SS Carnatic
The SS Carnatic was a British steamship built by Samuda Brothers at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs, London in 1862 for the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company.
She operated on the Suez/Bombay run in the last years before the Suez Canal was opened.
Grounding
On the 12th of September 1869, she ran aground on Sha`b Abu Nuhas coral reef near Shadwan Island in the Red Sea. Having assessed the ship to be safe and the pumps , Captain P. B. Jones denied repeated passengers requests to abandon ship, and reassured them that the ship was safe and that the P&O Liner Sumatra was due to pass by and would rescue them. There was a general air of calm and normality on board until eventually at 2am on the 14th of September, the rising water engulfed the ships boilers and the ship was left without power or light. At 11am the following morning, after 34 hours on the reef, Captain Jones had just given the order to abandon ship and the first 4 passengers had taken their seats in one of the lifeboats when Carnatic suddenly broke in half. 31 people drowned. The survivors made it to barren Shadwan, where they were rescued the next day by a passing ship, Sumatra.
Onboard Carnatic was £40,000 worth of gold (well in excess of £1,000,000 in modern terms), so the wreck was the subject of a salvage operation two weeks later. All the gold was reported recovered, but persistent rumours of remaining treasure has added to the romance of the ship.
Captain Jones was recalled to England to face an official Board of Enquiry, which labelled Jones as "a skilful and experienced officer." However, they also found "it appears there was every condition as regards ship, weather and light to ensure a safe voyage and there was needed only proper care. This was not done, and hence the disaster." Although Jones' Master’s certificate was suspended for only 9 months, he never returned to sea.
These days, Carnatic is a popular scuba diving destination.
In fiction
In Jules Verne's 1872 novel, Around the World in Eighty Days, Phileas Fogg intends to take a steamer named Carnatic to travel from Hong Kong to Yokohama, but misses it.
His valet Passepartout catches the ship. however.
See also
External links
- Dive spot description plus underwater pictures and videos of the Carnatic wreck
- Dive spot details plus article with many historical details of the wreck
