Bridging the gap and the great differences that existed between both disasters, it can be found some points is common. The luxury and magnificence (hence the nickname "ARGENTINIAN TITATIC"), but also tragic situations, desperation, sinking and death of his captains that no one could explain exactly.

    The shipyard that built it was Blohm & Voss, of the German company Hamburg Sud (Hamburgs Sudamerikanische Dampfschifffahrt Gesellchaft).

    Between 1922 and 1923 the company ordered the shipyard Blohm & Voss to build the “Montes”. They were going to be vessels to transport emigrants, cargo and temporary transport of workers from the Iberian Peninsula to South America. They were named with names of mountains from Tierra del Fuego (Argentina): MONTE SARMIENTO, M. OLIVA, M. CERVANTES, M. PASCUAL and M. ROSA.

    The two first, due to the great economical problems, were used for study and recreational trips to South America, staying in the beaches, also adding other destinations in Europe. They had such a great success that the Hamburgo Sud ordered to build other three ships. The first one was called “Monte Cervantes” and the other two “Monte Pascual” and “Monte Rosa”.

    They all had a sad ending. Some were broken up, other sank, such as the Monte Cervantes, which rests in peace at the bottom of the frozen Beagle Channel, Argentina.

AN OMEN?

    Everything began in 1928 when the Russian icebreaker “Krassin” received a distress call from the “Monte Cervantes” that sailed the Arctic waters. They had collided with an iceberg and it had caused some breakage that flooded several compartments. The captain ordered to lead the ship to port to fix it, along with 1500 passengers and around 300 crew members.

    The divers of the “Krassin” fixed the port faults in the scene, but they also discovered others to starboard and a huge hole towards the bow about 3 x 1.5 meters. They were also fixed completely and the divers were congratulated by Russian government and also by the German one. Once fixed, the ship sailed to the Port of Hamburg with the Certificate of "Fitness Marina".

    The interior of the Cervantes was designed with comfort unenviable to frontline ships, with sumptuous rooms decorated in different styles, with a capacity of around 450 people, a second deck with more than 200 chairs, cigar lounge (named Salon Madrid), libraries and reading rooms fully equipped. A luxury for the time.

    The extension of the journey with two new stops made it more atractive: Puerto Madryn and Yendagaia. The stay in Ushuaia would be about 15 hours with the possibility of visiting, among others, the same city, the mills, the Presidio and the Monte Susana. Who would have ever imagined that the stay in Ushuaia would be so traumatic and long?

COURSE TO THE LAST TRIP

    They sailed from Hamburg (Germany) in late 1929 with 1117 passengers and 330 crew members. On January 21, 1930 they docked at the Port of Ushuaia (Argentina) and the next day sailed to Lapataia Bay, specifically about 7 nautical miles, the Yendagaia Bay. Unfortunately, about nine miles away from the Port, there was a fatal accident.

    On the different versions of how it was, I am going to transcribe the conclusion that German newspapers came after an investigation in that country, and the long testimonies of the crew and the evaluation of the facts. The following was taken from the book “Monte Cervantes y el Capitán Dreyer”, Naufragio y muerte en el Sur Argentino by Adriana Pisani:

    <<… Captain Dreyer was intended to pass through the channel “Les Eclaireurs”. He recommended the Second Officer to pay attention when it showed the lighthouse 140 degree on the right and the Monte La Gloche 21 degrees and then change the course in the channel. At 12:35 they saw the mentioned points and the course was changed to south and at 12:42, according to the map, they took the right course…

    …Three minutes later the ship crashed… to starboard on a rock below the water line, so the ship listed to port considerable… straighten up later. When it got released from the rock, it began to sink. The engine stopped… Dreyer said the First Officer to release the boats immediately…

“ALL PASSENGERS SAFE IN USHUAIA”

    …All passengers were disembarked in Ushuaia in perfect conditions, and most of their belongings were saved. It is calculated the in the following days it will be refloated… Despite everything, the attempts to release the Monte Cervantes have not succeeded…>>

    Almost immediately, other information sadden every body: <<…Last night (23 February), at 9 pm, the Monte Cervantes quickly turned on starboard, giving little time to save the crew on guard… We regret the death of Commander Dreyer, who remained in the bridge until the sinking of his ship, sinking with it…>>

    Other stories tell of a strong impact, metal crunch and a dizzying length which fatally wounded the boat. Some data indicate that there was a gap of more than twenty meters. Augusto Schwagermann, representing the insurance company in Hamburg, said: “The breakage of the structure was at the bottom of the hull. On the surface of water the bow bilge protrudes, and   on the port side the stern and part of the rudder...” It was a deadly wound.

