Since 1993, the Ancient Native Village Traveling Exhibit, in which actors take the roles of ancient Indian tribesmen, has traveled to schools and museums throughout the Southeast.
The 12-ship Spanish Plate Fleet, laden with riches, treasure and some 2,000 passengers and crew, was dangerously late setting sail from Havana in the summer of 1715. The date was July 24 – already 54 days into the hurricane season.
At the end of July the fleet was battling heavy winds along the Florida shore between the St. Lucie River and Cape Canaveral. Then at 2 a.m. on July 31 the storm struck the fleet. Shrieking winds from the east northeast sank two of the ships and blew nine more on to the shallow coastal reefs and sandbars. Only one ship survived, the French Grifon, sailing just far enough to the east to ride out the most dangerous of the winds.
Close to a thousand lost their lives in the 1715 hurricane. Roughly 1,500 made it safely to shore. The survivors set up a camp on the south side of today’s Sebastian River. On the beaches they gathered whatever supplies and planks had floated ashore. They built crude shelters, dug wells and set about caring for the injured. A party set out to seek help from St. Augustine, seat of the Spanish government in Florida, some 200 miles to the north.
Read the entire article in the September 2004 issue
True Tails is a series written by Amy Robinson for Vero Beach’s dog lovers. Ask Amy about your dog’s behavior by clicking below.
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