 | This article contains close paraphrasing of a non-free copyrighted source, http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/wreckage-of-ms-cabo-santa-maria (Copyvios report). (April 2018) |
MV Cabo Santa Maria is a shipwreck located off the coast of Boa Vista, Cape Verde. She was a Spanish cargo ship built by Empresa Nacional Bazan[1] in 1957[1]. She weighed 4972 gross tons.[1]
On September 1st 1968, MV Cabo Santa Maria on voyage from Genoa to Buenos Aires was carrying gifts from the Spanish government to the government of Argentina and Brazil when she ran aground at Boa Vista during a storm.[1] A tugboat was sent from the island of São Vicente to try to dislodge the ship, but to no avail. The crew was able to escape the scene unhurt. Most of the population of Boa Vista, including children as well ass public employees and machine operators from the other islands, were mobilized in order to remove the cargo of the ship. They used mules and donkeys to carry the cargo to the nearby capital of Boa Vista, Sal Rei. The unloading of the ship was carried out for almost a year.[2]
Today the ship is slowly disintegrating. After almost 50 years of battering by the wind and constant waves, much of the deck and hold have disappeared. Over the decades the shipwreck has become a symbol of the island.[2]