ORLANDO, Fla. – There are plenty of strange objects along Florida’s coast, including toilet seats, a statue of Jesus, and even the remains of an old ghost town.
But if you look far off the coast of Key Largo, you may find something a little stranger: the “City of Washington.”
That said, it’s not the kind of city where you’re likely to find lots of people or buildings.
According to the NOAA, it’s an old iron-hulled steamship named after the nation’s Capitol city.
The ship launched in 1877 and helped transport passengers and deliver cargo between New York, Cuba, and Mexico. However, the ship’s time to shine cropped up around 20 years later.
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At the time, relations between the U.S. and Spain were getting worse thanks to a rebellion in Cuba, and another ship — the USS Maine — was moored in Havana Harbor to protect American interests.
But when the USS Maine exploded, the nearby City of Washington suffered damage due to flying debris.
“The steamship’s crew assisted in the rescue of Maine’s surviving sailors and treated the wounded onboard their ship,” NOAA officials wrote. “During the resulting Spanish-American War, City of Washington was used as a transport ship carrying troops.”
After the war ended, though, the steamship returned to its regular operations before it was ultimately retired in 1908.
It was later bought by another steamship company to be used as a coal-transporting barge. However, it ran aground on Elbow Reef while being towed, causing the wreck to sink to the seafloor.
The old steamship couldn’t be freed from the reef, and its sides eventually collapsed outward, spreading beyond its initial frame. In full, the debris spans over 300 feet.
Nowadays, the wreckage still sits there, lying around 25 feet underwater near the Elbow Reef Tower. That said, it’s often used as a dive site for those who want to explore its remains.
That said, the City of Washington is only one of over 5,000 shipwrecks off Florida’s coast. Hundreds of these vessels were sunk to become artificial reefs, helping marine life flourish.
For more information on other historic shipwrecks in the Sunshine State, click here.