General Slocum – The paddle steamer caught fire and sank in New York City's East River on 15 June. RMS Empress of Ireland – On 29 May the passenger liner sank after colliding with the cargo ship Storstad on the Saint Lawrence River, killing 1,012 people. It is said that 1,153 people aboard were lost but the exact number of fatalities remains unknown because some victims managed to board without tickets and others cancelled their passage just before sailing. Toya Maru – A train ferry that sank in Typhoon Marie in the Tsugaru Strait between Hokkaido and Honshu on 26 September. Her loss was the catalyst for major reforms in shipping safety and is arguably the most famous maritime disaster, being the subject of numerous media portrayals. Exactly 712 of her 2,208 passengers and crew survived. On 14 April, on her maiden voyage, she struck an iceberg, buckling part of her hull and causing her to sink in the early hours of 15 April. RMS Titanic – A British ocean liner and, at the time, the world's largest ship. The official death toll was 470, though some evidence suggests that the ship was overcrowded and the true death toll may have been far higher, likely over 1,600. Salem Express – At midnight between 14–15 December, while on a voyage from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to Safaga, Egypt, with at least 644 passengers, the ship struck a reef and sank within 10–20 minutes. The combined death toll from both ships is estimated at 4,386, making the incident the deadliest peacetime maritime disaster in history. Except for 26 passengers, everyone on the Doña Paz died, including its crew of 58 while on the Vector only 2 of its 13 crew survived. Though Doña Paz was certified to only carry 1,518 passengers, thousands more were crammed on board and unlisted on its trip manifest. The collision ignited the Vector's cargo and the fire spread to the Doña Paz both ships burned and sank. The table listings are in descending order with respect to the number of casualties suffered.ĭoña Paz – Late on 20 December, while bound for Manila from Tacloban, the passenger ferry collided with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait near Marinduque. Some of the disasters below occurred in periods of conflict, although their losses were unrelated to any military action. All ships, including those of the military, are vulnerable to problems from weather conditions, faulty design or human error. Many maritime disasters happen outside the realms of war. The 1987 loss of the Philippine ferry Doña Paz, with an estimated 4,386 dead, is the largest peacetime loss recorded. The wartime sinking of the German Wilhelm Gustloff in January 1945 in World War II by a Soviet Navy submarine, with an estimated loss of about 9,400 people, remains the deadliest isolated maritime disaster ever, excluding such events as the destruction of entire fleets like the 12 storms that are said to have devastated Kublai Khan's fleets in his invasions of Japan. The sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Titanic in 1912, with over 1,500 fatalities, is probably the most famous shipwreck, but not the biggest in terms of lives lost. There are countless incidents reported on marine disasters.
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