List of major marine accidents 1921–1930

This list of major marine casualties 1921–1930 contains accidents in shipping with fatalities or high property damage in the third decade of the 20th century .

list

date	Surname	dead	Course of events
26./27. January 1921	Hewitt	42	The American cargo steamer Hewitt (5,398 GRT) of the Union Sulfur Company , with a landing sulfur on the way from Texas to Portland (Maine) , disappeared in a severe storm off the coast of North Carolina . No trace of the ship and its 42-man crew was ever found again.
January 31, 1921	Carroll A. Deering	11	The American five-masted gaff schooner Carroll A. Deering (2,114 GRT), on the way from Rio de Janeiro to Newport News , ran aground in a heavy storm on the shallows off Cape Hatteras and was a total loss. Despite an intensive search, none of the crew (11 men) was rescued, as they had evidently left the ship in dinghies before being stranded and most likely died in a storm.
February 6, 1921 (?)	Ottawa	34	The British tanker Ottawa (2,742 GRT), on its way from the Gulf of Mexico to Manchester , got caught in a hurricane off the east coast of the USA, about 360 nautical miles east of Delaware . The ship sank in a storm around February 6, 1921, the exact sinking position is unknown. All 34 crew members were killed. No trace of the tanker was ever found.
March 18, 1921	Hong Moh	~ 1,000	The ship was en route from Hong Kong to the cities of Amoy and Swatow . These two neighboring communities were at odds with each other. There were already conflicts among the passengers and when a port pilot declared that the port of Amoy had to be approached first because of low water, the situation escalated. The passengers rebelled and the crew holed up with rifles on the bow. As a result, the ship ran without a driver onto the sandbar in Swatow's harbor entrance and leaked. The passengers began to fight for the places in the lifeboats with knives, daggers, hatchets and arrows before the captain gave the order to fire. Other ships could not come to the aid of the Hong Moh due to the strong low tide and she sank. Most of the victims died not from drowning, but from the fighting on board.
October 23, 1921	Brandaris	4th	The motor lifeboat Brandaris stationed on Terschelling did not return from a vain rescue mission, the wrecked German schooner Liesbet could not be reached due to the boat's too great draft . The boat and crew were never found. The schooner's crew was rescued by a rowing lifeboat.
February 23, 1922	H42	22nd	The British destroyer Versatile and the British submarine H42 (423 ts) accidentally collided off the Strait of Gibraltar at dawn . The submarine sank immediately and dragged the entire crew of 22 men with it.
May 20, 1922	Egypt	87	The British passenger liner Egypt was on its way from Tilbury to Bombay when it was rammed by the French cargo ship Seine 25 nautical miles off the French island of Ouessant in thick fog and sank within 20 minutes. Gold and silver bars worth over £ 1 million were lost with the ship, which is why the wreck of the steamer was the target of a major salvage operation in the 1930s.
August 8, 1922	Raleigh	11	On the coast of Labrador, in the Belle Isle Strait, the British cruiser Raleigh ran aground in thick fog and was a total loss. Eleven sailors drowned in the lower hold. After unsuccessful recovery attempts, the ship was finally destroyed by explosions in 1926.
August 26, 1922	Niitaka	284	The Japanese protected cruiser Niitaka was stranded in a typhoon on the coast of Karafuto and broke. 284 crew members drowned or perished in the storm. Only 14 men survived the disaster.
August 26, 1922	France	3	At Quiberon , the French liner France (23,120 t) ran aground on a rock not shown in the nautical charts and sank within three hours. Three men of the crew were killed.
March 27, 1923	Amy Turner	11	The Australian freighter Amy Turner (991 GRT) running from Newcastle to Manila was stranded in a strong hurricane off the island of Guam . Eleven sailors went down with the ship. Four survivors were able to save themselves on the bank.
