Remembering Doña Paz, The Shipwreck Worse Than The Titanic

It’s five days before Christmas and the ferry Doña Paz is packed with excited passengers traveling home for the holidays. As night settles, they bed down on the decks of the overcrowded vessel, any discomfort eased by thoughts of the celebrations ahead. But then, tragedy strikes, turning the journey into a terrible nightmare at sea.

Dangerously crowded

Nobody knows exactly how many people were on board the M.V. Doña Paz when it left Leyte in the Philippines in December 1987. But it soon became clear that it was dangerously crowded on the decks of the 24-year-old vessel. And when it collided with the M.V. Vector in the perilous Tablas Strait, the outcome was brutal and swift.

The deadliest peacetime maritime disaster

Today, it’s believed that more than 4,000 people died when the Doña Paz caught fire and sank swiftly to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. And if these figures are correct, that makes it the deadliest maritime disaster to ever occur during peacetime. But what happened on board this ill-fated vessel? And how did the incident claim so many lives?

A tragedy waiting to happen

Like the sinking of the Titanic, which went down 75 years before the Doña Paz, this was a tragedy waiting to happen. And as the dust settled, tales of incompetence and human error made the disaster even harder to bear. Now, we look back on a shipwreck that horrified the world.

The Himeyuri Maru

Built in Hiroshima, Japan, in 1963, the Doña Paz first sailed under the name Himeyuri Maru. At just over 300 feet long, it had capacity for just 600 people during this stage of its career. But 12 years into its service it was sold to the Filipino shipping operator Sulpicio Lines and tasked with ferrying passengers between the southern city of Cebu and the country’s capital, Manila.

An early fire

Now renamed the Don Sulpicio, the vessel became one of the line’s flagship vessels, plying the 300-mile route before being ravaged by fire in June 1979. Thankfully, every one of the 1,164 passengers on board were rescued from the inferno — but the ferry itself was not so lucky. And in the end, Sulpicio Lines declared it a “constructive total loss” – in other words, an insurance write-off.

The Doña Paz

This wasn’t, though, the end for the ship that would become the Doña Paz. After writing off the vessel, Sulpicio Lines repurchased it and set about giving it a new lease of life. Eventually, it was relaunched with a brand new name and updated specs, now licensed to carry a maximum of 1,518 passengers.

Manila to Tacloban

By this time, though, another ship had been promoted to the role of flagship by Sulpicio Lines. And so, the Doña Paz was demoted, assigned to an alternative route. Again starting in Manila, it now traveled to Tacloban via Catbalogan, also a total distance of some 300 miles.

A familiar route

From its launch onwards, the Doña Paz sailed this familiar route two times every week, carrying passengers between the bustling capital and its counterpart in the south. But less than a decade after the devastating fire, the vessel would experience another brush with disaster. And this time, the people on board would not be so lucky.

Deadlier than the Titanic

Today, the most notorious shipwreck in the world is probably the Titanic — the infamously ill-fated liner that struck an iceberg and sank with the loss of about 1,500 lives. But the fate of the Doña Paz was far more deadly, resulting in almost three times as many tragedies. So why has one become enshrined in legend while the other has been almost lost to time?

Ordinary people

Well, for starters the Doña Paz, unlike the Titanic, was not packed with members of high society when it set out on its fateful voyage. Instead, it was carrying a complement of ordinary passengers from Tacloban to Manila, many of whom were traveling to meet up with family members in the city.

Home for the holidays

After all, when the Doña Paz left Tacloban in the early morning of December 20, 1987, Christmas was just five short days away. According to reports, the vessel was due to arrive in Manila at 4:00 a.m. on the 21st – leaving plenty of time to prepare for the season’s festivities. But tragically, most of the passengers would never make it to the city alive. 

Over capacity

In the Philippines, an estimated 80 percent of the population is Catholic — meaning that Christmas is a big deal. As a result, there were plenty of people desperate to make the trip to Manila on the Doña Paz that day. And even though the official capacity of the vessel was just over 1,500, far more than that piled on board at Tacloban. 

