A Sail from Lemon Bay to Punta Gorda over 100 Winters Ago and a Chance Encounter with the Future of Southwest Florida

It's always a delight to watch sailboats navigating our harbor or moored against a deep purple evening sky. It was the harbor that drew us in to Punta Gorda, and while not a sail boater, I love being on one these schooners or just lingering by the shore mesmerized by their dance on the water. It's been the boating and fishing and beauty of Charlotte Harbor and the Islands that has always lured people here.

Researching some history recently, I came upon the account below -- a letter from a grandfather to his two grandsons published in a Kansas Newspaper in March of 1900.    He describes in exhilarating words their voyage, their meal on board, their encounters with porpoises, their anchorage at Matlacha, their harvesting oysters for dinner.  He also mentions passing a pleasant hour on Useppa with a man named John Roche, who told them he was planning to build a sportman's inn on his property for friends.  Well as it turns Mr. Roche, the then owner of Useppa Island was a wealthy streetcar magnet from Chicago who did build that inn - and did invite his friends - one of Roach's guests years after this letter was written was  the legendary New York advertising executive, entrepreneur, and wealthy Florida land owner Barron G. Collier. (More on Useppa History)  Collier eventually developed much of Southwest Florida, and built Tamiami Trail  between Tampa and Miami.


Here's the letter. ( I apologize for the OCR errors.  I corrected some but not all.)

Grove City, Fla:.:March 10, 1900.

To my grandsons, Gilbert and Kelton:

We started last Monday, March 4,

from Lemon bay on a trip to Punta

Gorda, from there to Mangrove point,

thence to Captiva pass .: and thence

home again Wheeler, from Cresco,

Mack Lewis and myself. ' Wind north

east, nearly dead ahead, but having

faith in the staunch sharpie, Ah There,

and confident that we should reach

our various destinations. ; We ran

out of Stump pass about 9 a. m., and

without presumption I may say we

did it well, our friends behind us wav

ing a table cloth and ringing the din

ner bell.

At 11 a. m. we ran into Little Gas-

parilla pass, and after . beating our

way fairly into the sound of that

name, that legend tells us was the re

treat of old Gasparill, the noted pi

rate, and where parties hunt to this

day, hoping by the aid of divining

rods and aguardiente to find - hidden

treasure, dig faithfully, but so far

without success. We laid our course

fairly .down the sound, and with a

smart breeze made Carry flower island

at 1 p. m. This 'island is crescent

shaped, and in a northeast wind makes

a good sheltering anchorage, there

fore we cast anchor, made coffee and

had dinner, Mrs. Wheeler, who wa

to leave us at Punta Gorda, officiat

ing as dispenser of bur sumptuous re

past. . . . .

After dinner we reefed foresail and

mainsail and stood out into Charlotte

harbor, . the sun glinting, the waves

crested with foam, our sailor captain

at the helm and the good boat fairly

dancing with delight as she laid, her

lee-gunwale to. the crested waves and

leaped over the water. We made Cape

Hayes at 4 p. m. and laid our course

for Punta Gorda, sheets well aft, a

rattling breeze and a tumbling sea, our

lady passenger enjoying the sail as

well as the rest of us. We ran up to

the dock at Punta Gorda at 7:30.

Here Mrs. Wheeler left us for Day-

tona and after coffee we took bunks

for the night.

.Tuesday morning we got up "to a

northeast wind and a bright sun. We

had taken our course after the fashion

of seafaring men and now started for

Mangrove point, about seven miles

southwest from Punta Gorda, a very

comfortable breeze at starting and all

sail set, but as we went down the bay

the wind-increased until all around us

was a tumbling mass of foam, wind

on our port quarter, and the good

boat rolled, washing the deck on both

sides of the cabin. She tumbled along

in great glee, Wheeler, of Cresco, at

the helm, Mack Lewis looking large

but saying, little, while I looked on

breathlessly,, hoping, that the masts

would stand the rolling pressure! 

