Castillo de Salas

The Castillo de Salas was a bulk carrier loaded with 99.722 metric tons of coal on a voyage from Norfolk (U.S.A.) to Gijón were it had to anchor to wait for a berth.
During its time at anchor, the weather became bad and at January the 11^th 1986, it drifted towards "Cerro Santa Catalina" and ran aground (see plan). A few days later on the 15^th it broke in two.
The ship was left in it's position until the 23^rd of February when tugs took the fore part to deep water and sank it about 40 nautical miles north of Gijón. Only a part of the double bottom is left in the grounding position and after all these years it has become an artificial reef full of life and a attraction to scuba divers.
Below you will find a photographic impression of the remains from this vessel.

At present this is left from the ¨Castillo de Salas¨, it is a part of the double bottom, which used to be below the engine room.
The double bottom of a ship is used as tank capacity to store fresh water, fuel etc.  

This is what is left of the frames, completely overgrown with plant life

A close-up of the kind of flora that thrives
on the remains of this ship

There is a great variety of species on this wreck and because the position of this wreck used to be unknown to anglers, the sizes of the animals are in general bigger than anywhere else in the area

     


  Three nice examples of conger eels, which can
 be found in almost every tube, pipe or hole in
 this wreck.


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