AH-WR-1320

Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe y San Antonio

Spanish Galleon · Spain · Lost August 1724, during a hurricane · Cuba & the Greater Antilles

The flagship of Spain's 1724 mercury fleet, wrecked in a hurricane in Samaná Bay and now the centerpiece of the Dominican Republic's first underwater museum.

Become Captain of Record

Artistic recreation based on recorded historical documents.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 Guadalupe y San Antonio was the capitana, or flagship, of the 1724 Flota de Azogues carrying mercury to New Spain. A hurricane wrecked her in Samaná Bay alongside her consort Conde de Tolosa, killing the fleet commander and dozens of others. Rediscovered in the 1970s, the wreck yielded thousands of artifacts and became the subject of a major Spanish-Dominican archaeological study, and it is now protected as the Guadalupe Underwater Archaeological Preserve.

Vessel

Built: Not established
Builder: Not established
Yard: Not established
Material: Wood
Length: Not established
Beam: Not established
Tonnage: Not established
Propulsion: Sail
Owners: Spanish Crown, Flota de Azogues

Loss

Date: August 1724, during a hurricane
Cause: Storm
Location: Bahía de Samaná, Hispaniola
Water: Bahía de Samaná / Atlantic Ocean
Voyage: Cádiz, Spain → Veracruz, New Spain
Cargo: Approximately 5,000 quintales of mercury
Aboard: Not established
Lives lost: 80
Master: Baltasar de Guevara y Vinuesa (fleet commander, lost in the wreck)

The Wreck Today

Depth: Not established
Condition: Hull remains documented archaeologically; site includes an iron anchor and seven cannons
Orientation: Not established
Discovered: 1976
Protection: Guadalupe Underwater Archaeological Preserve, Living Museum of the Sea (established 2011)