SS Benwood in approximately to of water between Dixie Shoals (to the north) and French Reef (to the south) off of Key Largo, Florida. On April 10, 1942, the crew of the salvage tug "Willet" examined the wreck and determined that the keel of the "Benwood" was broken, and she was a total loss. However, her superstructure and cargo of phosphate rock appear to have been salvaged. Her stern section, once considered a hazard to navigation, seems to have been mostly obliterated by explosions of an unknown type. This salvaging on the ship over the years prompted John Pennekamp Coral Reef State
Benwood mine disaster Benwood mine disaster The Benwood Mine Disaster was a coal mine explosion that occurred on Monday, April 28, 1924, at the Benwood Mine of the former Wheeling Steel Corporation steel mill located in the city of Benwood in Marshall County, West Virginia. The explosion claimed the lives of 119 coal miners. There were no survivors. It is the third worst coal mining disaster in the state of West Virginia after the Monongah Mine disaster of December 6, 1907 that claimed the lives of 361 miners and the Eccles Mine Disaster of April 28, 1914 that claimed the lives of 183