Naufrágio Aymoré

The Aymoré was built in 1883 by the Armstrong Mitchell & Co. shipyard of Newcastle, England; in 1886 it passed to the Companhia Nacional de Navegação a Vapor and, in 1890, to Lloyd Brasileiro. In July 1920 it was returning from Montevideo, in place of the liner Sírio, and was due to continue to Recife. With a rudder problem, it stopped in Santos for repairs from 17 to 21 July. Accounts of the accident differ: in one, at 2 a.m. on the 23rd, in thick fog, the ship ran up onto the rocks of Ponta do Ribeirão and went aground; in another, the day after leaving Santos, in rain and strong winds, it was swept by currents against Pedra do Ribeirão, damaged its bow and sank slowly.

Captain Alfredo Cézar Botelho called for help by radiotelegraph to the Lloyd agent in Santos, and tugboats and the steamers Avaré and Laguna, the latter carrying hard-hat divers, were sent. No one died: the Avaré took the passengers and the mailbags to Santos, but part of the cargo was lost, such as dried meat and empty ammunition casings. The cargo was ammunition and other unspecified items, totalling 4,794 packages. Despite the rescue effort, the Aymoré sank for good a few days later.

Today the wreck lies parallel to the rocky shore, with its bow less than 1 m from a pillar of the Ponta do Ribeirão pier. There are signs that one of the boilers exploded. The stern is still partly intact, with the remains of the propeller, which is still in place but had its blades cut off, next to the rudder that fell to port, and behind the stern the large rudder wheel stands out. The 60 m hull rests on a rocky shore with a sandy bottom and is home to many species, among them turtles, seahorses and resident and passing schools of fish.