The huge freighter Bayronto sank because of a hurricane just offshore Tampa in September 1919.

Name Dive Site:	Bayronto
Depth:	68-104ft (21-32m)
Accessibility:	Boat
Inserted/Added by:	lars, © Author: Lars Hemel
Rated:	Rated 4.8, 6 votes
Specifications:

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At a distance of thirty miles offshore Sarasota and Venice we can find the wreck of the British freighter Bayronto. She was built in Newcastle, England in 1905 by Armstrong Whitworth & Co. On July 1918, during World War I, she was torpedoed by a German U-Boat which caused for substantial delay. During her last voyage she was transporting wheat from Texas to France and ended up in a huge hurricane on September 13, 1919. The hurricane was too strong and sank the enormous freighter within minutes. The nearby steamship Calno brought 19 survivors to South Carolina, while a small fishing smack named Ida saved eleven crewmembers and brought them to Tampa. The rest ended up days later on the shores of Havana, Cuba and surprisingly reports tell us that all crewmembers got rescued.

Today this four hundred foot long wreck is broken in two and lies upside down in one hundred feet of water. With a beam of 52 feet she is one of the largest wrecks in the area with a lot of compartments to get lost in. Be careful when entering the wreck which is advised to do only with the proper training. Fishermen, spear fishers are common around the wreck so be careful for lines, spears and nets. This far in the Gulf of Mexico visibilities are often spectacular and marine life is phenomenon.

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