VAPOR TEIDECompañía Trasmediterránea
Spain
Postcard issued by the shipping company.
Built in 1895 at the A. G. Vulkan Werke shipyards in Stettin, Germany, under the name Crefeld, it was acquired by the Spanish government on 25 October 1918, and assigned to the Trasmediterránea Shipping Company by Royal Order of 16 February 1924. It served as a transatlantic mail ship, beginning its voyages in Barcelona and stopping at the ports of Málaga and Cádiz, among others, before completing its journey in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. On 20 October 1924, it was renamed Teide and underwent extensive refitting at the Nuevo Vulcano shipyard in Barcelona. Initially intended for traffic to the Canary Islands, in February 1931 it was incorporated into the Guinea route, which until then had been served by the Compañía Trasatlántica and which, from that date onward, was operated by the Compañía Trasmediterránea. On 15 May 1932, it set sail from Barcelona on what would be its final voyage. On 20 May, it left Cádiz by the stern, with 35 passengers and 110 crew members, bound for Santa Isabel on Fernando Poo. In Monrovia, 65 laborers boarded to work on board, and they were scheduled to disembark at the same port on the return journey. In San Carlos, 400 native passengers boarded for Bata, and it was during this crossing, at 3:00 a.m. on 8 June, that the Teide ran aground at Punta Oscura, southwest of Fernando Poo Island, in a place called Etepo by the natives, next to the Baña River and very close to Punta Sagre. Fortunately, there were no personal injuries, and both the passengers and crew were picked up by the British-flagged mixed vessel Appam and taken to Santa Isabel." (Excerpt adapted from a text by Francisco Font Betanzos, published in the Revista General de Marina in October 2007.)
Traveler's collection.
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