![]() The ship was recovered by wreckers and taken to Key West. On its voyage to Florida to take up its position, the new ship went aground on the coast about 50 miles (80 km) north of Cape Florida, and was abandoned by its crew. Congress appropriated funds for the lightship in 1824, and a 220-ton schooner named Caesar was built in New York and launched in 1825. The United States Lighthouse Board reported that "Carysfort Reef picks up twenty percent of all the wrecks between Cape Florida and the Tortugas, a space of 200 miles (320 km)." Lightships Ī survey of the Florida Keys in 1823 to locate sites for potential lighthouses and other aids to navigation produced a recommendation that a "floating light", or lightship, be placed on Carysfort Reef. Of the 324 ships that were known to have wrecked on the Florida Reef from 1833 through 1841 (during the period the lightship Florida was stationed at the reef), 63 did so on Carysfort Reef. The reef is one of the most dangerous on the Florida Reef tract which parallels the Florida Keys. The reef Ĭarysfort Reef is named for HMS Carysfort (1766), a 28-gun Royal Navy post ship that ran aground on the reef in 1770. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The light last installed was a xenon flashtube beacon. It was the oldest functioning lighthouse of its type in the United States until it was decommissioned in 2015, having been completed in 1852. The light was 100 feet (30 m) above the water. The lighthouse has an iron-pile foundation with a platform, and a skeletal, octagonal, pyramidal tower, which is painted red. ![]() National Register of Historic PlacesĬarysfort Reef Light is located east of Key Largo, Florida.
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