Tilawa (ship)
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The Tilawa was a 1924 passenger ship of the British shipping company British India Steam Navigation Company , which transported passengers, mail and cargo between various ports in India and East Africa . On November 23, 1942, she was sunk in the Indian Ocean by a Japanese submarine with a high loss of life .
The ship
The 10,006 GRT steamship Tilawa was built at the Hawthorn, Leslie & Company shipyard in the English city of Hebburn on the Tyne and was launched on February 20, 1924. Lady Elsie Mackay (1893–1928), one of the first female pilots, previously known as an actress under the stage name Poppy Wyndham, named the ship. She was the daughter of James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape , who had been chairman of the British India Steam Navigation Company since 1913. On May 20, 1924, the ship was completed.
The passenger and cargo steamer was 137.5 meters long and 18.1 meters wide. The steam engines operated on a single screw and enabled a cruising speed of twelve knots (22.2 km / h). The passenger accommodations were designed for a total of 3290 travelers (60 in the first, 74 in the second and 3,156 in the third class).
The British liner shipping company British India Steam Navigation Company (BISN), founded in 1856, specialized in the transport of passengers, freight and mail between various ports in the Middle and Far East such as Calcutta , Bombay and Madras in India and Rangoon in Myanmar . However, the shipping company also maintained routes to Australia, Singapore and the Gulf of Aden.
Sinking
On Monday, November 23, 1942, the Tilawa was sunk in the Indian Ocean by the Japanese submarine I-29 . I-29 was a submarine of the Imperial Japanese Navy with the code name Matsu (German: Kiefer). The 108.5 meter long submarine of the B1 class was completed on February 27, 1942 and assigned to the 14th submarine squadron. It was armed with 17 torpedoes. I-29 could make 23 knots (42.6 km / h) over water and still eight knots (14.8 km / h) under water. The submarine left Penang on November 11 under the command of Captain Teraoka Masao to attack enemy shipping links in the Indian Ocean.
The Tilawa was with 958 people and 6472 tons of cargo on board under the command of Captain F. Robertson on the way from Bombay to Mombasa (Kenya) and Durban (South Africa). On board were 222 crew members, four artillerymen to defend the ship and 732 passengers. 1497 kilometers north-northeast of the Seychelles , I-29 shot a torpedo at the passenger steamer, the explosion of which caused great panic among the passengers, whereupon they stormed the lifeboats.
When the ship did not sink after torpedoing, some passengers and crew tried to get back on board. Then torpedierte I-29 the Tilawa again, which is now finally in position 7 ° 45 ' N , 61 ° 10' O went down. 28 crew members and 252 passengers were killed in the sinking. The light cruiser Birmingham of the Royal Navy and the passenger ship Carthage of the British shipping company P&O picked up the survivors.