Cartanza Senora
Cargo Freighter · Lost Reported variously as sunk in 1979 or scuttled in the late 1970s; the exact date and circumstances are not established. · The Lesser Antilles
A cargo freighter of uncertain final circumstances that came to rest off St Thomas's Buck Island, now a popular shallow wreck dive broken into three parts.
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The Vessel and Her Loss
Cartanza Senora, sometimes called Cartanser Senior, was a steel-hulled cargo freighter whose final voyage and manner of loss are not clearly documented. She came to rest near Buck Island off St Thomas, US Virgin Islands, by the late 1970s, and lies broken into three sections in shallow water. She is now a well-known and accessible wreck dive.
Vessel
- Not established
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- Steel
- 190 ft
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- Diesel, single screw
- Not established
Loss
- Reported variously as sunk in 1979 or scuttled in the late 1970s; the exact date and circumstances are not established.
- Not established
- Near Buck Island, off St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
- Caribbean Sea
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The Wreck Today
- 20-60
- Broken into three sections, encrusted with coral
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Position
- 18.28° N 64.90° W
- Reported, unconfirmed
- Buck Island, St Thomas, US Virgin Islands
Rounded from coordinates published by recreational dive listings; not independently verified.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Sparsely documented (40/100)
The vessel's flag, build year, and true cause and date of sinking are not established in the sources reviewed; popular accounts of an evaded Coast Guard search are unverified.
St Thomas/US Virgin Islands dive tourism accounts
General wreck description and popular loss narrative.
