Credit River - Guerrero Traditional Cache
Hidden : 7/9/2013
Difficulty:
4.5 out of 5
Terrain:
4.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

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Geocache Description:


Credit River - Shipwreck Series

Guerrero
 December 19,1827



There are many shipwrecks around the world. Some very famous and others not so. Each however has it’s own story to tell. As you travel along the Credit River doing this series of caches, we have highlighted a number of these shipwrecks. During low water levels on these parts of the Credit River, you need to be careful in a canoe or kayak so as you don’t wind up in your own shipwreck. Besides the many large rocks along the way, there are also some other obstacles such as dams which should be avoided. All of the geocaches in this series have been placed, by riding inflatable boats and tubes or on foot by walking in the water along the Credit River. Whichever way you choose to search for these caches, use caution and common sense.
More information about this series can be found here: Credit River - Shipwreck Series

Guerrero
The history of the ship is unclear. Because the slave trade to Cuba was illegal in the 1820s, ships that successfully delivered a cargo of slaves from Africa to Cuba were often destroyed or registered under a new name to avoid confiscation by the Spanish authorities. The British Consul in Santiago, Cape Verde reported in 1827 that the ship then known as Guerrero was the former James Monroe, which was launched in 1813 in New London, Connecticut, and had served as a privateer during the War of 1812. James Monroe made two trading voyages to France during the war, capturing a total of six British ships on those voyages. It made at least two more crossings to France after the end the war. Its later history is unclear, in part because a number of American ships were named for James Monroe after he became President of the United States in 1817. The ship known in 1827 as Guerrero was heavily armed. She carried four long brass 12-pounder guns and ten iron 12-pounders, and carried a crew of 90 or more men. Such large, well-armed slave ships often engaged in piracy, robbing smaller ships of their cargoes, including slaves. Prior to 1826 the ship was known as San Jose. In June 1826 a brig then known as Pepe, likely the ship later known as Guerrero, sailed from Havana for Africa. A few days later a "Spanish" brig stopped and robbed a sloop on its way from Bermuda to Norfolk, Virginia. Late in July what probably was the same brig robbed two American ships anchored at Cape Mesurado in Liberia. Two British warships were dispatched to catch the pirate ship, now identified as Pepe. The British ships caught up to Pepe, but it managed to escape during a heavy rainstorm. Pepe loaded about 600 Africans at Gallinas (near the border between present day Sierra Leone and Liberia) and delivered about 570 of them to Cuba late in the year.

On 14 July 1827 Guerrero sailed from Havana for Africa. Her departure was noted (along with that of several other suspected slave ships) by British commissioners in Havana. About 700 Africans, some of whom may have been forcibly taken from other slave ships, were on Guerrero when it sailed from Africa for Cuba. On 19 December 1827 Guerrero was sailing south towards Cuba in the Florida Straits carrying 561 Africans who had survived the voyage when it was spotted by HMS Nimble near Orange Cay (on the Great Bahama Bank). Nimble was smaller and more lightly armed (crew of 56, with, by various reports, eight, five or just three guns) than Guerrero. Nimble fired two shots to order the suspected slave ship to stop for inspection, but Guerrero ran, starting a five hour chase during which the weather turned bad and night came on. As Nimble closed the distance between the ships they commenced firing at each other. The crew on the lightship Caesar, stationed on Carysfort Reef near Key Largo, could see and hear the battle, which appeared to be about ten miles away. After a half-hour of battle Guerrero appeared to signal that it was surrendering, but then tried to run off. Nimble resumed the pursuit, even though the ships were entering shallower water. At about 7:30 PM Guerrero hit a reef while sailing at close to ten knots. The impact tore the hull open and toppled the masts. Forty-one of the Africans confined in the hold were drowned as Guerrero sank. Nimble tried to turn away, but five minutes later it also ran onto a reef. Although its crew managed to get Nimble off the reef, it drifted back onto the reef, and a receding tide left it there, about two-and-one-half miles (four km) from the wreck of Guerrero.

The next morning, 20 December 1827, wreckers on the schooner Thorn and sloop Surprize, who had anchored overnight in Caesar's Creek, saw the two ships on the reef and went to their aid. They were soon joined by the fishing smack Florida and later by other wreckers. When the wreckers reached Guerrero, her captain, Joze Gomez, requested that the American flag be raised on the wrecked ship, indicating that it was an American prize, and not taken by the British Nimble. On the other hand, Lt. Edward Holland, commander of Nimble, insisted that Guerrero had surrendered before the ships hit the reef, and was therefore a British prize. Nimble had lost its rudder, and had to be lightened and towed off the reef. The swivel gun was transferred to one of the wreckers and cannon balls and ballast thrown overboard. The crewmen and surviving Africans on Guerrero were loaded onto several of the wreckers. Florida took 20 of the Spanish crewmen and 142 Africans aboard and immediately departed for Key West. Before reaching there, however, the Spanish crewmen from Guerrero hijacked Florida and sailed it and the 142 Africans to Cuba. Thorn took 54 of the Spanish crewmen and 246 Africans, including all of the women. Thorn had not left by late afternoon, and Lt. Bolton requested that it anchor close to Nimble overnight so that the warship could help protect the wrecker from the Spanish crewmen on it. Even so, the Spanish crewmen hijacked Thorn from under the guns of Nimble and took it and the 246 Africans aboard to Cuba. Surprize, which had taken on 12 of the Spanish crewmen and 122 Africans, anchored for the night near the wreck of Guerrero in the company of two other wreckers, the sloop Capital and schooner General Geddes. John Morrison, captain of General Geddes, later testified that he was fearful of the intentions of the Spanish crewmen, and had ordered his own crew to arm themselves so that they could protect both Surprize and his ship from any attempt by the Spanish to seize them. The next morning Surprize approached Nimble and transferred ten of the Spanish crewmen to it (Nimble already had another ten Spanish crewmen aboard), leaving only two on Surprize, and then sailed for Key West. Capital and General Geddes helped salvage the rudder from Guerrero and mount it on Nimble. The three ships then sailed for Key West.

Archaeologists have searched for the sites of the sunken Guerrero and grounding of Nimble. One area of interest is the entrance to Turtle Harbor, four miles east of the northern end of Key Largo and three and a half miles north of the Carysfort Reef Light. Artifacts found to date in the area do not specifically identify any ship. Swanson maintains that the wreck sites are likely further north, near Pacific Reef. One problem is that various accounts place the wreck sites at six to ten miles from the Carysfort Reef lightship, but the position of that lightship is not well established (contemporary sources vary wildly, even putting the lightship inland). A documentary about the search for the Guerrero wreck site narrated by James Avery, The Guerrero Project, was produced in 2004.






Congrats cache4pat & rucache on FTF!!!

Profile for thewhytes

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Qb abg gerfcnff orlbaq gur ebbg bs guvatf!

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


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