People have been coming to the island for hundreds if not thousands of years. Prior to the invention of aircraft, the only other way to arrive on the island would have been by boat. Keeping in mind that ships constructed from metal weren’t designed until the late 19th century, most non-metal hulled vessels able to traverse the Pacific Ocean would have looked similar to the Black Rock. There is no reason to believe that the ships talked about in this thread are the same boat.
That said, it is possible that the Black Rock was in sight of the island several days before crashing into it. It is common for a ship to stay in deeper waters until a smaller party aboard a dinghy examines the seabed closer inland and scouts the actual land for dangers/resources. The Black Rock might have encountered the terrible storm after navigating to the island in more clement weather.
However, it appears as if the statue was first seen by Ricardo’s “colleague” during the storm. I am untroubled by assuming that the two ships are independent of one another.