Santa Maria de Yciar

The Santa María de Yciar was part of Antonio Corzo’s flotilla.

Only 4 ships departed from Veracruz: San Esteban, San Andrés, Espíritu Santo and Santa María de Yciar. Three of them were wrecked in a storm on April 29, including the Santa Maria de Yciar.

Many of the 300 sailors and passengers drowned while trying to reach shore; about thirty took a boat to seek help; almost all the rest died of thirst or starvation, or were killed by Karankawa Indians. The Spaniards sent a salvage expedition under the command of Ángel de Villafañe, who protected the site from looters coming from the settlements of Tampico and Pánuco, until the main salvage crew arrived. They were led by García de Escalante Alvarado, who had bought six ships to recover coins belonging to Emperor Charles V, ingots, and the rest of the cargo.

The wreck was located in 1950 and destroyed when the Mansfield Canal was dredged in the 1950s.

Read the full story in “10 notable shipwrecks”