“You a cop?” someone asked him.
“No,” he said, and smiled at Hannah. “But we’re all here for the history and legends that Miss O’Brien is about to disclose, so why don’t we give her our attention and let the authorities handle the information about the murder?”
“Of course,” George said, clearly sorry and slightly ashamed he had spoken.
“I’ll start out with the house we’re in,” Hannah said quickly. “Please, take a bottle of water from the table over there and grab a seat.” Her guests obeyed; those who didn’t find room on the sofa or nab one of the armchairs—mostly the younger members of the party—simply found comfortable spots on the floor. “The Siren of the Sea is named in tribute to the original owner—a merchant who followed the siren call of the sea, at least until the tragedy that befell his ship, which went down in the early 1850s. I’m sure you’ve already heard some Key West history, but this house figures in that history—as will a lot more of the places we visit tonight—so I’ll briefly recap. The Spanish were the first to arrive on this island, which they called Cayo Hueso, or Island of Bones. That’s because the bones of the indigenous people lay everywhere. When the English arrived, they bastardized the name to Key West. In 1763 Key West passed into the hands of the British for a mere twenty years before it was returned to Spanish control.
“By the early 1820s, when Key West became an American territory, piracy was raging on the high seas. Commodore David Porter planted the American flag here on the island, complained about the pirates and was ordered to subdue them. He immediately instituted martial law, something that didn’t go over well with the citizens, mainly fishermen and divers who either called the island home or made use of its resources. The pirates were pretty quickly expunged by the Mosquito Squadron, a fleet of small ships that Porter commanded. After that, salvage became the order of the day.
“There are many stories about so-called wreckers setting up lights to lure ships onto the reefs, but most of those stories are fiction. The wreckers of Key West didn’t need to create any maritime disasters. The shoals and reefs off the shore were deadly all on their own.
“When Ian Chandler arrived in the early 1840s he built this house, and in its day it was considered an appropriate residence for a prosperous businessman. Mr. Chandler wasn’t a wrecker, of course. He was, as I said, a merchant, one in possession of a number of ships. His Wind and the Sea was a three-masted schooner, a beautiful ship—as you can see by the painting above the fireplace. In September of 1857 the Wind and the Sea sailed from her berth in Key West carrying all kinds of goods, cigars from Cuba, sponges from the local waters and jewelry from workshops in Colombia. She’d barely left home when a vicious storm came tearing across the Florida Straits. The ship was tossed back on the reef, where it struck a coral shelf and began to sink. Ian Chandler was on the ship himself, but his beautiful young daughter was still at home.
“When word came that the ship had foundered and was sinking, the cry went up. Now, here’s the thing about wreckers. The first man or company to get out to the wreck lays claim. Others who help with the salvage are entitled to a share of the goods and/or what they brought in. But the first wrecker on the site is the one to call the shots and divvy up the haul.
“As it happened, Ian’s daughter, Melody, was in love with a young wrecker, Hagen Dundee. Ian—a widower by then—frowned on their relationship, despite the fact that Hagen was well liked and respected in the community. The two were planning on marrying but were still hoping for Ian’s blessing. Diaries and letters left by those who lived in the area at the time suggest that Ian Chandler would have disliked anyone who won his daughter’s love, because Melody was the light of his life.