SS Oceana (1887)

Ordered by P&O from the Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast as Yard No. 201, the vessel was launched on 17 September 1887, and handed over from fitting out after running trials on 26 February 1888. The ship had a beam of , four masts, two funnels and a single propeller. Her three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine produced , giving her a top speed of . She had accommodation for 250 first class passengers and 159 second class, and 4,000 mtons cargo capacity. ==Operations==

Oceana made her maiden voyage from London on 19 March 1888, sailing to Melbourne and Sydney via Colombo, Ceylon. After upgrading and refitting in 1904, she began her last voyage on this passage on 12 May 1905, after which she was placed on the London to Bombay route. Author Mark Twain traveled from Sydney to Ceylon aboard Oceana in 1895 as part of his travels described in Following the Equator. He remarked of the ship: ==Sinking==

On 15 March 1912 Oceana finished loading for her next trip to Bombay in the Port of Tilbury, under the command of Captain Thomas H. Hyde, RNR. She was also carrying £747,110 worth of gold and silver ingots: £3 million at 2010 values. The next day she was proceeding west through the Strait of Dover at nearly full speed. The sea was calm although there was a strong headwind. In the opposite direction approached the , a 2,850-ton German-registered four-masted steel-hulled barque. Commissioned, owned and operated by F. Laeisz of Hamburg, she was on her way from Mejillones, Chile to Hamburg with a cargo of nitrate, sailing under full sail at a speed of almost . The pilot ordered the immediate closure of all the watertight bulkhead doors on Oceana, whilst the captain ordered all crew and passengers to their boat stations to stand by to abandon ship. While awaiting rescue, the crew tried to lower one of the lifeboats, but it crashed into the sea and capsized, resulting in the loss of seven passengers and ten crew. Although listing, Oceana was taken in tow by the Newhaven tug Alert, stern first, at 08:00. The subsequent Board of Trade Inquiry, which reported on 13 July 1912, reached similar conclusions, suspended the chief officer's certificate of competency for six months and censured the master. ==Bullion salvage==

The day after the collision and ship's sinking, P&O agreed with the insurers' salvage team to send divers to recover the gold and silver ingots. Divers initially entered the Captain's cabin and opened his safe, to recover the keys to the ship's five strongrooms. This enabled them to open three of the five strongrooms, while the other two were opened with a lump hammer and cold chisel. The salvage operation lasted ten days. A notable history item of the day, the salvage operation was filmed by the Natural Color Kinematograph Company, using the "Kinemacolor" system, the first successful colour motion picture process. ==Wreck==

In July 1912 the Royal Navy blew up the wreck as it posed a danger to shipping. Resting on an even keel on a gravel seabed, the bows are upright and mostly intact. Her superstructure has collapsed, but her sides are vertical and complete with portholes. Divers can see inside the engine room from above to see the four boilers and the 7,000 ihp triple-expansion steam engine. Being close to the shore, the wreck attracts a large amount of sea life. ==See also==