History
The Prins Maurits was a steamer of the Dutch line Koninklijke West-Indische Maildienst.
Unknown cliff
In 1899, the ship was en route from Amsterdam via the Dutch Antilles to New York. On May 28th, with poor visibility out of the coast of Venezuela between Cumana and Guanta, the ship ran onto an uncharted cliff with the name Caracas del Este.
The ship was torn open due to the collision. The commander had the ship grounded near the island Caraca del Oeste near Cumana to avoid sinking. The 50 crew members and 58 passengers were able to save themselves with the sloops of the ship on a small island near the wreck. After 36 hours, they were taken to the town of Guanto.
The survivors of the disaster were quite discontent about the local authorities. It appears that corruption ran rampant and the passengers felt "treated like criminals". In the end, the all were evacuated to Curaçao on June 3rd (see the newspaper article under references).
Description
Yard: Koninklijke Fabriek van Stoom- en andere Werktuigen, Amsterdam
Propulsion: compound steam engine, 2 cylinders, 1 screw
| Master | Duif, J. |
|---|---|
| People on board | 120 |
| Power | 750 hp |
| Speed | 10 knots ~ 12 mph (19 km/h) |
| Length | 235 feet (71.6 m) |
| Draft | 19 feet (5.8 m) |
| Beam | 32 ¾ feet (10 m) |
| Tonnage | 1310 ton |
Status
After being grounded, the ship slowly sank into the sand.