Paul Thompson
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ANNCR:
Welcome to EXPLORATIONS in VOASpecial English. Today, Mary Tillotson and Steve Ember visit one ofthe must unusual national parks in the United States. It is calledthe Dry Tortugas National Park. It includes seven very small islandsabout two-hundred kilometers southwest of the southern state ofFlorida. One of the islands was once a prison. Let us begin ourvisit by imagining we are traveling back in time more thanone-hundred years.
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VOICE ONE:
It is the last few days of July in Eighteen-Sixty-Five. TheUnited States Navy steamship "Florida" moves slowly toward a smallisland. Members of the crew tie the ship to the dock. Passengersbegin to leave the ship. They move slowly in the extreme heat of thesummer day. In front of them is a huge red brick building.
The passengers walk over a small wooden bridge. It crosses anarea of water that circles the huge building. They move slowly tothe only door. They pass through the door and stop in front of agroup of soldiers.
VOICE TWO:
An officer among the soldiers comes forward and tells the ship'spassengers to stop. He looks at the passengers and says, "You arenow within the walls of the Fort Jefferson Military Prison in theDry Tortugas. You have been tried, convicted and sentenced to serveyour punishment here.
"No prisoner has ever successfully escaped from Fort Jefferson.No one will ever escape. It is more than two-hundred kilometersacross open ocean to the nearest occupied land."
VOICE ONE:
Four of the prisoners that arrived that long ago day had beenfound guilty of taking part in the successful plot to murder thePresident of the United States…Abraham Lincoln.
One of the prisoners was sentencedfor giving medical aid to the man who killed President Lincoln. Hewas also found guilty of being an active member of the plot. Thatman was Samuel Mudd. He was a thirty-two year old doctor from theeastern state of Maryland. He had been sentenced to spend the restof his life doing hard labor at Fort Jefferson.
VOICE TWO
The huge red brick building that faced Doctor Mudd and the otherprisoners had six sides. It took up most of the land area of thesmall island. The six wide walls surrounded a large area of openspace in the center.
Each wall was about fifteen meters tall. Inside the walls werehundreds of rooms. Most of them held huge guns that pointed out tosea. Many other buildings were also inside the huge fort. Soldiersslept in them. Some of the houses were used by the officers.
Soldiers and prisoners worked and lived within the walls of thefort. The extreme heat affected them all.
Hundreds of sea birds flew over the small island. Doctor Muddmust have believed that those birds would be the only creatures thatwould ever escape from Fort Jefferson. He must have believed thatfar away island would be his new home for a very long time. But hewas wrong.
VOICE ONE:
Three years later, in Eighteen-Sixty-Seven, Doctor Mudd washelping the prison doctor treat victims of the disease yellow fever.Many died. Soon, the prison doctor also lost his own battle with thedisease. Only Doctor Mudd was left to treat the increasing number ofmen who became sick with Yellow Fever.
Later, the sickness seemed to leave the island. Many of those whosurvived knew they owned their lives to Doctor Mudd. Almost everyman in Fort Jefferson wrote to the President of the United Statesasking that Doctor Mudd be pardoned because of his work treatingpatients who had Yellow Fever. They said Doctor Mudd was a hero.
In February Eighteen-Sixty-Nine, President Andrew Johnson signeda presidential pardon. Doctor Mudd was a free man. He left FortJefferson and returned to his home in the state of Maryland. He onceagain became a family doctor.
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VOICE TWO:
The first European visitor to the small islands was the Spanishexplorer, Ponce de Leon. He arrived in Fifteen-Thirteen. Ponce deLeon was an older man who was searching for special water thatstories said would make him young again. It was called the "Fountainof Youth."
Ponce de Leon named the little islands the Tortugas. Tortugas isthe Spanish word for the sea creature called a turtle. Thousands ofthem lived on the islands. Ponce de Leon was able to capture many toprovide fresh meat for his ship's crew. He never did find thespecial water of the Fountain of Youth.
In fact, the little islands had no water at all. The Tortugaswere dry. The word "dry" began to appear on early maps of the areato warn ships they could find no fresh water there.
VOICE ONE:
President Thomas Jefferson took an interest in the little islandsas a place that could help protect ships traveling in a large areaof water called the Florida Straits. He proposed a military base bebuilt there. In Eighteen-Twenty-One, the United States took controlof Florida and its islands. The military fort was not begun untilEighteen-Forty-Eight, long after Jefferson's death.
The fort was to be the home of one-thousand-five-hundred men andfour-hundred-fifty huge cannon. It would become the largest Americanfort made of brick building material.
VOICE TWO:
Fort Jefferson was never reallycompleted. It had to be worked on continually. The salt air, wind,water and sand quickly caused problems. The weight of the brickwalls made then sink into the sand.
It was difficult to keep the fort in good repair. As workersbuilt new parts of the fort, others worked at repairing damagecaused by the environment.
Slaves and prisoners did the building and repair work at thefort. Most of the prisoners were army troops. They had been foundguilty of some crime and ordered to serve their sentences at FortJefferson.
In Eighteen Seventy-Four, the American army left Fort Jefferson.Modern artillery made the fort no longer useful.
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VOICE ONE:
Last year, almost one-hundred thousand people made the long tripto visit the Dry Tortugas National Park. Soldiers no longer greetthem when they arrive at Fort Jefferson. Friendly members of theNational Park Service do. They meet every boat filled with visitors.They smile and say, "Welcome to Fort Jefferson and the Dry TortugasNational Park."
The small island's days as a prison are long past. Yet almostevery visitor to the Dry Tortugas National Park asks about its mostfamous prisoner, Doctor Samuel Alexander Mudd. They ask to see hisroom. Most people know that Doctor Mudd did not end his life in theFort Jefferson prison.
VOICE TWO:
Today, the huge prison walls are empty. Only a few of the hugecannon remain. These have been left to show visitors what the oldfort looked like.
The weather continues to affect the fort's buildings and grounds.So Park Service workers continue the fight against the severeenvironmental damage.
VOICE ONE:
The Park extends over an area of more than twenty-six-thousandhectares. Almost all of this is ocean water and living coral reefsthat protect the little islands.
Thousands of different kinds of fish live in the waters near theislands. Many ships have sunk in those waters over the past severalhundred years. Many are inside the area that is part of the nationalpark. The wrecks of these ships help provide safe places for many ofthe fish.
Some visitors are lucky enough to see the huge sea turtles thatgave the islands their name. The little islands are also home tomany kinds of sea birds. Visitors are not permitted on some of theislands in the Dry Tortugas National Park because they wouldfrighten birds that are laying eggs.
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VOICE TWO:
When Fort Jefferson was a prison, a sign was placed on the wallfor new prisoners to see. It said, "Thee Who Enter Here Leave HopeBehind." Few prisoners except for Doctor Mudd had any hope of everleaving there.
Today the sad old fort and empty little islands provide aprotected home for thousands of birds, fish and turtles. Visitorstravel for hours on high-speed boats that bring them from the islandof Key West, Florida. They swim in the warm waters and enjoy thebright sun. Many explore the underwater shipwrecks. Still othersbring temporary cloth shelters and spend a few days living on thewhite sand beaches.
The striking natural beauty of the island today seems to clashwith its earlier history as a lonely, inescapable prison. DoctorMudd surely would approve of the change.
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VOICE ONE:
This Special English program was written by Paul Thompson andproduced by George Grow. Our studio engineer was Wayne Shorter. Thisis Mary Tillotson.
VOICE TWO:
And this is Steve Ember. Join us again next week for anotherEXPLORATIONS program on the Voice of America.