 Of about fifty people living on the island, forty were able to escape.The dead included Dr. Henry Perrine, former United States Consul in Campeche, Mexico, who was waiting at Indian Key until it was safe to take up a 36-square mile (93 km²) grant on the mainland that Congress had awarded to him.The naval base on the Key was manned by a doctor, his patients, and five sailors under a midshipman.