"Sometimes you have to know when to Call it a Day !"........ the m.v. EL GUAIQUERI
by Published on 23rd June 2021 10:54 AM
On the 4th of September 1983, the 12 year old Dutch built coaster El Guaiqueri , 734 tonnes gross , of Panamanian registry , was on a passage in ballast from Port of Spain,Trinidad to Cristobal,Panama,when she ran aground off the coast of Columbia at Punta Gallinas,Guajira in Lat.12-26.4N,Long 71-32.3W. Locals subsequently boarded the wrecked vessel,which they extensively looted,taking as much of the vessel's equipment as they could remove.
Then,when a tug arrived on the scene on September 17th ,natives returned and hi-jacked the tug's crew and the surveyors on board( !) The natives stole all their property and also took the tug's own motor boat from which,when carrying natives,crew members and surveyors to the beach,the natives threw the crew members and surveyors into the sea(!).However they all managed to swim back to the tug safely but due to this dangerous situation it was decided to leave for Maracaibo without attempting to refloat the El Guaiqueri, taking her 10 man crew with them, and abandoning her as a constructive total loss....
[ Extract From a Lloyds List publication]