    A curious data: at that time, Ushuaia had a population of no more than 800 people. It is easy to imagine the sudden impact of 1,500 new people in the city. Passengers were distributed among family houses and even in the prison, where the prisoners shared their food with the new visitors.

    There was an initiative of the Engineer Leopoldo Simoncini to refloat the “Monte Cervantes”. To do this, he travelled to Germany to buy the equipment and they settled on the island Les Eclaireurs. Also, he got a loan in the Banco de Crédito Industrial for the entire work. It is said that it was about 100 million pesos of the time!

    In April 1954 it was signed an act between the Commander of the Naval Base of Ushuaia and company Salvamar, agreeing that Leopold Simoncini was declared the owner of the Monte Cervantes for having bought it in 1945 to Don Carlos Vianno and he promise to refloat it.

THE RESCUE

    It was 1954 and commanders of the Aciso ARA "Chiriguano” and "Sanavirón" were ordered by their Higher Command, the Agrupación Naval Antártica, to sail to Ushuaia to participate in refloating the Monte Cervantes and tug it from Faro Les Eclaireurs to Ushuaia city. The operation included those mentioned besides the "Guaraní" and the tugboat "Saint Christopher", which is still docked and semi-destroyed in the port of Ushuaia.

    The four ships set sail and the first task was to pass the heavy sea tow of each of them and divers tied it to the hull of the Cervantes, which emerged partially turned over and still could not float.

    The passage of heavy steel wire tugs lasted too much and the manoeuvre was complicated, because divers had to approach with low depth and could not touch the bottom clearly seen under the hulls. 12 hours later they began to pull, first with little strength to adjust the cables and then with engines at full power.

    After 10 hours, they could not move, and divers were told to go to see what was interfering with navigation. They worked for hours and when said the ship had been released completely, they restarted to pull at full power.

    They went to southeast, to Navarino Island (called Chilena nowadays), because the Cervantes, which was upside down, had a great draft and they had to go around lighthouse Les Eclaireurs and then go to Ushuaia, where a place had been chosen to leave the Cervantes and began with the final scrapping.

    Comments then talked about the strongbox, where passengers had put their jewels, but it was told that divers had not respected it and had taken them.

THE SECOND SINKING

    The tug boats and the Monte Cervantes sailed at a speed between 3 and 5 knots, and suddenly the first new thing happened. The "Saint Christopher" informed that the tug has been cut 20 minutes after the trip began. Almost immediately, it is observed a water jet in the bow of the hull, similar or even more important than the one of a whale, and the Cervantes began to sink on bow with a slight angle about 15 degrees.

    Suddenly, the engines and generators of the "Chiriguano” stopped. The chief engineer was controlling the automatic tugging machine on stern and informed that the towrope had blocked and the cable could not be moved. The towropes of other two of the ships had been cut, so just one ship was tied to the Monte Cervantes.

    When the Cervantes sank “for the second time”, the ships joined with many hoses for pumping come loose fast, except one, and it was very impressive to see the desperate effort of rowing frantically to move away from the suction area, and two or three men with an axe cutting the wires that clung to the hull that sank.

    In less than 10 minutes, it disappeared underwater to 80 meters deep, and these poor people escaped from an almost certain death, when they overcome the pull of the water. It was really an unforgettable experience for all of them, and it has been very useful to me during my activities at sea. They come back to Ushuaia and it is told that Simoncini was absolutely desperate. Some time later bankruptcy was declared, and I think there is only the quiet hull of “Saint Christopher” as a mute witness to the second collapse of the Monte Cervantes.

    Once ashore, the chief engineer calculated that if the Cervantes had not got the bottom, our ship would have sunk, and the salvation was due to the fact that we had 150 meters of wire on stern. There are accidents of tug ships that had turned over because of a wrong manoeuvre pulling a big ship.

Text: Marcelo Pierini
buzomarcenqn@yahoo.com.ar
Pictures: Sergio Massaro