Florida Keys’ Watercolor Kapers
by Bob Kranich
Wrecker’s Tale, (Part 2, Excerpt 53)
This is a new story, titled “Wrecker’s Tale”. Captain Dan Benson is the captain of a two-masted schooner , the Jenney Mae. His schooner is used to take his pineapples from his plantation to market and also wrecking. Wrecking means he will go out to a shipwreck and save people, ship, and cargo. It is an additional lucrative business because of the many storms and the reefs along the Keys.
Wrecker’s Tale
Captain Dan had one of the first pineapple plantations on Plantation Key, hence the name. He had taken a few thousand pineapple suckers from a boat he had helped get off a reef after a storm. This was his payment for his wrecking fee. It had been a kind of out-of-court settlement among the captain of the boat, the owners, and Captain Dan. He then needed some land, so he went up to Plantation Key. Now he was expanding his operations to the southwest end of Key Largo.
Dan had applied to homestead 140 acres on that key. He had told his farmer-sailors from Plantation Key to go on up to that parcel. They were to start building a couple of buildings to be the nucleus of his farm operations there. The captain liked to think wrecking was his main business, but it was unpredictable. This pineapple farming would help his bottom line.
There were a couple of reasons why he choose Key Largo for his second pineapple farm. The Upper Keys had good limestone soil and were blessed by 20 more inches of rain than the Lower Keys. But his deep down real reason was that just offshore were two deadly reefs, the Molasses and the Carysfort. He could plant pineapples and watch these reefs for floundering ships for his wrecking business.
“There it is, Sir. I can see the sloop in the harbor,” John interrupted Dan’s thoughts.
You could see the white of a stowed sail and mast on the other side of a spit of land.
“Let me borrow your glass,” Dan asked.
“Here Sir,” he handed the Captain the spyglass.
They rounded the north side of Rodriquez Key and headed straight for the harbor.
John yelled, “Keep a sharp eye up front, Carlos, and guide me in.”
Carlos was already up front hanging out over the rail. Captain Dan kept his eye on Carlos for John. That way he could relay signals. The location of the wheel had both masts in the line of sight, and it was hard for the pilot to see to the front of the vessel. John needed to keep both hands on the wheel. The schooner ploughed right on into the center of the channel, and they were soon gliding into the small harbor right next to the sloop.
“We’ll anchor over there in the middle, and take the boats in,” Dan commanded.
“Aye aye, Sir,” John answered.
There was a small wagon, horse, and his farm manager there to meet them. “Hi Jonathan. I see you’ve got some transportation,” Dan hailed as he stepped from the quarter-boat.
“Yes, Sir. Our neighbors up the Key didn’t mind parting with them. I offered what you said.”
“Good work Jonathan,” Dan complemented. “Well men, climb aboard! We’ve got about one-half of a mile to go.”
“How's it going?” Captain Dan asked Jonathan.
“We’ve got a cook shack and are almost finished with a small bunk house. You know we’ve been at it about a week and a half!” Jonathan said proudly. “You can see we’ve got lots of good wood here.”
The Gulf shore was very rocky. There were some fair sized mahogany trees seventy feet or so high. They must have been left over as saplings when the Spanish explorers cut all of the virgin trees down in the late 1600’s. These were mixed with pines and coconut. The soil was naturally sandy with limestone and coral.
“Looks great, Jonathan,” Captain Dan complimented. “With the four of you, and us four from the schooner, and the two new men John picked up, tomorrow we can get to work on finishing this house.”
They cooked their supper on the fireplace that was built in the bunkhouse. Since all of them were sailors, they all had their hammocks to hang on posts that had been put up in there just for that use. Mosquito netting had been installed on the window openings and some men had the same over their hammocks.
“That was a good breakfast, men. Jonathan, how about you and I look over the land once more to see just where we’re going to put the new pineapples?”
“John, you keep the men busy. How about Benjamin? You said he farmed in the Bahamas. Let’s see if he knows anything that will help us grow pineapples on this land.”
“Hi, Benjamin, you know I’m Captain Dan. John says you farmed in the Bahamas. Can you tell us anything we should know about farming pineapples on this land?”
“I’ll try, Sir,” Benjamin answered.
