Wordsworth

In July 1902 the steamer Wordsworth left New York with about 600 tonnes of cargo for Salvador and 1,800 for Rio de Janeiro, including the electrical machinery and dynamos for the trams of the Companhia Ferro-Carril Jardim Botânico. At 4 a.m. she ran aground on the reefs off Açu da Torre, today's Itacimirim beach, about 50 miles north of Salvador. The records disagree on the date of the grounding: 4 August or 4 February 1902. Aground very close to land, the ship listed to port and, battered by the waves, quickly flooded. The second officer and some passengers reached the coast in a fishing boat and walked 8 hours to the Açu da Torre railway station. Passengers, crew, luggage and mailbags were brought safely to the beach, where the castaways had to live on coconuts, and the steamer Itaparica rescued 70 people, including 10 women and children. The name probably honours the English Romantic poet William Wordsworth, as the company used to name its ships after scientists and artists.

Known locally as Curuzu, the wreck had already been worked by salvage divers from Salvador in 1972 and was reported by a diver in August 2000. Its identification as the Wordsworth was confirmed after the wreck was documented in December 2025. At low tide, one of the steam engine's support legs breaks the surface and can be seen from the beach, about 400 metres away. The Admiralty anchor is still fixed to the bow, just as the ship carried it.