San Pablo
Nine miles from the Pensacola Pass, divers will find a wreck with a rather incredible history. For years, locals would tell stories about this wreck based solely on speculation. Only recently has the truth surfaced.
Built in 1915, the San Pablo is a freighter. In 1931, she was registered to the Balboa Shipping Company of Panama and used primarily to transport bananas to the USA.
In 1942, while tied to a pier in Costa Rica, she was hit by two torpedos fired by a German submarine. Because watertight doors had been left open, holds 1 and 2 quickly flooded, and the San Pablo settled to the bottom. Twenty-four of her crew died in the process.
After an attempt to refloat her in 1943, the San Pablo was declared a total loss. She was turned over to the USA, who towed her to Pensacola for weapons testing.
At the time, the Navy was experimenting with something called Project Campbell. Something like a floating cruise missile, the heart of the project was an unmanned watercraft packed with 3,000 pounds of high explosives. The vessel was controlled by radio, aided by a primitive TV camera.
When the Campbell struck the San Pablo, the results were nothing less than cataclysmic. Onlookers from shore could see the explosion. And, as the project was top-secret, speculation abounded. Among other things, the wreck earned the name The Russian Freighter.
Today, what remains of the San Pablo is spread across the bottom in 80 feet of water. The most intact portions of the wreck are her stern and huge boilers. Twisted metal is everywhere. All these features provide a home for corals and large schools of fish.