120 Are Drowned As Mine Sinks Ship.

New York Times 100 years ago today, May 25, 1913:
Second Steamer, Nevada, Sent to the Bottom of Smyrna Gulf by Explosion.
ONLY 80 ON BOARD SAVED
Leaving Channel to Avert Collision, It Strikes Three Mines in Succession and Blows Up.
    SMYRNA, May 24.— While leaving port to-day with 200 passengers on board, the steamer Nevada of the Hadji Daout Company, struck three mines in succession in the Gulf of Smyrna and sank. Only eighty of the passengers and crew are reported saved.
    A Russian steamer was entering the gulf as the Nevada, to avoid a collision, left the channel and entered a mine field.
    There she struck three mines, which exploded in quick succession. The last was followed by an explosion on the ship, which immediately sank.
    Of the passengers and crew on board eighty were rescued by boats, which put off from the French cruiser Bruix, which was anchored in the harbor.
    The Nevada, though owned by a Turkish company, was flying the American flag. She belonged to a fleet of eight steamers, of which seven were renamed in 1910 and were transferred to the American flag.
    The vessels, when flying the Turkish or American ensign, have been well known as traders in the Aegean Sea, and have frequently carried general cargoes for transshipment at Austrian or Italian ports for the United States and elsewhere. These cargoes have included dried fruits, tobacco, carpets, and other Turkish products.
    The Nevada is the second passenger steamer within a week to be sunk in the Gulf of Smyrna by mines, laid by the Turks to prevent an attack by the Greek fleet. It is the fourth vessel to be destroyed in this manner since the gulf was mined on the outbreak of the Turco-Italian war.
    The Texas, a vessel of 480 tons, belonging to the same fleet, was sunk through striking a mine in Smyrna Gulf in April, 1912. The official version of the disaster put the number of lives lost at 68 out of 139 on board. Most of the passengers were Armenian and Greek pilgrims, returning from Jerusalem to Constantinople.
    In January, 1913, the Theodores, Turkish sailing vessel of 600 tons, was blown up by coming in contact with a floating mine at the entrance to Smyrna Bay.
    Last Wednesday the French liner Senegal struck a mine as she was leaving port, and was run ashore by her Captain to prevent her foundering.
    Five persons were killed by the explosion and six others severely injured.