SS Jeddah
| History | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SS Jeddah |
| Owner: | Singapore Steamship Company |
| Port of registry: |
 UK
|
| Builder: | Dumbarton |
| Launched: | 1872 |
| Identification: | Official number 67990 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 100 A1 (Lloyds Register) |
| Type: | Steamship |
| Tonnage: | 993 Registered tons |
| Capacity: | 1100 (Crew + Passengers) |
| Crew: | 50 |
| Notes: | Abandoned |
SS Jeddah was a British-flagged Singaporean-owned passenger steamship of the late nineteenth century. She is best known for an 1880 incident in which her British officers abandoned her when she listed and appeared to be sinking, leaving more than 700 passengers on board.
Jeddah was built in 1872 in Dumbarton, Scotland, especially for the Hajj pilgrim trade, Her owner was Syed Mahomed Alsagoff (Esq.), a rich Singapore-based merchant.
On 17 July 1880, Jeddah left Singapore bound for Penang and subsequently Jeddah with 953 passengers – 778 men, 147 women, and 67 children – on board. She also had 600 tonnes of general cargo, mostly sugar, garron wood, and general merchandise. The passengers were Muslim pilgrims traveling to Mecca and Medina for pilgrimage. A nephew of the ship's owner, Syed Omar al-Sagoff (Arabic: سيد عمر السقاف Saiyid ʿUmar al-Saqqāf) was among the passengers. Her multinational crew included a British captain (Joseph Lucas Clark), two European officers (the first mate, named Williams, and the second mate), and a European third engineer. The captain's wife, who was also a European, was also on board.
On 3 August 1880, while off Ras Hafun in hurricane-force winds and heavy seas, the ship's boilers drifted from their seatings. The crew used wedges to reseat the boilers. On 6 August, the weather worsened further and the wedges holding the boilers in place began to give way. Leaks developed and the ship stopped to make repairs. Thereafter she proceeded slowly during the night of 6-7 August with only one boiler lit. However, the leaks increased and despite the efforts of the crew and passengers trying to bail out the water, she began to take on more water due to leaks in the supply lines in the bottom. She again stopped for repairs, during which time she began to roll heavily and her boilers broke loose and all connection pipes were washed away, rendering her engines ineffective. Her crew rigged her sails to try to use wind power, but the sails blew away.
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