On a dark winter night in January 1913, a passenger steamship struck the rocky shallows off Santa Eulària during a storm.

The vessel, the Vapor Mallorca, had been travelling from Palma towards Alicante with a scheduled stop in Ibiza when difficult weather and poor visibility brought it dangerously close to the coast.

With no modern rescue equipment and no wireless telegraphy aboard the ship, the people on the Mallorca had very limited ways to call for help.

The rescue that followed would become part of Santa Eulària's history.

The night of January 17, 1913

The incident took place on Friday, January 17, 1913.

The Mallorca was operating on the Palma-Alicante route, with Ibiza as a stop.

According to historian David Ribas's reconstruction, the ship had left Palma with 73 passengers and 42 crew members.

The crossing was difficult because of strong wind and rain. By the time the ship approached the coast of Santa Eulària, it was already dark, with intermittent rain and very poor visibility.

The collision with La Llosa

As the Mallorca approached the coast, it came too close to land and struck La Llosa, a rocky shallow off Santa Eulària.

At the time, the area was not properly marked, and the conditions made navigation particularly difficult.

The impact caused a breach in the hull and left the vessel stranded on the rocks.

There were falls and injuries caused by the impact, and passengers were confronted with a rapidly developing emergency.

There was no wireless telegraphy

One of the most important details of the story is how limited communications were in 1913.

The Mallorca was one of the vessels of Isleña Marítima that had not yet been equipped with wireless telegraphy.

Instead, the crew raised the alarm using visual and acoustic signals, including distress flares.

Those signals were seen from the coast of Santa Eulària.

The alarm reaches Santa Eulària

Two people on the coast noticed the signals.

One travelled towards Ibiza to alert the authorities, while the other went to raise the alarm in Santa Eulària.

The response then began locally.

Fishing boats and other small vessels from the area headed towards the stranded Mallorca, with fishermen, sailors and volunteers taking part in the rescue.

Other boats that were working in the surrounding waters also joined after becoming aware of what had happened.

Fishermen go out into the storm

The rescue took place in darkness, with cold, rain, waves and difficult sea conditions.

The local fishermen knew the coastline and the waters around Santa Eulària, and they used their own small boats to reach the stranded ship.

They made repeated journeys between the Mallorca and the coast, gradually bringing people ashore.

According to the historical accounts, the entire group aboard the vessel was evacuated safely.

The official rescue vessels arrived later

Help was also dispatched from the port of Ibiza.

The small steamers Formentera and Salinas were sent towards La Llosa to assist.

But by the time they arrived, the fishermen had already brought the passengers to safety.

The steamers were then able to concentrate on attempts to deal with the stranded vessel itself.

The village receives the survivors

The rescue did not end when the passengers reached land.

Residents of Santa Eulària helped care for those who had been brought ashore.

Historical accounts describe local families providing food, drink, warm clothing and places to sleep, while cafés and other establishments also helped accommodate the survivors.

Some were later transported towards Ibiza in carts provided by local residents while they waited for the next vessel to Alicante.

How many people were aboard?

The number of people aboard the Mallorca has been reported differently over the years.

The official 2026 Salvamento Marítimo commemoration referred to 150 people.

Historian David Ribas's detailed reconstruction records 73 passengers and 42 crew members, which totals 115.

A more recent municipal account has described approximately 120 people being aboard.

Because of this discrepancy, the most reliable way to describe the rescue is to state that the fishermen succeeded in bringing the entire group aboard safely rather than presenting one historical total as definitive.

The passengers included performers

The journey had an unusual passenger list.

According to Ribas's historical reconstruction, many of the 73 passengers were members of a Catalan-Italian opera company that had recently performed at Palma's Teatre Líric.

The group also included sailors returning to the mainland after Christmas leave and eight French tourists.

The soprano María Barrientos was associated with the company, although historical accounts note that she herself was not aboard the Mallorca on that journey.

The Mallorca could not be saved

While the people aboard had been rescued, the ship itself could not ultimately be recovered.

Attempts to refloat it in the days following the accident were unsuccessful.

According to Ribas's reconstruction, the vessel remained stranded at La Llosa for more than two months before another storm finally caused it to sink.

Its remains were later removed from the seabed in the summer of 1916.

A rescue remembered in Santa Eulària

The events of January 1913 became an important part of Santa Eulària's local history.

The response by fishermen, sailors, volunteers and residents was later commemorated through plaques and a monument in the town.

A monument in front of Santa Eulària Town Hall recalls the community's response to the disaster and the hospitality shown to the survivors.

The municipality also marked the centenary of the rescue in 2013.

Recognition came more than a century later

On September 23, 2026, the descendants of some of the fishermen finally received an institutional tribute in Ibiza.

The ceremony took place at the Botafoc passenger terminal and was organised with the participation of the Directorate General of the Merchant Marine and Salvamento Marítimo.

Three families descended from the fishermen attended and received commemorative metopas in recognition of their ancestors' actions.

Remembering the fishermen

The recent ceremony also highlighted the connection between the rescue carried out by local fishermen in 1913 and the work of modern maritime rescue services.

The principle is simple: when people are in danger at sea, others go out to help them.

In 1913, that help came from small fishing boats and people who knew the waters around Santa Eulària.

Today, it is carried out by specialised rescue vessels and crews equipped with modern technology.

The circumstances have changed, but the basic idea of coming to the aid of people in danger remains the same.

A remarkable story from Ibiza's maritime history

The rescue of the Mallorca remains one of the best-known stories of maritime solidarity in Santa Eulària.

A passenger ship was stranded in darkness during difficult weather, communications were limited and professional rescue resources were still rudimentary.

Local fishermen responded with their own boats and knowledge of the sea, bringing everyone aboard safely to land.

More than a century later, the names of those fishermen are being remembered once again.

Their descendants have now received the recognition that was not formally given to the rescuers themselves at the time, ensuring that the story remains part of Ibiza's maritime history.