Naufrágio Irmãos Gomes

The Irmãos Gomes left Laguna (SC) on 29 December 1967 bound for Rio de Janeiro, carrying cassava flour and pine timber. On the night of 31 December 1967, sailing through fog with almost no visibility, she struck submerged rocks on the south side of Queimada Grande and sank quickly, with the loss of the ship and her cargo. The Maritime Court attributed the sinking to a lack of adequate precautions while navigating in fog. In 1961, the ship had already run aground in Paranaguá Bay after striking the Pedra da Baleia.

The wreck lay forgotten for decades until, on 12 July 2025, a team of divers located and identified it. The hull rests in sailing position with the bow facing the island, and a large hole in the stem, next to the keel, marks the collision with the reef south of the island. Around the hull, part of the pine timber cargo is still scattered on the sand, next to the 8-cylinder diesel engine.

On the identification dive, a huge school of fish passed by the wreck, and there was plenty of life at the site. That same day, two humpback whales approached the boat at the surface, breaching and slapping their fins.