RMS Orizaba

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For other ships with the same name, see SS Orizaba.

Black and white photograph of the ship in an unidentified harbour.
History
NameOrizaba
OwnerPacific Steam Navigation Company[1]
OperatorOrient Steam Navigation Company[2]
BuilderBarrow Ship Building Co, Barrow-in-Furness
Yard number138
Launched6 May[1]1886
FateWrecked, 1905
General characteristics
TypeRoyal Mail Ship
Tonnage6,298[2]
Length148 metres (486 ft)[2]
Draft7.3 metres (24 ft)

RMS Orizaba was a Royal Mail Ship wrecked off Rockingham, Western Australia on 16 February 1905. On her approach to Fremantle, a smog of bushfire smoke was obscuring the coast and the captain lost his bearings. The ship went aground in 6.1 metres (20 ft) of water on Five Fathom Bank, west of Garden Island.[3]

All 160 people on board were evacuated safely. It is one of the largest ships ever to be wrecked in Australian waters.[2]

In 2014 the wreck was still in use as a dive site.[4]

The ship was celebrated in music by Australian composer Auguste Wiegand, in his gavotte of the same name.[5]

  • The wreck, c. 1910

  • Fremantle Port information plaque

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Orizaba". Shipping And Shipbuilding. Shipping and Shipbuilding Research Trust. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d "SS Orizaba 1905". Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2014.
  3. ^ "Marine Disaster". The West Australian. Perth, WA. 17 February 1905. p. 7. Retrieved 19 January 2016 – via Trove.
  4. ^ "RMS Orizaba plaque". Fremantle Port Authority. Retrieved 9 July 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  5. ^ Wiegand, Auguste (1898), Orizaba gavotte, Rene Desjardins Conservatoire of Music, retrieved 28 September 2019

Further reading[]

  • McCarthy, M. (1980). SS Orizaba, unpublished Wreck Inspection Report (Report). Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum.
  • Wolfe, A. (1986). SS Orizaba, Graduate Diploma Course in Maritime Archaeology Report (Report). Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum.

External links[]

Coordinates: 32°16′43″S 115°37′30″E / 32.278613°S 115.624866°E / -32.278613; 115.624866


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