![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/100522-LIT1.jpg\")
\nArbutus 1987
\nCourtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida and Dale McDonald<\/p>\n
Author’s Note: “What goes down must come up” as they say in American stock markets and exchanges . . . or . . . as the card game unsnarkily says “Go Fish!” Permit your author this brief island return to talk about a shipwreck as a metaphor for what may be on our surface-search radar screens going forward.<\/p>\n
-Marlow<\/p>\n
\nArbutus 1987
\nCourtesy of the State Library and Archives of Florida and Dale McDonald<\/p>\n
Nearly 40 years ago, a small freighter called the Arbutus began to take on water during a storm about 30 miles west of Key West, Florida. The ship sank in 25 feet of water.<\/p>\n
For many years after it went under, it was the only fishable wreck in the lower Keys that actually stuck out of the water with its rusted wheelhouse, half of which was out of the water. Gulls perched on the wreck\u2019s rigging mast and watched the bait fish below.<\/p>\n
Although that development no doubt was a rotten break for the owners, crew, and insurers of the Arbutus, it was another in a series of lucky breaks for Key West\u2019s light-tackle fishermen. For them, the latest wreck meant another place to fish.<\/p>\n
When the Arbutus settled on the bottom, the long, snaggle-toothed barracudas that inhabit the shallow, blue-green waters of the Florida\u2019s Keys had another home.<\/p>\n
There were nearly 100 shipwrecks back in the \u201870s within reachable distance of Key West\u2019s light-tackle fishermen and guides. \u201cFishin\u2019 for \u2018cudas at the wrecks\u201d was as standard a Key West activity as eating grits-n-grunts and key lime pie, hoisting a cold one at the original location of Ernest Hemingway\u2019s favorite bar, by then renamed Capt. Tony\u2019s Saloon, chatting with treasure hunter Mel Fisher as he ran his still-not-successful treasure salvor business from a back-of-the-bar table at the Chart Room with Jimmy Buffet strumming his guitar nearby for free beer and tips.<\/p>\n
It is still one of America\u2019s great saltwater fishing experiences, fighting big barracudas in the Florida Keys until your arms beg for mercy.<\/p>\n
Methinks in the aftermath of the coming stagflated recession, we\u2019ll see land-based barracudas chasing investment opportunities in the multiple ship wreckage sites that\u2019re sure to happen when the recession storm winds slam America\u2019s shores.<\/p>\n
Before they go fishing later, we\u2019re seeing them now perched like the gulls on Arbutus\u2019s rigging looking and evaluating their game fish.<\/p>\n
Not that this will be easy for these fast-as-lighting, swooping, slashing, swimming bargain hunters. The lucky few who are successful will learn to appreciate how hard their work was while finally having the time to enjoy the fruits of their labors many years later. They\u2019ll also toast the memories of the legions of other barracudas that were caught by the vagaries of too little, too much, too soon, too late.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why it\u2019s called fishing and not catching.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/100522-LIT2.jpg\")
\nBarracuda off Key West 1978<\/p>\n
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Author’s Note: “What goes down must come up” as they say in American stock markets and exchanges . . . or . . . as the card game unsnarkily says “Go Fish!” Permit your author this brief island return to talk about a shipwreck as a metaphor for what may be on our surface-search radar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-island-times"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24582","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24582"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24587,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24582\/revisions\/24587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vicsocotra.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}