If you ask anyone in the street to name a famous ship disaster, I can guarantee you they will say the Titanic. It is quite literally the ONLY ship anyone knows and quite frankly the only reason people know its name is because it sunk.
Believe it or not other ships exist, and they sink as well. Thousands in fact. Ships have sunk all throughout history and some have incredibly interesting stories. Yet, the Titanic seemingly dominates everyone’s imagination. This five-minute blog will open your eyes to three other ship disasters that all have fascinating stories!
RMS Empress of Ireland
RMS Empress of Ireland is noted as one of the largest maritime disasters in Canadian History, yet its tragedy remains remarkably unknown. She was an ocean liner that sank in the Saint Lawrence River following a collision in thick fog with Storstad, a Norwegian Collier in the early hours of the 29th May 1914.
Thanks to the mistakes made by the Titanic (which sank 2 years earlier), the ship was fully equipped with watertight compartments and carried more than enough lifeboats for everyone onboard the ship.
That being said, the ship sunk in only 14 minutes!
The Empress departed Quebec City for Liverpool on the 28th May 1914 with a crew of 420 men and 1057 passengers- sailing at around 2/3 capacity. There was a number of notable figures of the twentieth century onboard including Laurence Irving (the son of the famous actor Sir Henry Irving), Sir Henry Seton-Karr (a British MP) and Wallace Palmer the Editor of the Financial Times.
The events of the May 1914 happened in a matter of minutes:
· The lights and power failed after 5 minutes post collision- plunging the ship into darkness.
· After 10 minutes she had violently turned onto her starboard side which luckily allowed a number of passengers and crew to crawl out of the portholes and deck on her port side.
· 14 minutes after the collision, the bow rose briefly out of the river vertical to the water and sank to the bottom of the river.
The disaster resulted in 1012 deaths. This was an impressive disaster with famous names, record time to sink and a high death roll- good competition for the likes of the Titanic (and in my opinion would make a good movie).
If you get the chance in the near future (COVID permitting) to visit the Canadian Museum of Immigration then do check out the remains of RMS Empress of Ireland’s wreckage!
RMS Tahiti/ RMS Port Kingston
RMS Port Kingston was launched in 1904 in Scotland as a UK Royal Mail ship, ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She later obtained the name RMS Tahiti after being bought by the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand in 1911 and served well in both the First World War and throughout the Spanish Influenza epidemic.
I can talk about its amazing years in service for hours, but we all know you’re only here to hear about its crash!
On the 12th August 1930, the ship left Sydney on its way to San Francisco with 103 passengers, 149 crew members and over 500 tonnes of cargo onboard.
The crash was quite simple really- on the 15th August 1930, three days into its voyage, the ship’s propeller broke and sliced through her hull.
If you look at some of the wreck reports from our archive you can see details of the event. It remarks: ‘Water in holds 3&4 and in engine room. Vessel abandoned at 2:20am and sank at 4:30pm’.
What is most interesting about this wreck are the newspaper reports from the Auckland Weekly News that include some fascinating images of the passengers waiting on board the ships deck to be rescued as well as the boat plummeting into the ocean. What an amazing moment to witness!
This is not the conventional ship disaster you see plastered all over the news- with lots of chaos and crying. Instead, they look like they’re having a laugh, drinking tea and dancing the day away. Not all ship disasters are doom and gloom…
City of Salisbury 1924
The City of Salisbury was a cargo vessel built in 1924 in Sunderland. She measured 419ft long and carried a total of 6000 tonnes. The ship carried, aside from the standard products of iron, silk, tea, and rice, an array of exotic animals including bears, snakes and monkeys to a nearby zoo in Boston.
I think I consider this a really cool ship disaster simply because it was carrying exotic animals onboard.
It sunk on entrance to Boston Harbour on the 22nd April 1938 after running into a rock in a spell of dense fog.
As the City of Salisbury made its approach to Boston Harbour, fog came over the harbour thick and fast . Without any time to retreat, the vessel suddenly became impaled on the rocks in the harbour which meant that vessel came to screeching halt.
Luckily as the ship was grounded on the rocks and the damage was not considered dangerous, it allowed time for the crew and the animals to be rescued safely. They had to conduct some very quick and nifty rescue methods to try and get the animals off the boat before Zebras and Monkeys ended up swimming in the middle of the Atlantic!
For any avid divers out there, the remnants of the vessel can still be seen today. If you’re feeling adventurous and are in the Boston area, why not check it out.
Other ships to take a look at if you’re interested…
Tongking 1914
A Danish owned and operated cargo and passenger ship, that quite spectacularly caught fire seven miles of Penang in 1938 with all crew and passengers taken off the ship to safety before any loss of life! Lloyd’s Register Foundation archive has the most spectacular pictures of the shipwreck after it was damaged.
The Nordanland 1946
The Nordanland was a cargo ship built in 1946. She struck a jetty during a gale and this caused her cargo of calcium carbide to explode in 1955. The story of this ship disaster in fact comes from an Italian newspaper detailing her loss.
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