Shipwrecks

Funchal bay (baía) is sheltered from all winds except those blowing from the quarters between south-west and south-east by way of south. Severe storms are felt there only when the wind blows violently from the south; the sea then sometimes rises in towering waves that hurl themselves violently against the beaches. On such occasions sailing vessels are no longer safe inside the bay, and if they fail to put out to sea at the first signs of the storm, they run the risk of being driven ashore and dashed to pieces there by the sea. Of the many storms that have struck our harbour, the following deserve mention because of their disastrous effects.

1757. At the end of October or the beginning of November of this year, a great storm endangered several ships and damaged the harbour works of Funchal (the link between the Pontinha (‘little point’) and the shore).

1802. On the night of 30 August 1802, at 1 a.m., a terrible explosion occurred aboard a Portuguese ship anchored in the harbour of Funchal and bound for Brazil. Thirty-two people died, 4 of them Madeirans. It was said that the explosion had been caused accidentally by a sailor who was in the ship’s powder magazine in order to steal gunpowder to sell in the city.

1804. On 8 and 11 January of this year there were violent storms, and two English full-rigged ships were wrecked. 1828. On 22 January the American brig Calixto was driven ashore opposite the Customs House and was completely destroyed by the sea within a few hours; on 1 March the English full-rigged ship Britannia was wrecked at Praia Formosa (‘beautiful beach’), with the loss of one crew member. 1834. This year saw the wreck of the English full-rigged ship Greenwelle, in which five crew members died. 1836. The great storms of 18 October drove the Portuguese barque Maria Adelaide and the yacht Conceição e Almas ashore near Santa Catarina (‘St Catherine’), and one member of the latter vessel’s crew died. At the same time a boat laden with wine, coming from the north, was also wrecked there. 1842. On 26 October of this year the sea hurled five ships onto the beach, and another vanished and was never seen again. 1846. From 8 to 11 January there were great gales in the harbour of Funchal, which wrecked the works on the quay, and on the 10th of the same month the Tuscan patacho (small two-masted merchant vessel) Duque de Sussex was driven ashore at São Lázaro. 1848. On 10 December the yacht Senhor dos Passos and the schooner Eugenia were lost, and on the 31st the yachts Fevereiro I.° and Boa Fé, both Portuguese, and the patachos Delfim and Levant, the latter American and the former Portuguese. During this last storm the English warship, the corvette Daphne, very nearly ran aground. 1858. On 5 March of this year the English brig Reliance was wrecked in the harbour of Funchal as a result of a strong gale, and on the 15th of the same month the Brazilian patacho Liberato Terceiro, whose master was Thomás Whister, met the same fate. 1858. On 14 November the Portuguese full-rigged ship Defensor entered the harbour of Funchal on the point of sinking. She was on a voyage from Rio de Janeiro to one of the ports of Portugal, carrying her crew and some passengers, 23 persons in all. The vessel had come from an infected port and the sea was very rough, so that only with great difficulty could 16 people be landed; they were isolated in the old fort of Pontinha. The others stayed on board, refusing to land on that occasion, but during the night they lowered a boat and tried to reach the shore; six of them died and only one could be saved, beyond the fort of São Tiago. The ship ran aground at the mouth of the stream of Gonçalo Aires on 16 November. 1872. A violent storm on 22 December drove the English patacho Champion ashore near the Lazareto (‘quarantine hospital’), and the captain and four other crew members died. 1875. On 2 February 1875 the English steamer Soudan ran aground on the beach opposite the former Praça da Rainha (‘Queen’s Square’), today Praça do Marquês de Pombal (‘Marquis of Pombal Square’). The sea was calm, and the disaster was attributed to the incompetence or carelessness of those in charge of the anchoring manoeuvre. 1876. This year there were two great storms in Funchal bay, the first on 13 May and the second on 11 November. The first drove ashore the English schooner Orphey, the Portuguese patacho Barbosa 2.°, the Portuguese sloop Moura 7.° and the American patachos Maurice and Nellieclifford; the second brought the same end to the German boat Fear-Not, the Portuguese yacht Fontes Pereira de Melo and the English schooner Theodosia. During the November storms the Valente, a small Madeiran steamer, was flung onto the rocks below the Quinta Lambert (‘Lambert estate’), more than 15 metres above ordinary sea level; and as early as 3 January a storm less violent than the two we have mentioned had wrecked the English barque Patagonia near Santa Catarina. 1881. On 6 January of this year the Portuguese yacht Aliança was driven onto the beach by the south wind. 1884. On 26 November the sea hurled the schooner Eulalia and the Italian brig Torquato onto the beach. 1892. The storms of 28 February damaged the mole (breakwater) of Pontinha. 1896. During the night of 26 to 27 October of this year the French brig René Adrienne and the Portuguese brig Comercio came ashore, the latter at the Ribeira de São Lázaro and the former against the sea wall of Pontinha. Although Funchal bay is bounded by Cabo Garajau (‘tern cape’) and Ponta da Cruz (‘point of the cross’), which are a little more than 8 kilometres apart, it is to the east of the Ilhéu (‘islet’), opposite the city, that ships usually drop anchor, the bottom there consisting of basaltic sand and some mud. The quantity of stones, sand and mud that the waters of the streams carry down every year is considerable, and as a result the sea in the bay has become shallower and the beaches have gradually grown. Banger’s pillar, whose base was washed by the sea when it was built (1798), now stands at a distance from it, and the Rua da Praia, the fish and fruit markets and the Praça do Marquês de Pombal are built on places the waters reached in former times (1921). We shall now give a brief account of other shipwrecks that occurred at various points of this archipelago. In March 1720 a boat carrying eight people was making its way from Machico to Porto Santo (‘holy harbour’) when it was caught by a violent storm and driven onto the coasts of the Canary Islands, where they were able to land. They returned to Porto Santo two months later, when everyone there believed them to have perished in the storm. Around 1730 a Swedish ship coming from India with a valuable cargo was wrecked on that island, at the locality of Pedregal (‘stony ground’), at the place called the cliff of Guilherme, and some of the crew perished. Some months later a ship of the same nationality came to the site of the disaster and managed to salvage a considerable part of the cargo, including several objects of great value and, it seems, also some chests of money. At the beginning of 1768 the French warship, the carrack Balance, commanded by the Baron of Arras, sank near the island of Porto Santo; her crew, numbering 239, were taken aboard by a French ship, which carried them to the harbour of Funchal. In 1790 a coastal packet boat laden with wine, bound from the north of Madeira to Funchal, sank in the channel of the Ilhéu de Baixo (‘low’), on Porto Santo, having been driven to that spot by a great storm. The whole crew died except for one man who, clinging to a wooden plank, managed to reach the Ilhéu de Ferro.