Illegal ticket sales

According to the official passenger manifest, there were 1,493 passengers on board the Doña Paz when it departed, along with 50 crew. But later estimates put that figure far higher, with some claiming that there were more than 4,300 people crammed onto the vessel. In an interview with news agency United Press International, one official claimed that illegal ticket sales had been common, bolstering the numbers to unmanageable levels.

Sleeping in hallways

Whatever the actual number of people on board, it seems clear that the Doña Paz was crowded. Speaking to The New York Times newspaper two days after the tragedy, survivors recalled seeing passengers lying down to sleep in hallways and out on the open deck. In places, they claimed, people were sharing a single bed with as many as three others.

Everyone asleep

Despite the cramped conditions, though, most of the passengers had settled down to sleep by 10:00 p.m., as the Doña Paz passed through the Tablas Strait. Around the same time, the oil tanker M.T. Vector was traveling from Bataan in the main island’s Luzon province to the isle of Masbate in the south.

The collision

At a spot some 100 miles south of Manila, the two vessels collided. Laden with more than 1,000 tons of gasoline, the Vector soon caught fire. And before long, the inferno had spread to the Doña Paz. Even in normal circumstances, the flames would have spelled disaster – but as it was, the passengers on the overloaded ferry didn’t stand a chance.

The inferno spreads

Speaking to The New York Times the day after the incident, survivor Paquito Osabel explained that an explosion had alerted him to the disaster. He said, “I went to a window to see what happened, and I saw the sea in flames. And I shouted to my companions to get ready, there is fire. The fire spread rapidly and there were flames everywhere.”

"The smoke was terrible"

“People were screaming and jumping,” Osabel continued. “The smoke was terrible. We couldn’t see each other and it was dark. I could see flames, but I jumped.” And he wasn’t alone. As the fire tore through the Doña Paz, passengers tried to escape by desperately flinging themselves into the ocean below.

The end of the Doña Paz

In the end, the flames made short work of the 2,200-ton Doña Paz: just two hours after the collision, it had disappeared beneath the waves. Another two hours later, it was joined by the Vector. Today, both wrecks lie some 1,600 feet beneath the Pacific Ocean – a haunting reminder of one of the worst disasters to ever play out at sea.

Survivors in the water

But what happened after the Doña Paz sank? According to reports, many who made it off the ship perished in the water, where the leaking oil had caused the surface of the sea to burn. Meanwhile, those who survived found themselves navigating horrific scenes while clinging to suitcases in a bid to stay afloat. 

Sharks

And the fire wasn’t the only horror waiting for those who managed to make it into the water. According to Global Shark Attack File, which tracks interactions between humans and sharks, there were multiple encounters with the predators as survivors thrashed around in the Tablas Strait. And sadly, none of those victims lived to tell the tale.

The Don Claudio

Luckily, the sinking of the Doña Paz had not gone unnoticed. According to reports, the captain and crew of another vessel, the M.V. Don Claudio, spotted the explosion as it tore through the night sky. Sadly, though, they arrived too late to help the majority of people on board the doomed ferry. 

Hoisted to safety

Reaching the Doña Paz approximately one hour after the collision, the Don Claudio could do little more than pluck the few remaining survivors out of the water. Apparently, officers on board the rescue vessel threw nets and life preservers into the sea, giving them something to cling to as they were slowly hoisted to safety. 

Ominous

Later, The New York Times reported on December 22, a second would-be rescue ship, the Don Eusebio, also joined the search. But despite circling the wreck site for seven hours, its crew could see no sign of either the Doña Paz or its passengers. As local coastguard Rene M. Luspo remarked at the time, “Finding no debris is ominous.”

No sign of a shipwreck

Also speaking to The New York Times, American Cliff Davies, who surveyed the site from a helicopter, agreed that the rescue operation did not bode well. He said, “We covered about 100 miles of sea area, and except for maybe a piece of driftwood or two, we saw absolutely nothing as far as a shipwreck, oil spill, signs of life or signs of an accident.”