“Jonathan and Benjamin let’s look around. See you later, John, keep em’ busy!”
“Aye aye, Sir.”
They walked inland towards the sound. It was only about a fourth of a mile. As they walked, Dan said, “I have a couple of acres planted in pineapples on Plantation Key. They're looking good. Should be ready to cut and ship in a month or so.”
Benjamin started to talk. “Sir, if I may, the pineapples like sandy and well-drained soil. You’ve got it here, and of course, plenty of sun. They can survive with low rainfall. It’s because their leaves spiral out from the center, and that way any moisture collects in the center over the flower area. Of course, it’s those flowers that fuse together to make the one fruit in each plant.”
“More about soil, Sir, see these 20 to 30 feet in diameter red-spotted soil areas? They are called Red Holes.* There won’t be any rocks below the surface. It’s a special place to grow bananas or other fruit trees.”
“Benjamin, you're plenty knowledgeable. How long were you farming?” the Captain asked.
“It was in my family, Sir. I learned from my grandfather and father. Although I did want some adventure. That’s how I got down to the Keys. I went sailing.”
“What about replanting here from my fields in Plantation Key?” Captain Dan asked.
“Well, Sir, the seeds are no good. Because the pineapple is from the family bromeliad,* it takes ten years to reproduce from the seed. I recommend some new suckers or slips from another source. You could get them from Cuba. It’s only 90 miles, a day’s good sailing. Those new cuttings will last a couple of years. I’ve been there and could help you find a donor. If we’re fortunate, we may find Smooth Cayenne,* which makes an excellent deep yellow fruit. Then it will take from 12 to 24 months to make fruit. We will need about six to ten thousand plantings per acre. You then should get from four to seven thousand fruit.”
“One more thing, Sir, I would like to perform an easy test on the soil. We’ll pick up a handful of soil from different locations where you wish to plant. We’ll of course mark the place and the soil sample. Then we’ll stir the soil up with three to four times the water. The time it takes to clear, well tell us what we want to know. One hour is a very good well-drained soil. You don’t want to go over much more than three to four hours.”
“Thank you, Benjamin, I’ve really had a lesson in pineapple growing,” Captain Dan exclaimed. “We will work one more day here, and then we’ll take our sailing crew of four and Benjamin and go and find those pineapple slips.”
“I’m going to leave Roberts with your farm crew, Jonathan. We’re going to leave all the provisions we brought. We will stop briefly back in Key West, resupply, and then off to Cuba! I hope to be back in less than a week. Finish clearing that acre and half.”
“Aye aye, Sir,”
“Benjamin, let’s check that soil.”
“Sir, it took only one and one half hours for all four jars to clear. It’s well-drained soil,” Benjamin said proudly.
They spent just enough time in Key West for Captain Dan to briefly enjoy his family. John and the men replenished the supplies for a seven-day round-trip to Cuba. They rowed the goods out to their schooner anchored in the harbor. That night the men made the rounds in Key West.
Early morning…
“John, sir,” Benjamin said. “We should tell the captain the best way to get to Cuba is sail in the night because the winds are light then. In the daytime the winds can make a wind-over-the-tide effect. I was in it once. It could be very rough.”
John and Benjamin took one of the boats in, docked, and walked to Captain Dan’s house. Jonathan waited on the walk as John went up to the door and knocked.
“John, are you sure this is correct? Or are you just buying time for the men to recoup from last night?” the captain asked.
“Sir, they could use some recouping time. But Benjamin was adamant and sober when he told me this.”
“Look, John, be ready to cast off a couple hours before sunset. I’ll be down then.”
“Aye aye, Sir!” John touched his forehead and went down the stairs from the house.
From the Author:
My second full-length book , Florida Keys’ Watercolor Kapers is composed of 336 pages. There are 12 stories running from 6 pages to as many as 72 pages. It is fully illustrated with 88 watercolors and sketches. The watercolors I made roaming around Key West after I finished my 750 mile hike from Georgia to Key West. (See book or Don Browne’s SouthWest Florida Online News records, A Walk Across Florida.) As you read these stories you will experience Key West, the Keys, and the Caribbean. These stories span the time of the early 1800’s to 1969.
bkranich.wixsite.com/bobkranich
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