Bonjour à tous,
AFRIQUE
Chargeurs Reunis
1907
Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson
5,404 tons
408,5 x 48,3 x 27,7
3,000 i.h.p.
11 knots
Triple expansion engines.
The French liner Afrique was bound for West Africa when she developed engine trouble in the Bay of Biscay on the night of Saturday, January 10th, 1920. Wireless calls were sent out in response to which the Ceylan, also of the Chargeurs-Reunis, came to the rescue. There was a strong northerly wind and a boisterous sea which swept the Afrique toward the shallow water covering the Roche-Bonne Reefs about 50 miles from La Rochelle. Unfortunately the seas would not permit of the Ceylon taking the disabled steamship
in tow and she could only stand by in the hope of rendering assistance when the weather moderated.
On Sunday evening, the 11th, the steamship Lapland came on the scene, as did the Belgian liner Anversville. None of these vessels could give any aid and at about 3 o'clock on the morning of the 12th the wireless messages from the Afrique ceased and after striking on the reef she gradually filled and sank.
The total number on board the liner, which was commanded by Capt. Le Du, was 585, of whom 105 were first-class passengers, 69 second-class, 70 third-class, 214 steerage (of whom 192 were Senegalese Tirailleurs returning to West Africa) and 127 crew. The survivors totalled 32, of whom three were third-class passengers and the remainder soldiers and crew, the number lost, therefore, amounted to 553, the largest in any French maritime disaster since the loss of La Bourgogne in 1898.
Sources :
Dictionary of disasters at sea during the age of steam 1824 – 1962, Charles Hocking, Lloyd's Register of Shipping, London, 1969
Cordialement,
Franck
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