they did until, at about 11 a. m., we

whirled through a narrow passage

and luffed to our anchorage in a little

bay as smooth as if it had never been

I ruffled by a breeze. The captain threw

over the anchor and proceeded to

make things snug. While I drew a

long breath, Wheeler, of Cresco; ejac

ulated: I tell you, did you say . I

wouldn't make a sailor?" We had

come here for duck shooting. The

ducks that we were after were the

. '"Blue Bill" of the New England coast,

known us "Shuttler" on the Potomac

:ind Chesapeake, arid here called the

"Raft duck' on account of . the great

numbers that frequent these waters in

the wintertime. We had passed trreat

shoals of them on our run down from

Punta Gorda. I, anticipating good

sport, put out off a point in this little

bay eighteen decoys and waited for a

darts and so we waited, but no duck,

to giauden our heart and quicken

our' pulses, oame darting to the de

coys. Finally, after about an hour,

we started with the small boat back

for the sharpie and dinner. We had

gone about one-third of the way when

black specks began te show from the

horizon, and the whirring of wings,

as the ducks dashed by, told us that

luck had turned, and so did we. They

pulled down to the pwlnt and left me

looking at the decoys again, while

they went back to to the boat for dinner.

Ah! The whirr of wings, the light

ning swoop over the decoys, the flash

and roar of the gun, the headlong

dash irom dizzy heights, the crump

ling and whirling , ami floating off

with the tide. Why, In time, don't

the boys come and pick up those

ducks? Dear reader, yon have ex

perienced " it all. . May you enjoy it

again as I did; a red-letter day in our

calendar of time. -The boys came

back, brought me a lunch of cold ven

ison and hot coffee, took my place in

the. stand and I got ;into the boat,

pushed off on the placid sea, picked

up ducksand enjoyed my lunch,-while

from behind me came bang! bang!

bang! at one time five running dis

charges ..Wheeler both barrels and

from his Winchester. Af

ter a little while .the 'night became ..

regular and almost stopped. Some

of our duck s had drifted away on the

tide, but we "picked rup twenty-four

and voted .duck ..enough. So we got

back to the sharpie," took supper and

a smoke, thinking, What next? The

Colonel said it was bad to leave such

shooting; hadn't had such fun for a

good while, but the boys out-voted him

and carried for oysters and "Mattlashay" pass. .

After supper, now almost calm, we

slid out onto the. water of Charlotte

harbor and the motion of the boat for

an hour reminded me of Burton's

comic song:

"Wheel about and turn about aud Jump' Jim

' Crow, - -. - - .

And every time you turn about you do J 1st

o."

But after awhile it steadied to the east

again,, and with a V'free sheet and a

flowing? sea we headed 'for Matlasha.

The wind increased .Until "All hands

to windward."". The-.bnat's: lee gun

wale was acain washed v by v the "salt

sea wave.'' Wheeler, .of Cresco, at

the helm. Suddenly the captain called

out: "Luff herl X.uff I" The helms

man puled his tiller toward him and

buried the boat's nose to the cabin in

the sea. "Don't put her away! Luff,

hang it! Shove the tiller to the water

barrel!" . called the captain. The

helmsman, as he shoved the tiller to

ward the water barret and lifted the

boat's nose out of the sea, pulling his

hair with fingers under his hat. ejacu

lated, "Lord, I'll never make a sail

or," No pen of mine can do justice

to Wheeler's grieved, despairing tone,

but on we sailed right merrily over

the turquoise sea1, the crest of the

waves lit by the moon descending to

ward the west. Ah! "Such a night,

and such a sail, and such "good lie

companie." J ;

At 11 o'clock on .Tuesday night we

anchored in Matlasha pass. This

sheet of water lies on the east side of

Charlotte harber, between Pine island

and. the main . land. It is about ten

miles long by two inches width. It is full

of shallows and channels, and every

where dotted with atnall islands cov

ered with mangrove. To keep us go

ing, and from fear of starvation, the

next morning we picked up about ten

bushels of oystersi ,These oysters are

what are called here simples. The meat

of the oyster is in size' about the bulk of

an egg,' one shell -flat, the other from

one to one and one-half inches deep.

