The remains of hundreds of shipwrecks line the Florida Keys reef tract. Their stories are the history of the Keys.

Some wrecks have been identified, but many have not. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and state archeologist have spent thousands of dollars investigating the wrecks to determine their origin. The remains have become living museums the sanctuary chooses to leave in the waters so divers can enjoy them in their natural state, as opposed to removing them and putting them in a facility on land.

The sanctuary has established a Shipwreck Trail, running from Key West to Key Largo, to showcase the wrecks and educate people on their history and importance.

Sanctuary officials are reminding divers not to take or move anchors, ballast stones and small trinkets found along the reef, as they could be the clues that lead to a wreck being identified.

The reminder comes after sanctuary divers discovered nine Crown patent fuel blocks, a mixture of coals that have been molded into briquettes, stacked on top of each other on a sand patch on Horseshoe Reef off Key Largo in August. Two researchers, who routinely work underwater in that area, observed the newly formed piles of blocks, sanctuary spokeswoman Karrie Carnes said. Sanctuary officials fear someone was trying to take them as souvenirs.

The divers know the blocks could not have been moved by wave action, as they were stacked too perfectly. One pile contained six blocks, with three blocks stacked on top of each other and three additional blocks nearby. Another pile just 10 feet away contained three of the same blocks lying together in the sand.

“While the site may have been impacted by storms and hurricanes over time but nothing except human influence could have created the neat stacks of these artifacts,” said Brenda Altmeier, who works for the sanctuary’s Maritime Heritage Resources Division.

The sanctuary moved the blocks to another area of Horseshoe Reef last month to protect them from further disturbance or theft, Carnes said. They are out of plain sight and protected from surges and other potential environmental impacts.

One of the blocks is on display in the sanctuary’s Upper Keys office.

Sanctuary divers first discovered the blocks and other artifacts on Horseshoe Reef in October 1993. Patent fuel was a means of using small pieces of coal that otherwise would have been wasted. These blocks bear the symbol of the Crown Patent Fuel Works Ltd., formerly of Cardiff, England.

Underwater archeologists suspect the blocks were from the 1894 vessel S.S. Moonstone, Altmeier said. While archeologists have visited the site and collected data to determine its origin, they have not been able to confirm it.

The National Marine Sanctuary Act makes it illegal to disturb a site or recover artifacts without a permit. Movement or disturbance of artifacts could diminish the quantity of potential information that may be obtained from a site, Altmeier said.

“Shipwrecks, as well as the many artifacts located along the Florida Keys, are nonrenewable resources that provide evidence of historical human impacts that have taken place along the Florida Keys for centuries,” Altmeier said. “Removing and/or moving artifacts may cause irreparable damage and potentially inhibit researchers from unlocking questions about past ways of life, historic or legendary events. Each artifact, regardless of its size, can aid in building the story of humankind’s adventure on the sea.”

Keys reefs have seen more than their share of shipwrecks, as captains for generations have struggled to navigate its shallow waters. Each year, archeologists with the State Division of Historical Resources and the sanctuary partner and pick several unidentified wrecks to dive on and collect data from. In the past few years, they have focused their attentions on the remains of three wrecks off Marathon, dubbed only the Rib, Brick and Pin wrecks.

“The wrecks tell us what was going on in transportation, commerce and war,” Division of Historical Resources underwater archeologist Roger Smith said. “These artifacts may seem small and insignificant, but they are a valuable piece of the giant puzzle.”

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Red tape has kept Charlie Shapiro, treasure hunter, away from the 224-year-old wreck of the Brederode, which is laden with crated-up porcelain, tin and gold from Indonesia and China.

Centuries-old trinkets from rusty buttons to gifts destined for kings take up a room in Charlie Shapiro’s house - treasures from a lifetime spent combing the ocean floor for shipwrecks.

But the wreck diver’s trove is incomplete, as one of his richest recent finds lies waiting in the deep fathoms of the ocean a decade after its discovery, at risk from pillagers.

Shapiro found the 224-year-old shipwreck of the Dutch Brederode 11 years ago, but a series of mishaps has left him still waiting for government to grant him a permit to excavate its 120 million-rand (£10.1 million) cargo.

“That wreck was my baby, that was my life’s work,” Shapiro says of the ship which has dominated three decades of his existence.

From combing archives in Europe and South Africa, to a 16-year search and against-the-odds discovery of a ship considered an amazingly well-preserved archaeological find, Shapiro’s tale is literally of a treasure hunt.

Greed and disagreements broke up the group of salvors that he formed, and his permit to excavate the ship was lost in a whirl of law changes and a government moratorium on all permits, which has only recently been lifted.

Jonathan Sharfman, a maritime archeologist at the South African Heritage Resources Agency, told AFP that the Brederode, sunk in 1785, is a “completely unique kind of shipwreck. It has the potential to be really high profile”.

This means that Shapiro is unlikely to get his permit without in-depth excavation and conservation plans for the ship, which is still laden with perfectly crated porcelain, tin and gold carried from Indonesia and China.

“We just want to ensure everybody is doing what they should do. We can’t just allow it to be ripped out and sold,” said Sharfman.

“It’s a reasonably intact ship… it really is an amazing example. It presents a unique set of archaeological information.”

The ship, which belonged to the Dutch East India Company, is one of an estimated 3,000 shipwrecks sunk by the forces around South Africa’s unforgiving coastline, which have spawned legends of phantom ships around the treacherous Cape.

From the Shipwreck Coast on the west of the country all the way up to Namibia’s Skeleton Coast, these waters have struck fear into the hearts of sailors and many have perished.

Through the damp mist, the famous sea phantom the Flying Dutchman has been seen from time to time, steered by a Captain van der Decken, cursed to sail the seas for eternity after he insisted on rounding the Cape in foul weather.

Some beached ships have become popular tourist attractions in places like the tiny Northern Cape mining town of Koingnaas, but those that sank are difficult to reach, making the South African coastline an underwater museum.

Shapiro and his company have excavated ships such as the British Birkenhead, which sunk in 1852 and which became famous for starting the tradition of allowing women and children to save themselves first.

A section of his home holds perfectly preserved porcelain plates, weapons and valuable statuettes destined for kings of Portugal, France and England as a gift from the king of Siam aboard the Portuguese ship Milagros in 1686.

From a hoard of bloated wine bottles, an old vintage soured by sea water, to scary-looking medical tools encrusted with rust, Shapiro feels the rich historical legacy of shipwrecks is better kept where people can see it.

The permit tussle is a result of the Unesco convention on underwater heritage, which prevents commercial exploitation of ships over 60 years old, and which South Africa’s parliament has still not ratified.

“They want wrecks left in situ for future generations - what’s wrong with our generation? Wrecks are not there forever,” says Shapiro.

Now, he can only wait as his treasure lies on the ocean floor off the coast of Struisbaai, 220 kilometres (135 miles) from Cape Town, where he has already spotted people searching for the wreck site.