4,000 dead

In the end, only 27 people were rescued alive from the wrecks of the two doomed vessels. Of these, according to reports, 25 were passengers on the ferry, while two had been working on the Vector at the time of the collision. And although we may never know exactly how many people were on board that day, it’s likely that the death toll was well in excess of 4,000.

How could it happen again?

Some 75 years earlier, the world had mourned the sinking of the Titanic and the loss of 1,500 people in the middle of the North Atlantic. Now, many were left to wonder how an even-deadlier maritime disaster could have happened again, this time within 100 miles of land. As the days passed, tragic stories from survivors and eyewitnesses began to emerge. 

Abandoning ship

Speaking to The New York Times, 34-year-old Pampilo Culalia described the moments directly after the explosion. He said, “I was still shaken by the noise when I saw my father-in-law jump into the sea.” According to the paper, the fisherman soon followed suit, leaving his young daughter and niece behind.   

"I saw the ship in flames"

Swimming away from the burning Doña Paz, Culalia looked back and realized what was happening. He added, “I saw the ship in flames and I wanted to kill myself. But God shook me and woke me.” Eventually, he was rescued when someone threw a life preserver from the deck of the Don Claudio.

Human error

Among the horrific accounts were testimonies that hinted towards a tragedy that could have been avoided. After the sinking of the Titanic, it was revealed that there had only been enough lifeboats for a fraction of those on board. And on the Doña Paz, it seemed, similar human errors had also contributed to an inflated death toll.

No life jackets

According to reports, one survivor, Luthgardo Niedo of the Philippine Constabulary, claimed that there had been no life jackets available to those on board the Doña Paz. What’s more, he added that the crew had done little to maintain order after the collision; instead, they had been gripped by the same sense of panic that had coursed through passengers.

Sinking in the dark

Apparently, Niedo also stated that the lights of the Doña Paz had extinguished within minutes, leaving no illumination to help the passengers evacuate the ship. As the dust settled, the Philippine Coast Guard launched an official investigation into the sinking. And before long, an even more horrific picture had emerged.

Drinking beer

According to The New York Times, the investigation found that many of the Doña Paz’s crew had been away from their posts drinking beer when the incident occurred. In fact, one statement claimed that just a single man had been stationed on the bridge that night: an apprentice with limited skills.

Poor visibility

But at the time of the sinking, officials from Sulpicio Lines had laid the blame on poor visibility and the difficulties of maneuvering through the Tablas Strait. So what had really happened on board the Doña Paz? While officials worked to get to the bottom of the tragedy, the people of the Philippines began to mourn one of the worst disasters to ever happen at sea.

A national tragedy

On December 22 the then-President of the Philippines Corazon Aquino released an official statement, referring to the sinking as a “national tragedy of harrowing proportion.” She added, “Our sadness is all the more painful because the tragedy struck with the approach of Christmas.” Around the same time, there were reports that a four-year-old survivor had been found floating on a piece of timber – although this has never been confirmed.

Compensation

Within days of the sinking, Sulpicio Lines announced that it would be awarding the equivalent of about $550 dollars today in compensation to the survivors. But before long protests broke out in Manila, demanding that the company also paid out for the unrecognized victims of the disaster. After all, thousands were missing from the official manifest – but their families grieved them just the same.

Official verdict

Eventually, though, Sulpicio Lines was absolved of any blame by the Board of Marine Inquiry. According to reports, the investigation found that the operators of the Vector had been the ones at fault. Apparently, the ship had been sailing without a license while manned by an inexperienced crew. Even worse, there had been no qualified master or lookout on board at the time of the collision. 

The Kiangya

Even today, the sinking remains one of the worst maritime disasters to ever take place – and the deadliest to occur during peacetime. Before that, the dubious record had been held by the S.S. Kiangya, a Chinese steamship that hit a mine and sank 50 miles south of Shanghai in 1948. Like that of the Doña Paz, the exact death toll remains unknown, although experts believe it could have been above 3,900.

