Episode 127: The Mystery of the Itata - Las secuelas (The Aftermath)

Following the sinking of the Vapor Itata, Jorge X and others make it to a beach near the coastal village of Los Choros.

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Transcript

Martina: Hi everyone, a quick note before we begin. This season of the Duolingo Spanish Podcast is serialized. So if you haven’t heard the previous episodes yet, go back and listen to them first.

In our last episode, we went back in time to the 1920’s to witness the shipwreck of the Itata and Jorge and Elba’s desperate attempt to make it to shore.

It was August 29th, 1922, hours after the Vapor Itata had sank and the first survivors, or sobrevivientes, were washing up on shore. In the nearby village of Los Choros, sixty-year-old Gregoria Fredes looked out her window and saw two boys running towards her house.

Gregoria: Dos jóvenes del pueblo vinieron a verme. Me dijeron que un barco se había hundido en la Playa de los Choros y que estaban buscando comida y ropa seca para ayudar a las personas. Si había sobrevivientes, necesitaban ayuda inmediatamente.

Martina: Gregoria had lived in Los Choros her whole life and shipwrecks were not uncommon in her small seaside village. She knew that time was of the essence. Someone had to help the survivors! So she packed some supplies and headed towards the beach. But this shipwreck was unlike any she had ever seen.

Gregoria: Cuando llegué a la playa, era como una gran zona de desastre. Había pedazos de madera, maletas y un bote salvavidas completamente destruido. Además, a pocos metros, las personas que, desafortunadamente, no sobrevivieron. Fue un shock enorme. Nunca olvidaré ese día en la playa.

Martina: In the distance, Gregoria saw two people lying on the beach. One of the figures slowly turned toward Gregoria and raised a hand, calling her over.

Gregoria: ¡Esta persona está viva! ¡Ayuda!

Señor, la ayuda, ya está llegando. ¿Cuál, es su nombre?

Jorge: Jorge…

Martina: Welcome, les damos la bienvenida a “The Mystery of the Itata,” a serialized season of the Duolingo Spanish Podcast. I’m Martina Castro.

In this very special season, we're taking you to Chile, to follow two people who dedicated a decade of their lives to investigating the true story of a lost ship…in hopes of honoring the 500 people who lost their lives at sea when it sank.

As always, our storytellers will be using intermediate Spanish, and I’ll be chiming in for context in English. If you miss something, you can always skip back and listen again. We also offer full transcripts at podcast.duolingo.com.

Here we go… Episode 4: Las secuelas (The Aftermath)

Martina: Hours after the rescue, Jorge woke up in a small bedroom. He was confused and didn’t know where he was. He tried to get up, but was overcome with pain, so he sat back down.

Jorge: Estaba muy confundido. Me dolían las piernas. Necesitaba entender qué estaba pasando. Intenté levantarme, pero sentí mucho dolor en el estómago. Era tan fuerte que no podía caminar. Respiré e intenté relajarme.

Martina: After a couple of tries, Jorge finally managed to stand up. He leaned against the doorframe and from there, he saw an indoor patio. On the ground, the castaways, or los náufragos, were lying on mats, and women were tending to their wounds.

Jorge: Parecía un pequeño hospital, con otros náufragos como yo. Busqué a Elba alrededor de mí, pero no la vi. Vi a algunos miembros de la tripulación. Había ocho personas en total, pero eran solo hombres.

Martina: At the back of the patio, Jorge saw the same woman who had helped him on the beach, Gregoria. She brought him a bowl of chicken soup, and welcomed him to her home.

Jorge: Sentí el aroma de la sopa de gallina. Me recordaba a la casa de mi madre. En ese momento comenzó mi amistad con Gregoria. Fue agradable, pero pocos minutos después, volví a la cama porque sentía mucho dolor.

Martina: Gregoria sat on the edge of the bed next to Jorge. He could sense there was something she wanted to tell him…

Gregoria: Tengo que decirle algo.

Jorge: Sí, dígame.

Gregoria: Es su amiga Elba…

Jorge: ¿Dónde está?

Gregoria: La señorita estaba demasiado débil cuando la encontramos. Hicimos todo lo posible, pero no sobrevivió.

