Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1906-08-07
SHIP GOES DOWN;
4 300 PEOPLE DROWN
Admitting That it Was His
. Fault, Captain Suicides.
WAS CROWDED WITH EMIGRANTs

Italians, With Knives in Their Hands
and Without Regard to Women or
Children, Fought for Possession Of
the LIfeboats.
Cartagena, Spain, Aug. GA terrible
marine disaster occurred Saturday af
ternoon off the Cape Palos.
| The Italian steamship Sirio, from
Genoa for Barcelona, Cadiz, Monteve-
deo and Buenos Ayres, with about 800
persons on board, was wrecked OF
Hormigas island.
Three hundred emigrants, most of
them Italians ana Spaniards, were
| drowned.
The captain of the steamer commit
ted suicide.
The bishop of San Pedro, Brazil,
was also lost, and it is reported that
another bishop is among the missing.
The remainder of the passengers
and the officers and crew got away in
the ships boats or were rescued by
means OF boats sent to them from the
shore
A number of fishermen, who made
attempts at rescue, were drowned.
Those rescued from the vessel are
now at Cape Palos in a pitiable con-
dition, being without food or raiment.
The Sirto struck rocky reef known
as Bajos Hormigas and sank soon
after, stern first Hormigas island
lies about 212 miles to the eastward
Of Cape Palos.
The Sirio was owned by the Navi-
gaoizne Italiana of Genoa.
Before he committed suicide, the
captain declared the steamer had Gas
passengers on board and that her crew
numbered 127 men. The Sirio had
$40 passengers when leaving Genoa
but additional Spanish. passengers
were taken on board at Barcelona
where the vessel touched a few hours
before the disaster
The disaster occurred at 5 o'clock
In the afternoon. The steamer was
threading a difficult passage through
the Hormigas group, where the Bajos
Hormigas reef as a continual menace
to navigation.
The vessel began to settle rapidlv
Immediately after she had struck, and
a terrible scene of confusion and pan
lc ensued on board. The fishermen
along the coast sought to render every
assistance in their power and sent out
boats, which brought many survivors
ashore. Most Of the officers and crew
of the Sirio are among the saved.
The survivors have gone into
camp on the main square of the town
at Cape Palos. Here narrowing
scenes are enacted as the stricken
families anxiously seek beloved mem
bers among the rescued.
A mother, who lost her three chill
dren, went insane The doctor of
the Sirio gave up his wife and child
as lost but they were finally brought
in by one Of the rescuing boats. and
the scene as this family was reunited
was most affecting.
One of the boats sent out by the
fishermen brought in "a passengers.
The condition of the survivors is
most deplorable. They have lost
everything and are without money
food or clothing. The maritime au
tholi les of Cartagena have dispatched
a tug to the scene carrying relife sup
plies. The buildings of circus and
the poorhouse are being used as tenn
porary quarters for the survivors.
The latest reports from the cape say
that three boats have just brought in
number of rescued. An additional
sadness is added to the catastrophe
owing to the fact that a number of
fishermen, who were conducting res
cuing operations, were drowned in
consequence of the overturning of
boat
The captain of the Sirio, just before
he killed himself, attributed the dis
aster to his own imprudence.
The Sirio left Genoa on Aug. 2.