The Shipwreck of "General Chanzy" 110 years ago.

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.

Spooky weather

Several tornadoes lashed last Saturday the west coast of the island and Cala Galdana. Fortunately there were no injured people but many trees plucked and small boats sunk

The shipwreck of the 'Francina'

It happened in 1974. Specifically, on February 3.

The Liberian flag merchant ship, had left the day before Marseille towards the Algerian coast, carrying oranges, iron, primers for explosives and chemicals on board. The explosives had been stowed in the ship's bow. Due the bad weather, with strong winds and high waves, there was a chain reaction explosion on board that caused the fire in the ship. Only four of the fourteen members of the crew saved their lifes in the fatal accident.

More than 40 years later, they are still recognizable remains of the old engine room of the 'Francina', 12 meters deep, near the cliffs of Cala Morell