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SS Carnatic wrecked in the Red Sea

When
1869
Where
Sha`b Abu Nuhas coral reef, near Shadwan Island
Episodes
1

The P&O steamship SS Carnatic ran aground on a coral reef in the Red Sea in September 1869, breaking apart the following morning. The incident resulted in the loss of 30 lives, contradicting legacy claims of 31 deaths.

Episodes

  1. 13-14 September 1869 · Sha`b Abu Nuhas coral reef, near Shadwan IslandWreck of SS Carnatic

    SS Carnatic struck the Sha`b Abu Nuhas coral reef near Shadwan Island in the Red Sea, breaking apart the next morning and causing 30 deaths.

Background and detail

Background. SS Carnatic was a British steamship built in 1862-63 by Samuda Brothers at Cubitt Town on the Isle of Dogs, London, for the P&O. The vessel operated on a fast, steamship-operated route from Britain to India, connecting with similar steamships running through the Mediterranean Sea to Alexandria, with an overland crossing to Suez.

Wrecking. Having left Suez on 12 September 1869, the ship struck Sha`b Abu Nuhas coral reef near Shadwan Island at the mouth of the Gulf of Suez in the Red Sea, in the early hours of 13 September. She broke apart the following morning, resulting in the loss of 30 lives.

People involved

Sources

  1. SS Carnatic Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-26

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.