SEAFARING DISASTERS
Added on: 12th Jul 2015
SCILLY NAVAL DISASTER OF 1707
On an October night in 1707 a Royal Navy fleet made several fatal
miscalculations as they attempted to sail through dangerous reefs
west of the Isles of Scilly. Overall four ships sank leaving
nearly 2,000 sailors dead.
RMS TITANIC
Possibly the most well-known maritime accident in history, the RMS Titanic
was supposedly unsinkable but after striking an iceberg en route to
New York City it left 1,523 people dead.
TEK SING
Referred to as the “Titanic of the East” this Chinese junk struck a reef
near Indonesia and sank on 6 February 1822, leaving an
estimated 1,600 dead.
SS SULTANA
The SS Sultana was a steamboat paddle wheeler that exploded on April 27,
1865 and has been called the greatest American maritime disaster in
history with over 1,600 lives lost.
MV LE JOOLA
This Senegalese government-owned ferry capsized off the coast of
Gambia on September 26, 2002 and led to a death toll of nearly 4,000.
SS MONT-BLANC
Responsible for the infamous Halifax Explosion of 1917 this French
ammunition freighter exploded in Halifax Harbour, Nova Scotia after
colliding with another ship. The blast killed over 2,000 people and
injured 9,000 more.
SS KIANGYA
This Chinese steamship exploded upon striking a mine (probably
left by the Japanese navy) on the Huangpu River in 1948. It was packed
with refugees from the Chinese Civil War so the exact death toll is not
known but some estimates put it near 4,000.
MV DOÑA PAZ
Called the greatest peace time maritime disaster in history, in 1987
the sinking of the MV Doña Paz led to 4,341 deaths with only 24
survivors. The ferry was en route to the capital of the Philippines when
it collided with an oil tanker leaving both ships and the surrounding
ocean to light up in flames.
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