sent out an SOS. The signal was received by numerous stations on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The Argentine freighter Vincente Fidel Lopez in the port of Ushuaia also heard the call and headed out to assist Monte Cervantes, but on the way suffered an accident itself with its launch. The remaining crew on Monte Cervantes meanwhile collected all objects of value to the passengers that they could find and handed them to the arriving launch, also requesting that the launch pick up the passengers from the lifeboats. Shortly after the departure of the first motor launch, a second launch, from the prison of Ushuaia, appeared and offered its assistance. It was sent back and soon returned with several piles of warming blankets. Shortly thereafter the Vincente Fidel Lopez reached the shipwreck site. It took passengers on board from the life boats and carried approximately 800 persons safely to the mainland. Meanwhile, some of the other lifeboats had wandered off course and drifted to remote coastal regions. Their passengers had to make a long walk through a thickly wooded area before they also reached the town of Ushuaia, which at the time had a population of about 800. Thus the 1,200 passengers produced a strain on the community, which housed some of the passengers in the town's prison. Run aground After the last lifeboat had sufficiently cleared the reef, Monte Cervantes′s engines – which were still functional since the engine room had not flooded – again were started. The captain and the remaining 70 crew members maneuvered Monte Cervantes onto a rock reef (the Les Eclaireur islets), where they ran the ship aground in an attempt to prevent her from sinking. The forecastle, still freely floating in the water, listed ever more steeply; the ship by this time was already flooded up to D-deck. Sounding line measurements showed that the steamer sat with only the port side of her stern resting on the reef. The remainder of the ship floated freely in the water. Further measurements showed a continuous penetration of water into the hull, and at this time the captain ordered that all remaining crew on board abandon ship using the last remaining lifeboat. The senior officers spent the night of 22 January on a nearby rock islet. The next day In the morning of the following day, 23 January, numerous ships, among them Vincente Fidel Lopez, headed