Shipwreck · Upper Keys, Florida
City of Washington
An iron-hulled steamship launched in 1877 and later converted to a barge for hauling coal. On July 10, 1917, under tow by the tug Luckenbach No. 4, she ran aground on Elbow Reef and could not be freed. Her collapsed hull spreads across the reef east of Key Largo in about 25 ft (8 m), a shallow stop on the Florida Keys Shipwreck Trail reached by boat to a sanctuary mooring buoy. The Elbow is a Sanctuary Preservation Area: no fishing or taking of any kind, and don’t touch or stand on the coral. 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 City of Washington, Elbow Reef →
Quick facts
| Type | Shipwreck, iron steamship, later a coal barge |
|---|---|
| Lost | 10 July 1917 |
| Built | 1877 |
| Seabed depth | 7.6 m (25 ft) below MLLW |
| Position | 25.1464°N, 80.2559°W (approximate, ±100 m) |
| From By boat at the City of Washington, Elbow Reef | 150 m (493 ft), bearing 104° ESE |
| Source | NOAA Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary; Keys Weekly |
How to see it
Underwater. From By boat at the City of Washington, Elbow Reef, 150 m (493 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
- Elbow ReefReef · 0.9 m · 570 m
- North North Dry RocksReef · 1.5 m · 3.5 km
- North Dry RocksReef · 0.6 m · 4.3 km
- Watsons ReefReef · 1.5 m · 4.3 km
- Key Largo Dry RocksReef · 1.8 m · 4.6 km
- Higdons ReefReef · 1.2 m · 6.1 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.