The Accident

It was at noon on September 15, 1890, when the Ship Ertugrul set off from Yokohama to return to Istanbul. The weather was in good condition during departure. However, from the next morning, a reverse wind started to blow against the ship, which grew stronger towards the evening.The crew attempted to stop the ship by emergency anchoring right before it hit the rocks, but unfortunately, the ship did not stop, and it hit the reefs and fell apart. This happened at around midnight on September 18, 1890. Because of this accident, about 533 sailors, including 50 officers and Admiral Ali Osman Pasha, had lost their lives. Six officers and sixty-three sailors survived; Six of them were uninjured, and nine were severely wounded, and the rest had light injuries. After the rescue operation by the Japanese villagers, two survivors were taken to Kobe by Japanese ships, two by a Japanese battleship, and sixty-five by German gunboats. In October 1890, all of the sixty-nine survivors were taken back to Istanbul from Shinagawa, Tokyo. The Ottoman sultan let in the Japanese battleships on January 5, 1892. He was very pleased with the arrival, and so expressed his appreciation by presenting medals to the Japanese crew.