Īnson, the Swedish Navy corvette Freja, and other nearby ships immediately sent rescue crews to the site, but rough weather and a strong current made it difficult for them to approach the wreck. Her masts, protruding above the waves, became the last refuge for survivors. 20 minutes after the impact Utopia sank to a depth of 17 metres (56 ft). The survivors clung to the starboard of Utopia while hundreds were trapped inside steerage holds. McKeague ordered the lowering of the lifeboats and to abandon ship, but Utopia suddenly listed 70 degrees, crushing and sinking the boats. McKeague at first considered beaching the ship, but Utopia almost instantly lost engine power: The engineers had shut down the engines to prevent a steam explosion. Anson 's ram tore a hole 5 metres (16 ft) wide below Utopia 's waterline, and her holds quickly flooded. According to third mate Francis Wadsworth, the impact occurred at 6:36 p.m. Suddenly, a "strong gale combined with current swept the vessel across the bows of the Anson, and in a moment her hull was pierced and cut by the ram of the ironclad". McKeague, according to his statement, thought that Anson was "further off than she really was" and attempted to steer Utopia ahead of Anson 's bow. When McKeague's eyesight recovered he "suddenly discovered that the inside anchorage was full of ships". McKeague later said that he had been temporarily dazzled by Anson 's searchlight. Captain McKeague navigated Utopia to her usual anchorage in the inner harbour, but then realized that it was occupied by two battleships, HMS Anson and HMS Rodney. Utopia reached Gibraltar in the afternoon of 17 March. According to Captain John McKeague's signed statement, Utopia normally carried seven lifeboats that could accommodate up to "460 people in moderate weather" but on the night of the catastrophe one of these boats was missing. She carried a total of 880 people: 59 crew (most of them stewards), 3 first class passengers, 815 third class passengers, and 3 stowaways. On 25 February 1891 Utopia sailed out from the port of Trieste for New York City, with stopovers at Naples, Genoa and Gibraltar. To maximize revenue on the Italian route her first class accommodation was reduced to 45 passengers, second class was removed altogether, and steerage capacity was increased to 900 bunks. In 1890–91 she was refitted with a triple expansion steam engine. In 1882 she was transferred to the Mediterranean, and regularly carried Italian immigrants to the United States. Utopia made 40 round-trip voyages on this route. On 6 September 1878, she ran down and sank the German full-rigged ship Helios. In April 1876, Anchor Line transferred Utopia, Elysia, Anglia and Australia to serve the route from London to New York City. After 12 round trips on the route from Glasgow to New York City she sailed on the route from Glasgow to Bombay. She was launched on 14 February 1874 and sailed out on her maiden voyage to New York City on. Utopia was a sister ship to Elysia (1873) and Alsatia (1876), designed to carry 120 first class, 60 second class and 600 steerage (third class) passengers. Utopia was built by Robert Duncan of Glasgow as a transatlantic steamer for the Anchor Line. The sinking of Utopia was blamed on "grave error of judgement" of her captain John McKeague, who survived the accident. Utopia sank within 20 minutes with a loss of 562 of 880 passengers and crew of Utopia and two rescuers from HMS Immortalité died in the accident. On 17 March 1891 Utopia accidentally collided with the moored battleship HMS Anson in the Bay of Gibraltar. After 1882 she carried Italian immigrants to the United States. From 1874 to 1882 she operated on Anchor Line routes from Glasgow to New York City, from Glasgow to Bombay and from London to New York City. SS Utopia was a transatlantic passenger steamship built in 1874 by Robert Duncan & Co of Glasgow. Sketch of the sinking of Utopia by a witness, Ms.
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