Shipwreck · Upper Keys, Florida
Benwood
A 360-foot freighter built in 1910 at Stockton-on-Tees, England, and owned by a Norwegian company when she was lost. On the night of April 9, 1942, running without lights for fear of U-boats, she collided with the Robert C. Tuttle off Key Largo; with her bow crushed, her captain ran her toward shore, and she grounded with a broken keel. She lies between French Reef and Dixie Shoals in 25 to 45 ft (8 to 14 m), a stop on the Florida Keys Shipwreck Trail for divers and snorkelers, reached by boat to the sanctuary mooring buoys. Look, don’t touch, and take nothing: removing or damaging anything on the wreck is illegal.
Open in the viewer from By boat at the Benwood →
Quick facts
| Type | Shipwreck, steel freighter |
|---|---|
| Lost | 9 April 1942 |
| Built | 1910 |
| Charted depth | 7.6 m (25 ft) below MLLW |
| Position | 25.0524°N, 80.3322°W (approximate, ±60 m) |
| From By boat at the Benwood | 150 m (492 ft), bearing 131° SE |
| Source | NOAA ENC US4FL1GY; NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary |
How to see it
Underwater. From By boat at the Benwood, 150 m (492 ft) away, CoastFinder marks where it lies, at its bearing and distance, with its charted depth.
On the website for now. This shipwreck is in the web viewer first. The CoastFinder app covers the North Carolina coast today; follow @coastfinderapp to hear when more coasts arrive.
Nearby
- Dixie ShoalShoal · 0.9 m · 843 m
- French ReefReef · 2.7 m · 2.6 km
- USS Spiegel GroveShipwreck · 41.1 m · 2.7 km
- White Bank Dry RocksShoal · 0.3 m · 4.1 km
- Molasses ReefReef · 0.9 m · 6.3 km
- Grecian RocksReef · 1.8 m · 7.0 km
Not for navigation. Positions and depths come from public charts and records, with their sources named above; they are for looking, not for piloting a boat.