The Tragic end of the Vapor Valbanera

Introduction

Much has been written and shared about the tragic events of the sinking of the Vapor Valbanera. I highlighted some of the images and stories I found on various websites. However, I wanted to share an article on its first voyage to Puerto Rico in 1906, which I have not seen.

The Vapor Valbanera Sinks

Valbanera was a steamship operated by the Pinillos Line of Spain from 1905 until 1919. Sadly, she sank in a hurricane with the loss of all 488 crew and passengers aboard. The Valbanera was a 400-foot-long (120 m) steamer that could carry up to 1,200 passengers. 

She sailed a regular route between Spain and Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Gulf Coast of the United States.

In the summer of 1919, the ship left the Canary Islands after earlier calling at several ports in Spain. It held cargo and 1,142 passengers, mostly immigrants to Cuba, and 88 crew members. Although most passengers were booked for Havana, 749 left the ship when it called Santiago de Cuba on September 5. Unfortunately, the 1919 Florida Keys Hurricane hit Havana on September 8, before Valbanera reached the port. As a result, she could not enter the harbor and signaled she would move away from shore to ride out the storm.

On September 13, the Cuban consul in Key West contacted the commandant of the United States Navy base in Key West concerning rumors that Valbanera had sunk. Radio operators at the base reported hearing Valbanera in contact with the Morro Castle radio station in Havana on September 12, but further investigation indicated that they had probably mistaken the call letters for Infante Isabel, ECY, which had been in contact with Morro Castle, for the call letters for Valbanera, ECV. 

Last Communication from the Vapor Valbanera

The last confirmed radio communication with Valbanera had been on September 9. The U.S. Navy submarine chaser USS SC-320 spotted a submerged wreck with just the masts above water in the vicinity of Rebecca Shoal (about 45 miles (72 km) west of Key West) on September 12, but identified it as a two-masted schooner. Two other Navy ships passing the area on September 13 did not notice anything of a wreck. 

Another sub-chaser sent out on September 16 returned the next day with confirmation that a large ship was wrecked on Half Moon Shoal. Finally, on September 19, Coast Guard cutter Tuscarora and sub-chaser 203 could see the name Valbanera on the wreck. 

The next day, the officer who had reported the wrecked schooner on September 12 confirmed that he had seen Valbanera. The wreck was 6 miles (9.7 km) east of Rebecca Shoal, with just the masts and a couple of lifeboats above the water. There were 488 passengers and crew on Valbanera when she sank. No bodies were seen or recovered.

The Lucky Survivors

One group, however, did survive: the group that left the boat in Santiago and made their way overland to Havana or settled in southern Cuba. Juan de la Gru Gonzalez Ponce was one of these. Born in 1899 in Gran Canaria, he had already crossed the Atlantic once in 1915, when he was 16, and had worked for two years cutting sugarcane on a farm. He decided to leave the ship in Santiago, and after the tragedy, spent another four years working on the farms in Cuba.

By 1921, he had saved enough money to return to Gran Canaria and to buy a small Fina (farm) near Cardonnes in the Arucas district, which grew bananas. Two years later, he married, and they lived in the house and one in Las Palmas till he passed in 1980, one month before his 81st birthday. This was the story of Eduardo Vera’s Grandfather.

17TH SEPTEMBER 2019 BY GCDADMIN

First Voyage to Puerto Rico

Genealogy of some of the Guests

Below is a brief genealogy of some of the invited guests mentioned in the newspaper clipping above. (It’s all about the genealogy for me.)

• Joaquin Barreiro Alonso, son of Antonio Barreiro and Ana Maria Alonso from Spain, Director (Reporter) married in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 29 Dec 1909 to Carmen Luisa Janer Dominquez, daughter of Manuel Janer and Carmen Dominguez. Children; Joaquín Janes Y Dominguez and Manuel Luis Janes Y Dominguez.
• Don Pedro R. (Perico) de Diego Gonzalez, from Vega Baja, residing in San Juan, Reporter, son of Don Francisco and Doña Ramona married in San Juan, Puerto Rico, 25 Aug 1900, to Maria Montesano Agrincone daughter of Don Rafael and Doña Cristina.
• Dionisio Trigo Marcos, son of Benigno and Juana Marcos, residing in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Businessman, married on 10 Jan 1905, in San Juan, Puerto Rico to Belén Sara Orbeta Miranda, daughter of Enrique Orbeta Ugarte and Belén Miranda Monge.
• José María Lomba Y Peña, from Spain, son of José Bernardo and Rita, who married Oliva Andreinvi Y Verde, also from Spain, daughter of José Benito and Balbina. Two children: Oliva and Eduardo, both born in Spain.

• La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico 1907
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Valbanera
• La Correspondencia de Puerto Rico on its first voyage to Puerto Rico on February 6, 1907.
• Libertad Digital 2019
• Images from FB (J.A. Verona Rodriguez)
• Janett Naranjo Morales por facilitar este listado, asi como al articulo: A cien años del naufragio del Valbanera, publicado por el sitio Telecubanacan.icrt.cu, por las historicas fotos utilizadas.
• hijosdecoamopr.com