O Naufrágio do San Pedro de Alcantara -Peniche - Portugal
Posted by: 
h_raky
N 39° 22.646 W 009° 22.743
29S E 467352 N 4358730
The San Pedro de Alcântara, a Spanish War Ship with 68 (64 in some books) cannons is built in La Habana, Cuba in caoba wood, a high reputated tropical wood, by Gautier, British naval constructor at the service of His Catholic Magesty.
Waymark Code: WMAF6T
Location: Leiria, Portugal
Date Posted: 01/08/2011
Views: 16
the King of Spain. It was the prototype of a new kind of ships, and, since the beguining , even if it could reach a good speed, be very strong and has an acceptable maneuverability, it had some defects. In some wind conditions there was the risk of loosing the masts and sails. This same conditions make him loose precision when using the cannons.
1774 - March, under the command of Pedro Colarte reached the 61º South in the Antartida.
1780 - Cuzco, Peru, 3300 meters of altitude: José Gabriel Tupac Amaru, chief of the Tungasuca village in the Vilcanota Valley, ancient Sacret River between Cuzco and lake Titicaca in the Ands started the biggest indian rebellion of all history of the Hispano-American history. José Gabriel Tupac Amaru descended from his mother side, of the ancient Inca Dinasty destroyed 2 centuries before by the soldiers of Castille. Today his name is still connected to some liberation groups in Peru.
1781: In a cold spring morning, rebellious chied is tortured and killed in public by orders of the Spanish governor in the presence of the visitor Areche. His youngest son, Fernando, standing under the gallows watch his father´s execution.
1784: The Ship is loaded Copper, Silver and Gold from the mines in Peru. It was also carrying a collection of ceramis from the ancient Chimu culture, and some prisioners from the Tupac Amaru independency movement. Many years before, the Gerrilla movement in Peru adopted this name.
Unfortunately, the ship was heavilly loaded. It was carrying 600 tons of copper, 153 tons of Silver and 4 tons of Gold. The Silver came in the form of coins, mostly, 8 reales coins (the famous "pieces of eight" from the pirate movies). The load was more or less the double of what the ship should carry, the captain was aware that the ship could loose the bottom during a storm, but, there were no rulles about that and the ship set sail.
Why did the Spanish risk a journey like that with the ship this heavily loaded and risking loosing the cargo? One of the reasons was the end of the Independence War wich oposed the (now) United States (Spain an France) to England wich ended the English enbargo to South América. Because of the enbargo there were large quantities of goods waiting for a transport to Europe. Also, the Spanish authorities were in a hurry to take away some of the most important Tupac Amarau rebels. During the journey the ship was continuously beeing filled with water and the crew had to put a lot of effort to keep the pumps working and throwing away the water. After passing Cape Horn the ship stoped at Rio de Janeiro for repairs leaving at the beginning of 1786.
1786: At 10h30 pm of the 2nd February the San Pedro de Alcantara hit the rocks at the Papoa Peninsula in Peniche. With light wind, the ship was traveling at 6 knots so there´s no logic explanation for the accident. Maybe the heavy cargo. The inpact was so huge that the ship broke by the line of water and the bottom sunk alost imediatly. The top of the ship drift for a while. 128 dead and 270 survivors. Among the victims were 17 indians, political prisioners, man, women and children connected to the Tupac Amaru rebellion. Among the survivors was fernando Tupac Amaru. The boy, suddenly free after escaping death surrender himself to the authorities and is sent to Spain were he would die years later.
The Copper, Silver and Gold of the San Pedro de Alcantara represented 1/12 of the total ammount of the currency circulanting in Spain causing panic among the authorities. The King send a representative to the spot and a huge rescue operation takes place. This lasted for almost 3 years. In the next months Peniche turns into a huge salvage camp. There were 40 international divers from all over Europe involved. This was a huge technical sucess and European newspapers wrote about it month after month all accross Europe. We believe that there are no remains of the ship at the bottom of the Ocean. In July, the divers removed the bottom of the ship and this huge skelleton was dismantled at the Peniche de Cima Beach.
This operation was a huge success and, still today, it´s considered one of the bigest of his kind in Europe.
Date of Shipwreck: 1786: At 10h30 pm of the 2nd February
Type of Boat: Sailboat
Military or Civilian: The San Pedro de Alcântara, a Spanish War Ship
Cause of Shipwreck: hit the rocks at the Papoa Peninsula in Peniche
Accessibility:
only by rig there is a lot of current.
Wreck dive for experienced divers.
Diving Permitted: yes
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Visit Instructions:
Only log the site if you have visited it personally.
Floating over a site does not qualify as a find if it is a wreck that requires diving - you must have actually visited the site - therefore photos of the site are good.