May 6, 1923	Okara	81	The British cargo steamer Okara the British India Steam Navigation Company was with a cargo of coal on the way to Rangoon when he in the Bay of Bengal was caught in a cyclone. The ship made distress calls that were received by two ships. However, the ships did not arrive in time before the Okara sank. Of the 11 British officers and 70 Indian crew members, none survived.
August 15, 1923 (?)	Baron Blantyre	36	For unknown reasons, the British freighter Baron Blantyre (5,193 GRT) disappeared off the west coast of Australia . The ship left the port of Durban in South Africa on August 9 with a load of coal and headed for Adelaide . The last radio contact with the steamer took place on August 15, after which the ship, built in 1916, did not respond. Nothing was ever found of the freighter and its 36-man crew. The place of the sinking and the cause of the loss are unknown.
September 8, 1923	Ship disaster at Honda Point	23	At Honda Point in California nine ran destroyer of the US Navy on the basis of which lost seven. 23 sailors died in this, the largest loss of a US Navy ship in peace.
November 1923	Hermina	10	On the voyage from Danzig to Kingston upon Hull (England), the schooner Hermina (350 GRT) capsized in the German Bight off Sylt. All crew members were killed in the accident. The mastless wreck, floating up the keel, was first washed up near Hörnum (Sylt), but eventually stranded on the Amrumer Kniepsand . In 1926 the wreck was recovered and put back into motion.
January 10, 1924	L24	48	During a mock attack during a maneuver by the Royal Navy, the British submarine L24 (815/1110 t) collided with the British battleship Resolution while underwater and sank with the entire crew.
January 16, 1924	Tacoma	5	The US protected cruiser Tacoma (3,200 t) ran into a coral reef off Veracruz (Mexico) due to navigation problems and had to be abandoned after a week. Five people were killed securing the wreck.
19./20. January 1924	Chilli	39	In the mid-Atlantic, the Belgian freighter Chilier (5,105 GRT) disappeared for unknown reasons with the entire crew of 39 men. The ship loaded with granite, on the way from Antwerp to Savannah, did not report again after entering a storm depression. Possibly the steamer failed in this storm, whereby the stone load could have caused a very rapid sinking. A monster wave could also have caused the loss of the freighter. Debris or bodies were never found.
July 12, 1924	Mississippi	49	During a practice shooting off the coast of California (USA), a cartridge exploded in the second front 35.6 cm treble turret due to carelessness when reloading. 49 men of the tower crew were killed and nine were injured. Later, a barrel of the main caliber that had not yet been released was unintentionally fired in front of Los Angeles. The shell barely missed a passing passenger steamer.
January 13, 1925	Cardiff Hall	29	The Irish freighter Cardiff Hall (3,994 GRT) ran aground near Cork in a severe winter storm and was battered by the rough seas. The ship loaded with corn on the way from Cork to Rosario was lost with the entire crew of 29 men.
April 21, 1925	Raifuku Maru	38	The Japanese freighter Raifuku Maru , traveling with a cargo of grain from Boston to Hamburg , got caught in a severe storm off the US east coast, about 350 nautical miles southwest of Halifax, and sank. With the ship, which capsized after the grain freight slipped, the entire crew of 38 men sank. The British luxury liner Homeric was able to watch the sinking, but could not save anyone because of the storm. The sinking of this ship later gave rise to a multitude of legends, which are mainly related to the supposed disappearance of ships in the Bermuda Triangle .
August 18, 1925	Mackinac	55	Off Newport on the coast of the US state of Rhode Island there was a boiler explosion on board the excursion steamer Mackinac with over 600 people on board . 55 passengers were killed in the flames and smoke.
October 4, 1925	S 2	56	During a training voyage in the Gulf of Bothnia , the Finnish torpedo boat S 2 (254 t) sank in a storm due to errors in the ship's command. The entire crew was killed. The ship was lifted in 1926 and scrapped after an investigation.
November 12, 1925	M1	69	The British submarine M1 , marching just below the water's surface, was accidentally rammed by the Swedish freighter Vidar off the coast of Devon . The U-cruiser's gun turret was torn open as a result of the collision. Within seconds the boat was full of water and sank. All 69 crew members of the submarine died in the accident. In 1999 the wreck was discovered at a depth of 73 meters.
