What is the deadliest maritime disaster in history?
Table of Contents
What is the deadliest maritime disaster in history?
The Wilhelm Gustloff
1. The Wilhelm Gustloff (1945): The deadliest shipwreck in history. On January 30, 1945, some 9,000 people perished aboard this German ocean liner after it was torpedoed by a Soviet submarine and sank in the frigid waters of the Baltic Sea.
What was the worst maritime disaster in British history?
The Scilly naval disaster of 1707 was the loss of four warships of a Royal Navy fleet off the Isles of Scilly in severe weather on 22 October 1707. Between 1,400 and 2,000 sailors lost their lives aboard the wrecked vessels, making the incident one of the worst maritime disasters in British naval history.
How many maritime disasters are there?
Marine Disasters, 2017 (1)
| Category | Number of events | Victims |
|---|---|---|
| Tankers | 1 | 0 |
| Passenger ships | 27 | 1,087 |
| Other maritime accidents | 2 | 54 |
| Total | 33 | 1,163 |
How many died on the Lancastria?
About 4,000 men, women and children lost their lives when the Lancastria sank 20 minutes after it was bombed by the Germans near the French port of Saint-Nazaire on 17 June 1940. Fewer than 2,500 people survived.
What is a maritime incident?
A marine incident may include the following: Death of, or injury to, a person associated with the operation or navigation of a vessel. A dangerous occurrence, which is an occurrence that could have caused the death of, or serious personal injury to, any person on the vessel.
What was the British ship Lancaster doing and what happened to it?
RMS Lancastria was a British ocean liner requisitioned by the UK Government during the Second World War. She was sunk on 17 June 1940 during Operation Aerial. Having received an emergency order to evacuate British nationals and troops from France the ship was loaded well in excess of its capacity of 1,300 passengers.