Fort Pierce Civil War Era Paddle Boat Wreck< any info?

[ourhistory153]

Hello,

I have a writing project for a company where this is one of the topics. Anybody have any more information about this wreck? I understand the
boiler and broken spokes of the paddle are exposed. I don't think any treasure was involved but still it's an interesting wreck.

Pictures of it would be cool too. What was her name?

I have a tight publishing deadline so if you know anything about her let me know ASAP please.

 

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[signumops]

Is this Ray? There are several candidates that might fit your survey. I am not sure if this is one of the suspects but you can see photos here:
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There are three more that I am vaguely familiar with; you might be talking about the Boiler Wreck at Vero, which breaks the surface, I seem to recollect that it was carrying a load of bricks to Fort Jefferson. There is also a paddle wheeler south of Fort Pierce Inlet a few miles at a place that used to be called Archie's Restaurant. It was worked over by Harold Holden and thought originally to be a wreck dating to about 1810, but I have heard it referred to as the Paddle wheeler. Then there is another Civil War era wreck, allegedly, off Walton Rocks Beach, just north of the Nuclear Power Plant. It is buried over most of the time I think. There definitely is a wreck with boilers and a paddle wheel, fairly near shore, just south of the Wedge Wreck on the north side of the new Fort Pierce Inlet. Somebody has some pictures, I'm sure. It was known locally to the residents at Fort Pierce as the "Paddle Wheel Wreck" in generations past.

There's also a couple of wrecks offshore of the old Coast Guard station at Floridana Beach that might fall into that era... not sure... they probably date a little later

 

[Southern_Digger]

Paddlewheel Steamer Wreck farther south in Jupiter Sound up in the area of Hell's Gate. I have seen items taken from it. Someone once offered to show me the location but I did not take them up on the offer. However, it dates to post-CW (the 1880's or thereabouts). Notably, at an old thrift store along Hwy. US 1 in Ft. Pierce, my old non-profit group, "South Florida Historical Preservation Society Inc.", purchased several items (about 1982) such as old tinware and utensils, all said to be taken from a steamboat wreck in the river. We re-purposed these items by donating them to various historical societies in South Florida. That was one of three things we did in the old days as a non-profit group: did digs for various local or county governments; raised money for restoring a historical structure; and, donating both found and purchased relics pertaining to south Florida history, placing them in various historical society museums. Good luck.

 

[Salvor6]

There is a wreck called the "paddlewheeler wreck" located 3 miles north of Ft. Pierce inlet. Built in 1876 it is the sidewheeler "Stella" that sank in 1911. The large boiler is just below the surface and the paddlewheels are lying flat just past the boiler.

 

[signumops]

Stella! Stella! ... yes that is the one I was thinking of.

 

[mad4wrecks]

Frogfoot reports about the history of the Stella in one of his books.

I remember Randy Lathrop telling me about another wreck just to the north of the tip of the north jetty at the current Ft. Pierce inlet. I think it is marked on some charts. Maybe it was civil war era wreck and not necessarily a paddlewheeler. There is an old thread on Treasurenet somewhere about it.

There is another 19th century wreck just south of Douglas Beach that I named the "Norm Scott wreck" because Norm located it back in the early 60s. Archaeologist Robert Westrick dove on it as we (me, Rob and Mo) re-located it (by accident) in the late 1990s.

 

[seeker41]

tom, i tried to snd you a pm but your pm storage is full! please pm me or e-mail when you get a chance
chuck.

 

[mad4wrecks]

Chuck, email me at mad4wrecksatgmaildotcom.

Tom

 

[barney]

Aside from the STELLA (1911), there was the loss of the steamer JAMES BOATWRIGHT in 1838, though I believe she went down inside the inlet.
Tom, I think the wreck off the north jetty is the "Brick Wreck" - I don't think vessel type has been conclusively identified. I believe Tommy Gore may have additional information on this site.
Information on all these sites are included in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FLORIDA SHIPWRECKS, VOLUME I: ATLANTIC COAST.
Cheers,
Mike

 

[Southern_Digger]

Aside from the STELLA (1911), there was the loss of the steamer JAMES BOATWRIGHT in 1838, though I believe she went down inside the inlet.
Tom, I think the wreck off the north jetty is the "Brick Wreck" - I don't think vessel type has been conclusively identified. I believe Tommy Gore may have additional information on this site.
Information on all these sites are included in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FLORIDA SHIPWRECKS, VOLUME I: ATLANTIC COAST.

Cheers,
Mike

Sssshhh! Also, a small schooner too. But, to find it today, you need an excavator and permission to dig up A1A. Good luck with that.

 

[barney]

Sssshhh! Also, a small schooner too. But, to find it today, you need an excavator and permission to dig up A1A. Good luck with that.

Several sailing vessels in the vicinity - and mentioned in my book - but since the original post was about a steamer I ignored those...

 

[ivan salis]

there was a lot of civil war era smuggling here in florida * there are several possible "civil war eraish paddlewheel type steamers wrecked in the area around fort pierce ----any additional info could help us "pin point" the exact one your looking for