The Key West Shipwreck Museum (formerly Shipwreck Historeum) is located in

Key West Key West ( es, Cayo Hueso) is an island in the Straits of Florida, within the U.S. state of Florida. Together with all or parts of the separate islands of Dredgers Key, Fleming Key, Sunset Key, and the northern part of Stock Island, it cons ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It combines actors, films and actual artifacts to tell the story of 400 years of shipwreck salvage in the Florida Keys. The museum itself is a re-creation of a 19th-century warehouse built by wrecker tycoon

Asa Tift Asa Tift (died 1889) was the most notable salvager in Key West, Florida in the early 19th century. He owned a large salvaging operation, parts of which can still be seen as the Key West Shipwreck Historeum Museum (where tourists are shown around by ...

. Many of the artifacts on display are from the 1985 rediscovery of the wrecked vessel ''

Isaac Allerton Isaac Allerton Sr. (c. 1586 – 1658/9), and his family, were passengers in 1620 on the historic voyage of the ship ''Mayflower''. Allerton was a signatory to the Mayflower Compact. In Plymouth Colony he was active in colony governmental affair ...

'', which sank in 1856 on the Florida Keys reef and turned out to be one the richest shipwrecks in Key West's history, having resulted in the Federal Wrecking Court's largest monetary award for the salvage of a single vessel. The museum guide portraying Tift tells the story from his point of view as he explains how this unusual industry provided for the livelihood for the entire island of Key West at a time when it had the largest population in the state. Guests can climb the 65' lookout tower.

''Nuestra Senora de las Maravillas''

Also included are relics from Spanish galleons, including a silver bar salvaged from the ''Nuestra Senora de las Maravillas'' that guests are encouraged to try to lift. After 350 years, a team of marine archaeologists has found the treasure that was aboard the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de las Maravillas in 1656. Pendants, gold chains and other artifacts from the remains of the wreck, have been found along a trail of more than 9 miles. Among the jewels that have been found, there is a gold pendant with the cross of Santiago and others with symbols of the pilgrims of the

Camino de Santiago The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the apostle Saint ...

Gallery

File:Key West Shipwreck Historeum Museum back.jpg, Back of the Museum File:Key West FL HD Mallory Square Shipwreck Museum01.jpg

References

Shipwreck A shipwreck is the wreckage of a ship that is located either beached on land or sunken to the bottom of a body of water. Shipwrecking may be intentional or unintentional. Angela Croome reported in January 1999 that there were approximately ...

Maritime museums in Florida Archaeological museums in Florida History museums in Florida {{Florida-museum-stub