The Wilhelm Gustloff

Both of these disasters, though, pale in comparison to the wreck of the M.V. Wilhelm Gustloff, a German transport ship sunk by the Soviets towards the end of World War II. Although details are scarce, historians believe that roughly 9,000 people died in the incident, making it the worst maritime disaster of all time.

One of the worst disasters to happen at sea

Yet despite the unfathomable losses of life that resulted from these other tragic sinkings, the Titanic's demise has still somehow remained at the forefront of the public consciousness for decades. But did you know that tragedy was almost averted that fateful night? As it turns out, there was another ship, the Californian (pictured), that could have reached the liner before it sank — potentially preventing hundreds of deaths.

Where was the Californian?

So why did the Californian fail to come to the Titanic’s aid? After all, crew members on deck spotted the emergency rockets fired from the struggling liner. But their ship remained stationary as a terrible disaster unfolded less than 20 nautical miles away. And for the rest of his life, Captain Stanley Lord would regret his decision.

The most famous ship in the world

When the Titanic had set sail from Southampton, England, on April 10, 1912, it was probably the most famous ship in the world. As the cream of British and American society stepped on board for the journey to New York, photographers flocked to capture images of the historic moment. But for many of the passengers, it would be the last journey that they’d ever make.

All the glitz and glamor of a luxury hotel

Built in Belfast in modern-day Northern Ireland, the Titanic was the planet’s biggest ship — but it wasn’t just its size that made it impressive. Inside, the liner was decked out with all the glitz and glamor of a luxury hotel. From opulent dining rooms to a gymnasium and swimming pool, no expense was spared while furnishing this jewel of the White Star Line.

Third class

Of course, the Titanic wasn’t strictly reserved for the upper classes. Deep in the bowels of the ship, some 700 passengers slept on the lower decks on tickets that cost as little as $15 — the equivalent of $170 today. Mostly emigrants bound for a new life in the U.S., they were also the worst hit by the tragedy that was about to unfold.

Disaster strikes

At first, the journey across the Atlantic appeared to go smoothly. Amid the first-class salons and smoking chambers, passengers relaxed and socialized with other members of society’s elite. And even in the lower-deck accommodation, the mood was likely one of optimism and excitement. But then disaster struck, and the world would never be the same.

The Californian

On the evening of April 14, the Titanic was making its way through the North Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. But the luxurious liner wasn’t the only vessel in the vicinity. Sailing some miles further north was the Californian, a British steamship bound for Boston under the command of Captain Lord.

An ice warning

At around 6:30 p.m., lookouts on the Californian spotted some icebergs looming out of the freezing waters. Concerned, they radioed other ships — including the Titanic — to inform them of the hazards ahead. Some four hours later, Lord concluded that the route was too dangerous to navigate in the dark and brought the vessel to a halt.

Shut up! Shut up! I am busy...

In the meantime, the Titanic was proceeding at full speed, despite the various iceberg warnings that’d been issued throughout the day. At 10:30 p.m. wireless operator Jack Phillips received another message from the Californian informing him of the worsening situation. Allegedly, though, he replied, “Shut up! Shut up! I am busy…”

Iceberg, right ahead

As the only means of contacting the outside world for the 2,240 people on board, Phillips may well have been busy — and no doubt frustrated by the Californian’s interruption. But before long, he’d be desperate to talk to the crew of this, or any other, ship. Because just over an hour later, the Titanic struck an iceberg, tearing a large hole in its starboard side.

Unsinkable?

Today, it’s said that the Titanic was dubbed “unsinkable” — and certainly many on board believed that the liner couldn’t come to any harm. But as the night went on, it became apparent that this wasn’t the case. With water flooding into the lower decks, Captain Edward Smith ordered his crew to prepare the lifeboats for launch.

SOS

The lifeboats, though, could only carry a fraction of those on the ship. As women and children were helped into the vessels, Phillips and his fellow operator Harold Bride hunkered down in the Titanic’s radio room, desperately tapping out emergency calls. Using both the traditional CQD and the newer SOS signals, the sinking liner cried out for help across the dark ocean.

