Location: Peniche, Portugal

The story of the San Pedro de Alcantara shipwreck is fascinating, in so many ways: this is a true global story which connects places like Cuba, Peru, Brazil, Portugal and Spain. An almost unbelievable story of greed and cruelty, but also a remarkable story of resilience and recovery from tragedy.

The San Pedro de Alcantara had about twice the cargo it should have: about 600 tons of cooper, 153 tons of silver, 4 tons of gold, plus a precious collection of Chimu ceramics and an important botanic collection. Most significantly, the ship had on board political prisoners from the Tupac Amaru II rebellion, as well as the ship crew. From the 430 people on board, 130 people have died from the shipwreck and 300 people reached the shore alive.

One of the shipwreck survivors was Fernando Tupac Amaru Bastidas, son of Tupac Amaru II and Micaela Bastidas, the leaders of the first great independentist rebellion taking place in Spanish colonies in America, from 1780 to 1783. Fernando was only about 10 years old, when he saw both his parents and his older brother being brutally tortured and executed by the Spaniards, in the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco. Since Fernando was a child, he was not executed, but he has held captive for the rest of his life.

Fernando was one of the prisoners that were supposed to came to Cádis, Spain, on board the San Pedro de Alcantara ship, that departed from port Callao – near Lima, Peru. The fully loaded ship was leaking along its journey, to the point of stopping-over during 4 months at Rio de Janeiro for reparations. However, the ill-fated San Pedro de Alcantara would sink nearby Peniche, in Portugal, on 2 February 1786.

The news of the San Pedro de Alcantara shipwreck quickly spread and the salvage operation started almost immediately, bringing people from all parts of Europe to recover the treasure underwater. For about 3 years years, hundreds of people were part of the salvage operation, including 40 divers, who were able to recover more than 750 tons of coper, silver and gold from the bottom of the sea.

About 200 years later, the remains of the San Pedro de Alcantara would be the focus of a research program financed by the Instituto Português de Arqueologia, led by underwater archeologists Maria Luisa Pinheiro Blot and Jean-Yves Blot, which took place from 1987 to 1999. This shipwreck became one of the most well studied in the Portuguese coast, still relevant and significant after all these years, in multiple dimensions.

The tragic stories of shipwrecks can also be lessons of resilience – and restoration.