More than a century after a group of Santa Eulària fishermen risked their lives to rescue the people aboard the stricken vapor Mallorca, their descendants have received an official tribute in Ibiza.

The ceremony took place on Wednesday, September 23, at the Botafoc passenger terminal, bringing together maritime authorities, public officials and families connected to the fishermen who took part in the rescue on 17 January 1913.

The event was organised by the Directorate General of the Merchant Marine and Salvamento Marítimo and was intended to formally recognise an act of civilian maritime assistance that has remained part of Santa Eulària's local history for generations.

A rescue during a winter storm

The story began on the night of 17 January 1913.

The Mallorca, operated by Isleña Marítima, was travelling between Palma and Alicante with a stop in Ibiza when it approached the coast of Santa Eulària during difficult weather conditions.

Historical accounts describe strong wind and rain, darkness and very poor visibility.

The vessel came too close to the coast and struck the shallow waters known as La Llosa, off Santa Eulària. At the time, the reef was not marked in the way it is today.

The collision caused the ship to become stranded on the rocks and created an immediate danger for everyone aboard.

Fishermen head into the storm

The Mallorca did not have wireless telegraphy, so its crew could not simply send a radio distress call.

Instead, the ship used visual and sound signals to attract attention.

Those signals were seen from Santa Eulària and prompted local fishermen and sailors to organise an emergency response.

Several small fishing vessels headed towards the stricken ship despite the darkness, rain and rough sea.

Historical accounts describe the operation as extremely difficult, with the fishermen making repeated journeys between the vessel and the coast to bring people safely ashore.

Everyone was brought to safety

The rescue succeeded.

The people aboard the Mallorca were evacuated and brought to the coast of Santa Eulària without fatalities being recorded.

Once ashore, local residents provided food, blankets and accommodation to the survivors.

Contemporary and later accounts have repeatedly highlighted not only the fishermen's actions at sea, but also the hospitality shown by residents after the rescue.

The damaged Mallorca could not ultimately be recovered.

After remaining stranded for a period and suffering further deterioration, the vessel was eventually lost, and its remains were later removed.

How many people were aboard?

The number of people rescued has been described differently in sources over the years.

The 2026 official Salvamento Marítimo commemoration states that 150 people were aboard the Mallorca.

A detailed historical reconstruction by historian David Ribas, published in 2013, records 73 passengers and 42 crew members, making 115 people in total.

A declaration adopted by Santa Eulària Town Council in 2024 referred instead to approximately 120 people aboard.

For that reason, the safest description is that the fishermen rescued the entire group aboard the ship, rather than presenting one disputed historical number as definitive.

The passengers included an opera company

One of the unusual details of the journey was the presence of a large group connected with a Catalan-Italian opera company.

According to Ribas's historical reconstruction, most of the 73 passengers were members of the company, which had recently performed at the Teatre Líric in Palma.

Among those travelling was the wider group accompanying soprano María Barrientos, one of the best-known singers of her era.

The presence of performers and other travellers made the rescue particularly notable in contemporary accounts.

A long-awaited recognition

The September 23 ceremony brought descendants of the fishermen together more than 113 years after the rescue.

Three families representing the descendants of those involved attended the event and received commemorative metopas from the authorities.

The recognition followed a request made by Santa Eulària Town Council in 2024 for an official acknowledgement of the work carried out by the municipality's fishermen and sailors and their families.

The municipality had already commemorated the centenary in 2013 and maintains a monument in the centre of Santa Eulària dedicated to the local residents who assisted the survivors.

The monument in Santa Eulària

The story has been part of the town's public memory for generations.

A monument in the square in front of Santa Eulària Town Hall commemorates the 1913 shipwreck and the actions of local residents.

The monument was promoted by the Majorcan newspaper La Última Hora and installed in 1913 as a recognition of the hospitality and humanitarian response shown by the people of Santa Eulària.

The monument remains a physical reminder of the rescue in the centre of the town.

Recognition also came for naval personnel

The local fishermen were not the only people involved in the rescue.

The municipal declaration adopted in 2024 records that a recognition process was also opened in 1913 for sailors from the Spanish Navy who were aboard the Mallorca.

That process eventually resulted in 13 Silver Crosses for Naval Merit being awarded in 1916 to naval personnel for their role during the emergency.

The current tribute, however, specifically focused on the local fishermen and sailors whose families had sought recognition for their ancestors.

Modern rescue services remember their predecessors

The ceremony also drew a direct connection between the actions of the fishermen in 1913 and the work carried out today by Salvamento Marítimo.

During the event, an audiovisual presentation revisited the rescue and highlighted the principle of coming to the aid of people whose lives are in danger at sea.

That principle remains central to modern maritime rescue operations.

The ceremony concluded with a visit to the Marta Mata, a Salvamento Marítimo vessel moored at the Botafoc terminal.

The modern rescue ship provided a visual contrast with the small fishing boats used by the Santa Eulària fishermen more than a century earlier.

A story preserved in local memory

The rescue of the Mallorca has remained one of the best-known episodes in the maritime history of Santa Eulària.

The story is remembered not only because every person aboard was brought safely to land, but because the rescue was carried out at night, in severe weather and with very limited communications and rescue technology.

The people who went to sea had no modern rescue vessels, helicopters or electronic positioning systems. They relied on small boats, knowledge of the coastline and their experience at sea.

More than a century later

The September 23 ceremony finally brought formal institutional recognition to descendants of the local fishermen who took part in the operation.

For the families who attended, the metopas represented recognition of an event that had already been preserved through family stories, local monuments and historical accounts.

For Ibiza, the ceremony also brought renewed attention to an important episode in the island's maritime history, when ordinary residents of Santa Eulària responded to a ship in distress and helped bring its occupants safely ashore.