Naufrágio Velasquez

The Velasquez sailed the route between Buenos Aires and New York with cargo and passengers. Coming from Buenos Aires, she docked in Santos to take on passengers and 2,133 sacks of coffee bound for New York. In October 1908, shortly after leaving Santos carrying coffee and mailbags, she met heavy rain, rough seas and fog and struck the rocks of Bustamante, near Ponta da Sela, suffering major damage. The exact cause is not known, but it was most likely a navigation error. All 137 people on board were saved, and the ship, after months aground, was eventually destroyed by the waves.

Because of the rough sea, it was not possible to recover the passengers' luggage, which became part of the underwater landscape of the site. The site is marked by a rock that rises about one metre above the surface in a recess of the rocky shore, and three large boilers lie at the centre of the wreckage. On the rocky shore, in line with the wreckage, there is a Hawkins anchor still housed in its hawsepipe, with chains and a mooring bollard. The pieces of the ship are surrounded by a wide variety of colourful fish and other forms of marine life.