One great disaster on the Porto Santo crossing (travessa) occurred on the night of 11 January 1823, when nine people lost their lives; no trace of the boat or of the victims of this wreck was ever found.

On 5 December 1850 a boat belonging to João Rodrigues Rei and José Alexandre de Viveiros left Funchal for Porto Santo. Its skipper (arrais) was the seaman Justiniano Joaquim de Sousa, and besides its owners it carried 13 passengers and 12 crew. In the stretch known as the Travessa the vessel was caught by a fierce storm. The owners and passengers then advised, and insisted, that the crew should make for the Ilhéu de Cima or the Porto dos Frades rather than the landing place of the town (vila), because of the grave danger they faced in going ashore there. Unfortunately these pleas and advice went unheeded. As they tried to land, the sea grew rougher under the violent wind, and of the 27 people on board only 12 were saved; 15 met a horrible death amid the towering waves breaking violently on the beach. Among the victims were the owners of the boat and several women and children. The news of this disaster at sea caused the deepest emotion on the island of Porto Santo and in Madeira too.

At that time and in earlier periods, wrecks were frequent on the crossing between Madeira and Porto Santo, because it was made in so-called open boats (de boca aberta), that is, boats without a deck. The disaster of 6 December 1850 led to the regulation of that maritime service, and vessels not meeting the necessary conditions were then expressly forbidden to sail between the two islands. From that time on, accidents in navigation between Madeira and Porto Santo became rare. The Portuguese schooner Maravilha ran aground on the beach of that island on 7 April 1855, without loss of life. To the north-west of that island a Brazilian steamer was lost on 8 March 1882, and four of its crew died. Various vessels have been cast up on the coasts of Porto Santo at different times, some abandoned and others with their crews, as can be seen in the Anais of that island. Off Ponta de São Lourenço the British steamer Forerunner sank in 1884 with the loss of 14 lives, as we have already said on p. 44 of this volume. Two léguas (league, about 5 km) north of the same Ponta, a fishing boat from the landing place of Machico, crewed by six men, sank on 23 February 1838, and all of them lost their lives. Praia Formosa has been the scene of several wrecks. We may mention one on 1 March 1828, of the British full-rigged ship Britannia, in which one crewman died and the ship was completely destroyed, and another on 18 October 1875, of a coastal boat, in which five people perished.

A greater number of maritime disasters have occurred near the so-called Ponta da Cruz, a short distance from Praia Formosa. At the top of the cliff stands a small iron cross, replaced several times, as a sign and reminder of the disasters and loss of life that have taken place there. It is a pious custom for passengers on coastal boats passing this spot to bare their heads respectfully, and many murmur a fervent prayer in recollection. A coastal boat from Ponta do Pargo sank there on 12 March 1901, and seven people died.

Off Ponta do Pargo, a fishing boat from the landing place of Paul do Mar was wrecked on 31 March 1850, and some of its crew died. On 31 January 1857 the Portuguese brig Triunfo, under Captain Francisco António da Silva, sailing from Pará with cargo for Lisbon, was wrecked on the beach of the parish (freguesia) of Madalena do Mar; all the crew were saved. Off the landing place of the parish of Porto da Cruz, a légua and a half from the coast, the French brig Homs, under Captain F. Azemas, bound from Cette for Martinique, foundered in a violent storm on 20 September 1858. All the crew were saved and were generously assisted in that parish by Commander Valentim de Freitas Leal, a wealthy landowner there.

