Name Príncipe de Asturias Port of registry Cádiz Maiden voyage 16 August 1914 Launched 1914 | Owner Naviera Pinillos Christened 1914 Length 150 m Beam 19 m | |
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Builder Russell & Co., Port Glasgow, Scotland | ||
Príncipe de Asturias was a Spanish ocean liner, owned by the Naviera Pinillos and built at the Russell & Co. (later Lithgows) shipyard in Port Glasgow, in Scotland; being launched in 1914. She was named after the Prince of Asturias, the historical title given to the heir to the Spanish Crown.
Príncipe de Asturias and her elder sister Infanta Isabel, launched in 1912, were at the time of her construction two of the largest passenger steamship in the Spanish merchant fleet, only second to Reina Victoria Eugenia and Infanta Isabel de Borbón owned by Pinillos's main competitor, Compañía Trasatlántica Española.
In 1916 she was assigned to the Barcelona-Buenos Aires line, with several intermediate ports of call, including Santos in Brazil. Shortly before dawn on 5 March 1916, in the middle of a dense fog the ship ran aground on the shoals out of Ponta do Boi, in the island of Sao Sebastiao, while trying to approach the port of Santos, and she sank quickly. At least 445 people out of 588 aboard died during the sinking, being probably the biggest single-incident maritime loss of lives since the sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland in May 1914.