List of major marine casualties 1911–1920

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This list of major marine casualties 1911–1920 records accidents in shipping with fatalities or high property damage in the second decade of the 20th century .

Ships sunk during the First World War, such as the Lusitania , are included in the List of Major Ship Sinkings, Section: First World War .

list

date	Surname	dead	Course of events
March 23, 1911	Yongala	122	The Australian passenger steamer Yongala was on its way from Melbourne to Cairns with 122 passengers and crew on board when it got into a cyclone off Townsville and sank. There were no survivors. The wreck of the Yongala was only discovered in 1958. To this day, her sinking is one of the largest shipwrecks in Australia.
September 25, 1911	Liberté	285	In the port of Toulon , the French liner Liberté (19,400 ts) exploded in the afternoon of 25 September after a fire in a casemate of a 19.4 cm gun in the forecastle had previously broken out . Presumably the fire and the disaster were caused by the ammunition spontaneously igniting. In the accident, a total of 200 crew members of the liner and 85 people died on nearby ships. The wreck of the completely destroyed ship was lifted and dismantled in 1925. In the Speierer Zeitung of April 18, 1912, a list of previous ship disasters was given: "... on September 25, 1911 the French warship" Liberte "with almost 400 people".
March 16, 1912	Oceana	9	In the Strait of Dover , a few miles from Beachy Head , there was a collision between the British ocean liner Oceana and the German four-masted barque Pisagua . The Pisagua remained buoyant and was towed to Dover, but the Oceana sank several hours after the collision. Seven of their passengers and two crew members died when one of the lifeboats capsized.
March 20, 1912	Koombana	138	North of Port Hedland (Western Australia) on the coast of the Western Australian Pilbara region, the Australian passenger ship Koombana got caught in a cyclone . The ship disappeared without a trace; there were no survivors. To date, the wreck has not been found. The sinking of the Koombana is still one of the most serious weather-related shipwrecks in Australia.
April 14, 1912	Titanic	1,502	About 350 nautical miles SSW from Newfoundland, the Titanic collided with an iceberg on April 14, 1912 at 11:40 p.m. on her maiden voyage . The largest ship in the world at the time sank within 2 hours and 40 minutes. Since the number of lifeboats was insufficient, only 711 of the 2,207 people on board were able to save themselves. The sinking of the Titanic resulted in a fundamental improvement in safety measures at sea (including the first SOLAS convention ).
September 22, 1912	Kiche Maru	1,000	The Japanese steamer Kiche Maru got into a severe typhoon and sank off the southern coast of Japan . Around 1,000 people went down with the ship. The tragedy remained relatively unknown, however, as it was overshadowed by the sinking of the Titanic and the total number of victims of the typhoon.
January 16, 1913	Veronese	16-23	The steamer Veronese , built by Workman & Clark in 1906 and managed by Lamport and Holt, ran aground near Leixões during a heavy storm . A rescue of the passengers was only possible via a rope connection to the land. Between 16 and 23 people drowned trying to swim ashore.
March 4, 1913	SMS S 178	71	On the way back from a night exercise, the S 178 was rammed four and a half nautical miles northeast of Heligoland by the great cruiser Yorck and badly damaged. The torpedo boat sank within a few minutes. 71 sailors perished with him, only 15 were rescued in the heavy seas.
17th August 1913	State of California	32	The State of California passenger steamer operated by the US shipping company Pacific Coast Steamship Company rammed a previously unrecorded rock at full speed in Gambier Bay, 90 miles south of Juneau , and sank within three minutes. 25 passengers and seven crew members perished.
October 9, 1913	Volturno	136	The British passenger ship was on its way from Rotterdam to New York when a fire broke out in the middle of the North Atlantic, presumably due to a passenger's thrown cigarette, and the ship burned down. 136 passengers and crew members died. Ships called by wireless telegraph were able to save over 400 people and prevent an even greater catastrophe.
February 20, 1914	Lifeboat	9	While trying to come to the rescue of the wrecked schooner Mexico , the lifeboat stationed in Fethard-on-Sea (Ireland) capsized . Nine crew members were killed in the accident, five were rescued by a tug that rushed to them.
May 29, 1914	Empress of Ireland	1.012	On the St. Lawrence River that night, the passenger steamer Empress of Ireland coming from Québec collided with the Norwegian coal ship Storstad in the fog . While the cargo ship was still buoyant, the Empress of Ireland sank within 14 minutes. Of the 1,477 people on board, 1,012 die.
