Soller commemorates the sinking of the C4 submarine

SOLLER council, the Museo del Mar, the Balearic Naval Sector and the Balearic Philatelic Group will commemorate the 60th anniversary of the sinking of the C4 submarine in the Port of Soller with various events which will take place on the morning of July 1 in remembrance of the 44 sailors who lost their lives in the accident. Among the planned events is a mass, which will be celebrated today at 11am in the San Ramon de Penyafort church in the Port of Soller, dedicated to the crew of the submarine. Afterwards a garland of flowers will be laid on the water at the spot where the submarine went down.
In addition to this, the Museo del Mar will tomorrow open an exhibition of photographs, stamps and other objects which were recovered from the submarine. The Soller Philatelic group will pay “special homage” to the crew with a “temporary” franking machine, which will print a commemorative stamp on post during Saturday morning. On Saturday (July 1) a conference is planned to explore the history of the C4 submarine. The Soller councillor for Culture, Miquel Nadal, said that these acts represent an “affectionate” commemoration for the families, as well as a remembrance of the sailors who were killed in the accident. “We would rather it hadn't happened, but unfortunately it did”, he said. Nadal said that what they are trying to do with these events is to pay homage to the sailors and to the School of Submarine Armament, which for years was part of the Soller Naval Base. “For the Museo del Mar it (the School of Submarine Armament) is a heritage and the history of the last 60 years of Soller”, he said.
The C4 submarine delivered mail between Barcelona and Mahon in the Republican years and continued to do so during the Civil War. At the end of the war it continued with this service and delivered mail between Soller and the Peninsula.