2-324-259 - Curt Teich Postcard Archives/Heritage Images

Sponge fleet in the harbour, Tarpon Springs, Florida, USA, 1940. Postcard. View showing a number of boats tied to a dock. Some men are standing on the boats. Tarpon Springs was the centre of a thriving sponge harvesting industry from the late 19th century. Many of the divers were Greek immigrants, who introduced the techniques they had used to gather sponges underwater in the Mediterranean. The industry was wiped out in 1947 by a red algae bloom that killed the sponges.