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'Wreck of the 300' on Padre Island happened on April 29, 1554

On this day in 1554, three Spanish treasure ships wrecked off the coast of Padre Island due to a storm, killing most on board.
Credit: Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History
An enormous anchor from one of the shipwrecks is hoisted on board the archeologists' reconnaissance vessel.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — It was April 29, 1554 when three Spanish treasure ships wrecked off the coast of Padre Island due to a storm.

The wreck happened near present-day Port Mansfield, according to the Texas State Historical Association. It is believed that half or more of the people on board drowned before they could reach the beach.

The San Esteban, the Espíritu Santo, the Santa María de Yciar, and the San Andrés had set out from Mexico on April 9, bound for Spain. 

San Esteban, Espíritu Santo, and Santa María de Yciar were swept off course and ran aground on the sandbars off Padre Island, about 50 miles south of Corpus Christi Bay. More than 300 people died during the event which has become known as “The Wreck of the Three Hundred.” Only the San Andrés escaped the storm, historians said.

Credit: Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History
Following a tumultuous storm that smashed three of the vessels onto a sandbar, wreckage of the ships float in the waters near Padre Island. Image courtesy of Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History.

The group of survivors thought they could take a short journey back to Mexico by land but soon after came across a group of local Karankawa Indians, which would end their journey, historians said. Only one survivor, Fray Marcos de Mena, reached Pánuco.

A Spanish salvage expedition arrived at the site of the wrecks within two months and managed to recover less than half of the 1 million ducats (a gold coin used in trade) the ships were carrying. 

Credit: CC Museum of Science and History

The remains of the three ships were then undiscovered until the late 1960s. Artifacts recovered from the San Esteban are now in the Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History.   

Information from the Texas State Historical Association.

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