The Santa Clara a Dutch West Indiaman. The Santa Clara is first mentioned in De Laet before the year 1632. That year, the ship departed in January for Pernambuco in Brazil with a cargo of 130 last. She also sailed for Brazil in 1635 and 1636. She arrived in Recife on December 26th, 1636 (see de Laet, pp. 283, 446, 497 and 531). After this, she went missing.

Hurricane

An attestation in the notarial archives of Amsterdam gives the cause of the loss of the Santa Clara. On June 28th, 1638, the ship lay at anchor at Sandy Point off Saint Christopher (Saint Kitts), an island of the Lesser Antilles.

Nationaal Archief

She was loaded with tobacco. There were other ships at anchor. One of them was the Kalmar Nyckel, a Swedish ship. Six of crewmen from the Santa Clara, including skipper Jan van Leiden, went to the Kalmar Sleutel at sunset to trade tobacco for a few parrots. In the evening, a hurricane raged over the island. Ships broke free from their anchors and became scattered (see references).

The Kalmar Nyckel returned to the anchorage after days, yet the Santa Clara had disappeared. The ship was likely lost during the hurricane. The Dutch ship the Vliegende Hert was also lost.

Tonnage: 180 last.

Armament: 20 iron cannon (16 during the voyage in 1632).

Crew: 28 sailors, 36 soldiers (during the voyage in 1632).

Rijksmuseum

The wreck has not been found.

• De Laet, Johannes (1644)
  Historie ofte iaerlijck verhael van de verrichtinghen der geoctroyeerde West-Indische Compagnie, zedert haer begin, tot het eynde van 't jaer sesthien-hondert ses-en-dertich
  pp 531
• Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsarchief, notarieel archief
  ref. no. Inv. nr. 1280 (scan 168)