According to legend he was a first-rate pilot
who had the uncanny and natural ability to guide
ships and boats throughout the waters of Florida.
His obituary tells of his escape from the pirate
Jose Gaspar by hiding under the seat of a fishing
boat that had been pulled to shore, and paddling
back out with a piece of a board. When he was
found three days later by a ship headed to the
Keys, he was starving and dehydrated. Once he
came to shore, they said, he never left Florida
again.
The Fort Myers News Press wrote a history
piece on him on June 14, 1894 – his alleged 113th
birthday – which spoke of his serving as a cabin
boy on a trans-Atlantic ship in the Carolinas, but
he left because of mistreatment and went to St.
Augustine.
It was while working ships that traveled around
the southern tip of Florida to the west coast
when he met his wife, Sara Green near Tampa.
Sara’s daughter, Martha Weeks, told how he was
wearing nothing but rags and was homeless and
hungry when he met her mother, and she took
him into her home. They eventually married
and were together until she died. He then
moved to Panther Key and remarried. The
Collier County Museum has a photo of
Panther Key John and his second wife at their
home on Panther Key.
There is a question as to where Panther Key
really is, as we have a Panther Key just to the
south of us, near Pine Island Sound. However,
other literature geographically places Panther
Key somewhere near Marco Island. It was also
known as Gomez Key.
At one point it is said that John owned a
schooner named Red Jack, and it was written
in 1857 that he took parties on excursions
and would pilot government ships through
shallow waters until 1861. At that time Florida
joined the Confederacy and Panther Key John
started finding blockade runners, and served
on the Tampa Bay Home Guard Unit. That
would have been the second war Gomez
served in, as it is rumored he also fought in
the Seminole War under Gen. Zachary Taylor,
and was in the battle of Okeechobee which
was fought on Christmas Day in 1837.
It is written that he and his second wife lived
on Panther Key on a diet that consisted of
fish, turtles, turtle eggs, coffee, sugar and meal.
Above, photos of Panther Key John submitted by his
family. Top left, part of the old railroad information
that glamorized and exaggerated John’s life.
42 GASPARILLA ISLAND September/October 2019