Rum Cay, is a small, sparsely populated island, located 20 miles
southwest of San Salvador. It is flat aside from a few rolling hills
rising to about 120 feet. The island was named Santa Maria de la
Conception by Columbus. The modern name Rum Cay is said to be in
memory of a wreck destroyed with a cargo of rum which foundered off
the coral reefs which abound the island's shore.
The main settlement is Port Nelson. The wreck of the 101-gun
Man-of-War HMS Conqueror, built in Devon in 1855 and which served in
the Crimean War, lies in 30 feet of water off Rum Cay where it sank
in 1861. Known as the underwater museum of The Bahamas, it is the
property of The Bahamas Government and none of the contents of the
ship may be removed.
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