August 26, 1914	Magdeburg	15th	The German small cruiser Magdeburg (4,500 t) ran aground in the fog off the island of Osmussaar (Baltic Sea) . The heavily damaged ship was blown up by its own crew in order not to let it fall into the hands of the Russian fleet. 15 men of the crew were killed in the stranding.
September 8, 1914	Oceanic	0	The Oceanic , the former flagship of the White Star Line and the largest ship in the world when it was launched in 1899, hit the reef of Shaalds of Foula on the morning of September 8, 1914 off the small island of Foula in the Shetland Islands (Scotland). There was no personal injury, but the ship was a total loss.
October 30, 1914	Rohilla	84	The British hospital ship Rohilla was stranded on the rocks of Whitby Rock south of Whitby , as the captain was inexperienced in those waters and the coast was darkened due to the rules of war. Despite the use of a total of six coastal lifeboats, 84 of the 229 crew members, doctors and nurses on board were killed in the prevailing storm.
November 26, 1914	Bulwark	738	The British ship of the line Bulwark , anchored near Sheerness , sank after an ammunition chamber explosion . Of the 750 men on board, only 14 survived, two of whom died in hospital.
May 27, 1915	Princess Irene	353	In the explosion of the mine load of the great British miner Princess Irene (5,934 t) around 400 people were killed in the port of Sheerness .
July 24, 1915	Eastland	845	The Eastland in Chicago was undone by a design flaw when many of the nearly three thousand passengers on board pushed to the port side of the upper deck to watch a boat race taking place nearby. The unstable ship capsized while lying on the quay.
September 19, 1915	Athinai	1	The Greek passenger steamer Athinai went up in flames with more than 500 people on board on the way from New York to Piraeus in the North Atlantic after a fire in one of the holds that has not yet been clarified could not be brought under control. Several hurrying ships took passengers and crew, but one passenger was killed. The ship was abandoned and was a total loss.
September 27, 1915	Benedetto Brin	454	In the port of Brindisi a fire broke out on the Italian liner Benedetto Brin (14,574 ts) for unknown reasons . The fire caused several severe explosions in an ammunition magazine within a few minutes, which destroyed large parts of the ship, including the machinery. The ship did not sink, but was so badly damaged that it had to be decommissioned and later scrapped. A total of 454 sailors, including Rear Admiral Rubin de Cervin , were killed in the inferno . 387 crew members were rescued. The circumstances why the disaster occurred could never be clarified properly. However, there was speculation that the ship might have fallen victim to an Austro-Hungarian act of sabotage.
November 7, 1915 (?)	A 3	26th	In the Baltic Sea, somewhere on the route from Kiel to Gdansk, the small German torpedo boat A 3 (110 ts) sank during a transfer march. The cause of the loss and the exact place of the sinking are not known. Presumably the torpedo boat got into a minefield off the coast of Pomerania around November 7th and sank. However, like the date of loss, this is not fully secured. The entire crew of 26 men went down with the boat.
December 30, 1915	natal	405	In the Cromarty Firth , a fire on the British armored cruiser Natal (13,500 t) exploded the rear ammunition chambers. The ship sank immediately. Of the 704 crew members, 405 died.
March 5, 1916	Principe de Asturias	445	Off Santos on the Brazilian coast, the Spanish luxury liner hit a rock in thick fog and sank in just five minutes. 445 passengers and crew members died. It was one of the greatest tragedies in the history of Spanish steam shipping.
August 2, 1916	Leonardo da Vinci	248	In the port of Taranto , the ammunition chambers exploded due to a fire on the Italian liner Leonardo da Vinci (22,000 ts). The ship sank within 45 minutes. Of the 1,190 crew, 248 died.
August 29, 1916	Memphis	41	The American armored cruiser Memphis , anchored in the port of Santo Domingo , was hit by a tsunami in the afternoon of August 29, 1916 and thrown onto the coastal reefs. The 14,500 ts ship was a total loss. 41 seamen died in the accident and 204 crew members were injured, some seriously. Several crew members received the Medal of Honor for their behavior during the disaster .
