| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | Tilawa |
| Owner |  British India Steam Navigation Company |
| Builder | Hawthorn Leslie,Hebburn |
| Yard number | 530 |
| Completed | 1924 |
| Identification |
|
| Fate | Torpedoed and sunk, 23 November 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Ocean liner |
| Tonnage | 10,006 GRT |
| Length | 137.5 m (451 ft 1 in) |
| Beam | 18.1 m (59 ft 5 in) |
| Decks | 3 |
| Installed power | 4-cylinder quadruple-expansion steam engine; output: 900nhp |
| Propulsion | Single propeller |
| Speed | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Capacity | 3,290 passengers |
SSTilawa was anocean liner of theBritish India Steam Navigation Companylaunched in 1924. She was sunk during theSecond World War while acting as atroopship, targeted by a submarine of theImperial Japanese Navy in the Indian Ocean on 23 November 1942, with the loss of 280 lives.
The ship carried a cargo ofsilver bullion that was secretly recovered by asalvage company in 2017. This led to a legal dispute over ownership of the cargo between the salvors and the government ofSouth Africa, the original owner of the silver.
Tilawa was a 10,000-ton steampassenger liner of theBritish India Steam Navigation Company, built in 1924 byHawthorn Leslie & Co. Ltd. atHebburn-on-Tyne.[1] The ship had three decks and a passenger capacity of 3,290, including 60 in first class and 74 in second class.[2]
In late November 1942,Tilawa sailed fromBallard Pier inBombay, bound forDurban followed byMombasa andMaputo. Acting as atroopship during the Second World War,[3] the ship carried 732 passengers and 222 crew[1] and 600 tons of cargo, including 2,391 bars ofsilver bullion[4] intended to be struck as South African and Egyptian coinage at theSouth African mint. The cargo was valued at £35 million ($45 million) in 2024.[4][5][6] On 23 November,Tilawa was torpedoed by the submarineI-29 of theImperial Japanese Navy, near theSeychelles Islands. After the first torpedo hit, thelifeboats were launched; a second torpedo then sank the ship.[2] 280 people went down with it. Survivors spent two days adrift. In the early hours of 25 November,HMS Birmingham, which had been alerted to the sinking, arrived and rescued 678 people.RMS Carthage was sent to search for additional survivors and rescued 4.[3]
In December 2017, Argentum Exploration, amarine salvage company founded by racing driver Ross Hyett and owned by investorPaul Marshall, with the assistance of maritime historian Nigel Pickford, located the wreck of theTilawa at a depth of approximately 2.5 kilometres (1,400 fathoms; 1.6 mi) and secretly recovered 2,364 (98.9%) of the silver bars.[4][6][7] The company declared it to theReceiver of Wreck in the United Kingdom, but South Africa, which had meanwhile signed a contract with a different salvor in ignorance of the successful recovery,[8] asserted legal ownership in 2018 and further denied the obligation to pay a recovery fee because the cargo had been a state possession and being transported for a sovereign, not a commercial purpose.[5][6] An initial ruling for Argentum by theHigh Court of Justice was unsuccessfully appealed by South Africa.[5][7] In May 2024, theSupreme Court of the United Kingdom reversed the ruling, upholding the South African position.[6]
Tilawa came to be known as the "IndianTitanic", a reference to the 1912 sinking ofTitanic in the Atlantic Ocean with a large loss of life. In 2022, a memorial event took place in Bombay to commemorate the 80th anniversary ofTilawa's loss.[9][10]
