CHICK HUETTEL COLUMN: The search for a shipwreck near Four Mile Point (with MAP)

Many, many years ago while looking over a nautical  chart of the Choctawhatchee Bay, I noted that the map revealed the identifying mark of hull bones just off Four Mile Point, which is located north of the Sandestin Resort area. I think the map was dated in the area of 1950.  I had owned a small lot on the point and was fascinated. It lay almost due west of the property.

Loving archeology, I was determined to find the wreck.  

The U.S. Coast Guard and Geodetic Survey maps normally record large wrecks with the accompanying symbol. With snorkel, tied together lounging floats I went on the search. The map depth lines showed it was in 5 to 9 feet. I was so sure I could find the remains. But after four days, I was tired, black fly bitten, and frustrated because the water was relatively clear.

I gave up.

A few years  later, while at an antique/junk store, I pulled a map out of the cardboard box. This one was dated 1943. As I unrolled it there before me was Four Mile Point again. The skeleton bone figure was not there and in its place was the word “boiler.”

This time the depth line was only four feet and in the same place.  I called my brother and again we dragged floats and snorkels and began a search. I only wish we had used the grid system during the search, but it seemed so easy why go to the trouble?  

Again we came up with nothing.

Today’s up-to-date Choctawhatchee map shows nothing. Neither the bones or the boiler.  Where is this vessel? It had to be of a good size because of its identification. And of course a boiler is usually a large iron goliath not counting the steam engine components. Is it just under the surface sand?

Steamboats traversed the bay in the 1800s and early 1900s. Local carriers and others came from Mobile, Pensacola, and Panama City. Steamboats were also built in Freeport. Did it burn? Was it a storm that caused the destruction? Are there marine artifacts spread about the area ?

Where is the darn thing!?!?

In the years I have been researching the history of our South Walton bay area, there is one vessel that I cannot account for in regard to its retirement or sinking.

It was the SARONA or the JEWEL (it had two names in its life span). The boat was a small 1910 mail packet steamboat plus public ferry that chugged back and forth from Point Washington to Freeport and the old town of Santa Rosa. It also made trips to Fort Walton. I also believe it was built in the old town of Santa Rosa, but more investigation is needed on that point.

However the JEWEL could be a red herring and the shipwreck could be the remains of a large early-1800s boat, and with well over 100 years of abandonment, the wreckage just dissolved. The whole thing is a mystery.

An underwater metal detector that sweeps behind a boat could uncover the prize. They are seen in all TV adventures, but nothing like that was available when we searched. Metal detectors were just for the beach.

Go find it!

Fair winds to ye matey.

Chick Huettel is a long-time Walton County resident, writer and artist. He is a member of a number of local organizations including the Emerald Coast Archeological Society.