Cap Frio

The Cap Frio was a Hamburg-Süd liner, built at the Reiherstiegwerft shipyard in Hamburg and launched on 25 November 1899. It was the first of a series of three steamers, along with the Cap Verde and the Cap Roca, ordered for the Hamburg – Rio da Prata line. Its last voyage began on 30 August 1908, bound for Hamburg and Bolonha, carrying 80,000 sacks of coffee, cocoa and tobacco, as well as passengers, mail and a crew of 87 men. On the return from Montevideo to Europe, while leaving Salvador on the ebb tide, the ship drifted to port and struck the rocks of the Santo Antônio shore bow-first, next to the Farol da Barra. The impact ruptured the hull and flooded holds 1 and 2, but there was time to rescue the passengers and the valuable cargo. The accident happened less than 100 m from where the Maraldi (1875), the Germania (1876), the La France (1894) and the Bretagne (1903) had sunk.

Today the wreck is part of the Parque Marinho da Barra, together with the Bretagne, the Germania and the Maraldi. At the bow you can still see parts of the steel structure, the foremast, stairways and winches. In the middle lie boilers and an anchor that cannot be confirmed as belonging to the ship. Schools of pirangicas, budiões, guaricemas, barracudas and carapitangas are seen frequently, and on night dives the main attractions are lobsters and molluscs.

In Salvador diving usually goes on throughout the year, and in winter the options tend to decrease because of bad weather. In the Farol da Barra area, the dry season, from September to March, tends to be the best time to dive, with more favourable weather.