Florida Pirates and Maritime Museums

A post about Florida Pirates and Maritime Museums may seem a bit out of place in Florahome, but with pirates still making news today and Florahome only a one hour drive from St. Augustine - a place where pirates were once as feared as those we currently read about in the paper, why not? Pirates have always stirred the imagination or rattled the nerves depending on which end of the plank you happen to be standing on, and St. Augustine as well as pretty much the entire coast of Florida right down to the Keys was once a pirate's paradise in a time long before there was any such thing as a U.S. Coast Guard. Those of us who visited the Castillo De San Marcos in St. Augustine as kids had little idea what that great foreboding structure was really about. It was made of something called coquina we may have been told. But a young child can sense things most adults cannot and knows there is as much fear built into that venerable old fortress as shell. While novels, theme parks and movies may portray the lives of those devil may care bands of cutthroats as romantic and exiting, for the most part a pirate's life was a desperate one with very few living long enough to enjoy whatever plunder they managed to acquire. Those early inhabitants of St. Augustine knew all to well the small value pirates placed on their victim's heads with the township finding safety only in God and the walls of the Castillo. Learning the fate of those four Americans recently killed while sailing off the coast of Oman, it's not that hard to imagine. Thankfully, these days we do have the U.S. Coast Guard patrolling the waters of Florida and you're more likely to encounter a pirate on a TV screen or at the Gasparilla Festival in Tampa than on a yacht - chartered or otherwise. Still, it's wise to play it safe,... yo ho.

You can find more Florida pirate lore and maritime info online at:

Florida's Fabulous Treasures

Piracy - Wikipedia

Florida Shipwrecks:
300 Years of Maritime History

Florida Maritime History

Florida Maritime

Florida Division of Historical Resources

For boating laws in the state of Florida see The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

Not all of the following Florida museums are maritime museums but are purported to have at least a portion of their collection devoted to Florida's Maritime history.

Apalachicola, FL
Apalachicola Maritime Museum
103 Water Street
Apalachicola, Florida 32320
850-653-2500
and
500 River Landing Road
Chattahoochee, Florida 32324
850-663-5001

Bradenton, FL
South Florida Museum
201 10th Street West
Bradenton FL 34205
941-746-4131

Coconut Grove, FL
The Barnacle Historic State Park
3485 Main Highway
Coconut Grove, Florida 33133
305-442-6866

Cortez, FL
Florida Maritime Museum at Cortez
4415 119th Street West
P.O. Box 100,
Cortez, Florida 34215
941-708-6120

Florida's Museums in the Sea (online)

Ft. Pierce, FL
National Navy UDT-SEAL Museum
3300 North A1A, North Hutchinson Island
Fort Pierce, Florida 34949
772-595-5845

Jacksonville, FL
Jacksonville Maritime Museum
Jacksonville Heritage Maritime Center
The Jacksonville Landing
2 Independent Drive, Suite 162
Jacksonville, FL 32202
904-398-9011

Jensen Beach, FL
Maritime & Classic Boat Museum
1707 NE Indian River Drive,
Jensen Beach, Florida 34957
PO Box 275
Jensen Beach, FL 34958
772-692-1234

Key West, FL
Museum of Art & History at the Custom House
281 Front Street
Key West, Florida 33040
305-295-6616 Ext. 102

Key West, FL
Lighthouse and Keeper's Quarters Museum
938 Whitehead Street
Key West, Florida 33040
305-295-6616 Ext. 102

Key West, FL
Fort East Martello Museum & Gardens
3501 S. Roosevelt Blvd.
Key West, FL, 33040
305-296-3913

Key West, FL
Shipwreck Museum
1 Whitehead Street
Key West, FL 33040
305-292-8990

Key West, FL
USS Mohawk CGC Memorial Museum
Truman Waterfront
Key West, Florida 33041

Key West, FL
Mel Fisher Maritime Heritage Society and Museum
200 Greene Street
Key West, FL 33040
305-294-2633

Miami, FL
Historical Museum of South Florida
101 West Flagler Street
Miami, FL 33130
305-375-1492

Orlando, FL
Titanic - The Exhibition
The Mercado
8445 International Drive
Orlando, Florida 32819
407-248-1166 ext. 3110

Orlando, FL
(Not a museum but pretty cool)
Titanic The Experience
7324 International Drive
Orlando Florida 32819
407-248-1166

Panama City Beach, FL
Man in the Sea Museum
17314 Panama City Beach Parkway
Panama City Beach, Fl 32413
850-235-4101

Pensacola, FL
(project)
the Vice Admiral John H. Fetterman
State of Florida Maritime Museum and Research Center

Ponce Inlet, FL
Ponce De Leon Inlet Light Station
4931 South Peninsula Drive
Ponce Inlet, Florida 32127
386-761-1821

St. Augustine, FL
Pirate and Treasure Museum
12 S Castillo Drive
St. Augustine, FL 32084
877-Go-Plunder (467-5863)

St. Augustine, FL
Lighthouse and Museum
81 Lighthouse Avenue
St. Augustine, FL 32080
904-829-0745

Stuart, FL
The House of Refuge Museum at Gilbert’s Bar
301 SE MacArthur Blvd.
Stuart, FL 34996
772-225-1875

Tallahassee, FL
Museum of Florida History
R.A. Gray Building
500 South Bronough Street
Tallahassee, FL 32399-0250
850-245-6400

Tampa, FL
American Victory Ship Mariners Memorial Museum
705 Channelside Drive,
Tampa, FL 33602
813-228-8766

Vero Beach, FL
McLarty Treasure Museum
Friends Of Sebastian Inlet State Park Inc
c/o McLarty Treasure Museum
13180 North Highway A1A
Vero Beach, FL 32963
772-589-2147

Welaka, FL
Welaka Maritime Museum
501 4th Avenue
Welaka, Florida
386-467-1900

West Palm Beach, FL
Palm Beach Maritime Museum
2400 North Flagler Drive
West Palm Beach, FL
561-832-7428

More sea adventure in print or on film:

(print)

Under the Black Flag: - a highly rated book about 'real' pirates.

Twenty Florida Pirates

Cryptoquest Field Guide To Florida Pirates And Their Buried Treasure

The Princess Bride (the novel)

For the young reader:

Adventures on Amelia Island: A Pirate, A Princess, and Buried Treasure

How I Became a Pirate

Pirateology: The Pirate Hunter's Companion

(film)

Pirates of the Caribbean - The Curse of the Black Pearl

The Princess Bride (the movie)

Master and Commander (not a pirate movie but EXCELLENT!)

Cutthroat Island (not an 'excellent' movie but with lots of pirate fun)

Swiss Family Robinson (Disney at its best)

And here's a link to olde St. Augustine - where Florida pirates in maritime museums live on.

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