Rensselaer Republican, Volume 28, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 December 1896 — AWFUL LOSS OF LIFE. [ARTICLE]

AWFUL LOSS OF LIFE.

NORTH GERMAN LLOYD STEAMER SALIERE GOES DOWN. v Two Hundred and 7 Seventy-five - Persons Perish—Disaster Dae to a Foss —Ship Was on Her Way from Bremen to Buenos Ayres. Dashes on the Rocks of Spain. , Crashing through the mist into the Corrubedo rocks off the northwestern coast of Spain, the North German Lloyd steamship Saliere foundered in a few minHtes, and all on board were lost. Twp hundred and ten passengers were on board, and the crew consisted j>f 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 Villagarcia 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 tjie Saliere may be one of the mysteries of the sea. The Saliere was bound from Bremen to Buenos Ayres, by way of Corunna and Villagarcia. Advices from Bremen and Corunna state that the passenger* were mostly in the steerage, and consisted of 113 Russians, thirty-five Galicians, six-ty-one Spaniards and one German. The vessel had put in at Corunna, and was heading eastward for Villagarcia, 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 Finisterre and proceeded southward toward its last stopping place before it reached Buenos Ayres. Villagarcia is a town of less than 2,000 inhabitants, situated between Cape Finisterre and the City of Vigo. Issie Saliere expected to pick up more passengers at Villagarcia, 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 Villagarcia. The vessel 6ould easily have been seen from the shore but for the mist, as 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 ofecurred in the Bay of Arosa. Nothing was known of the fate of the vessel until the floating wreckage reached Villagarcia. 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 tha belief that the Saliere must have foundered within a few minutes after it had struck on the- reef.