KEYS HISTORY: STORMS TAKE SEVERAL SPANISH SHIPS BENEATH THE DEPTHS

The 1733 New Spain Fleet departed Havana en route to Spain on Friday, July 13. It was September. They sailed into a hurricane. Of the convoy’s 22 ships that sailed out of the harbor that day, only one completed the Atlantic crossing home to Spain. While a few of the ships ravaged by the storm were refloated and limped either on their own or with assistance back to Havana, many would come to rest in the relative shallows of the Atlantic Ocean. 

Among the fleet was the 287-ton merchant vessel San Pedro. As the gales of the hurricane ripped and tore at the San Pedro’s sails, thundering waves pushed the ship up against the reef and then over it. The sharp daggers of the stony corals carved into the planks while the hurricane’s forces relentlessly pushed and pushed. Gaspar Lopez de Gonzales was at the helm when the ship’s decks submerged in 18 feet of water and went down with a cargo of silver, indigo and cochineal. 

The crew did their best to swim for the closest land, a small island located about 1.25 miles to the north. Survivors created a makeshift campsite using natural resources and debris recovered from the San Pedro. On a Spanish chart marking the location of the wrecked ships of the 1733 Fleet, the island where the survivors of the San Pedro built their camp is identified as c.d.la Matanza. Matanza is the Spanish word for slaughter. 

On a second chart marking the wreck sites, the roughly 11-acre island is identified as Cayos de Frances. The island’s names would oscillate between French and Spanish themes for decades. Juan Liguera called the island Cayuelo de las Matanzas on his 1742 chart. The 1743 Father Alana chart identified it as Cayo Frances. The first comprehensive English chart of the area, drawn by William Gerard De Brahm in 1772, identified the island as Matanca, which appears to be a clear bastardization of the Spanish matanza. 

The Romans chart of 1774 identified the island as Matanca, too, but also included an explanation: “This key is called Matanca i.e. Murder from the catastrophe of a French crew said to have amounted to near three hundred men, who were unfortunate enough to fall into the hands of the Coloosas, which savages destroyed them to a man on this spot.”

Beyond this single second-hand recounting of the tale, no records exist to document the claim of Frenchmen being slaughtered on the island at the hands of Indians or anyone else. In 1775, on a chart created by George Gauld, the island’s modern name was documented for the first time. On his chart, Gauld used three names for the island. He identified it by its Spanish name Matanzas. He also identified it by the name Bahamian sailors used, Kay Comfort.

The name Kay Comfort is a particularly descriptive identifier. There are four reasons it may have come to fruition. The first is one of those key factors in real estate evaluations: location. The island is favorably located about midway along the barrier reef system. 

The second reason for the Kay Comfort name was the convenient location of a freshwater source. Nearby Lower Matecumbe Key was home to five reliable naturally formed freshwater wells. The collection, each about 4 feet deep, was once found in the general area of the parking lot at what is now Robbie’s Marina. The water bubbling up through the limestone from the aquifer has been historically described as the most reliable source of fresh water in the whole of the island chain. 

The third reason for the name Kay Comfort was the island’s naturally occurring, relatively deep harbor – an uncommon feature for the shallow waters surrounding the Keys. The last reason, however, might be the key to the name “Comfort.” Historically, Indian Key has earned a reputation for remaining relatively mosquito-free. There are two reasons. First, the island is about one mile offshore of the Matecumbe Keys, and the Atlantic-facing breezes act as a deterrent. Second, there is no fresh water on the island, and mosquitoes require a freshwater source to breed. 

How bad could they be? Sometimes, the clouds of mosquitoes would become so thick and hungry and fight so hard to get a prick of the tender flesh inside an animal’s nostrils that it would cause the animal to suffocate. In the days before mosquito control, being out in the open without attracting a buzzing black cloud of bloodthirsty mosquitoes must have been a real comfort.

In addition to Matanzas and Kay Comfort, Gauld’s chart also contained the island’s modern name, Indian Key. The cartographer F.H. Gerdes, who published his “Reconnaissance of the Florida Reef and all the Keys” in 1849, settled the matter once and for all when he wrote, “Indian Key is not called Matanzas but instead Indian Key.” The island has been Indian Key ever since. 

The state has recognized both Indian Key and the San Pedro. Once the most important island in the Florida Keys not named Key West, Indian Key is now home to Indian Key Historic State Park. It is one of the true hidden gems of the island chain. The site of the San Pedro wreck was designated the San Pedro Underwater Archaeological Preserve State Park in 1989. All that is left of the ship’s wreckage is a pile of ballast stones. However, for divers and snorkelers exploring the site, it has been enhanced with an 18^th-century anchor, seven replica cannons, and an underwater plaque memorializing the wreck.