1./2. December 1925	Cotopaxi	32	On the way from Charleston to Havana , the American freighter Cotopaxi was lost for unknown reasons. The ship probably sank around the 1st / 2nd. December in a storm off the coast of Florida. The old ship, a sailor with an auxiliary steam engine from 1878, probably broke up and sank within a very short time with the entire 32-man crew.
19./20. December 1925 (?)	Elsdon	17th	In the North Sea, the British freighter Elsdon (1,521 GRT) sailing from Immingham to Odense got lost with the entire 17-man crew for reasons that were not exactly clear. The ship, a sailor with an auxiliary engine from 1914, probably sank around the 19th and 20th. December in a snow storm off the Norwegian south coast. Only when bodies were found at the end of December 1925 and rubble in mid-January 1926 could the loss be confirmed.
January 25, 1926	Laristan	25th	In a strong storm in the North Atlantic, the British freighter Laristan (4,293 GRT) suffered a water ingress after being hit by a monster wave and sank. After an emergency call, the German steamer Bremen was able to come to the aid of the damaged vessel, but because of the severe hurricane, only six seamen could be recovered. 25 crew members went down with the freighter.
October 22, 1926	Valerian	88	Off the Bermuda Islands, the British sloop Valerian (1,250 ts) got caught in a severe hurricane and overturned in waves 15 meters high after breaking the anchor chains near the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse . Of the crew of 115 men, only 27 were able to save themselves because of the storm. 88 men drowned or died in the surf.
August 24, 1927	Warabi	103	On the way back from a maneuver, a Japanese cruiser and destroyer group ran into on the night of 24/25. August 1927 in disorder in front of Maizuru. The destroyer Warabi collided with the cruiser Jintsū , capsized and sank with 103 crew members on board. Only seven survivors were rescued from the cruiser in the dark. The destroyer Ashi also collided with a cruiser, but was able to reach the port of Maizuru badly damaged.
October 22, 1927	Eastway	22nd	The British steamer Eastway (5,832 GRT), running from Norfolk to the Río de la Plata , sank in a storm in the Bermuda Triangle after heavy seas had torn off the front hatch covers and water was able to penetrate the ship. 22 sailors went down with the ship. 12 crew members were rescued from a lifeboat by the nearby British freighter Luciline .
October 25, 1927	Principessa Mafalda	312	The Italian luxury steamer was on the way from Genoa to Buenos Aires when it lost part of the starboard wave off the Brazilian coast and went down stern first. Of the more than 1,000 people on board, 312 were killed.
December 17, 1927	S-4	39	In front of Provincetown (near Boston , USA), the US submarine S-4 (920/1110 t ) collided with the US Coast Guard cutter Paulding (870 t) while it surfaced . Due to the damage to the pressure hull, the submarine sank immediately. Seven of the crew were initially able to save themselves in the unloaded bow torpedo tubes. A rescue ship managed to contact the crew members who were still alive on December 18. Because of bad weather, the rescue measures had to be canceled. The entire submarine crew was therefore killed. The submarine was lifted in March 1928.
July 6th and 7th, 1928	Angamos	283	The steering gear of the Chilean transport ship Angamos (5,975 t) was damaged in a storm . The rudderless ship drifted onto a rock 300 m offshore near Puenta Morguillas (Chile). Because of the high swell it was not possible to lower the lifeboats into the water. In the early hours of July 7th, the ship broke apart and sank. Of the 291 people on board, 283 were killed.
August 6, 1928	F 14	21st	In the Adriatic Sea off the Brijuni Islands, the submarine F 14 (280/320 t) collided with the torpedo boat destroyer Giuseppe Missori (800 t) during a maneuver by the Italian Navy . Because of the damage to the pressure hull, the submarine sank immediately, killing a third of the crew. Despite the rescue work initiated immediately, the surviving seafarers died as a result of poisoning with chlorine gas , which was formed as a result of the reaction of the ingress of seawater and the accumulator acid. The submarine was lifted two days later.