In the first days of December 1859 the British full-rigged ship Flying Foame left Cardiff bound for the British colony of Hong Kong, in China. A great storm drove it towards Madeira and hurled it violently against the coastal reefs at the locality called Fajã do Manuel, in the parish of Porto Moniz. Of the 21 people on board, 15 died, among them the ship’s captain, William Lidle, and other officers. This ship, which carried a full cargo of coal, was wrecked on 19 December 1859.

On 24 December 1860, in a great storm, the Dutch galliot Alfa, bound from England for the island of Haiti, was wrecked on the cliff of Ilhéu do Navio, on the coast of the parish of Santana. The crew of 7 men was saved.

On 18 August 1861 a coastal boat was wrecked at Porto Novo, in the parish of Gaula, with the loss of seven lives, passengers and crew.

The coastal boat Bailão, from the landing place of Calheta, sank on 3 September 1872 while sailing from that town to Funchal; three of its crew died.

On 18 October 1875 a coastal boat carrying cargo and passengers left the landing place of Anjos, in the parish of Canhas, for Funchal. It was wrecked, we do not know exactly at what point in the voyage, and four men and two women perished. In the parish of Ponta Delgada a Norwegian full-rigged ship ran ashore on 9 December 1877, and two of its crew died.

We have already given a brief account of the wreck of the yacht Varuna, in the parish of Achadas da Cruz, on p. 13 of vol. I of this work.

On 12 March 1901 the coastal boat Brilhante Pargueiro was wrecked off Ponta da Cruz, and eight passengers died.

Lighting for the Desertas has long been planned. The lack of lighthouses has led to several wrecks of ocean-going vessels in those waters, above all when the fog is thickest. There have also been various accidents there involving fishing boats which, driven by storms, sometimes meet their destruction on those steep, exposed coasts, with the loss of their crews’ lives.

Several abandoned ships have been cast up on the coasts of those islands. The British steamer Lagos, sailing from Liverpool to Madeira with a few passengers, ran aground on Deserta Grande on 17 January 1902, chiefly because of the thick fog.

In 1788 the English privateer Dart was wrecked on the coast of the same island, at a spot unknown to us. In 1804 two galleys of the same nationality were driven onto the coast, likewise at a place of which we have been unable to find any record. In many foreign ports there are small monuments or simple stone inscriptions bearing the names of those who, during shipwrecks and storms at sea, rendered outstanding service in saving their fellow men from the raging elements.

The example ought to be followed, and a Funchal newspaper (D. da Mad. of 11 December 1926), through the pen of one of the authors of this work, has already urged that the idea be carried out, writing the following lines.

‘A modest plaque placed somewhere near the sea, bearing the names of all those who earned the gratitude of Portuguese and foreigners alike for services rendered during storms at the landing place of Funchal, would be a simple way of showing that Madeirans, too, know how to do justice to those who, by ennobling deeds, proved that they had kept the virtues of the race intact. But until this is done, we shall try to save some of those names from complete oblivion by recording them in the columns of this newspaper.’

Forty to fifty years ago, the men we name below, by their names or nicknames, were the best known for the daring and courage with which they braved the fury of the waves whenever there were lives to be saved during shipwrecks at the landing place of Funchal: António Maria de Gouveia, António da Silva Cambé, Silvano Cardoso, Manuel Teixeira, Manuel Caramujo, João dos Passos (the mute), João Pereira (‘o Marau’), José de Sousa (‘o Patacho’), Manuel Capitão, José (‘o Gato Fardão’), Guilherme and Vitorino Pófia, the two Russos, ‘o Tigela’ and Guilherme Albuquerque de França. This last Madeiran, who was consul of Uruguay in Funchal and did not, as is well known, belong to the seafaring class, never hesitated to battle the raging waves as soon as his services were called for during storms. In earlier times the following Madeirans won great renown in Funchal for the same reason: Henrique Crawford, to whom the castaways of the English schooner Wave, which ran aground near São Lázaro on 26 October 1842, owed their lives; José Ferreira Ourela, Arsénio Pombo, João de Freitas, João Vieira, António Silveira and Pedro António. All these men, except the first, belonged to the seafaring class and received an honourable mention in the minutes of the session of the Royal Humanitarian Society of Porto (Real Sociedade Humanitária do Porto) of 14 April 1858, which also mentioned the names of Domingos Teles de Meneses, Augusto César Bianchi, Alexandre Sheffield, Roberto Taylor, Gregório Antunes dos Santos, José Francisco da Silva and Cândido Augusto de Mesquita Spranger, for the good services they rendered at the wreck of the brig Reliance.

At this wreck the musician Amaro José, a native of mainland Portugal, rendered most outstanding services, and for this he was awarded the first-class gold medal of the said Humanitarian Society.