Shipwrecks & Lost Treasures of the Seven Seas

Lost pearls and treasure in the liner "Arabia"



The lost pearls of the P&O liner Arabia
by P. Kainic


The Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Co liner Arabia, of 7933 tons, sister ship of the Persia, under the command of Captain Palmer left Sydney for England on September 30th, 1916. At about noon, on November 6th, she was 112 miles W. by S. of Cape Matapan in the Meditteranean sea, with 723 persons on board, when she was torpedoed by the German submarine UB-43.

The Arabia sank in 20 minutes and all but 2 of the persons on board were safely transferred to the boats. The only loss was 2 crew members killed by the explosion of the torpedo.

At the time of her loss, she was carrying a general cargo including wool, wheat, silk, tin, rubber and lead, as well as a very large mail from Australia, India and China, some thousands tons of copper ingots and a certain amount of specie. She was also carrying  pearls taken at Bombay for a value of more than £ 77.000

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