The Frankfurt

As time passed, responses began to trickle in. The Frankfurt, a steamship headed for Bremerhaven in Germany, was among those to pick up the call. But due to a miscommunication, the vessel didn’t try to come to the Titanic’s aid. In any case, though, it was located 170 nautical miles from the stricken ship.

The Olympic

Unable to reach the Titanic in time, the Frankfurt could offer no reassurance to the increasingly distressed Phillips and Bride. Likewise, while the Olympic had picked up the call from its sister vessel, it was also too far off to help. Ignorant as to the scale of the disaster, operators asked if Smith’s ship was changing course to meet them — only to be told that the lifeboats had been launched.

The Carpathia

By that time, another ship had answered the distress call: the Carpathia, a Cunard Line steamship carrying returning emigrants and U.S. vacationers to Austria-Hungary from New York. At the time, it was nearly 60 nautical miles from the liner — in other words, more than four hours away. Captain Arthur Rostron, though, changed course and pushed his vessel to its limits, racing to the Titanic’s aid.

The last lifeboat

Back on the stricken liner, things weren’t looking good. At just after 2:00 AM, the last of the Titanic’s lifeboats set out into the ocean, leaving some 1,500 passengers and crew still on board. In desperation, they clung on as the deck tilted, the stern of the vessel rising up into the air.

The Titanic sinks

Eventually, the pressure caused the hulking mass of the Titanic to snap in half. As the bow plunged quickly to the bottom of the ocean, the stern briefly came to rest on the water but then followed the same trajectory into the depths. By 2:20 AM, less than three hours after striking the iceberg, the entire ship was gone.

A long night

For those who survived the initial sinking, it was just the beginning of a horrific ordeal. In the water, hundreds of bodies thrashed around, fighting a losing battle against freezing temperatures as they struggled to stay afloat. Those in the lifeboats were forced to listen to their cries — and wait in anguish for help that never seemed to come.

Freezing water

With the Carpathia still many miles away, the situation was bleak. One by one, the people in the water succumbed to hypothermia in temperatures of around 30°F. And in the boats, many of the survivors weren’t faring much better. Every minute that ticked by, it seemed, brought them a little closer to death.

Captain Stanley Lord

It might come as something of a shock, then, to find out that there was another ship far closer to the Titanic than the Carpathia. In fact, the Californian, whose operator had issued a warning to the White Star liner only hours before, was just 20 nautical miles away. So why wasn’t Captain Lord rushing to the vessel’s aid?

Lights in the dark

According to the official testimony of Charles Groves, an officer on the Californian, he spotted the lights of a mystery vessel in the distance at around 11:10 p.m. Twenty minutes later, he headed below deck to inform Lord of what he’d seen. By that time, though, the ship’s wireless had been turned off for the night, meaning that the Titanic’s distress calls never made it through.

Final moments

Apparently unconcerned, Lord directed Groves to use a Morse lamp to communicate with the unidentified ship. Crucially, reports claim, he didn’t think to send the wireless operator back to his post — a mistake that may well have cost hundreds of lives. Unbeknownst to the crew of the Californian, they were observing the final moments of the Titanic’s voyage.

Rockets in the sky

Just after midnight, an officer named Herbert Stone relieved Groves from his position. And according to his testimony, he also spotted the mystery vessel a short distance away. Again, he attempted to communicate using the Morse lamp, but no reply was forthcoming. Then, at just before 1:00 AM, he saw rockets being fired into the night sky.

A ship in distress?

At this point, Lord was notified once more of the strange events unfolding across the ocean from the Californian. But still, the captain failed to act. According to some reports, he didn’t believe that the flares were being fired by a ship in need of assistance. Instead, he suggested that they could have been company rockets, launched to communicate with another vessel from the White Star Line.

Her lights look queer

According to the testimony of James Gibson, the apprentice responsible for manning the Morse lamp, Stone wasn’t convinced by the captain’s conclusions. Reportedly, Stones said, “A ship is not going to fire rockets at sea for nothing.” Later, on observing the vessel, he noted, “She looks very queer out of the water – her lights look queer.”

