MAIL STEAMER WRECKED.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14134, 14 February 1910, Page 3

MAIL STEAMER WRECKED.

ON ISLAND OF MINORCA. VESSEL BREAKS IN TWO. 133 LIVES LOST. i :j ONLY ONE SURVIVOR. By Electric Telegraph.—Copyright, PARIS, Feb. 12. The steamer General Chanzy, a mail boat belonging to the Compagnie Generale Trans-Atlantique, running between Marseilles and Algiers, foundered on the north const of Minorca, with 87 passengers and a crew of 47 on board, chiefly French and Italians. The only survivor, a Customs official named Marcel Rodol, was unable to give an account of the disaster. Apparently the vessel was caught in a violent northerly gale, and broke in two upon striking the reef, TERRIFIC SEAS REPORTED. SUPPOSED CAUSE OF DISASTER. (Received Feb. 14, 8,5 a.m.) PARIS, Feb. 13. The General Chanzy was wrecked near Ciudadela, a well-known danger spot, which is unlighted. All vessels report terrific seas in the Mediterranean. i The officials of tho company believe an inrush of water caused a boiler to explode, rending the - vessel and causing her to" sink immediately. : Most of the passengers were asleep. A hundred bodies are still floating about, it being impossible to recover them owing to the high seas. French newspapers assert that the General Chanzy had thirty tons of gunpowder aboard, the ’ explosion of which caused the sudden sinking. M. Duffor, a well-known Parisian comique, and eleven other musical hall singers and acrobats are missing. A flotilla of French destroyers has been ordered to Minorca to search for bodies. Marcel Rodel, the sole survivor, is still prostrated. The wreck occurred on Wednesday, but he was succourless until Friday, when he reached Ciudadela, half dead with fatigue and hunger, with the first news of the disaster.