20 Years ago

Fort Jefferson occupies about ten acres, roughly the same size as a major league baseball stadium. Inside the brick walls of the fort, the grassy central area, known as the Parade ground, is about the same size as a baseball stadium’s playing field.

Living quarters for soldiers and officers, gunpowder magazines, carpenter shop, bakery, chapel, theater, kitchens, storehouses, and other buildings required to maintain the fort were located around the periphery of the Parade ground. The remaining central grassy area was used for drills, inspections, a small garden, and sports, including baseball, which was exploding in popularity as America’s national pastime. Most of the structures are gone now, victims of the tropical climate, hurricanes, and fires.

Fort Jefferson was essentially a very small and densely populated city. Almost 2,000 people lived there during the Civil War years just before Dr. Mudd arrived. The peak military population was 1,729, but there were also many civilians, a fluctuating number of military and civilian prisoners, and a few slaves, living there. They were all engaged in the construction and maintenance of the fort. Occupations included machinists, carpenters, plasterers, bakers, butchers, painters, blacksmiths, masons, and general laborers. There were also lighthouse keepers and their families, cooks, a civilian doctor and his family. A number of officers brought their families, including children, and a limited number of enlisted personnel brought wives who served as laundresses (typically four per company). The 22 slaves working at Fort Jefferson in 1863 were freed shortly after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation.

With the war over, the population of Fort Jefferson began to decline and had dropped to 1,013 by the time Dr. Mudd arrived in July 1865. Of these, 486 were soldiers or civilians and 527 were prisoners. When Dr. Mudd was released in March 1869, the population had dropped to 282, of whom only 35 were prisoners.
 
1980 The Mariel Boatlift continued to bring refugees from Cuba to Key West. Arrivals for the week pushed the totals to 117,000 since April.

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1974 The charter boat Spook, Capt. Earl Widener, returned to Key West after it had been hijacked and forced to sail to Cuba by Clifford and Patricia McRary.
 
1935 A black fish weighing more than 2,500 pounds was towed ashore by bridge workers at Bahia Honda.



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1988 Filming began on the James Bond adventure "License Revoked."

(I think they meant "License to Kill")
 
Not sure, but sounds reasonable. Films didn't take as long back then to be released...


Title Year Actor Director

Dr. No 1962 Sean Connery Terence Young
From Russia with Love 1963
Goldfinger 1964 Guy Hamilton
Thunderball 1965 Terence Young
You Only Live Twice 1967 Lewis Gilbert
On Her Majesty's Secret Service 1969 George Lazenby Peter R. Hunt
Diamonds Are Forever 1971 Sean Connery Guy Hamilton
Live and Let Die 1973 Roger Moore
The Man with the Golden Gun 1974
The Spy Who Loved Me 1977 Lewis Gilbert
Moonraker 1979
For Your Eyes Only 1981 John Glen
Octo***** 1983
A View to a Kill 1985
The Living Daylights 1987 Timothy Dalton
Licence to Kill 1989
GoldenEye 1995 Pierce Brosnan Martin Campbell
Tomorrow Never Dies 1997 Roger Spottiswoode
The World Is Not Enough 1999 Michael Apted
Die Another Day 2002 Lee Tamahori
Casino Royale 2006 Daniel Craig Martin Campbell
Quantum of Solace 2008 Marc Forster
Skyfall 2012
 
1980 Two more boats from Mariel arrived, bringing the total number of Cuban refugees landing in Key West since April to 118,500
 
Piss poor planning and desperation .

1994 A Coast Guard cutter arrived in Key West with 117 Cuban refugees who had made a dash for freedom on a ferryboat that ran out of fuel 30 miles from Havana.
 
1960 Key West Policeman Sam Cagnina was arrested for armed robbery after he robbed Ringside Billiard Parlor, at 922 Truman Ave.
 
1950 Thousands of fish were found in the street of Key West after a heavy rain. Most of the fish were along Caroline Street between William and Grinnell streets. One theory was that a large waterspout had carried the fish ashore, which was supported by the fact that most of the fish were mullet, which swim on the surface. Other Caroline Street regulars insisted it had rained fish and one man said he had observed a full-grown sponge fall from the sky.



1965 The ship Seven Seas was towed into port by the Coast Guard after the ship was found disabled at sea. A crewman had killed five of his fellow crewmen and then left the vessel in a small boat. He was later saved by another ship and turned over to the Coast Guard, then charged with murder in federal court in Miami.
 
1950 Thousands of fish were found in the street of Key West after a heavy rain. Most of the fish were along Caroline Street between William and Grinnell streets. One theory was that a large waterspout had carried the fish ashore, which was supported by the fact that most of the fish were mullet, which swim on the surface. Other Caroline Street regulars insisted it had rained fish and one man said he had observed a full-grown sponge fall from the sky.

I thought the phrase was "cats and dogs" not "mullets and sponges"
 
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1980 An Air Florida flight from Miami to Key West was hijacked and taken to Cuba. The plane and passengers later returned to Miami unharmed.

1985Johnny Carson, star of NBC Television's "Tonight Show," was in Key West to visit the wreck site of the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Atocha as a guest of famed treasure hunter Mel Fisher.

1994 The Columbus Iselin, a 176-foot University of Miami research vessel, ran aground on Looe Key, leaking about 200 gallons of diesel fuel.
 
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