The Titanic disappears

Yet despite these concerns, the Californian remained where it was, painfully close to the sinking liner but unaware of the tragedy playing out just a short distance away. Eventually, at around 2:00 a.m. observers noted that the mystery ship seemed to be moving away at last. Little did they know, though, that they were watching the Titanic disappear beneath the waves.

Oblivious

Less than 20 nautical miles away, the survivors of the Titanic struggled in the water – or sat frozen and traumatized in lifeboats drifting across the sea. Had the Californian picked up the ship’s distress call, it may have arrived on the scene before the liner sank, potentially saving every soul on board. But instead, Lord slumbered in his vessel, completely oblivious to the disaster that was unfolding.

The Carpathia arrives

At around 3:40 a.m., Stone and Gibson spotted more rockets over the North Atlantic, this time to the south of their position. But they weren’t from the vessel that’d vanished more than an hour earlier. They were from the Carpathia, racing full speed ahead to the Titanic’s last known position – and the Californian’s crew were about to realize the terrible scale of their mistake.

Awake at last

According to the testimony of George Stewart, the second in command on the Californian, the Carpathia steamed into sight just over 30 minutes later. Finally, around 4:30 a.m., Lord emerged from his cabin. Apparently, the ship was still surrounded by ice, and the captain needed to make his next move.

Far too late

Curious as to the identity of the mystery ship they’d spotted during the night, Lord finally gave the order to arouse the wireless operator. But by then, of course, it was far too late. Just a short distance away, the Carpathia was plucking the Titanic’s few lifeboats from the freezing sea.

Heading south

It wasn’t long, then, before Lord and his crew would find out the dreadful truth: the Titanic had gone down. Finally, the captain of the Californian gave the order to head south. But by the time they reached the site of the disaster, the Carpathia had already picked up all of the surviving passengers and crew.

All thye found was debris

As the Carpathia steamed back to New York, the crew of the Californian stayed on to continue searching the wreck site. Sadly, though, all they found was debris. In the end, the disaster had claimed more than 1,500 lives – including a number of women and children who’d not made it to the lifeboats in time.

Boston

Eventually, the Californian continued its journey to Boston, arriving on April 19. With the attention of the world’s press turned towards the Carpathia and New York, it slipped under the radar at first. But on April 22 the official American inquiry into the incident made a shocking discovery: another vessel had been within sight of the Titanic as it sank.

A press sensation

Shortly afterwards, sensational stories began to appear in the press, fueled by the testimony of the Californian’s crew. The vessel, these reports alleged, had declined to come to the aid of the stricken Titanic. And Lord himself was also speaking to the newspapers – though he was giving conflicting reports.

Official inquiry

In one interview, for example, Lord stated that his vessel had been 30 nautical miles from the Titanic when the latter went down. Later, though, he’d revise that number to 20. As time passed, and both American and British authorities launched inquiries into the sinking, the Californian’s captain would continue to relay differing versions of events.

Many lives might have been saved

Ultimately, both investigations concluded that Lord’s ship had been heartbreakingly close to the disaster – and that he certainly could’ve done more. In fact, the British inquiry went even further, adding, “When she first saw the rockets the Californian could have pushed through the ice to the open water without any serious risk and so have come to the assistance of the Titanic. Had she done so she might have saved many if not all the lives that were lost.”

Lord's legacy

Despite these findings, though, Lord never faced any charges. But his actions on that fateful April night would cast a shadow over the rest of his days. Fired from his position just months after the sinking, he then spent most of his life trying, unsuccessfully, to clear his name.

The fate of the Californian

But what of the Californian itself? As the world continued to mourn the victims of the Titanic, the vessel that could have saved them slipped back into a relatively obscure career. Then, as World War One raged, the ship was struck by a German torpedo in 1915 while traveling from Greece to Southern France. Today, its wreck is still lost beneath the seas, one of the last pieces in a puzzle that’s fascinated mankind for more than 100 years.