30 Years Since the Last Voyage of the Steamship 'La Palma'

Today marks 30 years since the arrival of the historic steamship 'La Palma' at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It arrived from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria – where it had been moored since its decommissioning in 1976 – towed by the tugboat 'Tamarán', still wrapped in the echoes of a bitter controversy between the mayor of the Gran Canaria capital, Juan Rodríguez Doreste, and the president of the Insular Council of Tenerife, José Segura Clavell, who was the promoter for the historic ship to come to Tenerife.

We remember precisely the events of that afternoon because we were eyewitnesses, and 'Diario de Avisos' published the account we made of the event. For its last voyage, Captain José Bastida Tirado was enlisted, and a few days earlier, the then director of NUVASA, Pedro Anatael Meneses Roqué, traveled to Las Palmas with other technicians from the shipyard to ensure that the towing could be done with all guarantees.

When it was about two miles from the port entrance, the convoy was overtaken by the 'jet-foil' and crossed paths with the frigate 'Danmark', which was arriving at the Tenerife port on one of its frequent stops. Then we were allowed to board the journalists who were on the boat 'San Antonio' – the emblematic vessel of Antonio García Jorge's fleet of boats, “the firefighter” – and with us also boarded José Segura Clavell and other political representatives of the time.

Upon its arrival at the Tenerife port, hundreds of people awaited the return of the veteran correíllo, which was given an honorary lap inside the Anaga Dock – among the ships docked that day at the south pier was the Soviet ocean liner 'Leonid Sobinov' – and afterwards it was docked next to the 'syncrolift' pier of NUVASA. A few days later, it was left stranded. Since then, thirty years have passed, and it feels like it was just yesterday.

Photo: Julio A. Rodríguez Hermosilla