Written by the TreasureGuide for the exclusive use of the Treasure Beaches Report.
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| Res-Q-Lite. |
Here is one old find that caused me to do some research on steamboats and the Indian River. I originally didn't see a date on the cannister but just now saw 1936 on top of the cannister. I don't know how I ever missed that.
I got a lot of information on the Res-Q-Lite, thanks to the readers of this blog, but I didn't find much specific information on the steamboats of the Indian River until yesterday.
Below is some of that interesting local history.
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| Steamboat Chattahoochee Source: See link below. |
The first commercial passenger steamboat on the Indian River was the Pioneer.
About 1876, Captain Thomas W. Lund brought his smaller steamer the Pioneer, owned by the Lund's Pioneer Steamboat Company, to the Indian River. She was put on a route between New Smyrna and Sand Point (Titusville) by way of Haulover Canal and a Tuesday and Saturday Titusville-Sebastian schedule. Pioneer lasted only a short time on the Indian River.
The Pioneer caught fire and sank in the Indian River.
Here is another excerpt.... In those days, Jupiter was a small village that had a lighthouse, a hospital, and a few houses. There was no place for overnight stays except for the steamboat Chattahoochee that was anchored there as a floating hotel. The Chattahoochee was owned by the Indian River Steamboat Company...
Then there was the Rockledge.... Sometime in 1889 Captain Vaill was informed by his chief engineer that the Rockledge needed a new boiler and a complete overhaul. Captain Vaill didn't want to invest the money, so the Rockledge was towed to the extreme end of the Indian River and turned into a floating hotel. The vessel was renamed the Lake Worth Hotel and her career was as a steamboat was over....
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| Steamboat Rockledge. Source: See link below. |
Another example, would be the Loxahatchee which was called the "Ugly Duckling.". It's purpose was to transport railroad equipment from Titusville to Jupiter.
And there was the Ibis, which delivered mail between Melbourne and Jupiter Monday through Saturday.
Those are just a few of the steamboats mentioned on that website.
Here is the link if you want to learn more about the steamboats of the Indian River.
Steamboats on the Indian River by Michael Knight (nbbd.com)
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This year Elizabeth Friedman, probably the most important code breaker ever, posthumously received the credit that was stolen from her by disgraced FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. Elizabeth Friedman developed the science of code-breaking and served the country by breaking Nazi codes as well as the codes of criminal gang's during the days of prohibition. In many ways she was the first and best. J. Edgar Hoover had the files destroyed and her name erased from history and took credit for many of her accomplishments.
For the fascinating story of a heroic woman who did not receive the credit she deserved, here is the link.
Codebreaker Elizebeth Friedman Never Got Her Due—Until Now | Time
There is a good PBS documentary on Elizabeth Friedman. I saw it yesterday. Watch for it.
From J. Edgar Hoover to James Comey and Peter Strzok, intelligence agencies seem to attract too many people who want to think they are more intelligence than anybody else and therefore justified in committing deception and crimes in the pursuit of their own "Higher Loyalty." We need to do a better job of screening out those who are so mentally unfit. They've damaged their own agencies and destroyed the credibility of much of government. They've made their private motives clear, lied to Congress and the people unapologetically in both sworn testimony and print, and yet expect the people to believe what they are told. We need more honor and truth in government for healing to take place.
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When conditions are not great on the beaches of the Treasure Coast you can always do something else. You can switch from hunting old shipwreck treasure to modern coins and jewelry, for example. Or, you can do your research and hunt inland sites. I'll have some pictures of recent inland finds tomorrow.
We are having some nice high tides now but little surf.
Happy hunting,
TreasureGuide@comcast.net