Sinking of the Achilleus
.jpg) An artist's conception of Achilleus in her intended Sebastians Star livery. | |
| Date | 21–22 March 1915 |
|---|---|
| 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.