Martina: Jorge was shocked… Elba had made it off the Itata in one of the lifeboats, and had even helped him swim to shore. But the effort and the cold had been too much. Elba had not survived.

Jorge: No lo podía creer. Yo estaba vivo gracias a Elba. Tenía que hacer algo para recordarla a ella y a las otras personas que habían muerto.

Martina: Gregoria told Jorge that the residents of Los Choros had spent the morning tending to survivors on the beach. Of the more than 500 people on the ship, only 26 had survived — all men. Jorge thought of all the passengers he had spoken to on the Itata. The hundreds of people who had been searching for a better life.

Jorge: Elba y yo habíamos hablado con mucha gente y las recordé. Esas personas estaban yendo al norte engañadas. Y muchas de ellas habían perdido sus vidas buscando una mejor situación.

Martina: The next morning Jorge asked Gregoria for a notebook and a pen. He wanted to write down everything, so that no one would ever forget what had happened on the Itata.

Jorge: Decidí hacer algo. Empecé a escribir sobre todas las cosas que habían pasado en el Itata. Escribir me dio vida y me llenó de valor para continuar.

Martina: While Jorge recovered, he wrote all day and night. As time passed, some survivors returned home, while others headed north. Soon, Jorge was the only one left at Gregoria’s house. Over the course of four days, he wrote an entire book about the Itata shipwreck.

Jorge: ¡Escribí más de cincuenta páginas! Estaba muy concentrado porque no quería olvidar ni un solo detalle. Después de escribir día y noche, lo primero que hice cuando terminé fue llamar a Gregoria.

Martina: Jorge told Gregoria he had finished his book and that he had decided to call it “La catástrofe del Itata, memorias de un sobreviviente.” He planned to publish his story, and continue his investigation up north. So the next morning, Jorge packed his things and Gregoria took him to the town’s main plaza, to find a horse to ride north. When they arrived at the plaza, a church was announcing the first Mass for the victims of the Itata. Across from the church, Jorge and Gregoria said farewell to each other.

Gregoria: Gracias al mar yo conocí a Jorge y, gracias al mar, Jorge iba a encontrar su nuevo camino. Mi objetivo ahora era cuidar la memoria del Itata en Los Choros.

Jorge: Yo estaba vivo gracias a Gregoria y la gente de Los Choros. Gracias a su ayuda y a la de Elba, pude escribir el libro y compartir la historia del naufragio con Chile. Estos eventos tenían que quedarse en nuestra memoria nacional para siempre.

Martina: In December 2014, ninety-two years after Jorge left Los Choros, one hundred people gathered on the same town square. Two men stood in front of a podium: Ricardo Bordones and Carlos Cortés, the two friends who had been investigating the mystery of the Itata for nine years. Carlos approached the microphone. In his hand, he held the book by Jorge X.

Carlos: Ya llevamos varios años con el misterio del Vapor Itata. Pero reeditar este libro nos motivó aún más a reconstruir la historia y a entender mejor el hundimiento del barco. Nuestro sueño era encontrar el Itata.

Martina: For Carlos, Jorge’s book was a huge inspiration in their quest for the remains of the Itata. Even though the name Jorge X was a pseudonym, and the writer’s real identity remained unknown, Jorge’s book was the most reliable account, or relato.

Carlos: El libro de Jorge era el relato más completo de los eventos. Confirmó muchas cosas que leímos en los periódicos y entendimos algunas razones de esta tragedia. Descubrimos que publicaron el libro una semana después del naufragio. Pero fueron pocas copias, así que, no fue muy popular.

Martina: Carlos and Ricardo re-published Jorge’s book, with new illustrations, maps, and a complete list of the survivors. And in December 2014, they brought the book to Los Choros for its official release. For Carlos, it was important to bring Jorge’s words back to the town that helped the survivors.

Carlos: El pueblo de Los Choros había mantenido viva la historia del Itata por muchos años. Por esa razón, decidimos publicar otra vez el libro de Jorge X: “La Catástrofe del Itata”, y presentarlo primero a la gente del pueblo. Ellos tenían que ser los primeros en ver este libro. Yo estaba muy emocionado, sentía que era una manera de darles las gracias a todas estas personas.

