Scott Stroh

The Florida Division of Historical Resources needs your help to save Florida’s shipwrecks. To help Save Our Shipwrecks and make a positive difference in our coastal communities, please participate in the Pepsi Refresh Project’s Do Good for the Gulf initiative. You have only to cast your vote for this important project.

In 2010, Pepsi is giving away millions of dollars to fund good ideas, big and small, that make the world a better place, refresh communities, and benefit others.  Known as The Pepsi Refresh Project, this initiative provides $1.3 million in grant funds each month in support of ideas submitted and voted on by the public. In recognition of the significant challenges caused by the Gulf oil spill, Pepsi is giving away an extra $1.3 million toward ideas that benefit communities affected by the oil spill during the month of August.

Public voting began on Aug. 2 and runs through Aug. 31, so visit http://gulf.refresheverything.com/saveourshipwrecks and cast your vote now.

The Florida Division of Historical Resources’ Save Our Shipwrecks project will preserve shipwrecks threatened and at risk because of the oil spill, enhance environmental restoration efforts in the Gulf, stimulate economic development in Florida’s impacted coastal communities, and inspire and empower education and conservation through interactive learning opportunities. 

Florida boasts thousands of distinctive and historically significant shipwrecks, ranging from the 1559 Emanuel Point wrecks off Pensacola, representing the site of two known Spanish vessels sunk during a storm, to the USS Narcissus, a Civil War-era Union tug boat that sank following an onboard explosion in 1865.