Antartico Grounding and lost at Santander







      She was built on 1914 as Sicily. On 1933 changed her name toPagasitikis, and on 1937 to François. She had this name for short time because on the same year was seized in the Strait of Gibraltar by the auxiliary cruiser Mallorca. Durante el resto de la guerra navegó camuflado como Vigo. En 1939 fue rebautizado como Castillo Andrade y pasó a Elcano al formarse esta.

Shipyard / Year	Richardson, Duck & Co. / 1914
Dead weight	4,722	MT
Gross register	3,457	GRT
Length
Until 1945	116.0	meters
From 1951	122.7	meters
Breadth	14.6	meters
Depth	10.8	meters
Propulsion
Until 1945	Reciprocating triple expansion
Power	1,400	H.P.
From 1951	Diesel engine MAN G8VN84
Power	1,980	H.P.
Incorporated	1942
Wrecked	1959

      On 10/January/1944 she caught fire when berthed in Vigo. The town's firemen were helping to extinguish it, but the water used flooded to the hold nº 2, where there were 2,000 drums of calcium carbide. There was a big blast that blew up the accomodation and the deck forward to it, killing seven persons. The ship had been anchored close to Moaña to protect the piers, and sunk after the blast.

      She was refloted on 1945 and steamed under her own propulsion to Sestao, although escorted by the Castillo Figueras. She was there repaired and reformed by the S.E.C.N. changing completely her look, being also lengthened a meter and half. The reform included transforming two hold in refrigerated ones, with all the ancillary equipment needed. Also the reciprocating triple expansion machine was changed, installing a diesel engine MAN G8VN84 with 1,890 H.P. This engine was not new, it was recovered from the Ciudad de Malaga, owned by Trasmediterránea, that was sunk on 8/January/1936 after a collision with the Cape of Good Hope when leaving Las Palmas de Gran Canaria bound to Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

View from Santander, with one of the Santander's great ship photographers, Fernando Estrañi.
The other two Santander's great ship photographers. Above Teo Diedrich, below José Manuel Blánquez "pushing the ship".

This photo shows her original look, and in the other photos can be seen the big transformation.

      The reform also included a new accomodation with capacity for 12 passengers. Her look changed completely because also a new modern funnel was installed, changing from the look of a XX Century early years steamer to a modern appearance. She left the shipyard on 1951 to continue with her already long life, but her cargo was reduced from 6,000 to 4,500 MT.



      On 06/October/1959 she grounded at Las Quebrantas, due to a main engine brakedown, when arriving in Santander from Lobito (Angola) with manganese ore. It was thought that she could be rescued, but the tugboats did not have success.

      Those days the tides did not help to the refloating, and was tried to improve the options unloading part of the cargo to two small coasters, owned by Vapores Costeros: Toñin and Maria Santiuste. The work was carried out slowly due to the lack of equipment and power, and the vessel was getting buried in the sand. The works slowness allowed the arrival of the autumn storms, getting the vessel more buried, and avoiding completely the rescue. Before the end of the month the last crewmembers, who remained onboard to help in the works, disembarked.

      After that the autumn and winter storms broke and destroyed her. On the first three photos can be seen how close to shore she was, and the boat and pilot ladder used for ship access. On the fourth can be seen how the storm waves struck against her during the high tides.

      The last four show how she was being destroyed, and the few rests after the company that was awarded the scrapping started its job.

This screenshot from Google Maps shows the vessel's remainings, at El Puntal beach

And this how it is after the 2014 February and March storms

  Spanish version 


    

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