Francis Scott Key Buoy
Francis Scott Key, on a friendly mission to retrieve an imprisoned American doctor from a British warship, sailed out of Baltimore Harbor in early September, 1814. On September 7, just a week before the Bombardment of Fort McHenry, Key and John Stuart Skinner boarded an enemy boat, eventually lobbying General Robert Ross for Dr. William Beanes’ release. However, Key, Beanes and Skinner were not allowed to leave British captivity until after the Battle. They returned to their ship but were tied to an enemy craft in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay. On September 14th, after a day long barrage of mortar shells and Congreve rockets, Fort McHenry lowered its tattered flag and raised a much larger one in its place, inspiring Francis Scott to scribble a few stanzas on some letterhead. Penned during battle with the British and eventually adapted to a British drinking song, the Star-Spangled Banner officially became America’s national anthem in 1931.
At 11 am on Tuesday, September 8th, 1914, the Francis Scott Key Buoy was lowered into the Patapsco River, marking the spot where the Baltimore lawyer, and sometimes poet, wrote the Star-Spangled Banner. The ceremony was part of the week-long National Star-Spangled Centennial celebration. Each year the buoy is removed before winter and replaced in the spring, allowing for maintenance and preservation.
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