Tip the Boat Over Trivia Quiz

Answer: Le Joola

Launched in 1990, Le Joola was a Senegalese passenger coastal ferry. She provided a vital link between Dakar, capital of Senegal, and the country's isolated southern regions, by transporting agricultural produce to market.

She was licensed to carry 536 passengers, but when she left the southern region of Casamance on Friday, September 26th, 2002, she was overloaded with more than 1,900 people. Off the coast of Gambia, the ferry hit a bad storm and sank. 64 survivors were rescued. 1,863 died.

Answer: Dona Paz

The islands of the Philippines are served by hundreds of old passenger ferries and it's not uncommon for these ferries to be severely overloaded. On December 20th, 1987, a local ferry, Dona Paz, was making a regular crossing of the Strait of Tabias, when she collided with a small oil tanker.

The tanker and the overloaded ferry both sank within minutes, with an estimated 4,341 deaths. Only 24 survived.

Answer: Edmund Fitzgerald

November is the month for storms on the Great Lakes. On November 9th, 1975, the Edmund Fitzgerald left the port of Superior, Wisconsin, carrying 26,116 tonnes of taconite pellets (ore).

The following day, November 10th, a storm hit Lake Superior. Just after 7pm, the Edmund Fitzgerald hit a large wave head-on. She sank so quickly that the crew had no time to launch the lifeboats. All 29 on board died. It was noted that the hatches covering the cargo bays were damaged and, therefore, not fully watertight. In the bad weather, water could have soaked the ore being stored in the cargo bays. This would have made the ship heavier, and when she finally hit a wave, the soaked cargo caused the ship's rapid sinking.

Answer: SS Eastland

On July 24th, 1915, Western Electric were having their fifth annual employee picnic. Thousands of employees, along with their friends and families, were looking forward to having a wonderful day cruising across Lake Michigan.

Waiting at the Clark Street Wharf on the Chicago river, passengers began boarding the SS Eastland at 6:30am. By 7:10am, 2,500 passengers were on board, but as the cruiser pulled away from the dock, she began to tip to one side. At 7:30am, she capsized and sank. Out of the 2,572 people on board, 844 died, including 22 entire families.

Answer: Birkenhead

On the evening of February 25th, 1852, the Birkenhead had just left Simon's Town, South Africa, and was preparing to pass Danger Point, when she was driven onto rocks by strong currents. Out of the 600 on board, there were only enough lifeboats to carry 200. Three left, carrying women and children, but when attempts were made to drag the ship off the rocks, it only made the damage worse.

Any soldiers and crewmen who could swim were given permission to jump overboard and try to save themselves, but were warned not to rush the boats carrying the women and children. Only three disobeyed orders, the rest stayed on board. 450 lives were lost. From then on, the order has been issued: "Women and children first".

Answer: Sultana

Launched two years before the American Civil War, the Sultana carried soldiers and supplies up and down the Ohio, Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. When the war ended, she sailed to Vicksburg, Mississippi, to transport soldiers who'd been held in prison camps back to Illinois.

On April 26th, 1865, the Sultana had picked up nearly 2,100 former prisoners of war and was seven miles into the return trip to Illinois, she hit a full flood current. Seconds later, there was a huge bang as three boilers exploded. People flung anything that would float overboard, but the poor conditions in the prison camps meant that many were too weak to swim and drowned in the river. Only 786 survived.

Answer: RMS Titanic

Recreated in film and the subject of a huge publishing industry, the sinking of the Titanic cost the lives of more than 1,500 people, among them no less than 9 entire families. Titanic had been crossing from England to New York when, at 11:40pm on Sunday, April 14th, 1912, she collided with an iceberg. She sank at 2:20am the following morning. At 4am, the fortunate survivors were picked up by RMS Carpathia and taken to New York.

As a result of the inquiries that followed the sinking, safety laws were changed to allow a lifeboat seat for every person on board. Titanic had been designed to carry 64 lifeboats, but was only carrying 20 when she sank, nowhere near enough for the 2,230 that boarded.

Answer: Andrea Doria

When World War Two ended, luxury passenger ships began to once again travel across the Atlantic from Europe to America. Launched in 1951, the Andrea Doria was sleek, fast and, thanks to eleven watertight compartments, supposedly unsinkable.

Late on the evening of July 26th, 1956, the Andrea Doria was moving through a thick fog bank when she collided with a smaller ship, the Stockholm. As seawater filled the ruptured fuel tanks, she tipped onto her side and sank. 51 died, most in the initial collision (46 on Andrea Doria, 5 Stockholm crewmen).

Answer: Herald of Free Enterprise

In 1987, the Herald of Free Enterprise was one of many car and passenger ferries working busy routes across the English Channel.

On the evening of March 6th, 1987, the ferry had just picked up 650 passengers and their cars at the Belgian port of Zeebrugge, for a 70-mile trip to Dover, England. Only seconds after leaving the dock, the ferry capsized and sank. 193 died. It was later discovered that the cause of the disaster was the bow-doors on the car deck accidentally being left open.

Answer: Estonia

The Estonia was a Swedish car and passenger ferry. On September 27th, 1994, she was ploughing through rough seas on a regular crossing to the Swedish capital, Stockholm, when the 50-ton locks on the bow-doors gave way. This allowed the car deck to start flooding. Out of the 989 people on board, 852 died.