We had read in one of our guides that there is 100 year old submarine wreck at Isla San Telmo. They did not give the exact location of the submarine but do warn that there is no safe anchorage nearby. The island is too exposed to wind, waves and current regardless of the season. Not withstanding the anchoring situation, we decided this was way too mysterious and interesting to pass up.

We left Isla Cana early in the morning in order to arrive at San Telmo close to low tide and have plenty of time to find a secure anchorage before dark. As we approached the island we were buffeted by very strong swirling currents. As we got closer to the beach on the northern side of the island we saw a dark shape that looked to round and symmetric to be a rock. A closer look by binoculars showed what could be a small conning tower on the top of the shape.

Unfortunately the current was pretty bad in the pass and the water too murky to find nice ground to anchor on. We went ahead anchored with minimum scope in order to reduce our chances of getting the anchor or chain caught on something. Cisnecito did not like it but seemed to hold good enough for a short dinghy expedition to get a closer look. We needed to move quickly as the tide had started to come in and would soon put the object underwater.

We took the dinghy towards the beach and no doubt about it this is an old submarine. It is about 30 feet long and has a conning tower with round ports. Half of the outer hull has corroded away to expose an inner hull which looks like the living and operating quarters. There is a heavy steel cable wrapped around the tower perhaps in an effort to save her before she went aground. Too me the construction looks more like WWII but that is just a guess.

We spent a short time looking it over and taking pictures before heading back to Cisnecito to get underway.

We would really appreciate it if someone could Google "Isla San Telmo submarine" and post a comment with anything interesting they find. We would really like to know who left it here and when. Thanks in advance.