1927
The Principessa Mafalda: the shipwreck that devastated emigrants to the River Plate
On 25 October 1927 the liner linking Genoa and Buenos Aires sank off Brazil. More than 300 people died.
For almost twenty years the Principessa Mafalda was one of the best-known ships on the Genoa–Buenos Aires route. Launched in 1908, she had carried thousands of Italians to the River Plate. By October 1927 she was on one of her last voyages: an old ship with known mechanical problems.
On 25 October, at around five in the afternoon, off the Abrolhos archipelago some 130 kilometres from the coast of Bahia, her starboard propeller shaft broke. The shaft tore open the hull, and water poured in before the watertight doors could be fully closed. The ship sank in just over four hours.
About 1,250 passengers and crew were on board. Several ships came to the rescue, including the British Empire Star and the Dutch Alhena. The official death toll was 314, although the exact number is still disputed. Captain Simone Gulì went down with his ship and was posthumously decorated.
Many families in Argentina, Uruguay and Brazil waited on the docks for relatives who never arrived. Almost a century later, the Mafalda remains one of the most remembered tragedies of Italian emigration. Was someone in your family on board? Tell us their story.
Sources: SS Principessa Mafalda — Wikipedia
