Berthed at the Key West Bight at 202 William Street is the Western Union, the historic schooner of Key West, Florida. Launched in 1939 by Herbert Elroy Arch of Thompson Enterprises, she was built to serve as a cable tender, maintaining the communication link between Florida cities, Caribbean islands and South America. From 1939 to 1974 she was used to check and repair those undersea telegraph cables, replacing the earlier schooner John W. Atkins in that work.
Her frame is Cayman mahogany; all her planking is Longleaf yellow pine from Florida, and two engines were installed to steady her at sea and assist in the cable laying process. Owned by the Western Union Thompson Fish Company and almost immediately leased to the Western Union Telegraph Co., she later became the official flagship of the State of Florida and the flagship of the city of Key West. On May 16, 1984, she was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
She is the last surviving authentic working tall ship built in Florida. Picture her mahogany frame and yellow-pine planking, and the water of the Bight stretching beyond her bow.