What are the origins of this fun-filled festive custom?
On April 26, 1865, the Sultana, designed to carry only 356 people, left Vicksburg carrying over 2,300 people. A day later on April 27th, one of the ship's four boilers exploded and resulted in approximately 1,700 deaths.
On April 10, 1912, the Titanic set sail from Easthampton, England bound for New York City. On April 14-15, 1912, the ship collided with an iceberg causing it to sink. Estimates say that approximately 1,500 passengers (of about 2,200) lost their lives when the ship sank.
The sinking of the Titanic is one of the most famous tragedies in modern history and inspired stories and films. The Titanic was a British luxury passenger liner, the construction of which began in 1909.
The death of William the Aetheling meant King Henry I of England had no successor when he died in 1135. Subsequently, a civil war broke out and peace wasn't restored until 1154.
On the rainy morning of July 24, 1915, thousands gathered for the Western Electric Company's annual picnic, which was to begin with a boat ride across Lake Michigan. Passengers started boarding the SS Eastland around 6:30 am in downtown Chicago.
In November of 1120, the White Ship sank near the coast of Normandy. Approximately 300 passengers drowned including William the Aetheling, the only legitimate son and heir to King Henry I of England.
The ammunition freighter SS Mont/Blanc collided with a Norwegian ship, the SS Imo, on December 6, 1917. This resulted in a fire and subsequent explosion as well as over 2,000 deaths. There were thousands of terrible injuries.
The Eastland capsized on the Chicago River and claimed at least 844 lives, making it one of the deadliest maritime disasters in American history. This tragedy also ranks among Chicago's most catastrophic events and even surpasses the death toll of the 1871 Chicago fire.
On November 7, 1941, loaded with more than 4,000 wounded and medical personnel from hospitals in Sevastopol, the HS Armenia was attacked by a German bomber and sank. At least 4,000 people died, although estimates go as high as 10,000, and only eight people actually survived.
This explosion was one of the most violent non-nuclear explosions ever recorded. Its force caused a tidal wave and violent tremors. Today, it is still considered the largest ever accidental man-made explosion.
The British ocean liner RMS Lancastria was owned by the Cunard Line and reconstructed in April 1940. It was subsequently sent to help British troops and citizens evacuate from France.
In November 1928, the world met the HS Armenia, a soviet passenger ship. During WWII it was used to transport troops. It measured 367 feet (112 meters) in length and had a maximum capacity of 980 passengers.
The Yamato was a Japanese WWII battleship built in 1941. The ship was struck by a US bomb on April 7, 1945, and subsequently capsized.
Built in 1940, the MV Goya was a cargo ship. On April 16, 1940, while the ship was being used to evacuate wounded soldiers and civilians fleeing from West Prussia, it was hit by the Soviet submarine L-3. Only 176 people out of more than 7,000 passengers survived.
The SS Cap Arcona was a German luxury ocean liner when it first launched in 1927. However, it was later used to transport prisoners from concentration camps to Lübeck in 1945 after Germany surrendered.
In May of 1945, the SS Cap Arcona was attacked by fighter-bombers of the British Air Force while it held over 6,000 soon-to-be-free prisoners on board. The boat capsized but did not sink due to shallow waters. However, around 5,000 people were killed in the attack.
The ammunition on board the Yamato Battleship exploded as it was capsizing and tore the boat into two pieces. It took an additional 13 torpedoes and 8 bombing hits to finally sink the ship. There was a loss of 2,498 lives.
The Soviet submarine S-13 fired four torpedoes at the MV Wilhelm Gustloff, sinking it in less than an hour and causing the deaths of 9,400 people, including numerous women and children. This remains the deadliest maritime disaster in history.
The MV Wilhelm Gustloff was originally a cruise ship that was transformed to help transport troops in WWII. It departed alongside two torpedo boats and the passenger ship Hansa. However, mechanical issues forced the Hansa and one torpedo boat to turn back, leaving only the torpedo boat Löwe.
This Society passenger ship was used as a troop transporter in the Second World War. On December 3, 1941, the ship (with 5,589 soldiers on board) hit mines and while they attempted to salvage the ship, Finnish forces spotted them and opened fire causing the ammunition onboard to detonate. A shocking 3,849 soldiers out of the 5,589 on board died.
Sources: (Britannica) (Sky History) (The Shipyard Blog) (Business Insider) (Marine Insight)
See also: Interesting facts you didn't know about the Titanic
Built in Brooklyn, New York, in 1891, the PS General Slocum was a sidewheel passenger steamboat. The ship measured 1,284 tons (1.2 million kilograms) gross, boasted a hull depth of 12.3 feet (4 meters), and was constructed of white oak and yellow pine.
The SS Sultana was built in 1863 in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was typically used to transport passengers, mail, and goods between New Orleans and St. Louis.
At about 4 pm a German fighter plane bombed the RMS Lancastria. It capsized and sank within about twenty minutes, and as it did so, lost more than 1,400 tons of fuel into the water which partly caught fire. It's estimated that between 4,000 and 6,5000 passengers died in the attack.
The SS Kiang Ya, originally named the SS Hsing Ya Maru, was built in 1939. It served as a coastal passenger steamship. In 1947, the Toa Kaiun Kabushiki Kaisha shipping company that owned the boat sold it to the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company.
The Kiang Ya was designed to carry up to 1,186 passengers. However, on December 3, 1948, the ship set sail with 2,250 officially registered passengers and approximately 1,200 unofficial ones. That night, after an explosion occurred near the stern of the ship, somewhere between 2,750 and 3,920 people died.
On June 15, 1904, the PS General Slocum was on the water and carrying members of St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church to a church picnic when it caught fire and sank. There were 1,342 passengers on board and an estimated 1,021 of them died.
On September 26, 1954, the Japanese train ferry Tōya Maru sank during Typhoon Marie. All of the 1,153 people on board were killed in this tragedy.
The SS Afrique, a passenger ship belonging to Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis, started running in 1907. Approximately thirteen years later, on January 12, 1920, the ship sank and only 34 people out of 609 survived.
So far, 33 people have been rescued, but seven remain missing. Authorities have not yet disclosed the identities of the victims.
The boat was carrying 31 tourists of various nationalities and 14 crew members. The four-deck yacht had set sail for a five-day journey when the incident happened. Although it is not yet known what caused the yacht to sink, there were warnings of rough seas and the Egyptian Meteorological Authority had advised against sailing on the Red Sea.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time a tragedy like this has occurred. From infamous ships like the Titanic to lesser-known but equally important vessels such as the SS Eastland, click through to learn about the worst boat disasters in history.
Five survivors discovered a day after tourist boat sinks in Red Sea
Egyptian rescuers recovered four bodies and rescued five survivors so far
LIFESTYLE Tragedies
Egyptian rescuers recovered four bodies and found five survivors during the last search operation in the Red Sea, following the sinking of a tourist boat carrying 44 people on November 25.
So far, 33 people have been rescued, but seven remain missing. Authorities have not yet disclosed the identities of the victims.
The boat was carrying 31 tourists of various nationalities and 14 crew members. The four-deck yacht had set sail for a five-day journey when the incident happened. Although it is not yet known what caused the yacht to sink, there were warnings of rough seas and the Egyptian Meteorological Authority had advised against sailing on the Red Sea.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time a tragedy like this has occurred. From infamous ships like the Titanic to lesser-known but equally important vessels such as the SS Eastland, click through to learn about the worst boat disasters in history.