Cason
Marker: recorded wreck position (Date not recorded).
Key facts
| Name | Cason | Wikidata label |
|---|---|---|
| Ship type | cargo ship | Wikidata P31 instance of |
| Nationality / flag | Panama | Wikidata P8047 country of registry |
| Sea / ocean | North Atlantic Ocean | Natural Earth marine areas (public domain), point-in-polygon |
| Nearest coast | Spain | Natural Earth (public domain); approx. 33 km from land |
| Position | 42.4500, -9.3500 | Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0) |
About the wreck
Cason (until 1978 Finn-Leonhardt) was a cargo ship, under a Panamanian flag, carrying 1,100 tonnes of various toxic and flammable chemicals. On 5 December 1987 the ship caught fire off the coast of Galicia, Spain. 23 of the 31 crew died, including the captain. The ship grounded off Cape Finisterre and broke up.
Diving & visiting
Cason was en route from Rotterdam to Shanghai with a cargo of various chemicals loaded at Hamburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp. The ship was owned by a Hong Kong company and registered in Panama. Of the 31 crew, the captain and chief engineer were from Hong Kong and the remainder Chinese. Shortly before dawn on 5 December 1987 an explosion occurred 23 miles off the Spanish coast at Cape Finisterre, setting the ship on fire. The captain broadcast an SOS about an hour later, and those crew not caught by the flames jumped into the sea to escape. All but eight died, including the captain and one woman. The ship grounded on rocks 150 metres (450 feet) offshore, still burning, and broke up.
Initial reports were that the deaths were mainly from drowning and hypothermia; the local hospital later reported that one drowned but the remainder died of carbon monoxide poisoning.
Location
- Recorded position: 42.4500, -9.3500 (Wikidata P625 coordinate location (CC0); may be approximate)
- Sea / ocean: North Atlantic Ocean
- Nearest coast: Spain
Wreck positions on this site are for interest only and are not for navigation. Many wrecks are war graves or legally protected: never disturb human remains or remove artefacts, and check local law before diving.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Cason (revision 1327474321), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section and section(s) “Fire and wreck”; condensed by selecting paragraphs; citations and formatting removed. No text added. This excerpt is available under the same licence.
Wreck facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Nearby wrecks
- HMS Captain 19 km
- HMS Egret 32 km
- U-535 1943 · 132 km
- U-514 1943 · 134 km
- U-566 1943 · 140 km
- U-1277 1945 · 146 km
Browse more: Europe wrecks · wrecks off Spain · North Atlantic Ocean