In April 1908, the steam ship "Göta Elf" sunk in the middle of the Gothenburg harbour. 26 people drowned and the event was front-page stories in all the newspapers all over the country.

The reason for this disaster to become film historically interesting is, that Charles Magnusson, who later on became the managing director of Svenska Bio and SF, was on site quickly to film a short actuality film of the event.

Since there was not yet a Swedish censorship - it was founded 1911 - the film with Magnusson and the stiff corpses being hauled out of the sea, was indeed a sensational piece of film on the cinemas in those days. The film that can be seen to the left also gave the medium of cinema attention as a news mediator.

The actuality film made by Magnusson, satisfied the need for people to see what had really happened - at least afterwards. This was a role often played by early actuality films. People read about an event in the press, and usually, about a week later, they could visit a local cinema to see the real pictures of what had occurred.