.JPG) Peninsula and Oriental line steamerMaloja | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | SSMaloja |
| Owner | P&O Steam Navigation Co[1] |
| Port of registry |  Belfast[1] |
| Route | Tilbury –Bombay[1] |
| Builder | Harland and Wolff Ltd,Belfast[1] |
| Yard number | 414[2] |
| Launched | 17 December 1910 |
| Completed | 7 September 1911 |
| Fate | Mined offDover, 27 February 1916[1] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | P&O M-class passenger liner[2] |
| Tonnage | 12,431 GRT[1] |
| Length | 550.4 ft (167.8 m)[2] |
| Beam | 62.9 ft (19.2 m)[2] |
| Depth | 34.4 ft (10.5 m)[2] |
| Installed power | 1,164NHP[2] |
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph)[2] |
| Capacity | 670 passengers[3] |
| Crew | 301 (British officers &Lascar crew)[3] |
| Armament | Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship |
SSMaloja was an M-class passenger steamship of thePeninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company. She was completed in 1911 and worked a regular route between Great Britain andIndia. In 1916 in the First World War she was sunk by amine in theEnglish Channel offDover with the loss of 155 lives.
Maloja was one of P&O's ten M-class passenger liners,[2][4] the first of which had beenRMS Moldavia which was completed in 1903.Harland and Wolff Ltd builtMaloja, completing her in 1911.[2] She had twinscrews driven by twinquadruple expansion engines that were rated at 1,164NHP and gave her a speed of 19 knots (35 km/h).[2] She had capacity for 670 passengers[3] plus a quantity of cargo. Decorative plaster work and panelling in the dining room was carried out byH.H. Martyn & Co.[5]
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At 1500 hrs Saturday 26 February 1916[6]Maloja sailed fromTilbury forBombay carrying 122 passengers (less than a fifth of her capacity) and a general cargo.[3] Her passengers were a mixture of military and government personnel, and civilians including women and children.[6] Following normal P&O practice, hercomplement of 301 comprised British officers andLascar crew.[7]
On the morning of Sunday 27 FebruaryMaloja approached theStrait of Dover at full speed and overtook a Canadiancollier,Empress of Fort William.[3] Under wartime conditions each ship would have to be examined by a patrol boat before being allowed to proceed.[6]
TheGerman Type UC I submarineSM UC-6 had recently mined the strait.[1] At about 1030 hrsMaloja was about 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) off Dover[1] when herstarboard quarter[6] struck one ofUC-6's mines. There was a large explosion, and the bulkheads of the second saloon were blown in.Empress of Fort William was still in sight and immediately went full ahead to assist, but while still 1 nautical mile (1.9 km) astern the collier also struck one ofUC-6's mines and began to sink.[6]
As a precaution against enemy attack,Maloja was steaming with herlifeboats already swung out on theirdavits so that they could be lowered more quickly.[6] HerMaster, Captain C.D. Irving,RNR, immediately had her engines stopped and then put astern to stop her so that her boats could be lowered.[6] She also sounded her whistle as a signal to prepare to abandon ship.[6]
Irving then tried to order her engines be stopped again for the ship to be evacuated, but flooding in herengine room prevented the engines from being stopped and she started to make way astern[6] at about 8 to 9 knots (15 to 17 km/h).[2] She also developed alist to starboard[6] which steepened to 75 degrees.[2] Passengers started to board the starboard lifeboats[6] but the ship's speed and list prevented all but three or four of them from being launched.[8]
Small vessels headed to assist her including thePort of DovertugsLady Brassey andLady Crundall,trawlers,dredgers[8] and adestroyer.[6] AsMaloja steamed astern and unable to stop, the rescue vessels were unable to get alongside to take off survivors. A heavy sea was running and the hundreds who crowded her decks could only don acorklifejacket, jump overboard and try to swim clear.[8] A number of her rafts either were launched or floated clear, and some of her survivors managed to board them.[8]Maloja sank 24 minutes after being mined,[8] followed byEmpress of Fort William which sank about 40 minutes after being mined.
Many of the deaths were fromhypothermia, either in the water or after being rescued.[6] Most of the people who survived were recovered from the water.[8] Several survivors, including Captain Irving,[9][10] had been immersed for half an hour.[6] TheSecond Officer, Lieutenant C Vincent, was in the water for an hour but survived.[6] The small vessels taking part in the rescue took many of the survivors to thehospital shipsDieppe andSt David.[8] Others were brought ashore and Royal Navy ambulances took them to the Lord Warden Hotel.[8] Survivors were later taken by special train toLondon Victoria.[9][10]
At about 1130 hrs vessels started to bring bodies ashore.[8] Thechief constable ofKent took charge of the dead and designated the Market Hall belowDover Museum as a temporarymortuary.[8] 45 bodies were recovered[8] but about another 100 people were unaccounted for.
13 of the dead are buried in the St Mary the Virgin New Cemetery, Dover.[7] They include three servicemen, four women, and four children aged 3, 5, 6 and 8.[7]
The servicemen were givenCommonwealth war graves. As well as the three buried at Dover, one is buried atHorsham and another atPortsmouth.[7]
Many of the 155 dead[2] were Lascars.[9][10] P&O erected a monument to 22 of them in St Mary's Cemetery.[7]
In 1923 P&O replaced the ship with a new, largerRMS Maloja. She survived the Second World War and was scrapped in 1954.
Maloja's wreck lies in 80 to 100 feet (24 to 30 m) of water[11] but was a navigation hazard, so in 1964 she was blown up.[3] This left the wreck considerably dispersed and flattened, but what remains is substantial enough to have become a destination forwreck diving when underwater visibility is good enough.[11]
51°03′N1°11′E / 51.05°N 01.19°E /51.05; 01.19
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in February 1916 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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