Mayport and River Navigation
Mayport residents have long known the problems involved and the
opportunities presented by the slow moving St. Johns River and navigating it
from the ocean to Jacksonville. No matter which name the tiny settlement has
had for almost two centuries, the river has been shallow. Dropping only 30 feet
along its 310 mile length, it resembles a long but moving lake. In the Jacksonville
area, it twists and turns as its waters seek lower and lower elevations until it
spreads itself into the dynamic ocean. Bigger ships meant different solutions to
the navigation problems. Its mouth has been prone to have a shifting channel
as sandbars formed and then reformed.
So people in Mayport, Jacksonville, Duval County, and, finally, the United
States government began solving the problems by various means and in
accordance with the times.
Men became river pilots to navigate ships across these sandbars, be they
at the mouth or farther upstream. These St. Johns River Bar Pilots earned a very
good living because they were so essential. Lee E. Bigelow, “The St John’s Bar
and the River from Jacksonville to the Sea,” addresses this issue.
So sailors could find the mouth and, also, not run their ships aground, the
Coast Guard maintained a lighthouse for almost a century before replacing it
with a light ship. Dyle R. Johnson, “History of the Lighthouse Service in Mayport,
Florida, 1833-I929,” provides a sketch of the Keepers. The decommissioned
Mayport lighthouse stands just inside Naval Station Mayport.
Mayport Lighthouse
Photo by Don Mabry
When ships began Jetties were built miles out into the ocean to create a
good ship channel; the channel was cleared of debris for ships. The history of
the endeavor are outlined in Oscar G. Rawls, A Case History of St. Johns River
and Jacksonville Harbor. George Buker, Jacksonville: Riverport-Seaport1explains
the development of Jacksonville from a river port into a major ocean port. Men
built the present-day jetties beginning in 1880 but the need was recognized long
before.
Dr. A. Seymour Baldwin authored river improvements, successfully
lobbying the United State Congress to spend taxpayers’ monies to help the
people of Jacksonville. He argued that improved navigation of the river would
not only help those in the St. Johns River watershed but the nation as a whole.
This 1852 success started the long history of federal money being spent to
improve navigation.2
George Buker, Jacksonville: Riverport-Seaport (Columbia: University of South Carolina Press,
1992).
2 S. Paul Brown, Book of Jacksonville: A History. (Poughkeepsie, NY: A. V. Haight, 1895), pp. 148150.
1
Source: Cleve Powell
1943 aerial photograph of the Mayport Peninsula and the jetties (upper right)
Source: DCW-1C-11, Aerial photographs of Duval County - Flight 1C (1943), University of Florida
Digital Collections.
My study of Frederick W. Bruce as an engineer on the jetties construction
project can be found at Yankee Engineer in Florida.
Dyle Johnson as a historian of Mayport collected documents concerning
river navigation, including these about two tragedies, one in 1889, the other in
1898.
THE NEWBERRY HERALD AND NEWS
NEWBERRY, S. C. Thursday, September 12, 1889
DYNAMITE'S AWFUL WORK.
Two Men Blown to Atoms―Only Fragments of the Victims Found―
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., Sept., 5.-A terrible explosion occurred at the mouth of the
St. Johns river [sic], by which two men were killed and several more injured.
Captain R. G. Ross, in charge of the Government Jetty work at St. Johns bar, has
been engaged for several days in blowing up the submerged wreck of the old
Dutch brig "Neva," which has for years obstructed the channel off Mayport. He
had in command Captain A. C. Moore, with a crew of twelve men.
Two of the men, R. T. Moore, a son of the captain, and a grandson of Powell,
colored, were soldering a twenty-five pound can of dynamite, when it exploded
with terrific report and blew both men to atoms, only one toe of Moore being
found after the explosion.
Engineer Dunn, of the lighter, was badly wounded in the side and arm. Capt.
Moore was blackened by the explosion and badly shaken up, but is not seriously
injured. He is, however, in a state .of mind almost bordering upon insanity by
reason of the terrible fate of his son.
The explosian [sic] was heard for miles around, and caused an upheaval of
water and a tremor of the earth which created considerable alarm.
The steam tug Robert Turner went hurriedly to the scene of the disaster and then
blew whistles of distress, which brought the government steamer and others to
the rescue and carried Dunn to Mayport, where he could receive medical
treatment.
The lighter was boarded immediately after the explosion to ascertain what other
damage was done, and everything was found one mass of wreck and ruin.
The machinery of the jetty lighter and engine was completely demolished. A big
hold was found on the deck of the lighter, and the crew badly demoralized.
A search was at once instituted for the remains of the men, but without further
success. Moore's vest and pants were subsequently found among the floating
wreckage, torn completely in shreds.
The accident attracted great crowds of people to the shore, and the greatest
excitement prevailed.
Captain Ross, the contractor, had gone to St. Augustine to spend the day,
where Capt. W. M. Black, United States engineer in charge of the jetties, had his
headquarters. He was at once communicated with and will do everything
possible under the circumstances for the relief of the wounded. He is expected
in Mayport to-night.
Moore, the white man killed, was twenty-two years old and unmarried.
This is the first serious accident to occur at these jetties since the work began
several years ago.
The north and south jetties when finally built.
North Jetty
South Jetty, 1957
Dredging
Dredging the St. Johns River has been a regular occurrence since the
1890s. Bigger ships demanded a deeper channel and bigger ships were added
to fleets.3 In 2015, some wanted to dredge the river to 47 feet.
3
St. Johns River Keeper. http://www.stjohnsriverkeeper.org/the-river/history/
General John W. Sackett
General John W. Sackett of the Army Corps of Engineers was so important
to the dredging of the St. Johns and other rivers that Dyle Johnson obtained a
copy of his biography. Sackett “has made a number of important inventions in
the line of perfecting and improving the hydraulic dredge. One of these has
been patented and the application for a patent on another is pending.”4
Sackett died when the dredge vessel Florida capsized in a northeaster on July 3,
1918 off the coast of Crescent Beach. Two other men drowned. Normally, the
Florida would never have taken an ocean route to Jacksonville, for she was a
river ship, but inland water levels were unusually low and she was needed in
Jacksonville. Sackett had designed the ship, so it was modified to make it safer
for sea travel. No one expected a northeaster.
B. F. Johnson, “John Warren Sackett”, In Caldwell, A. B. (ed.) Makers of America: An Historical
and Biographical Work by an Able Corps of Writers. Florida Edition. Volume III. Atlanta, Georgia:
The Florida Historical Society, 1909. Lighthouse Archaeological Maritime Program, St. Augustine
Light House. http://www.staugustinelighthouse.org/LAMP/Research/Florida%20Wreck/johnwarren-sackett.
4
Source: Cleve Powell
This short biography of Sackett is from Transactions, Volume 83, American
Society of Civil Engineers, 1921, pp, 2325-2328.
Mayport has always lived through the river. Johnson clearly was planning
to write in depth about this aspect of Mayport’s history. That he collected these
documents helps future students of Mayport.