On 11 October 1927
Principessa Mafalda sailed from Genoa for Buenos Aires with intermediate stops scheduled at Barcelona, Dakar, Rio de Janeiro, Santos, and Montevideo. The ship was under the command of Captain Simone Gulì, with 971 passengers and 288 crew aboard. She also carried 300 tonnes of cargo, 600 bags of mail, and 250,000 gold lire destined for the Argentine government. The trip was to take 14 days. It soon became apparent that the ship was in poor condition.
Principessa Mafalda left Barcelona almost a day late due to mechanical problems, and several times, she slowed to a complete stop on the high seas, sometimes for hours. Water in bathrooms became intermittent. A refrigeration system failure caused tons of food to spoil, resulting in numerous cases of food poisoning. At the stop at
Cape Verde, Captain Gulì telegraphed the company to request a replacement vessel but was told, "Continue to Rio and await instructions." With the ship resupplied with fresh food and partially repaired, he took her out onto the Atlantic. By 23 October,
Principessa Mafalda had developed a small but noticeable list to
port. The passengers, who had received few explanations for the previous breakdowns, now began to worry that the ship was taking on water. Although far behind schedule, she was finally traveling at full steam off the coast of northern Brazil on the 24th. Around 17:15 hours on 25 October 1927, near the
Abrolhos Archipelago, off Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, the ship was rocked by several strong shudders. There are many conflicting versions of what happened next. According to some sources, the ship kept moving forward in a wide circle for at least an hour; rescue vessels received confusing signals about how to assist, and not all the lifeboats could be launched due to the list, with some being rushed by the crowd and several proved to be unseaworthy due to a lack of maintenance. The rescue vessels, fearing a possible
boiler explosion, kept themselves at a distance. However, several of their lifeboats were able to come alongside the sinking ship and shuttle survivors between her and the rescue ships, especially the
Alhena. Captain Gulì directed the launching of the lifeboats from the bridge with his megaphone; the evacuation was orderly at first, but panic began to quickly spread when power failed at 22:03, plunging the vessel into darkness. Passengers started jumping into the sea, where sharks attacked some, and Gulì, realizing that the ship was now sinking fast, ordered all the remaining lifeboats to be lowered; the considerable list to port hampered the launching of the starboard lifeboats, several of which were damaged against the hull and rendered unusable. The situation was somewhat better on the port side, under the charge of
first officer Maresco. Still, several lifeboats started taking on water due to their deteriorated condition, and the panicked passengers capsized others. Some passengers reportedly committed suicide; accounts told that several first-class passengers stayed with the captain and did not bother to reach the lifeboats. Captain Gulì
went down with the ship, and the
chief engineer, Silvio Scarabicchi, reportedly committed suicide by shooting himself. Gulì was posthumously decorated for bravery at sea, as were the two radio operators, Luigi Reschia and Francesco Boldracchi, who had remained at their post until they drowned. At 22:10, about four hours and twenty minutes after the initial accident,
Principessa Mafalda sank stern first. Several vessels arrived to assist since she went down on a busy
shipping lane. By daybreak, Many controversies remain about exactly what transpired and who was responsible for the death toll. Reports of gunfire, sharks in the water, exploding boilers, and nearby ships refusing to assist were widely published but never confirmed. Even the exact wreck site remains a matter of dispute today. At the time, the sinking was the largest loss of life on an Italian ship and in the Southern Hemisphere. ==Aftermath==