Copenhagen Florida Underwater Archaeological Preserve
Wrecked in 1900, listed in the National Register of Historic Places 2001
Located on the outside of the second reef on the Pompano drop-off just north of the Sea Watch Restaurant. Latitude 26° 12.349’ N, 80° 05.108’ W adjacent the reef and between mooring buoy 3 and 4.
Photo captions:
Painting of the Copenhagen
by William Trotter
Image Courtesy of the Florida Department of State,
Bureau of Historical Resources
Diver by Copenhagen Plaque
Image Courtesy of the Florida Department of State,
Bureau of Historical Resources
Copenhagen Site Plan
Image Courtesy of the Florida Department of State, Bureau of Historical Resources
The Copenhagen was built in Sunderland, England, in 1898 and was registered to Glasgow Shipowners Company, Ltd., Glasgow, Scotland. The vessel was one of several steamships that became the pride of Glasgow’s merchant fleet. It was a double-bottom, steel hull vessel, with a cargo capacity of 3,279 tons. It was propelled by three triple-expansion steam engines driving a single propeller and carried an auxiliary schooner rig. The ship was put into service under contracts across the Atlantic Ocean.
Copenhagen’s career was cut short on May 26, 1900. Voyaging from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Havana, Cuba, with 4,940 tons of coal, the Copenhagen ran hard aground on a rocky ledge close to shore just south of Pompano Beach. Salvage crews from New York worked for nearly one month saving the cargo but were unable to pull the ship free of the reef before they were called back to New York, abandoning the ship to the sea. The Copenhagen was visible above the water for years; until World War II naval fighter pilots used the ship for target practice.
The wreck of the Copenhagen is located approximately 3.3 nautical miles south of Hillsboro Inlet, just outside the second reef on the Pompano drop-off adjacent to mooring buoys 3 and 4. The Copenhagen came to rest along a rocky ledge, made up of large limestone blocks divided by cracks and crevasses. After grounding, the ship listed to port, its starboard hull eventually collapsing onto the rocks and into the crevasses, while the port side slumped onto the deeper sand bottom. The wreck lies with the bow pointed southward and is approximately parallel to the reef. The bow is located nearly a half mile to the southeast, likely the result of a failed salvage attempt.
Water depth above the Copenhagen varies from 16 to 31 feet, making it an ideal recreational dive spot. Over the years much of the hull has fallen apart and settled over the uneven reef. The lower hull is still in its correct order, especially the stern where it is possible to identify the engine and boiler beds. Coal from the ship’s bunkers and cargo, camouflaged by marine growth, litters the bottom near the wreck. Today much of the ship’s structure has become part of the reef, and wreckage provides an ideal haven for all kinds of marine life. Hard and soft corals and multicolored sponges thrive on the steel hull plates. Juvenile reef fish and tropicals dart in and out of the twisted structure, which serves as a sheltered nursery. Seafans sway in the gentle surge along the length of the ship. The pillow block that supported the propeller shaft is a focal point for curious parrot fish. Empty beds for the ship’s two boilers today house a population of damsel fish and sergeant majors energetically defending their niche in the sunken wreck.
The site was dedicated as a State Underwater Archaeological Preserve in 1994 and divers are encouraged to experience this unique part of maritime history; however, as with all historical and archaeological sites on submerged bottomlands, the Copenhagen is protected by Florida laws which prohibit the unauthorized disturbance, excavation or removal of artifacts.
For more information, visit Florida’s Museums in the Sea at www.museumsinthesea.com