Segundo Volador

Segundo Volador anchored in the port of Pensacola on March 25. She was carrying supplies and rifles from Havana. During the night the wind picked up, and although the schooner was secured to her moorings, she drifted towards the shoal of Calafates.

Seeing the danger, the schooner fired her cannons, asking for help, but the call went unheeded, probably because the waters were too dangerous for small vessels to sail. As a result the stern hit the shoal, and in a matter of moments she was tilted and torn apart. The people on board spent the rest of the night clinging to the gunwale that sheltered them from the pounding waves.

At dawn, a guairo —a small coastal vessel— came to their aid, but because of the breaking waves, he didn’t dare approach the ship nor send his boat, for fear of causing more misfortunes. Nor could the schooner’s castaways communicate with the guairo, which was upwind.

The commander jumped into the sea and swam out with a line in his mouth, which he was able to tie off at the relief boat. Thanks to him, his people were saved, except for a corporal and a soldier. The commander was freed from charge and his actions were praised. The pilots who moored the schooner were sentenced to one year of seatime as seafarers without pay.