In the Sunshine State on this day in:

1565 French Admiral Jean Ribault, along with approximately 200 of his men, was put to death by Pedro Menendez de Aviles and Spanish soldiers on the banks of the Matanazas River near St. Augustine.  Only sixteen individuals were spared this slaughter.  Of Ribault, Menendez reported to King Philip II of Spain:

“I had Jean Ribault with all the rest put to the knife, understanding this to be expedient for the service of God our Lord and of Your Majesty; and I hold it very great good fortune that he should be dead; for the King of France could do more with him with fifty thousand ducats that with others with five hundred thousand; and he could do more in one year than another in ten, for he was the most experienced seaman and corsair known, and very skillful in this navigation of the Indies and the coast of Florida.”

1964 Florida residents were busy preparing for Hurricane Isbell that was expected to hit the Florida coast near 10,000 Islands tomorrow.


1998 Columbus Day, a national holiday, but it is also “Farmer’s Day,” an official Florida holiday.