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Carmen vilariño

  1. Name: Carmen Vilariño
  2. Type of vessel: fishing vessel, trawler
  3. Flag: Spain
  4. Date of sinking: 10 October 1971
  5. Cause: grounding, fog
  6. Location: Caballo shallows, El Altar, Herminia point (A Coruña)
  7. Diving level: basic
  8. GALP territory: Gulf of Artabro

HISTORY

Fishing tragedy in front of Mount San Pedro

It was two o’clock in the morning of 10 October 1971. The fishing vessel Carmen Vilariño was returning from a fishing trip  in the Great Sole Bank fishing grounds when it ran aground in dense fog off Herminia Point, near where the sculpture known as the Caracola is located.

This shipwreck was the début of the Red Cross of the Sea, an institution created as a result of the tragic shipwreck of the fishing boat La Isla the previous year (1970). No lives were lost in this accident. The 14 crew members left the vessel in the life rafts and the dinghy and were rescued by the provisional rescue vessel of English origin located in the port of A Coruña and by the fishing vessel Nuevo Torre de Lecuona.

The salvage of the vessel was undertaken by the companies Santa Cruz and Extrasa, with the help of a Navy tug, but nothing could be done to rescue the vessel, which was scrapped on the spot. Part of the vessel was tossed against the shore by the storms.

The skipper of the Carmen Vilariño was the brother of the skipper of the fishing vessel La Isla, Benito Silva, who died in that shipwreck.

Characteristics

Type: fishing trawler. Characteristics: engine, diesel, 550 HP. 219 TRB. 30 x 6.85 x 3.9 m. Steel hull. Built: 1961, Astilleros y Talleres del Noroeste, Astano, Perlío (Ferrol). Shipowner: Dionisio Tejero Pérez (A Coruña). Skipper: Jesús Silva Rodríguez.

(San Claudio Santa Cruz, 1997), 1997. UNDERSECRETARIAT FOR THE MERCHANT NAVY, 1971. (Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping Returns of Vessels, pgs. 1971-55)

SAN CLAUDIO SANTA CRUZ, M., 1997. UNDERSECRETARIAT FOR THE MERCHANT NAVY, 1971. (Lloyd’s Register of British and Foreign Shipping Returns of Vessels, pgs. 1971-55)

GALLERY