The Senegalese government-owned ferry capsized off the coast of The Gambia on September 26, 2002, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,863 people. The sinking of the ferry Le Joola is thought to be the second-worst non-military maritime disaster in number of lives lost, after the Doña Paz. The ferry was reportedly loaded to overcapacity,…
The passenger/cargo ship SS Morro Castle caught fire and burned on 8 September 1934, while on a voyage from Havana, Cuba to New York. The origin of the fire was never conclusively determined. The master had died in his sleep the previous night of an apparent heart attack. The fire was detected in the First Class Writing Room…
(http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) During a rainstorm, the passenger vessel SS Metis, with approximately 242 passengers and crew on board collided with the schooner Nettie Cushing at about 4 a.m. on 30 August 1872 in Long Island Sound near Watch Hill, Rhode Island. Metis, en route from New York to Providence, was holed below the waterline and flooded…
(Join our newsfeed at http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) The Panama Canal opened to traffic on 15 August 1914 with passage of the SS Ancon. First conceived in the 1600s, actual construction work was first begun by a French company in 1880. That attempt was defeated primarily by malaria and yellow fever. Work began on the present-day Panama Canal…
(Join our newsfeed at http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) On 18 August 1990, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) was enacted into law in the USA. On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled over 11 million gallons of Alaskan crude into the water of Prince William Sound. There were many lessons learned the aftermath of the Valdez oil spill. Two…
(Join our newsfeed at http://www.MaritimeCyprus.com) On 11 August 2001, the motor vessel Windoc and the Allanburg Bridge suffered a collision. Ship-bridge collisions are rare, because a true collision requires that both objects be in motion at the time of impact. The Allanburg Bridge (also referred to as Bridge 11) is a lift bridge over the…
The “Black Tom Island” incident occurred on Sunday, 30 July 1916. German saboteurs ignited a fire at the munitions-loading facility in Jersey City, across from Manhattan. The ensuing explosions destroyed the waterfront facility and largely obliterated the island, killing four persons and causing over $40 million in property damage. It was the first state-sponsored terrorist attack in…
