Sail Number:
Type: Sharpie
LOA: 28’2” / 8.60m – LOD: – LWL: 22’8” / 6.90m – Beam: 7’2” / 2.20m – Draft: Board up 1’0” / .30m – Board down 3’6” / 1.06m – Designer: Ralph Middleton Munroe – Design Number: – Current Name: – Original Owner: Ralph Middleton Munroe – Current Owner: – Year Built: 1886 – Built by: A.C. Brown & Son, Tottenville, S.I., NY – Hull material: Wood – Displacement: 4,058 lbs – Engine: Oars
Historical:
During the ninetieth century in South Florida there were far more people in Key West (about 15,000) than the rest of the Keys and modern day Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties combined (about 550) While Miami became officially incorporated on July 8th, 1896, most were dependent upon Biscayne Bay for survival as agriculture was limited.
During this time the Seminoles were forced south and into the Everglades by the U.S. military during the Seminole wars from 1835 to 1842. The Seminoles frequently traveled through the river of grass and down the subtropical spring fed estuaries, characterized by clear water, dominated by diverse and productive bottom communities of sea grasses, corals and sponges. They eventually reached a beautiful expansive lagoon, where they camped along the banks. This great body of water became know to them as “Sweet Water,” symbolic for the crystal clear water, proliferation of birds, and bountiful aquatic life that resided there.
This tropical frontier was not an easy place to reach. It was a time before the railroad, where most northern settlers coming to Biscayne Bay had to steam south first on the Mallory Line to Tift’s wharf in Key West. Then onto a small schooner for a two – three day sail up east to a virtually uninhabited Biscayne Bay. Munroe described the last leg of the trip as “shoal clear water through which coral reefs and bottom growths were visible, the warmth of the breeze, the sparkle and brilliance of the sun, in the clear air, all made a beautiful setting for a novel scene in which one after another, the low green mysterious islands rose, passed and disappeared astern.”
In 1886 Ralph Middleton Munroe bought land, built a homestead, married, raised a family, formed a yacht club (earning his title of Commodore)… while his family would go on to see this last American Frontier become a teeming Metropolis….read more
Provenance. (The Wall of Remembrance – The Owners, Crew & Notable Guest):
- Owner/Guardian: (1886) – Ralph Middleton Munroe
Resources
- HistoryMiami Museum – HistoryMiami.Org (Michele Reese and Vanessa Cambrelen.
- University of Miami Libraries Special Collections. (Ralph M. Munroe Family Papers, ASM0015.)
- The Forgotten Frontier – Arva Moore Parks
- Historic Preservation Miami (the Coconut Grove Library)
- The Commodore ‘s Story – by Ralph Middleton Munroe and and Vincent Gilpin
- Peacock Inn in Coconut Grove in 1896. Courtesy of Florida Memory.
- Coconut Grove (Images of America) Paperback – Illustrated, September 20, 2010 (by Arva Moore Parks (Author), Bo Bennett (Author)
- Good Little Ship – by Vincent Gilpin
- The Commodore’s Story Paperback – January 1, 1974 – by Vincent Munroe, Ralph Middleton and Vincent Gilpin
- The “Egret” – by Phil Capen – Lithograph 16×21