Justice Prevails. New York: Yorkville Press, 2003.

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INDEX 4:
IMAGES &
PHOTOS
Fig 1. J.J. Taveres. Hillsborough County Showing Cities and Towns, Water Depths, Inland Waters and Property Ownership by Name Circa 1882. Vol.
1:63,360. New York, NY: The South Publishing Company, 1882.
Fig 2. United States. Census Office. 1850 United States Federal Census of Fort Brooke, Tampa Bay, Hillsborough, Florida1851.
Fig 3. The Only Naphtha Launch, Gas Engine & Power Co. Morris Dock Station, New York. 1891
Fig 4. Unknown. Early Pilot Boat with a Naphtha Powered Engine St. Petersburg Museum of History, 1910.
Fig 5. Light keeper Charles Moore with his son and bride, Roberta Lightfoot Moore, Egmont Key, (1900s) Manatee County Library
Fig 6. An early scene on Egmont. Manatee County Library
Fig 7. John Gomez and his wife on Panther Key (Charlotte Harbor). 1899. Manatee County Library
Fig 8. Plat map of Ft. Brooke. 1842. Florida State Archives
Fig 9 Ft. Brooke in the 1870s. Illustration. Florida State Archives
Fig 10. Unloading at the Port of Tampa, 1880s. Florida State Archives
Fig 11. Egmont Key Lighthouse. 1900s. Manatee County Library
Fig 12. Gray & James. Tampa Bay on the Gulf of Mexico. T.F. Gray and James, 1837.
Fig 13. Barracks and hospital at Ft. Dade, Egmont Key. 1880s. Manatee County Library

Fig 14. Light Keeper Charles Moore on Egmont Key. 1900. Manatee County Library
Fig 15. Light Keeper Charles Moore with fresh catch of grouper on Egmont Key. 1900. Manatee County Library
Fig 15. Panoramic view of Fort Dade. 1911 Manatee County Library
Fig 16. Mine laying ship off the coast of Egmont during the Spanish American War. Manatee County Library
Fig 17. Mines staged at Ft. Dade. 1898. Manatee County Library
Fig 18. July 4th Celebration at Ft. Dade on Egmont Key. 1898. Manatee County Library
Fig 19. Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. Moore on their wedding day. 1904. Manatee County Library
Fig 20. A striped marker seen next to an exploding mine. Manatee County Library
Fig 21. Capt. Robert Stanton with Mrs. Stanton and Roberta Lightfoot Moore (Roberta Moore Cole is pictured in the foreground.). Manatee County
Fig 22. Underground bunker at Egmont Key/Ft. Dade built under the supervision of Charles M. Moore. Manatee County Library
Fig 23. Young Roberta Moore (Cole) with her father on the family launch at the Fogartyville Boatworks. Manatee County Library
Fig 24. Group photograph of Port of Tampa partners, possibly including members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. 1908. Manatee County Library
Fig. 25. Capt Arthur C. Bahrt. 1937. Manatee County Library
Fig. 26. Capt. Carl W. Bahrt with children on Egmont Key, 1910. Ancestry.com
Fig 27. The Belle at the dock at Egmont with Mistletoe approaching from the left. 1890s. Manatee County Library
Fig 28 . Capt. Robert Stanton and possibly a pilot cub playing cards on Egmont Key. 1900s. Manatee County Library
Fig 29. Capt John J. Fogarty and Capt Henry Warner, founding members of the Tampa Bay Pilots Association. Manatee County Library
Fig. 30. Steamer loading at Port Tampa with a view of the railroad and the Port Tampa Hotel. 1899. USF Special Collections
Fig 31. A ship and tug near the phosphate conveyor at Port Tampa, 1920. Burgert Bros. Collection B29-v-00000209 (USF Library, Tampa)
161

