Sinking
On 17 September 1949 Fournier reached Rio Gallegos in a round trip from Ushuaia, carrying doctor Raul Wernicke and his son on a scientific expedition through the Fuegian channels. [10] On 21 September, on her way back, the ship departed Río Gallegos for Ushuaia through the Magellan Straits: most of the journey would be across Chilean waters. [8] Fournier radioed a message to Ushuaia at 4:30 pm and never made contact again. A massive search and rescue operation was launched on 23 September when the ship failed to arrive, [1] led by Fournier's sister ship ARA Spiro. [11] The Chilean Navy Sotoyomo-class tugboat Lautaro joined the search after Chilean authorities were put on alert by the Argentine Navy. [11]
On 3 October [9] floating debris was spotted by a Chilean Air Force A-24 Banshee [11] recoinnasaince aircraft off Punta Cono, southwest of Dawson Island. The Argentine transport ships Bahía Blanca and Sanavirón were immediatly dispached to the area, where they found a boat, a lifejacket and later the body of a crewmember of Fournier. [9] Following a tip from a local fisherman, the Spiro recovered two more bodies at Caleta Zig-Zag, a cove adjacent to Punta Cono. The man, a half-Alacaluf who resided in the island, had buried the remains on a beach after finding a lifeboat with the dead seamen aboard. The Lautaro, sweeping the same zone, found another lifeboat with the bodies of Fournier's commander, the second in command and three non-commisioned officers aboard. Sometime later a Chilean Catalina flying boat found a patch of oil in what was the probable spot where the Fournier sank. The hour of sinking was established from the wrist watches of the rescued bodies, all of which struck 5:25 pm. [11]
It was later determined that Fournier sank on or around 22 September, apparently after striking a rock about 60 nautical miles (110 km) south of Punta Arenas. [7] [12] It was eventually established that the ship had capsized in rough sea. [13] [3] All hands on board, initially reported as 60 [8] but later established to be 77, [12] including doctor Wernicke and his son, [14] were lost. [12] Only nine bodies were recovered [3] all of them at a bay near the mouth of a channel south of Dawson Island. [11] The sinking of Fournier was publicly announced on 4 October. [15]
The bodies of the deceased sailors were received by a mourning crowd at the port of Buenos Aires, where they arrived transported by the frigate ARA Heroína. The funeral rites took place at the Navy Mechanics School. [16]
According to various sources, two of the Fournier's crewmembers survived because they were not on board when the ship sank. José Aristir Juan, the ship's electrician, had been left ashore due to a sinus infection. [3] It's also been reported that Ismael Castro, a telegraph operator, was similarly disembarked for an undisclosed illness. [17] Later in life, Juan wrote a book about his experiences aboard the Fournier. [18] Castro, who became a photographer for a newspaper in his hometown of Tres Arroyos, died while covering a Turismo Carretera race in Nueve de Julio on 22 July 1984, after a racing car spun out and hit him. [17]
The loss of Fournier stirred controversy between Argentina and Chile over the unannounced passage of Argentine Navy vessels through Chilean territorial waters, a usual practice long before Fournier's sinking. The Argentines often took the western route to Ushuaia to avoid the more dangerous eastern journey on the open sea. [11] The Chilean government, due to the dispute, declined the Argentine invitation to the funeral extended to the Chilean crews involved in the rescue: [1] they were instead received and decorated by the Argentine government at the Argentine embassy in Santiago de Chile. [19]
On 24 October 1949, barely one month after the loss of Fournier, a street in Mar del Plata was named Tripulantes del Fournier in hommage to the ship's crew. [20] [15]
Argentina
