Wreckage of Kattan

The Wreckage of Kattan was the wreckage of the Swedish ship Kattan in August 28. The crew was taken by Spanish pirates back to Puerto Rico.

Expedition of 1649
In 1649, in response to New Sweden needing new settlers and resources, the Swedish ship "Kattan" was sent towards New Sweden. It was originally the Kalmar Nyckel that was meant to sail towards the colony, however, it was so damaged that it had no chance of making it across the Atlantic. The commanders of the Kattan would be Cornelius Lucifer and Jan Janson Bockhorn. The ship left Gothenburg harbor on July 3.

Wreckage
On August 28, the Kattan got stuck in an underwater reef, but managed to break free. However, the ship quickly got stuck again, and the crew could not move it. The women and children on board were put into the lifeboats and rowed towards a nearby island with provisions. A severe storm later broke out and the crew was forced to cut off the masts and throw them into the water.

The next day, the men joined the women and children on the island, unfortunately for them, the island was uninhabited and had no fresh water, and they tried to survive on the island for 8 days.

After 5 days of surviving on the island, a bark passed by the stranded island, and the Swedes quickly fired two distress signals, but the ship did not dare to help as the skipper thought they were a pirate crew, and sailed to Puerto Rico to notify the Spaniards about it.

Then, 2 Spanish pirate ships appeared and asked who the survivors were, when the survivors showed their Swedish pass, the Spaniards said they had never heard of that country before.

The survivors were challenged to fight or surrender, after which they quickly stole all of the Swedes possessions and brought them to Puerto Rico where they were forced to parade amid fifes and trumpets into the town square where they were forced to work or beg on the streets. Only a handful of the Swedes managed to survive.

Aftermath
On 1 May 1650, 24 Swedes managed to get onboard a bark on which they began sailing away from Puerto Rico. However, after a few days of sailing they were attacked by a French ship and lost all of their possessions, they were subjected to physical abuse, with a woman dying after being raped by the French captain.