HMFMS ''Santa Rosa'' was a Portuguese

galleon Galleons were large, multi-decked sailing ships developed in Spain and Portugal. They were first used as armed cargo carriers by Europe, Europeans from the 16th to 18th centuries during the Age of Sail, and they were the principal vessels dr ...

that exploded and sank in the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

off

Recife Recife ( , ) is the Federative units of Brazil, state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, on the northeastern Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of South America. It is the largest urban area within both the North Region, Brazil, North and the Northeast R ...

colony of Brazil Colonial Brazil (), sometimes referred to as Portuguese America, comprises the period from 1500, with the arrival of the Portuguese, until 1815, when Brazil was elevated to a kingdom in union with Portugal. During the 300 years of Brazilian col ...

, while she was on a voyage from

Salvador Salvador, meaning "salvation" (or "saviour") in Catalan, Spanish, and Portuguese may refer to: * Salvador (name) Arts, entertainment, and media Music *Salvador (band), a Christian band that plays both English and Spanish music ** ''Salvador'' ( ...

, Brazil, to

Lisbon Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, under the command of Captain Bartolomeu Freire de Araújo.

Construction

''Santa Rosa'' was built in 1715 at the Ribeira das Naus shipyard in

, Portugal for the Portuguese Navy. She was long, had 3 masts and was fitted with 56 to 70 cannons.

Battle of Matapan

On 19 July 1717 ''Santa Rosa'' took part in the

Battle of Matapan The Battle of Matapan, also known as the Battle of Cape Matapan, took place on 19 July 1717 off the Cape Matapan, on the coast of the Mani Peninsula, now in southern Greece. The naval battle was between the Armada Grossa of the Republic o ...

(now Tenaro,

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

) in the Portuguese wing coalition organized by

Pope Clement XI Pope Clement XI (; ; ; 23 July 1649 – 19 March 1721), born Giovanni Francesco Albani, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 23 November 1700 to his death in March 1721. Clement XI was a patron of the arts an ...

against the Turks during the Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–18). After her return to Portugal, she went on different escort missions to fight against pirates. She was also frequently used to protect the yearly fleets to Brazil.

Sinking

On 20 March 1726, A fleet of 18 ships left Portugal for Brazil. Amongst them were 2 warships: HMFMS ''Santa Rosa'' and HMFMS ''Nossa Senhora da Nazaré''. ''Santa Rosa'', the mightiest ship in colonial Portugal´s fleet under the command of Captain Bartolomeu Freire de Araújo, was assigned to escort the Portuguese fleet bringing the wealth of the New World back to

. The fleet reached

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, after two months and four days at sea on 24 May 1726. In the two and a half following months, ''Santa Rosa'' was involved in a lot of loading and unloading procedures. Amongst the cargo spread over the two warships were 27,000 rolls of tobacco, 13,000 boxes of

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

, 20,000 hides, thousands of

coconut The coconut tree (''Cocos nucifera'') is a member of the palm tree family (biology), family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus ''Cocos''. The term "coconut" (or the archaic "cocoanut") can refer to the whole coconut palm, ...

s, a large number of logs, some 10 tons of

gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

bullion Bullion is non-ferrous metal that has been refined to a high standard of elemental purity. The term is ordinarily applied to bulk metal used in the production of coins and especially to precious metals such as gold and silver. It comes from ...

and coins,

diamond Diamond is a Allotropes of carbon, solid form of the element carbon with its atoms arranged in a crystal structure called diamond cubic. Diamond is tasteless, odourless, strong, brittle solid, colourless in pure form, a poor conductor of e ...

s and gems, between 70 and 200 barrels of

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, charcoal (which is mostly carbon), and potassium nitrate, potassium ni ...

and a regiment of Portuguese soldiers along with other passengers. The fleet was reassembled and left the Brazilian port of Salvador on 24 August 1726, exactly three months after their arrival. The following day, on 25 August 1726, a strong storm hit the fleet and forced the fleet to separate into two different groups. The storm held on for several days before dying down; after the storm ''Santa Rosa'' escorted a group of ships to return to the original route. Two weeks after they had left Salvador, Brazil, on 6 September 1726. Just as the ship passed

, Brazil, the gunpowder in its hold blew up and the ship sank, killing all but seven of the 700 men, women and children aboard. The seven survivors (who were all male) clamped on to the ship's wreckage and were rescued the following day; it is believed more people survived the explosion but perished when they were overcome by fatigue or by injury of shark attacks. The rest of the fleet reached Lisbon, Portugal, on 17 November 1726, but of the seven rescued men only three survived the trip. Even to this day it is unknown how the gunpowder exploded. But some theories have been put forward. The most believed theory is that Captain Bartolomeu Freire de Araújo had been having some heated discussions with the commander of the Portuguese regiment that were on board the ship. After the discussion someone of the regiment went down to the ship's magazine, where all the

was held, only to light a fire and explode the magazine. There were 70 fire hydrants on board, which means the magazine must have had between 70 and 200 barrels of gunpowder at the time.

References

{{Reflist 1710s ships Galleons of the Portuguese Navy Ships sunk by non-combat internal explosions Ships built in Portugal Maritime incidents in 1726