March 3, 1916 The Spanish passenger ship Principe de Austurias, a 460' long 8,371 ton ship, sank off the coast of Brazil. The ship was built in Glasgow in 1914 for the Pinillos, Izquierod y Compania for their Barcelona to Buenos Aires route. On her sixth voyage she was running close to the Brazilian coast, most likely to avoid British warships that were known to be in the area, and since she was carrying a large number of Germans, the captain did not wish to be detained.

The ship sailed into a dense fog bank and at around 4:15 a.m. she tore her bottom out on the rocks off Sebastiao Point. The opening was so large that water rushed in on the boilers and caused them to explode. Within ten minuets she broke in half and sank taking 415 of the 568 on board. A French ship picked up the 173 survivors.

© 2006 Michael W. Pocock
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