October 20, 1916	Imperatriza Marija	151	In the port of Sevastopol , on board the Russian battleship Imperatriza Marija (22,600 ts), a fire broke out in a casemate of the middle artillery in the evening hours of October 20th . The fire spread to an ammunition chamber and led to three serious explosions around 6:30 p.m., about 30 minutes after the fire was discovered, causing several water ingresses and slowly causing the ship to sink. Attempts to pull the battleship into shallow water failed. At 7.15 p.m. the Imperatriza Marija capsized and sank. 151 crew members were killed in the accident. About 240 people were injured. The accident was probably caused by self-ignition of non-storable powder.
November 3, 1916	Connemara	90	In the strait of Carlingford Lough on the coast of County Louth , Ireland , there was a collision between the British passenger ferry Connemara of the London and North Western Railway and the coal freighter Retriever in strong winds , heavy seas and complete darkness . The Retriever's bow dug into the port side of the steamer, which went down within five minutes. The retriever initially remained buoyant, but sank a few minutes later. All 51 passengers and 31 crew members of the Connemara as well as eight of the nine men aboard the retriever died.
December 5, 1916	Pío IX	40	The Spanish passenger and cargo ship Pío IX sank 300 nautical miles northwest of Tenerife in a severe storm . 40 of the 62 crew members were killed (passengers were not on board on this voyage). A Spanish and a French ship each held eleven people.
January 14, 1917	Tsukuba	305	In the bay of Yokosuka the front ammunition chambers exploded due to a fire on the Japanese armored cruiser Tsukuba (13,750 ts). The ship sank within 20 minutes. Of the 876 men crew (of whom over 400 were on land at the time of the accident), 305 men died.
February 21, 1917	Mendi	636	The British troop carrier Mendi (4,230 GRT), a former passenger and cargo steamer of Elder Dempster Lines , sank eleven nautical miles south of the Isle of Wight after the collision with the cargo ship Darro . Both ships had not set navigation lights despite the thick fog. The Mendi sank in 20 to 25 minutes, killing 29 British crew members and 607 South African war volunteers.
July 1, 1917	Chilka	70	The British passenger steamer Chilka (3,952 GRT) of the British India Steam Navigation Company caught fire off Gopalpur on the coast of Orissa (India), ran aground and was abandoned. 70 people were killed in the fire.
July 9, 1917	Vanguard	843	The British ship of the line Vanguard , anchored in Scapa Flow , was destroyed by an ammunition chamber explosion and sank. 843 crew members died, only two survived the accident. It is believed that the heat of an unnoticed fire in an engine room in one of the nearby magazines for the two amidships turrets ignited part of the cordite stored there and triggered a chain reaction .
August 1, 1917	Letitia	1	The British hospital ship Letitia (8,991 GRT), a former Donaldson Line passenger ship , ran aground in thick fog on rocks at the entrance to Halifax harbor and sank. The 546 wounded Canadian soldiers on board were all rescued, but one of the crew members drowned.
August 30, 1917	natal	105	Because it was darkened due to the state of war, the French passenger ship Natal of the Messageries Maritimes collided with an oncoming cargo ship shortly after leaving Marseille and sank within ten minutes. Of 503 passengers and crew members, 105 were killed, including the captain of the Natal .
December 6, 1917	Mont Blanc	1,946	In the port of Halifax (Canada), the Norwegian freighter Imo collided with the French ammunition transporter Mont Blanc . This caught fire and the cargo of over 2,500 tons exploded. The largest human-made explosion to date devastated large parts of the city, killing over 1,946 people; Thousands more were injured.
January 9, 1918	Racoon	91	At Buncrana ( Northern Ireland ) the British torpedo boat destroyer Racoon (920 ts ) ran into a rock in a snow storm and sank with the entire crew.
January 12, 1918	Opal and Narborough	188	In the evening hours of January 12, 1918, the British destroyers Opal (1,042 ts) and Narborough (994 ts) - both ships were in search of German blockade breakers - ran in a heavy snow storm on the reefs of the island belonging to the Orkney Islands South Ronaldsay up and were battered by the rough seas. Only one of the 189 crew members of the two ships could be rescued because the location of the accident was initially unknown. 188 sailors drowned or froze to death on the cliffs.
February 1, 1918	Battle of the Isle of May	105	Due to logistical and structural problems, several British submarines collided with each other and with surface units. Two submarines sank. Five submarines and one destroyer were badly damaged. 105 sailors were killed in the accident.
February 24, 1918	Florizel	80	The Canadian Red Cross Line's passenger steamer was on its way to New York when it hit a reef in strong winds and heavy seas off Broad Cove ( Newfoundland ). It was not until the storm subsided that 44 passengers and crew members were rescued 27 hours after the collision . 80 people died, including the three-year-old granddaughter of the shipping company founder.
