Djemnah
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The Djemnah was a passenger ship of the French shipping company Messageries Maritimes put into service in 1875 , which carried passengers , freight and mail from Marseille to China and later to ports in the Indian Ocean . On July 14, 1918, the Djemnah was sunk in the eastern Mediterranean by a German submarine , with a high loss of human life.
ship
The 3,716 GRT steamship Djemnah was built at the Chantiers Navals de La Ciotat shipyard in the southern French port city of La Ciotat . The ship was launched on September 27, 1874. The iron passenger and cargo ship was 125 meters long, 12.1 meters wide and had a side height of ten meters. The ship had a deadweight capacity of 3,282 tons and a displacement of 5,400 tons. The steam engine , which developed 2,900 horsepower , ran on a single propeller . The Djemnah could make a speed of 14 knots. A total of six steam boilers were heated in the boiler rooms . The ship could accommodate a total of 1385 passengers (83 first class, 42 second class, 60 third class, 1,200 between decks).
The Djemnah was built for the shipping company Messageries Maritimes, founded in 1835 and based in Paris . The home port of their ships, also in the case of the Djemnah , was Marseille . She was the third in a series of five identical sister ships of the Orénoque class that were planned for passenger traffic to the Far East . The others were the Iraouaddy (1872), the Anadyr (1873), the Yang Tse (1877) and the Oxus (1879), all of which were built at the same shipyard. On April 14, 1875, the Djemnah left Marseille on her maiden voyage .
The Djemnah was used for regular services to China at the beginning of its service life , but in 1895 switched to passenger and freight service on the route to the Indian Ocean. In 1887 the Djemnah was equipped with new kettles and electric lights. The previous compound steam engine was replaced by a triple expansion steam engine. Between 1895 and 1905 the hull was painted white, then black. On a voyage in May 1899, the Djemnah had the Governor General of Madagascar , Joseph Gallieni , on board. On December 14, 1899, she was damaged in a cyclone and had to be towed to Diégo Suarez by the Caravellas of the shipping company Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis .
Sinking
On Saturday, July 6, 1918 at 2:45 p.m., the Djemnah departed under the command of Captain Charles Félix Méric (born October 12, 1870) in Marseille for another crossing through the Mediterranean and the Red Sea to Madagascar. On board were 153 crew members, 601 passengers and 530 tons of cargo. The ship was armed and traveled in a convoy . The first few days of the voyage were uneventful, with calm seas and clear weather. On Sunday evening, July 14, 1918, the Djemnah steamed in a zigzag course south of Crete eastward through the Mediterranean and made eight knots of speed. At 9:32 p.m., the starboard steamer was shaken by a severe explosion.
The Djemnah was sighted by the German submarine UB 105 between Benghazi and Derna, 69 nautical miles northeast of the Libyan coast . UB 105 was a German submarine of the type UB III , which was under the command of the 31-year-old Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Marschall on patrol .
The vessel conduit immediately ordered to stop the machine, to let inspect the damage, but taken Passagierdampfer sank within two minutes with the rear forward in position 33 ° 12 ' N , 23 ° 55' O . Of the 754 people on board, 436 were killed, including the captain. The trawler presidency saved 110 people and the British cutter Mallow 218. The survivors were brought to Alexandria .
Web links
- Entry in the Miramar Ship Index
- The technical framework data of the Djemnah in the wreck database
- Further technical and historical data as well as photos of the Djemnah
- Some details about the sinking in the submarine database
- Eyewitness account of the assistant captain, Filippi Toussaint, dated July 18, 1918
- Summary of the ship's history on the French Lines website (with photo)