These were white, firm and delicious.

a

We waded about and others took a

swim. The sea water was clear as

crystal. . ... .. ...

A little after noon we pulled anchor

and started for Captiva Pa, jroiug

out into Charlotte Harbor, and on

down through Pine Island sound, As

we sailed along a pile of -duck on duck

and sacks of oysters on board, not to

I remark about roast venison not yet

consumed, we .begun to. discuss the

! chances forsuunet. Said the;aotaiti:

r 1 don't want venison, ducks I de

spise and oysters Well I dont want

oysters. If I only had a pompano

now maybe I could eat something."

I suspect that we saw two fishing boats

half a mile ahead. At any rate, as

we came up to them he. called: '"What

are you catching?" The reply was:

"Pompano.? VCan we get some?"

Yes.' ." for a

quarter got three large ones, and we

discovered that the -captain could eat

pompano. : did you ever eat

a pompano, a fish- weighing from

one to six pounds, flesh white sweet

and delicious, and just out of the

water? Yes, the captain got a square

meal and has been good natured ever

since.

Running among the islands, we came

to Useppa, where a gentleman named

Roche has a cottage, good wharf,

windmill, etc. He was from Chicago,

had been a Rocky Mountain man in

years gone by, a pleasant gentleman,

and on his veranda, enjoying the hos

pitality of fine cigars, we passed a

pleasant hour. He told us that be in

tended, to build a club house for his

friends. The scenery and the sea air,

glistening waters and islands green,

with 'fishing for tarpon and grupers",

make it a sportsman's paradise.

"After replenishing our water keg.

just as the sun went down, we started

for Captiva pass. A beautiful night

and a pleasant sail. Wheeler, who

had sailed the boat until late the night

before, went to his ; bunk for a nap.

Hearing a noise something between a

whistls and a blow, I asked the cap

tain: "Is that Wheeler?" "No! That's

a porpoise."

At 10 o'clock we cast anchor in a

little basin just east of Captiva pass.

Here is an old Spanish fishing camp.

In the morning we went ashore to get

some bait, but it didn't catch fish.

After breakfast we sailed out to the

pasB, luffed up, and Wheeler, before

the boat had hardly lost her headway,

commenced . to pull and .ejaculate:

Ha! Got him! No sneak, this fellow!

Lord, - but he is a whale!" The cap

tain and Wheeler" ware fishing with

rod and reel, t had a hand line;

Wheeler in the bow, I in the middle,,

the captain in the stern. Dash went a

gleam of silver past the side of the

boat. "Hi I" yelled the captain; "keep

your hsh at home!" "Can't,- con

found himl" and after a fifteen min

utes tussle he lauded a black gruper,

fifteen pounds, and as he pulled him

in the captain swung over the side

into the cockpit a red fish ' at fourteen

and a half pounds. So we fish with

varying success until we had taken

something more than 200 pounds.

Well," said the captain, "one more

drift and then for home." We ran

down the pass to the gulf and hove

to, the tide setting in strong. We

cast out our lines and in less than a

minute all three were pulling hard,

each wi'h a bur fish. Said I. "Mv

fish is tne largest of the lot." "Take

you the cigars it isn't!" sung out the

captain, while Wheeler hollered,

"Take you a bottle of water he ainV

"I'll take you both," and over the

side came three black grupers, the

captain's fourteen" pounds, Wheel

er's fourteen and a half, but alas for

the insecurity of bets, mine pulled

down at nineteen and a half pounds,

the largest black gruper that either of

us had ever seen. Sadly, as the sun

sank in the west, we started for home,

content with four  of the most enjoy

able days still lingering in our mem

ory. J. M. L.

P. S. Time occupied in Captiva

pass about two hours. So says

Wheeler, of Cresco, aud what he says goes.