Naufrágio Príncipe de Astúrias

Known as the "Brazilian Titanic", the Príncipe de Astúrias sounded its sirens at 4:02 a.m. and, at 4:15 a.m., struck the rocks of Ponta da Pirabura, in Ilhabela. It was carrying 12 bronze statues for the Monument of the Spaniards, in Palermo Park, Buenos Aires, as well as 1,470 t of copper parts, 668 t of tin and 960 t of lead. The ship Vega picked up many survivors and some bodies, but most of the bodies washed up in the Baía de Castelhanos, in Ilhabela, and on Praia Grande, in Ubatuba. It is said that captain José Lotina and the first officer took their own lives on the bridge; their bodies were never found.

In 1989 salvage was authorised: many parts of the wreckage were blasted and removed, and the propeller was removed during the recovery operation. On 1 October 1990 two statues of women from the Argentine monument were recovered, and one of them now stands in front of the Navy's General Documentation Service, on Ilha das Cobras, in Rio de Janeiro. Objects recovered from the wreck, such as a tray, a shower head, silver ice buckets, one of the letters of the ship's name, soup ladles and cutlery, are on display at the Ilhabela Museum. On the shaft, flanges opened in some places may indicate that the ship hit the bottom with its propellers still turning.