AH-WR-0945

Nuestra Señora de Belén y San Antonio de Padua

Merchant Ship · Spain · Lost 1733 · The Florida Keys

A Cádiz merchant's nao, nicknamed Herrera, wrecked off Upper Matecumbe Key in the 1733 hurricane that destroyed the Spanish treasure fleet.

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Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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 Belén y San Antonio de Padua, an English-built 243-ton nao known as Herrera for her owner, sailed near the center of the 1733 New Spain flota. Pushed over the reef by the July hurricane, she sank near Upper Matecumbe Key while leaking badly. Spanish divers recovered her silver coin, though perishable cargo was ruined. Her ballast mound survives on a sand-and-grass bottom studied as part of the 1733 fleet sites.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: England
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: 243
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Don Luís Herrera, Cádiz merchant

Loss

Date: July 15, 1733
Cause: Storm
Location: Near Matecumbe El Grande (Upper Matecumbe Key)
Water: Atlantic Ocean, Hawk Channel
Voyage: Veracruz, New Spain (via Havana) → Cádiz, Spain
Cargo: Animal hides, cochineal, indigo, sugar, tobacco, silver coin, gifts
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: Casualty figures are not stated in the sources reviewed.
Master: Not established

The Wreck Today

Depth: 20 ft
Condition: Egg-rock ballast mound oriented northwest to southeast on a white sand bottom
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: Not established
Protection: Listed on the National Register of Historic Places; within Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary