Navigazione Generale Italiana
"Sirio" was a 4,141-ton, 5,012-horsepower steamboat built in 1883 in Glasgow and owned by Navigazione Generale Italiana of Genoa. She sailed on the Raggio Line, operated by the "Societa Italiana di Transporti Maritimi Raggio &amp; Co." She left Genoa on 2 August and picked up additional passengers in Barcelona, and was en route for Cadiz, carrying eight hundred third-class passengers migrating to Brazil, Uruguay, and Argentina. The captain later stated that there were 645 passengers (570 embarked in Genoa, the rest were picked up in Barcelona) and 127 crew members on board.