Valbanera

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The Valbanera was a steamship operated by the Pinillos Line of Spain from 1905 until 1919, when it sank in a hurricane with the loss of all 488 crew and passengers aboard. The Valbanera was a 400 foot long steamer capable of carrying close to 1,200 passengers. It sailed a regular route between Spain and Puerto Rico, Cuba and the Gulf coast of the United States. In the summer of 1919 the ship left the Canary Islands after earlier calling at several ports in Spain, loaded with cargo and 1,142 passengers, mostly immigrants to Cuba, and 88 crew members.

Although most of the passengers were booked for Havana, Cuba, 749 left the ship when it called at Santiago, Cuba on September 5. The 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane hit Havana on September 8, before the Valbanera reached the port. While the storm was raging an unidentified ship was seen off the harbor entrance signaling for a pilot, but the harbor was closed and the ship was notified it could not enter. The ship acknowledged, and signaled it would move away from shore to ride out the storm.

When the Valbanera did not show up in Havana after the hurricane had passed, a search was started. The U.S. sub chaser SC-203 found the wreck of the Valbanera on September 19. It was 5 miles east of Rebecca Shoal (about 45 miles west of Key West), with just the mast and a couple of lifeboats above water. There were 488 passengers and crew on the Valbanera when it sank. No bodies were recovered.