SHIPPING DISASTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume XLI, Issue 38, 14 February 1910, Page 5

SHIPPING DISASTERS.

TWO HUNDRED LIVES LOST. FRENCH STEAMER FOUNDERS. ONLY ONE SURVIVOR. (By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyri-^it.i PARIS, February 12. The steamer General Chanzy, a mail boat belonging to the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, running between Marseilles and Algiers, foundered off the north coast of Minorca yesterday. Of the 87 passengers and a crew of 47, chiefly French and Italians, there was only one survivor, a Customs official named Rodel, who is unable to give an account of the disaster. Apparently the vessel was caught in a violent northerly gale, and broke in two upon striking a reef. THEORIES OF THE CAUSE. HUNDRED BODIES AFLOAT. (Received 8.5 a.m.) PARIS, February 13. Ihe General Chanzy was wrecked near Cindadela, a well-known danger spot, which is unlighted. All vessels report terrific seas in the Mediterranean. The company's officials believe that an inrush of water caused the boiler to explode, rending the vessel and causing her to sink immediately. Most of the passengers were asleep at the time of the accident. A hundred bodies are still floating, and it is impossible to recover them owing to the high seas. French newspapers assert that the General Chanzy had 30 tons of gunpowder aboard, the explosion of which caused the sudden sinking of the vessel. Mr. Duffer, a well-known Parisian comique, and 11 other music hall singers and acrobats are missing. A flotilla of French destroyers has been ordered to Minorca in search for bodies. Marcel Rodel, the sole survivor, is still prostrated. The wreck occurred on Wednesday, and he was without food or shelter until Friday, when he reached Chindadela half dead with fatigue and hunger with the first news of the disaster. BRITISH LINER 'WRECKED. FIFTY DROWNED. (Received 8.30 a.m.) LONDON, February 13. The Pacific Steam Navigation Co.'s steamer Lima has been wrecked in Magellan Straits. Fifty were drowned.