KEY WEST, FLORIDA—According to a statement released by the National Park Service (NPS), a shipwreck in Dry Tortugas National Park has been identified as that of eighteenth-century British warship HMS Tyger. The final mission of the 130-foot-long warship, which was built in 1647, involved patrolling the waters off Florida during a conflict with Spain known as the War of Jenkins’ Ear (1739–1748). HMS Tyger struck a coral reef at the western end of the Florida Keys on January 13, 1742. Crewmembers dumped a number of cannons and anchors overboard, but the ship continued to sink. The wreckage was originally found near Garden Key in 1993. Five British six- and nine-pound cannons found more recently around 500 yards away are believed to be the cannons jettisoned in an attempt to keep the ship from sinking. The 280 men onboard ultimately abandoned ship and took refuge on Garden Key for more than two months. There, they assembled makeshift vessels using material salvaged from the wreck and then navigated 700 miles in 55 days through enemy waters to arrive at British-controlled Port Royal in Jamaica. “Archeological finds are exciting, but connecting those finds to the historical record helps us tell the stories of the people that came before us and the events they experienced,” Tortugas National Park Manager James Crutchfield said in the press release. “This particular story is one of perseverance and survival.” To read about an eighteenth-century Spanish fort in Florida that was defended by formerly enslaved Africans, go to “Freedom Fort.”