Fig. 32. Judge S. M. Sparkman, 1925 Library of Congress

Fig 33. Philip Shore, Tampa Times, 1921
Burgert Brothers. Aerial View of Florida Portland Cement Plant on Sparkman Channel: Showing Waterfront South of Downtown: Tampa, FL. TampaHillsborough County Public Library System, 1992.
.The Texas Company Oil Storage Facility : (Three-Tanks with Sand Berms): Tampa, FL. Tampa, Fla.: Tampa-Hillsborough County Public
Library System, 1992.
. Mexican Petroleum Corporation Facility with Oil Tanks, Related Buildings, and Dock : (Hookers Point) Tampa, FL. Tampa, Fla.: TampaHillsborough County Public Library System, 1992.
. Asphalt Storage at Towles Steam Ship Line on South Waters Avenue: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System,
1977.
. Looking South to the Foot of Franklin Street Across Water Street: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1977.
. Unloading of Lumber from a Cargo Ship at Port of Tampa: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1977.
. Ship being Loaded with Cargo at Waterman Steamship Corp. Dock: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1950.
. Motor Schooner "Narwhal" Moored at Dock by Warehouse: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1926.
. McCloskey & Co. Shipyard; Printed with Tampa Marine Corp. Building: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System,
1994.
.Texas Company Oil Facility: Track, Tank-Cars, and Grounds: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1993.
.The Texas Company Oil Storage Facility: (Three-Tanks with Sand Berms): Tampa, FL. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library
System, 1992.
. Grounds of United States Army Garrison at Fort Brooke with Structures in Background: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public
Library System, 1994.
. Aerial View of Florida Portland Cement Plant on Sparkman Channel: Showing Waterfront South of Downtown: Tampa, FL. TampaHillsborough County Public Library System, 1992.
.Sinclair Refining Company, Tampa Terminal Storage Facility and Railroad Tank Cars: Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public
Library System, 1993.
.Shell Petroleum Corporation, Unidentified Tanker Docked at Facility: Port Tampa, Fla. Tampa-Hillsborough County Public Library System, 1993.
Fig. 36. Tampa Bay Pilot Boat the Egmont. 1943 Manatee County Library
Fig. 37. Pilot boat of the early twentieth century. Manatee County Library
Fig. 38. Capt. J.J. Fogarty flanked by his sisters Leticia (Lettie) and Katherine in front of schooner Lettie. Manatee County Library
Fig. 39. A pilot board under power off the coast of Egmont Key. 1800s. Manatee County Library
Fig. 40. Port Manatee and Pilot Boat, Manatee. Vol. 01-30975-B1971. Manatee County Library
Fig. 41. Viso, Jorge. Pilot Boat Tampa Currently Serves the Waters of Tampa Bay.

Fig. 42. "Orange Sun" from the private collection of Capt. Jorge Viso,
Fig. 43. "Pilot Boarding Vessel at Tampa Bay, Florida", from the private collection of Capt. Jorge Viso,
Fig. 44. A Pilot conning a vessel with a PPU and other modern tools of the trade, from the private collection of Capt. Jorge Viso,
Old Fashioned Nautical Illustrations. 173. Edited by Carol Bellanger Grafton. 2nd ed. Mineola, New York: Dover Publications Intl., 2002.
Fig. 45 Captain Carolyn Kurtz, Tampa Bay Pilots Association. 2011
"Watching the Pelicans from Steamers Favorite and Manatee at St. Petersburg, Fla. St. Petersburg Museum of History, 1927.
Favorite at Dock by Moonlight, St. Petersburg, Fla."St. Petersburg Museum of History, 1925.
W06-06. Ships and Ferries make their Way in and Out of the Port of Tampa, during the Time Troops Trained in Tampa before Sailing to
Cuba to Fight in the Spanish-American War. Vol. Wehman Photograph Collection University of South Florida, 1898.
"The Fogartys Schooner Lettie off the Fogartyville dock (M01-00424-A)(Manatee County).

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Tampa Bay Pilots Association125th Anniversary

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