The Wreck

September 17, 2015

We started at 6:00h with still pitch dark, we have more than 70 miles to sail today and forecasts give little wind and against us. However sky is clear and promises a beautiful sunny day.

We're heading to Puerto Eden, a tiny village in the middle of "Paso del Indio" which connects Canal Messier to Canal Wide.

At 10:30h we just left on out port side Seno Iceberg when Ray tells me that we have a coming ship in front of us.

It is about 4 miles from us and is the first boat that we spot in more than two weeks. We're a little excited.

But on a closer inspection the ship is not moving, probably at anchor.

Damn, but she is at the center of the channel!

Checking the chart I realize that at that point the bottom is of only 4 meters and the chart reports the presence of a wreck.

As we get closer we appreciate the beautiful lines of what use to be a passengers/cargo steamer.

Canal Messier at that point is almost 8 km wide and the average depth is 150 meters.

What has led the captain to strand her nice hull on that shallow?

Was it a "schettinata" (Schettino is the sadly famous Italian Captain who run aground in Isola d’Elba his Costa Crociere cruise ship) or a brave meditated maneuver to save passengers and cargo from sinking?

<<Built as "Molda" in 1937 by Deschimag Weser, Bremen Capitan Leonidas MV went aground on rocks in 1963 in Canal Messier, Chile when the captain tried to sink it to claim insurance. The ´sinking´went wrong and he eventually went to prison and lost his captains licence for life>>