Martina: At the event, people from Los Choros were overjoyed to hear about the book. But it was also an opportunity for Carlos and Ricardo to reveal the real reason for the shipwreck. According to Jorge’s book, the Itata sank because it was overloaded with tons of cargo, animals, and too many passengers — people who had been deceived into traveling north.

Carlos: El norte de Chile era la parte más pobre del país. Yo sentía que debía proteger y compartir las historias de esos chilenos migrantes. Esas familias viajaron a las minas sin saber nada. Desafortunadamente, es una historia que se repite en muchos lugares de Latinoamérica.

Martina: That day, Carlos reminded the people of Los Choros that they were the only ones who tried to help the passengers of the Itata. According to newspapers at the time, there were two Navy ships that could have gone to their rescue. But the Chilean Navy didn’t send them, because they feared they would lose their own boats in the storm.

Carlos: La gente de Los Choros fueron los únicos que decidieron ayudar a los sobrevivientes. La memoria del Vapor Itata está viva gracias a ellos, y les di las gracias por eso.

Martina: Carlos and Ricardo were proud to republish Jorge’s memoir and share it with the people of Los Choros. But they knew they couldn’t rest until they found the actual shipwreck.

Carlos: No sabíamos dónde estaba el barco. Sin embargo, gracias al libro de Jorge, teníamos una idea sobre la ubicación. Ahí debían haber respuestas sobre el naufragio. Teníamos que encontrar al Itata, porque necesitábamos darle un final a las historias de las personas que perdieron a sus familias.

Martina: But finding a ship at the bottom of the ocean was no easy task. Ricardo and Carlos needed state of the art technology to search underwater. So, they gave copies of Jorge’s book to sailors and officers in the Navy, or la Armada, hoping to find someone who would help. Ricardo also went to many conferences about ocean exploration. And in one of those events, he met Admiral Victor Zanelli.

Carlos: Ricardo y yo pensamos que Zanelli podía ser una gran ayuda. Era amable y también le encantaban las historias del mar. Cuando le dijimos sobre la tragedia del Itata, ¡se sorprendió mucho! Conocía el barco, pero no sabía nada del naufragio. Él también sentía que teníamos que hacer algo por las familias del Itata.

Martina: Ricardo and Carlos met with Zanelli at his office in the city of Valparaíso to try and determine where the ship could have sunk. Together, they unfolded giant maps on Zanelli’s desk, and using Jorge’s book as a reference, they tried to pinpoint potential coordinates.

Carlos: Con la ayuda de Zanelli, analizamos la trayectoria del Itata, las condiciones del clima y determinamos una zona grande de búsqueda. ¡Estábamos muy felices! Zanelli fue la primera persona que de verdad quiso ayudarnos.

Martina: In April 2015, the three men gained permission to board a research boat called the Cabo de Hornos — a famous Navy ship with the exact technology needed to locate shipwreck remains. But their excitement was short-lived…

Carlos: Ricardo y yo estábamos muy nerviosos. ¡Era una oportunidad increíble! Solo tuvimos cuatro horas para buscar el Itata. Fue muy poco tiempo… y no encontramos nada. Queríamos investigar una zona en particular, pero la tripulación nos dijo que era demasiado peligroso.

Martina: After that search, Carlos and Ricardo experienced more than a year of failed searches. The Navy was giving up hope, and resources were slim. It became clear to Ricardo and Carlos that without more support from the Navy, they were going to need to do something big and bold if they ever hoped to find the remains of the Itata. And so one day, more than a decade after they had first learned about the Itata, Carlos went on national television.

Carlos: ¡El país entero tenía que enterarse! Yo iba a hacer todo lo posible para encontrar el Itata, así que hablé con varios periodistas y logré mi objetivo. Me iban a dar veinte minutos en uno de los programas de televisión más vistos de Chile. ¡Y esa entrevista lo cambió todo!

Martina: Next on the Mystery of the Itata, Carlos and Ricardo get a tip that changes the course of their mission.

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The Mystery of the Itata is a production of Duolingo and Adonde Media. I’m Martina Castro, ¡gracias por escuchar!

Credits

This episode was produced by Duolingo and Adonde Media.