Sunday Favorites: Captains and Steamships

The first navigational aid on the central West Coast of Florida was the lighthouse at Egmont Key. It was such a critical beacon that when a hurricane hit the area in 1848 and destroyed it, it was almost immediately rebuilt as it was the only lighthouse on the west coast of Florida, according to historian Pam Gibson in her 1985 essay ”Maritime Transportation.“

While some early pioneers relied solely on the land to create their homesteads, others had supplies and building materials delivered to the area via sailing freighter. These large four-masted ships carried furniture, doors, windows, glass panels and household appliances. In many cases, they also brought in machinery for sugar or wood processing, according to Gibson.

One of the first transports for the area was the ship the Margret Ann, captained by Fredrick Tresca. Tresca was responsible for bringing many pioneers to the area during the 1840s. He always admired the beauty of the Manatee River and often traded with the Seminoles living on the river. He taught himself their language so he could communicate with them.

Tresca mentored another up-and-coming seaman, James McKay. It was Tresca that taught McKay to navigate the waters of the West Coast.

Tresca, McKay and a man named Archibald McNeil started the very first shipping lines on the West Coast of Florida. In 1850, McNeil’s ships became the first to travel from Manatee County to New York, delivering sugar from local refineries to the norther city and bringing passengers back.

Meanwhile, McKay had his sights set on a different market. It was his idea to start shipping cattle to Cuba. Back then, cattle brought over on Spanish conquistador ships during the 1500s had bred and produced in the wild, so there were numerous free-range cattle much like the wild hogs we have today.

In the 1860s, sailing ships gave way to steamer vessels. McKay purchase a fast, side-wheel steamer he named Scottish Chief.

During the Civil War, the Union blockade prevented shipments of cargo from import or export in Manatee County. Tresca, McNeil and McKay became blockade runners, evading the Union Army. At the time, the majority of sugar and cattle departing Manatee was being delivered to the Confederate Army.

Union soldiers destroyed most of the sugar mills in the area and captured many of the ships used by blockade runners, including the Scottish Chief.

During the 1870s, the area saw an increase in the number of steamships harbored on the Manatee River. Residents nicknamed the Mary Diston ”Dirty Mary,“ because her hull was painted a dull brown color, according to Gibson. Other famous steamer ships included the Caloosa, Margaret, Manatee, Rambler and the Erie for which the town, and later Erie Road was named after, Gibson wrote.

Boats were a very important part of area culture. Forgartyville, which was located between present-day 26^th Street and 59^th Street in Bradenton, became a boat yard and marina and manufactured many vessels at the time.

Steamers not only carried passengers, they also carried freight from several private wharfs on either side of the river where farmers would load their produce to be picked up and shipped out.

Some of the most prominent steamer lines were the Favorite Line, the Independent Line and the Plant Line which all served the Manatee River and other Tampa Bay communities. The Snead Island Cutoff was dredged during this time to save time between stops at Terra Ceia and Manatee River.

At the turn of the century, smaller, gas-powered launches became more popular for passengers while trains replaced steamships as the preferred means for transporting produce. As the community modernized, bridges, railways and roads for automobiles alleviated the need for steamships all together.

The steamship era will always live on, memorialized in antiquated photos and exhibits at local museums. It’s only through these images that residents can imagine what life was like in the days of captains and steamships.