The historical Society of Martin County had submitted a grant application to the state of Florida requesting funding for a survey to be completed of the historical shipwrecks in the Treasure Coast area. The outcome of this survey will educate residents and visitors of the significance of Florida's Gulf Stream relating to the history of the worldwide shipping industry. However the ultimate goal of this survey is to locate the final resting place of Jonathan Dickinson's ship Reformation, which wrecked five miles off the shore of the Jupiter Island area in 1696. Jonathan Dickinson, a young Quaker merchant, with his wife and infant son, and a party of about twenty managed to reach the mainland, only to fall into the hands of a band of hostile Ais Indians. Beaten and almost starved, Dickinson's party was finally released and began the harrowing struggle up the Florida coast 230 miles to St. Augustine. The rest of the story is recorded in Jonathan Dickinson's Journal , or, God's Protecting Providence: Being the Narrative of a Journey from Port Royal in Jamaica to Philadelphia between August 23, 1696 and April 1, 1697. With the help of the Spanish governor, he eventually reached Philadelphia where he became Mayor.
