The Tazacorte Martyrs
Forty missionaries killed at sea.
Forty Jesuit monks and missionaries were traveling from Portugal to Brazil when strong ocean winds caused them to stop in the Canary Islands, at the port of Tazacorte. It was the year 1570. In the chapel of Our Lady of Anguish, Father Azevedo said his last mass, then the party set sail.
Before long, their ship was overtaken by a pirate — a French Calvinist. Years earlier, he'd set fire to Havana. Seeing they were Catholic, he cut off their arms and threw the whole party overboard, save one, João Sanches: the pirates needed a cook. One day he escaped and told this gruesome tale.
Today, 25 meters underwater, off the coast of Malpique, divers can find 40 sunken crosses. Take a look: