the islands position in the central group and its proximity to terceira made graciosa, deliberately or not, an important point along trans-atlantic navigation. several historical figures passed through the waters of santa cruz including the father antónio vieira, a victim of a shipwreck near corvo who was deposited in the regional capital by a dutch privateer. in 1791, the french writer françois-rené de chateaubriand visited the island while journeying to north america, staying at the franciscan convent and who later wrote of the island. the poet almeida garrett, also visited his uncle (a judge in santa cruz) in 1814 at the age of 15. in 1879, prince albert i of monaco, while visiting the azores on-board his yacht hirondelle, made port in graciosa during his oceanographic studies of marine life. he visited furna do enxofre, in the center of the caldeira, and was the first to remark that the area should be given adequate installations to provide tourist access to the geological site. on a tragic note, it was during the dusk of july 13, 1929 during an emergency landing around the fields of brasileira, that an amiot 123 biplane piloted by two polish pilots crashed. the plane had departed paris-le bourget in an attempt at the first polish trans-atlantic crossing to new york. while co-pilot kazimierz kubala survived with only slight injuries, ludwik idzikowski died in the accident, while the plane was engulfed in flames by careless fire-fighters (burning the deceased body of idzikowski). a cross was raised to mark the site of the accident.