Talk:Dry Tortugas

Untitled
Please note minor inaccuracies in above document this is from the official NPS website

Almost 70 miles (112.9 km) west of Key West lies a cluster of seven islands, composed of coral reefs and sand, called the Dry Tortugas. Along with the surrounding shoals and waters, they make up Dry Tortugas National Park. The area is known for its famous bird and marine life, and its legends of pirates and sunken gold. Fort Jefferson, one of the largest coastal forts ever built, is a central feature. The Tortugas were first discovered by Ponce de Leon in 1513. Abundant sea turtles or "tortugas" provisioned his ships with fresh meat, but there was no fresh water-the tortugas were dry. Since the days of Spanish exploration, the reefs and shoals of the Dry Tortugas have been a serious hazard to navigation and the site of hundreds of shipwrecks.

U.S. military attention was drawn to the keys in the early 1800's due to their strategic location in the Florida Straits. Plans were made for a massive fortress and construction began in 1846, but the fort was never completed. The invention of the rifled cannon made it obsolete. As the military value of Fort Jefferson waned, its pristine reefs, abundant sea life and impressive numbers of birds grew in value. In 1935, President Franklin Roosevelt set aside Fort Jefferson and the surrounding waters as a national monument. The area was redesignated as Dry Tortugas National Park in 1992 to protect both the historical and natural features. -From www.nps.gov/drto


 * From the article; added by 165.83.96.10 --Spangineer (háblame)  14:44, Jun 9, 2005 (UTC)

Should this article be merged with Dry Tortugas National Park?
Seems like they should be merged. But which one should go, and which should stay? -  Marc Averette 22:32, 10 October 2006 (UTC)

Map request
This article would greatly benefit from a locator map, showing the position of the subject with respect to the coastline of the mainland. -- Beland 20:45, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
 * done, after less than 3 years :-) --Ratzer (talk) 12:33, 9 September 2009 (UTC)

Name details
The article states that the "Dry" part of the name was added soon after the original naming, however this doesn't seem right, due to the mix of english and spanish - if it was indeed soon after, it probably would now be "Tortugas Secas" (the spanish equivalent). Does anyone know when the islands changed from "Las Tortugas" to "Dry Tortugas"? And who was it that changed the name? --Ozhiker 23:06, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Hugo
In the section about Iowa Rock, it says a navigational light was destroyed there by Hurricane Hugo. This is impossible as the only Hurricane Hugo never even got to the Bahamas, much less the Dry Tortugas. Perhaps it was Hurricane Andrew. -- Hurricane ERIC - Class of '08: XVII Maius MMVIII 21:19, 19 June 2008 (UTC)

Atocha treasure
How about mentioning it. and maybe location.

24 degrees 31.5 feet North Latitude and 82 degrees 20 feet West Longitude —Preceding unsigned comment added by Ericg33 (talk • contribs) 05:29, 16 November 2009 (UTC)

External links modified
_____> the page linked to is dead deisenbe (talk) 18:58, 2 November 2017 (UTC)

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 1 one external link on Dry Tortugas. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive http://web.archive.org/web/20160107120012/http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/arb/252-255/253.pdf to http://www.botany.hawaii.edu/faculty/duffy/arb/252-255/253.pdf

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Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 14:05, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

Merge proposal
Dry Tortugas and Dry Tortugas National Park contain so much duplication, covering the same things, that I propose they be merged. I think the National Park should be the one to stay. deisenbe (talk) 18:56, 2 November 2017 (UTC)


 * Support There's substantial duplication and overlap, but also differences that may be on one article even as it's relevant to both, which does a disservice to the reader. I don't care which title stays, but they are not so long that it wouldn't be feasible. History of the park before it became a park, the geology, and geography are all still pertinent to the park and needn't be described separately, just as the park's ecology and park-era history are all pertinent to the islands since they're the exact same place. Reywas92Talk 21:53, 4 August 2021 (UTC)

Oppose, as both pages are about a notable topic and neither is struggling for things to say. The real problem here isn't that there are two articles, but that Dry Tortugas National Park includes all kinds of information (such as the geology section, and everything in the history section) which doesn't really belong there and is only needed at Dry Tortugas. If there were to be a merger, the national park, which has only existed since 1935, is clearly subsidiary to the more permanent topic of the islands themselves, their history, geology, past and seasonal inhabitants, and so on, so the Dry Tortugas would need to be the continuing article. , perhaps you could move some text around to keep information in the right places? Moonraker (talk) 01:29, 7 March 2018 (UTC)