Sinking of the Achilleus

Sinking of the RMS Achilleus

An artist's conception of Achilleus in her intended Sebastians Star livery.
Date	21–22 March 1915 (1915-03-22)
Time	23:40–02:20 (02:38–05:18 AMT)
Duration	2 hours and 40 minutes
Location	North Merillian Ocean, 370 miles (600 km) sotheast of the southeast United Federation
Type	Maritime disaster
Cause	Destroyed by internal explosion,
Participants	Achilleus crew and passengers
Outcome	Maritime policy changes
Deaths	1,290–1,490

The RMS Achilleus sank in the early hours of the morning of the 22 March 1915 in the North Merillian Ocean in one of the most disastrous maritime disasters in history and the highest casualty maritime incident outside of wartime. She sank on the return trip from her maiden voyage, departing from Port Harrison in the Anglican Colony of Grennola and heading back to Saint Sebastian, Angland. When she sank she had an estimated 2,399 people on board when internal issues caused an explosion in the engine which killed up to 600 of the passengers immediately as well as causing the ship to sink. The explosion is the largest accidental explosion in Anglican history.

No prior warning to the explosion was noted however a Naval Court enquiry into the explosion easily ruled out external explosions, such as torpedos or a mine left in the ocean from World War One. Survivor accounts claim notices of a flash of flame near the aft turret and then one or two explosions quickly following. The captain's logbook was recovered partially intact which agrees with the testimony of survivors that said the six-inch ammunition magazines had been restowed in order to keep the cordite propellant charges together in lots that morning. This resulted in at least 40 charges being left exposed and as boiler charges heated up it caused the exposed charges to explode. Upon the explosion and sinking, the remaining crew used distress flares and wireless radio to attract outside help as passengers were placed into lifeboats.

In accordance with practise guidelines at the time, Achilleus' lifeboats were to move passengers onto another vessel in case of emergency and not to hold the capacity of the entire onboard crew. Therefore; when the ship began to sink rapidly in the early hours of the morning and with help miles away there was many passengers left at the mercy of the iced north Merillian sea.

Aftermath

Grief and Public Outrage

A Retoria paperboy outside the Sebastians Star Offices.

When the Nisus arrived back into Port-334 in New Cester on the evening of the 29th March 1915, some 35,000 people were awaiting it's arrival after being alerted to the disaster following a stream of radio messages from Nisus and other rescue ships. It was only after Nisus docked - A week after the disaster - that the public finally realised the true scale of the sinking.

Even prior to the Nisus arriving in New Cester efforts had already began from Angland by the Sebastian Star Company to send vessels in order to recover the bodies. By the time Nisus got to New Cester, Sebastian Star vessels had already retrieved 431 bodies; 109 being buried at sea while the rest of the bodies were taken to the Gavrilian port of Elvaris where 190 were buried. Memorials were erected in many major cities, including New Cester, Saint-Sebastian, Port Harrison, Retoria, Jefferson and Elvaris. Memorial ceremonies were held on either side of the Merillian and funds were raised by the Anglican government to aid the survivors back to health. Under request of former Anglican Prime-Minister Neville Matthews, an annual minutes silence occurs on the 22 March each year at 12:00 AMT. The bodies of a vast majority of the Achilleus' victims were never recovered, with evidence of some deaths being found as recent as 2018 when the wreck of the ship was discovered.