Peacetime shipwrecks that killed 500 or more people since 1900

Map of 10 locations · Worldwide

Passenger ships and ferries lost outside wartime, each pinned where the vessel burned, struck or went down, from the first decade of the twentieth century to the mid-2000s. The accounts come from contemporary press reports, formal inquiries and maritime archives, and the number of dead differs between sources for several of these losses. All of it is historical record. The set follows the peacetime tables of Wikipedia's lists of maritime disasters, read and transcribed by hand at a threshold of 500 deaths, so it is a curator's reading of that record rather than a database query.

Places in this collection

  • 2006 MS al-Salam Boccaccio 98 disaster — The Egyptian ferry sank in the Red Sea on 3 February 2006 while crossing from Saudi Arabia to the port of Safaga. She was carrying around 2…
  • 1996 MV Bukoba disaster — The lake ferry was underway from Bukoba to Mwanza on 21 May 1996 when she sank about 30 nautical miles off Mwanza in 25 metres of water. Of…
  • 1994 sinking of the MS Estonia — The ferry was damaged by high waves on the overnight run from Tallinn to Stockholm and sank in the early hours of 28 September 1994, in Fin…
  • 1993 sinking of the ferry Neptune — A dilapidated triple decker of about 150 feet, the ferry ran regularly between Port au Prince and Jeremie carrying passengers, livestock an…
  • 1921 SS Hong Moh disaster — The British steamship left Hong Kong on 2 March 1921 for Swatow with a crew of 48 and 1,135 passengers aboard; a separate account describes…
  • 1920 SS Afrique disaster — The French mail liner sailed on 9 January 1920 carrying a consignment of 30 million gold francs intended to finish the cathedral at Dakar.…
  • 1914 sinking of the RMS Empress of Ireland — Hours out of Quebec City and bound for Liverpool, the liner sighted the lights of a Norwegian collier a few miles off on the St Lawrence in…
  • 1912 sinking of the RMS Titanic — The White Star liner, built in Belfast and on her maiden voyage from Southampton by way of Cherbourg and Queenstown, struck an iceberg on t…
  • 1904 SS Norge disaster — The Danish steamer was carrying emigrants from Scandinavia and Russia to New York when she ran aground on the Rockall shoals on 28 June 190…
  • 1904 General Slocum disaster — The sidewheel passenger steamboat, built in Brooklyn in 1891, left her East River pier on the morning of 15 June 1904 with more than 1,400…

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