Michael Coy
THE Holy Saturday Storm was an extreme meteorological phenomenon that occurred on April 20, 1878, off the northern coast of Spain in the Cantabrian Sea.
The Spanish word for a sea storm that arises from nowhere is a galerna, and this one is the most famous galerna of them all.
It was a very intense squall that affected fishing vessels in the provinces of Cantabria, Biscay, and Guipuzcoa, resulting in the tragic loss of over 322 lives and the sinking of nearly 500 vessels in just a few hours.
This storm had disastrous consequences for the fishing communities of the Cantabrian Sea, not only because of the lives lost, but also because many families were left ruined by the loss of their main breadwinners.
At that time, fishermen in the Cantabrian region mainly fished for coastal species such as bonito, sardines, sea bream, and anchovy, in contrast to the deep-sea whaling and cod fishing which they had pursued in the past.
They used traditional fishing methods, employing chalupas, which were small, undecked wooden boats.
The chalupas could hold up to 14 men and a skipper, and were powered by hand and sail. Their rigging consisted of a single mast and a large sail, although in times of difficulty they often replaced it with a smaller one.
The tragic event occurred on April 20, 1878, Holy Saturday, when numerous fishing boats left the ports during the early morning to catch sardines off the coast.
Initially, the wind blew gently from the northeast, and continued to do so until 10 in the morning, by which time all the boats were already fishing.
At that moment, the fishermen noticed a south wind blowing onshore, evident from the raised sand on the nearby beaches.
They also saw some suspicious clouds on the horizon, which made them suspect that the weather was becoming unstable and that a storm was approaching.
Some skippers lowered their mainsails and headed back to port.
However, the majority continued the struggle so as not to return empty-handed: they had to balance this concern with the need to earn a living and not be judged as cowards for abandoning their work without a good reason.
This difficult decision would ultimately prove fatal for many of them.
Around noon, a gale suddenly broke out, a violent storm accompanied by strong northwesterly winds.
From land, the scene was heartbreaking: the fragile boats had scattered and were struggling to reach the nearest inlets at all costs.
Fishermen desperately struggled to bail out the water in undecked vessels.
Anything not tied down, including the fishermen themselves, was swept away by the ebb tide and swallowed up by the sea, while their companions were powerless to rescue them.
On land, relatives watched helplessly from the cliffs as the gruesome scene unfolded, hoping to spot their loved ones’ boats, while church bells in nearby towns rang out warning of the disaster.
At dawn on Sunday, local newspapers began to count the victims of the tragedy.
On the Basque coast, the catastrophe hit Bermeo particularly hard, with 98 fishermen killed, followed by Elanchove with 49, Mundaca with 15, Ondarroa with 13, Lekeitio with six, San Sebastian with five, and Algorta with two.
The Spanish provinces were plunged into ruin after so many lost the heads of their families.
Faced with this situation, the provinces of Vizcaya, Guipuzcoa, and Santander established assistance committees to help the destitute.
The magnitude of the tragedy caused great shock throughout Spain and became a recurring theme in both the press and literature of the time.
Several newspapers launched fundraising campaigns to support the families of the shipwrecked communities and the more than 1,000 orphans left behind by the storm.
In the aftermath of the Holy Saturday galerna, measures were implemented to improve the safety of fishermen on the high seas.
Weather reports were improved to provide fishermen with more accurate and timely information on weather conditions.
Furthermore, improvements were made to vessels, such as the inclusion of continuous decks to protect them from the elements.
Rescue and shipwreck relief services were also established.
But if today you visit the fishing villages of the north-west, you will see memorials to the unforgotten dead of 20 April, 1878.
