AH-WR-0946

Nuestra Señora de las Angustias

Merchant Ship · Spain · Lost 1733 · The Florida Keys

A merchant nao of the 1733 Spanish fleet, driven ashore at Long Key with no loss of life; one survivor's shipboard poem became a rare firsthand account of the disaster.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents. See the documented evidence.

Interpretive Reconstruction, drawn to convey the vessel's era, type and general form. See the documented evidence.

The Vessel and Her Loss

Nuestra Señora de las Angustias, an English-built 328-ton nao, sailed in the rear of the 1733 New Spain flota alongside the almiranta. The hurricane stranded her in shallow water at Long Key; everyone aboard survived, and most cargo was salvaged. A passenger, Joseph Ignacio de Toca Velasco, wrote a lengthy poem describing the storm from the survivors' camp, later published in Madrid.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: England
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: 328
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: José Sánchez de Madrid

Loss

Date: July 15, 1733
Cause: Storm
Location: Long Key Channel, near Cayo de Viboras (Long Key)
Water: Atlantic Ocean, Hawk Channel
Voyage: Veracruz, New Spain (via Havana) → Cádiz, Spain
Cargo: Indigo and cochineal dyes, Mexican silver, Chinese porcelain
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 0
Master: Don Francisco Sánchez Madrid

The Wreck Today

Depth: 14 ft
Condition: Ballast remains at the bottom of Long Key Channel; lesser-known and lightly visited among the 1733 fleet sites
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; within Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary