Egypt

The Egypt was one of the oldest boats of the P. and O. Line, being a single-screw ship of 7941 tons gross, built and engined by Caird and Co., of Greenock, in 1897.

June 1922 Sunk by collision with the Seine in dense fog.

"It is with deep regret that we chronicle the loss of the Peninsular and Oriental Company's liner Egypt, which was sunk on Saturday evening, the 20th instant, after colliding with the French steamer Seine some 28 miles from the Armon Lighthouse off the Finistere coast. Already before sunset a dense fog was reported on both the English and French coast and generally throughout the Channel. From the information now available, we learn that the Egypt had stopped her engines and was stationary when she was struck by the Seine amidships on the port side between her funnels. Both vessels were at the time sounding their sirens, and the French ship is reported to have been moving at a speed of about 5 knots.

Although the Seine has a tonnage of scarcely one sixth that of the Egypt, she is furnished with icebreaker bows, and the damage she inflicted was so severe that the Egypt sank in twenty minutes from the moment of impact."

The Seine herself was badly damaged, but stood by and rescued many of the liner's passengers and crow. According to the latest information, sixteen out of the forty-four passengers on board and eighty-six out of the crew of 290 are missing. The Egypt was a single-screw vessel of 7491 tons gross, built at Greenock in 1897. The Seine has a gross tonnage of 1383, and was built at Newcastle in 1899.

Read the editorials in The Engineer 1922/06/02 and The Engineer 1922/05/26.

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