November 12, 1928	Vestris	112	The British liner Vestris of the Lamport & Holt Line capsized and sank 250 nautical miles east of Hampton Roads after a storm pushed seawater into the ship through an open cargo hatch. A third of the passengers and crew were killed.
November 12, 1928	Mary Stanford	17th	On the way back from a repealed distress at sea , the lifeboat Mary Stanford, stationed in Rye Harbor (England) capsized in heavy seas. All 17 crew members were killed in the accident. The crew of the ship that the lifeboat wanted to come to aid had already been rescued by another ship.
December 1928	København	80	The Danish auxiliary five-masted barque København of the Danish East Asian Company, the third largest sailing ship in the world when it was built in 1921 , disappeared without a trace during a circumnavigation on the voyage from Buenos Aires to Melbourne in the South Atlantic with its entire crew of 60 men, including 45 cadets . Despite an intensive search, no debris from the ship was discovered. As with the Admiral Karpfanger disaster in March 1938, a collision with an iceberg was suspected .
July 26, 1929	Devonshire	17th	During a practice shooting in the Mediterranean , a cartridge exploded in a 20.3 cm twin tower after a failure to ignite and subsequent misconduct by the tower crew. 17 men of the tower crew were killed and nine men were seriously injured.
August 29, 1929	San Juan	73	The American passenger liner San Juan (2,152 t), which was on its way from San Francisco to Los Angeles with 110 people on board, collided with the oil tanker Dodd (7,054 t) in thick fog at Pigeon Point and sank within a few minutes. 53 passengers and 20 crew members died.
September 7, 1929	Kuru	136	On the Finnish inland lake Näsijärvi near Tampere , the passenger steamer Kuru was hit by high waves in a wind force 8 on the Beaufort scale and capsized . 136 passengers and crew members perished. To date, it is the worst disaster in Finnish waters.
October 6, 1929	Haakon VII	18th	The Norwegian Hurtigruten passenger ship Haakon VII (1,347 GRT) came off course south of Florø in a severe storm, ran aground and sank. 18 of the 74 people on board were killed. The survivors spent the night on a small island and were rescued the next morning.
6./7. December 1929	Radyr	21st	The British freighter Radyr (2,357 GRT), loaded with coal, sank in the Bristol Channel in meter-high waves and with wind force 11. The ship sailing from Cardiff to Bordeaux made an emergency call in the morning hours of December 7th, but never returned seen. In the following two weeks, debris and several bodies washed up near Hartland Point .
4th January 1930	Edgar Quinet	0	At Cap Blanco near Oran in Algeria , the French training ship Edgar Quinet (a former armored cruiser weighing 14,000 tons) hit a rock due to a navigation error and broke apart. The 1,000-strong crew was able to save themselves, the ship was lost.
January 23, 1930	Monte Cervantes	1	The German cruise liner ran aground off Ushuaia after a navigation error in the Beagle Channel and had a leak. All passengers could be rescued and the crew even managed to land the ship on a rocky reef and unload luggage. The next day the damaged vessel capsized and while the officers were able to jump into the water to get to safety, the master on board was killed.
June 10, 1930	Fairfax	50	In the Massachusetts Bay off the coastal town of Scituate there was a collision in thick fog between the passenger ship Fairfax (5,649 t) and the tanker Pinthis (1,111 t), both under the American flag. The Pinthis exploded and sank, causing the Fairfax to be surrounded by a burning oil slick. The passenger ship came free in the end. The incident killed all 19 crew members of the Pinthis and 31 people on board the Fairfax .
November 23, 1930	Luise Leonhardt	30th	The cargo steamer ran aground in a heavy storm on the shallows of the Großer Vogelsand (sandbank in the Elbe estuary off Cuxhaven ). All 30 crew members were killed.

List of major marine accidents 1921–1930

list

See also