9/10 March 1918 (?)	Cyclops	306	The American fleet tender and coal transporter Cyclops was on its way from Barbados to Baltimore and was loaded with manganese ore. For unknown reasons, the ship disappeared off the US east coast. The approximately 19,400 ts transporter was probably caught in a severe storm off the coast of Virginia , broke apart and sank within a few minutes as a result of the ore load. The entire crew of 306 men went down with the ship. The loss of this ship was later often linked to the stories of the disappearance of ships in the Bermuda Triangle .
March 23, 1918	Arno	2	The British destroyer Arno (520 ts) sank off the Dardanelles after a collision with the British destroyer Hope . A machinist and a gunner of the destroyer were killed. The rest of the crew was saved by the Hope , which was only slightly damaged.
April 4, 1918	Bitter	63	In the early morning hours of April 4, 1918, the British freighter Kenilworth collided with the patrol British destroyer Bittern (350 ts) in the English Channel , south of the Portland Bill Lighthouse , in thick fog . The destroyer was torn in two by the steamer and immediately sank. The freighter crew could not save anyone in the thick fog and darkness. 63 sailors went down with the destroyer.
June 13, 1918	Ascania	0	The Cunard steamer Ascania hit a reef in heavy seas on a journey from Liverpool to Montreal 20 nautical miles east of Cape Race (Newfoundland) and was abandoned. There was no personal injury, but the ship was a total loss.
July 12, 1918	Kawachi	at least 500	In Tokuyama Bay , the Japanese liner Kawachi (21,420 t) sank within 4 minutes due to an internal explosion. Over 500 people were killed.
September 16, 1918	Glatton	77	In front of the port of Dover , there were explosions in the ammunition chambers on the British high seas monitor Glatton (5,700 t). The accident left 77 dead and numerous injured. To prevent damage to the port facilities, the Royal Navy had the ship sunk by torpedo fire from its own destroyer.
October 3, 1918	Burutu	148	The passenger steamer Burutu of the British Elder Dempster Lines , with 114 passengers and 98 crew members coming from Sierra Leone and arriving in Liverpool , collided with the cargo ship City of Calcutta in the Irish Sea in the dark and rain . Both ships were darkened in accordance with British Admiralty regulations. The ship remained buoyant, but the Burutu that on the port side of Steven the City of Calcutta was thrown open, went under. 148 passengers and crew members were killed.
October 9, 1918	Shaw	12	Due to a failure of the steering gear, the US destroyer Shaw collided in a convoy southwest of the Isle of Portland (Great Britain) with the British passenger ship Aquitania, which was a troop transporter . The destroyer was broken in two. The forecastle sank immediately. A fire broke out on what was still floating. Nevertheless, the Shaw was able to reach Portsmouth under its own power and put back into service after seven months. In the collision 12 men of the destroyer crew were killed and 13 others were injured.
October 25, 1918	Princess Sophia	343	The Canadian passenger steamer was en route from Skagway to Vancouver when it hit a reef in the Lynn Canal off the south coast of Alaska. Strong winds, a churned sea and heavy gusts of snow pushed the damaged ship back into the water and overturned it. There were no survivors. It was the greatest tragedy in the history of Canadian civil shipping after the Empress of Ireland .
January 1, 1919	Iolaire	205	The HMY Iolaire sank off Stornoway . 205 people perished within sight of the port. Most of the victims were returning from the war.
September 9, 1919	Valbanera	488	The Spanish passenger ship was on its way from Spain to Cuba when it hit the Florida Keys hurricane off Havana and disappeared without a trace. It was not until ten days later that the wreck of the ship was found 5 miles east of the Rebecca Shoal Light lighthouse. There was no trace of the 488 passengers and crew; neither survivors nor bodies were recovered.
January 12, 1920	Afrique	575	The French passenger steamer Afrique (5,404 GRT) was on its way from Bordeaux to Dakar when the generators failed in a storm about 40 miles from La Rochelle and the steamer drifted into the Bay of Biscay, unable to maneuver . The troubled sea hurled the Afrique onto a reef, where it leaked and went under. Only two lifeboats could be launched. Of the 609 passengers and crew members, only 34 survived.

See also

• List of disasters

Footnotes

1. ^ Sheerness Princess Irene explosion remembered. BBC News, May 28, 2015, accessed May 28, 2015 .