Lawyer-turned-novelist Jay Lillie has written a great book about the dynamics of the embargo, and it has a nautical side to it as well. Read our review.
The wreck is the Spanish warship Viscaya which was sunk by American naval forces during the Spanish American War in 1898 off the south coast of Cuba near a small town called Juan Gonzalez about 12 kilometers west of Santiago de Cuba. It's only about 100 yards off shore.