On March 17, 1891, the British Steamer Utopia sank off Gibraltar, killing 574 passengers and crew. The ship primarily carried Italian immigrants, in cramped “steerage” bunks. Here is a description of the disaster at The Dawlish Chronicles:
“On the afternoon of March 17th 1891 the SS Utopia reached Gibraltar. Captain John McKeague was familiar with this anchorage and he headed his ship towards her usual mooring in the inner harbour. Light was failing and only too late did McKeague realise that two Royal Navy Battleships, HMS Anson and HMS Rodney were already there. At this time these two ships of the “Admiral Class” were among the most modern in the Royal Navy, each of 10,600 tons on a 330 ft. length and with four 13.5 inch guns as their main armament. More significant on the present occasion was that both had viciously-pointed rams extending below water level from their bows. A large armoured cruiser present, HMS Immortalité, was similarly equipped. The Swedish corvette Freja was also at anchor.
At this remove in time it is hard to understand how the SS Utopia could enter a confined anchorage in darkness without a pilot, and how the presence of three very large ships there, and a smaller corvette, had not been noted previously. In a later deposition Captain McKeague stated that he was briefly dazzled by HMS Anson ’s searchlight. Only when he was became accustomed to the glare did he “suddenly discover that the inside anchorage was full of ships”. He claimed that he thought that Anson was “further off than she really was” and he tried to steer in ahead of her bow. The manoeuvre was an unwise one and wind and currently swept the Utopia along HMS Anson’s bow. Acting like a giant can-opener, the ram tore a 16 foot gash below the Utopia’s waterline. Flooding began and engine power was lost immediately.”
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On this day in 1992, nearly 69 percent of white South African voters backed F.W. de Klerk‘s reforms—which included the repeal of racially discriminatory laws—and effectively endorsed the dismantling of apartheid.
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Today is the birthday of the late Thomas Michael “Mad Mike” Hoare (born 1919, died 2020.) The book Mad Mike Hoare: The Legend (published in 2018) is fascinating reading.
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This is also the birthday of Józef Franczak (born 1917, died 21 October 1963), who was a Polish Army Corporal who fought in the World War II resistance against the invading Germans. He then carried on after the war, to fight against the occupying Soviets and their Polish communist stooges. Eventually, he was one of the last of the Cursed Soldiers resistance in Poland. His nom de guerre was Lalek.
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Today’s feature article is a guest post authored by Brandon Smith of Alt-Market.us, selected by JWR.
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We are in need of entries for Round 111 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 111 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.