One of the worst disasters ever to occur in Menorca, took place at 5 in the morning of February 9th 1910, during a tremendous storm with hurricane force winds and giant waves, when the luxury 2300 tonne French passenger/cargo steamship 'General Chanzy', en route from Marseille to Algiers, crashed into the cliffs close to Punta Nati on the northwest coast of Menorca. As she immediately began to sink her boilers exploded.
The General Chanzy in the Harbour of Marseille
The scale of the disaster was only revealed at 8 in the morning on the Saturday 11th, some 48 hours after the accident, when the sole survivor 23 year old Marcel Baudez, presented himself to the farmhouse of Son Escudero asking for help. Within days the terrible truth would be known; 159 persons had lost their lives in this accident.
The Cliffs at Punta Nati with rough sea.
The funerary monument in the Ciutadella Cemetery
Load recovery works.
The saddest job. Collecting of the copses that could be recovered.
