The Burning Vessel Miss Kaitlyn Sinks in Indian River

It was a vastly different start to my Friday morning as I drove up through Viera, turned off onto US Hwy 1 and angled onto the southern entrance of Rockledge Drive in Rockledge. Like my previous "Indiana Jones" style adventures this summer -- finding a lost Florida theme park and the abandoned Treasure Island hotel (see links below) -- I was in search mode once more. Except this time I was much closer to home.

My target -- to locate a sunken fishing boat.

It started earlier while walking my dog. I unfolded the morning's Florida Today paper, and my eye instantly locked onto an article showing a ship engulfed in flames. Two captions stood out: "Crew leaps to safety as boat burns in Indian River" and "Shrimping vessel ends voyage as burned-out hulk drifts to shore". Now that's what I call a pair of headlines sure to stir the Indiana Jones within! As I read on, I learned that the boat had caught fire the previous day, with the crew abandoning ship. Still ablaze, the Miss Kaitlyn floated near the center of the river, out of reach of fire crews. Finally, still burning, the 64-foot-long vessel came closer to shore where it sank in shallow water along the Rockledge shoreline.

Rockledge shoreline? I know that area. I can find this!

My search mode fully engaged, I rolled the windows down and drove north along the winding and beautiful Rockledge drive. If you've never driven this section of Brevard county, you owe it to yourself to experience the winding, leisurely, 25-mph road. New and historical houses line one side, the Indian River reflects on the other. The location is calming, especially in the morning.

I kept driving, slowing for speed humps and waving at dog walkers. Every few houses I would glance to the river's edge. How much of the boat had burned? Had it sank to a point where it wouldn't be seen? Would it be blocked by trees or shoreline houses?

I rounded another curve, and there on the left was the mysteriously destroyed (or is it rebuilt?) house that I took pictures of last month. (Click here to see.) Because someone had put a much larger "For Sale" sign on the property, I quickly glanced at the wording then turned back to look at the road...

And there it was. The resting remains of the Miss Kaitlyn.

The sunken boat discovered

Looking as though it had once been tied at a residential dock, the smoking ruin of the Miss Kaitlyn lay tilted to starboard, it's rigging slanted away from shore. I pulled over, grabbed my camera, and stepped out along a rocky edge of shoreline. My first few pictures were taken facing the stern (the back of the boat.)

I really wanted to get closer. So I did.

There were several vehicles near the dock leading out to the wreck, so I walked up to a blue car with a U.S. Coast Guard emblem along the side. I guessed that the man within was some sort of USCG official. When I approached, he barely looked up from his pile of paperwork.

"Mind if I take some more pictures from over there?" I pointed closer to the wreck.

"No, not at all," he responded, studying a clipboard.

Amid the calm water I could now see that the bow and stern were still fairly intact. A large oil/fuel containment ring ran around the wreckage, and thin tendrils of white smoke rose upward from within. No doubt, someone is now in for some serious cleanup.

For some close-up views of the wreck, click on the numbered squares at the top of this article, and then the pictures themselves. (They'll open bigger in a new window) Then, click back (or hit backspace) to return back here.

My mission -- accomplished. The sunken boat had been found, pictures taken, and now I could continue onto my regular day job.

It's fun to be Indiana Jones -- even at 7 o'clock in the morning.

More Resources on Abandoned and Deserted Places and Things:

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• Florida Today Article on the Burned and Sunken Vessel, Miss Kaitlyn - Includes a Video of the fire

• The Deserted and Mysterious House just down from the wreck of the Miss Kaitlyn

• The Abandoned Treasure Island Hotel in Daytona Beach, FL

• The Abandoned $100 Million Florida Theme Park

• The Search for 12 Lost Submarines from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea