On August 24, 1880, the Italian steamer Ortigia, loaded with emigrants, was rammed by the merchant ship Oncle Ioseph off the Argentine coast: 149 dead. «Crouched on the blanket, near the stairs, with the plates between their legs and the piece of bread between their feet, our emigrants ate their meal like poor people at the doors of the convents. It is a degradation from the moral side and a danger from the hygienic one, because everyone can imagine what a deck of a steamer tossed by the sea is like, on which all the voluntary and involuntary rubbish of that traveling population spills. The soiling of the dormitories is such that every morning the emigrants have to go out onto the open deck to clean the floors. According to the regulations, the dormitories are swept with sawdust, disinfectants are mixed if necessary, they are diligently washed and dried. But all the excrements and rubbish that accumulate on the floors corrupt the air with strong emanations and cleaning will be difficult". [Teodorico Rosati, health inspector on emigrant ships]