In troubled times we often look outward for stability to calm out troubled “seas.” We are unsure how to navigate. For mariners buoys anchored in a fixed position gave them some security about what lay ahead.
Mariners faced many dangers on Florida’s west coast because it was unmarked between Key West and St. Mark Lighthouse. For over 600 miles they navigated without knowing what lay ahead. As a result there were many shipwrecks.
Egmont Key Lighthouse on the west coast of Florida near St. Petersburg was built in 1848. The light was strategic because of its location.
In the 1850s buoys were standardized in the United States providing mariners with more than a physical marker like a lighthouse. The buoys warned mariners of hazards.
A Buoy Depot and coal shed were built on Egmont Key island a year before Caroline Coons became Assistant Keeper (1873-1876). The depot stored buoys and fuel for Buoy Tenders.
Most of the buoys on Florida’s west coast were managed by the depot on Egmont Key.