Monroe County removes massive derilict submarine from waters in the Florida Keys
Monroe County officials Monday removed an abandoned massive 96-foot yellow submarine from the nearshore waters of the Florida Keys.
The sub was brought to the Keys in the late 1990s by an engineer who hoped to make it seaworthy and take it to Honduras to operate tours, the Associated Press reported in 2008.
But, that never happened, according to Monroe County court documents. Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers arrested the sub’s owner, 72-year-old Duane Shelton, on a misdemeanor count of abandoning a derelict vessel, to which he pleaded no contest in November 2023. He was sentenced to one year probation.
The AP reported that Shelton bought the hull of the sub from a Chicago scrap yard in 1997 for $10,000, and was working on refurbishing the vessel in the mangroves of Boot Key, an unhinhabited wooded island off the Middle Keys city of Marathon.
In its Oct. 11, 2023, arrest report, the FWC stated that the submarine was mostly dismantled when officers found it, and it had “no means of propulsion or steerage and its hull integrity is compromised.”
When announcing the sub’s removal Monday, Monroe County spokeswoman Kristen Livengood called the endeavor “one of the most unusual and challenging projects in Monroe County’s derelict vessel removal program.”
The county employed a marine contractor to remove the vessel, in coordination with Monroe’s Marine Resource Office, Livengood said.
While Monroe County leads Florida in boating accidents, it does not have the most registered vessels. But derelict boats are a major problem, creating threats to navigation and enviromental damage.
“Derelict vessels, whether a small skiff or a massive submarine, pose serious threats to the environment, boater safety, and navigation,” Senior Administrator for Marine Resources Brittany Burtner said in a statement. “Removing this submarine is not only a win for our waterways, but also a reminder of the importance of prevention.”
In the first six months of 2025, the county, in partnership with FWC, has removed 134 derelict vessels from Keys waters, Livengood said.
The county has two major vessel removals scheduled in the coming weeks: a commercial shrimp boat off Islamorada and a large boat grounded off Bahia Honda State Park that is visible from U.S. 1, Livengood said.
County officials encourage people who own boats that are at risk of becoming derelict to take advantage of FWC’s Vessel Turn-In program, which allows them to surrender their boats before they become problems. For more information, go to https://myfwc.com/boating/waterway/vtip/.
