Sixty-Nine Survivors on a Foreign Shore

More than 500 of the Ertugrul's crew died, including Admiral Osman Pasha, who had led the mission. Only 69 sailors survived. They had come ashore on a remote part of the Japanese coast, far from home. Many were injured, and they could not easily communicate with the people who lived there. The nearest community was the village of Oshima. Once its residents learned that a ship had gone down on their reefs, they began a rescue.