2-981-550 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'At Sea; After the "Sontay" was torpedoed on April 16, 1917, at noon: the last passengers board into lifeboats. The "Sontay" was going from Marseille to Salonika. Torpedoed in heavy seas, she sank in 5 minutes. Nevertheless out of 425 people on board, 380 could be saved. Its commander, the heroic lieutenant Jean-Baptiste Mages, did not want to survive those who had perished. He let himself sink with his ship. Standing on the bridge, when the sea reached him, he raised his cap and shouted: "Vive la France!"; then he disappeared', 1917. From "L'Album de la Guerre 1914-1919, Volume 2" [L'Illustration, Paris, 1924].