Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 50, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 December 1896 — AWFUL LOSS OF LIFE. [ARTICLE]

AWFUL LOSS OF LIFE.

NORTH GERMAN LLOYD STEAMER SALIERE GOES DOWN. Two Hundred and Seventy-five Persona Perish—Disaster Dae to s Foe —Ship Was on Her Way from Bramen to Buenos Ayre*. Daahea on the Hoclcs of Spain. Crashing through the mist into tha Corrubedo rocks off the northwestern coast of Spain, the North German Lloyd steamship Saliere foundered in a few minutes, and all on board were lost Two hundred and ten passengers were on board, and the crew consisted of sixty-five men. There was no time to take to the boats and all went down with the ship. News of the terrible disaster floated to Villagareia with the tide. An overturned boat with the name of the vessel painted on the stern, spurs and planks torn from the ship as it crashed into the rocks, were swept to shore as silent witnesses of the fate of passengers and crew. Not one human being on board was able to reach safety, though it may be possible some were picked up by passing vessels. The sinking of the Saliere may be one of the mysteries of the sea. The Saliere was bound from Bremen to Buenos Ayres, by way of Corunna and Villagareia. Advices from Bremen and Corunna state that the passengers were mostly in the steerage, and consisted of 113 Russians, Galicians, six-ty-one Spaniards and one German. The vessel had put in at Corunna, and was heading eastward for Villagareia, when it crashed into the jagged rocks, which are always given a wide berth by mariners. Just why and how the miscalculation was made which swung the Saliere one point too close to the terrible reef may never be known. The only explanation is that an ocean mist shut out the rocks, and that the dense fog prevented accurate bearings being taken. The steamship rounded Cape Finisterr* and proceeded southward toward its last stopping place before it reached Buenos Ayres. Villagareia is a town of less than 2,000 inhabitants, situated between Cape Finisterre and the City of Vigo. The Saliere expected to pick up more passengers at Villagareia, bound for Uruguay. A heavy mist hung over the sea and a strong wind was blowing from the south when the,Saliere was about due to head toward Villagareia. The vessel could easily have been seen from the shore but for the mist, ns the channel between the rocks and the coast of Spain is only about five miles wide. A miscalculation, and the Corrubedo rocks were responsible for the greatest disaster which has ever occurred In the Bay of Arosa. Nothing was known of the fate of the vessel until the floating wreckage reached Villagareia. The fact that the rocks are only about five miles from the mainland and that none of the passengers or crew had been able to reach the shore led to the belief that the Saliere must have foundered within n few minutes after It had struck on the reef.