Good Day to all! Did you know Captain Albert Dewey, one of early Punta Gorda’s leading citizens, was the victim of an attempted assassination? Born in Granby, Connecticut in 1857, Dewey operated a steamship and lighterage company in Savannah, Georgia, where he met and married Mary Fannie Rogers in 1884 when she was 15. In 1892, they arrived in Punta Gorda where he supervised transportation of phosphate ore for the Peace River Phosphate Mining Company. Shortly thereafter, he purchased his own fleet of wooden barges and tugs, establishing the Charlotte Harbor Lighterage Company.
Dewey’s flagship at the time was the Mary Blue, a sternwheel tugboat built at Hull in 1892. Hull was a major transportation hub on the Peace River for mined phosphate ore, some 15 miles up the river from Punta Gorda, north of Fort Ogden. The Mary Blue drew about 30 inches of water and towed barges loaded with ore to oceangoing freighters waiting at Punta Gorda’s Long Dock and Port Boca Grande. About 4,200 feet long, the Long Dock was located near today’s Jamaica Way in Punta Gorda Isles and extended to the harbor’s shipping channel. He also had the steam tug Albert F. Dewey built in 1895 at New Port News, Virginia. She was 100 feet long with a 9-foot beam and cost $40,000, about $1.2 million today.
In the early morning hours of July 29, 1902, tied to a coal barge at the Long Dock for refueling, the Mary Blue mysteriously caught fire in the early morning. The engineer and “fireman” sleeping on board reacted quickly to untie the tug letting it drift away, sparing the dock and its warehouses. The Mary Blue was replaced by the Bassinger a couple months later. Although of 60-ton burden, the Bassinger had an even shallower draft than the Mary Blue, a useful attribute for navigating the area’s shallow waters.
Captain Dewey was also in the pineapple business and served as a director of the Punta Gorda Ice and Power Company, which eventually became part of Florida Power and Light. Over the years, he and his family resided at several locations in town and by 1902 Dewey was renting James Sandlin’s grand house, still standing with its “widow’s walk”, at the corner of West Retta Esplanade and Harvey Street. More on the assassination attempt in my next column.
Visit Charlotte County’s website to view photographs of Captain Dewey, his boats, home, and family members. Select “Community Services”, then “Libraries and History”. Click on “Physical Items”, then “Archive Search”. Enter the subject of your search on the “Search” line.
You can also view photos on the Punta Gorda History Center’s website. Select “Online Collections”, then “Key Word Search” and enter the subject of your search.
“Did You Know” appears, typically, every other Wednesday, courtesy of this newspaper and the Charlotte County Historical Society. The Society’s mission is to help promote and preserve Charlotte County’s rich history. We are also always looking for volunteers and interested individuals to serve as board members. If you believe our area’s history is as important as we do, please visit Charlotte County Historical Society on-line at https://cchistoricalsociety.com/, or call 941- 769-1270 for more information
Check out History Services’ yearlong project, “Telling Your Stories: History in the Parks”. It began in January 2021 with placement of the first interpretive sign “Charlotte Harbor Spa” at South County Regional Park. The last was dedicated December 15, 2021 at Centennial Park featuring Florida postcards. All dedicated signs can be viewed at online library resources. Select “Programs and Services”, then “History Services” and “Virtual Programs”.
Visit the same site to access recently released oral histories featuring 40 local folks. Select “History Services” and scroll down, or phone 941-629-7278, to find out what history related programs and videos are available, in addition to information on the “Cookie House” tours coming up at Cedar Point Environmental Center in Englewood.
April 2 column
