Shipwreck - S S City of Rio De Janeiro

Ref: G5000
  • £450.00

S S CITY OF RIO DE JANEIRO. The 3,548 ton steamer ‘Rio De Janeiro’ was owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and was operating on their Pacific route. She had sailed from Hong Kong on 22 January 1901 and then on to Yokohama, Japan, leaving there on 2 February, bound for San Francisco via Honolulu. The majority of her passengers were Chinese immigrants. At about 4 a.m. on the morning of February 22, having been anchored mid-channel off the entrance to San Francisco Bay, she was proceeding north east at an estimated speed of 9 m.p.h. when a bank of fog rolled in, engulfing the ship. Thirty minutes later the ‘Rio De Janeiro’ struck on a ledge of rocks between Mile Rocks and Fort Point, and sustained major damage below the waterline. Within fifteen minutes she sank, claiming the lives of 131 passengers and crew. Recovered mail received a three line purple cachet ‘DAMAGED IN WRECK / OF S S RIO DE JANEIRO / FEB 22 1901'. This Japanese postal card has a Tokyo 30 JAN 01 cancel on the front.