SS
Vaitarna
, popularly known as
Vijli
or
Haji Kasam ni Vijli
, was a
steamship
owned by A J Shepherd & Co,
Bombay
that disappeared on 8 November 1888 off the coast of
Saurashtra
region of
Gujarat
in a cyclonic storm during a crossing from
Mandvi
to
Bombay
. More than 740 people on board went missing in the disaster. The incident resulted in the creation of nautical lore and songs.
Etymology
[
edit
]
She was named
Vaitarna
after
Vaitarna
river of
Bombay Presidency
. She was nicknamed
Vijli
, literally electricity, as the ship was lit with electric bulbs.
[3]
The ship is often dubbed the "Titanic of Gujarat" even though
RMS Titanic
sank 24 years later.
[4]
[5]
[6]
[7]
[8]
Design
[
edit
]
SS Vaitarna was the first steamship built by
Grangemouth Dockyard Co. Ltd.
,
Grangemouth
and launched in 1885. She was
schooner
made of steel and took three years to complete. This screw steamer had three floors and twenty five cabins. She had a single
funnel
, two
masts
and a
fore-and-aft rigged
sail furled against the forward mast.
[9]
Her register tonnage were 292
GRT
, 63
NRT
, and 258 under deck. Her
compound steam engines
had two cylinders with 21" diameter and had stroke of 42" and 30" generating 73
Horsepower
. These engines were built by Dunsmuir & Jackson, Glasgow. She was owned by A J Shepherd & Co, Bombay and was registered in
Glasgow
. She was 170.1 feet long, 26.5 feet broad and 9.9 feet deep.
[1]
[2]
[10]
[11]
It was brought to
Karachi
by traveling around Africa for a maiden trip to Bombay.
[3]
Career and disappearance
[
edit
]
She traded between
Mandvi
,
Cutch State
and Bombay ferrying passengers and goods. She took 30 hours to travel from Mandvi to Bombay at a fare of Rs 8.
[5]
The ships of the region were not designed to mitigate storms as they generally travel along the coast from port to port during calm seasons and were laid up in harbor during stormy monsoon sea.
[12]
[13]
SS Vaitarna was anchored on Mandvi port on 8 November 1888, Thursday (
Vikram Samvat
1945 Kartik Sud Pancham), at noon and she left for
Dwarka
after taking 520 passengers on board. She reached Dwarka and had some more passengers on board, reaching 703 in number. She left for
Porbandar
. Though according to lores, Porbandar port administrator Lelie told the Captain not to venture into the sea, but later research did not support the claim. Due to bad weather she did not stop at Porbandar and directly headed for Bombay. At evening, she was seen off the coast of
Mangrol
, and later at night some people claimed that she was seen wrecking near
Madhavpur (Ghed)
amid severe storm. The next day she was declared missing.
[3]
[5]
[6]
[10]
[11]
Casualties
[
edit
]
No bodies or debris of the ship was found. She was assumed to be wrecked in a cyclonic storm in the
Arabian Sea
.
[14]
Though the folklores states casualty of 1300 people,
[3]
there were 746 people (703 passengers and 43 crew members) on board who went missing in the disaster.
[5]
[7]
[10]
[15]
[16]
The other numbers reported are 798,
[17]
741 (38 crew member and 703 passengers)
[18]
and 744.
[8]
There were thirteen wedding parties and several students who headed for Bombay to appear in the
matriculation
examination of
Bombay University
in December.
[5]
[6]
Kasam Ibrahim or Haji Kasam was the captain of the ship. He was an aristocrat from Kutch holding tracts of land between
Borivali
and
Dahisar
in Bombay. He had his office at Abdul Rehman Street and he lived at
Malabar Hill
. It is also believed that he was blessed by
Fakir
that he will own 99 ships and
Vijli
was his last. Haji Kasam Chawl in
Bombay Central
is named after him.
[3]
[6]
[7]
[17]
Inquiry
[
edit
]
Following the disappearance of the ship, the
Bombay Presidency
formed a committee, Marine Court of Inquiry, to probe the matter.
[14]
[7]
It pointed out that Vaitarna was ill-equipped with safety measures. It did not have enough lifeboats and life jackets aboard. She was overwhelmed by the heavy storm. The
aneroids
used on board the other steamers of the line of the ships to which Vaitarna belonged were checked and found inaccurate.
[14]
Bombay Presidency and Shipping companies sent steamers to find the shipwreck but were unsuccessful.
[5]
Cultural influence
[
edit
]
Gujarati
Wikisource
has original text related to this article:
The incident resulted in formation of many
nautical lores
, myths, legends and songs over the years and became popular in folklore of
Gujarat
. The ship was popularly referred to as
Vijli
in folklore and is chiefly associated with its captain Kasam Ibrahim. There was also Haji Kasam Noor Mohammed, a booking agent of Shepherd at Porbandar.
[5]
[6]
After the disappearance of the ship, a poet from
Jamnagar
, Durlabhrai V. Shyamji Dhruv published a collection of songs titled
Vijli Vilap
. Bhikharam Savji Joshi also published another collection in the same name.
Jhaverchand Meghani
collected and published one of such songs in his folksong collection,
Radhiyali Raat
, titled
"Haji Kasam, Tari Vijli Re Madhdariye Veran Thai"
(
Gujarati
:
"???? ????, ???? ????? ?? ??????? ???? ??"
). Gujarati author
Gunvantrai Acharya
wrote a fiction titled,
Haji Kasam Tari Vijli
(1954) based on the incident.
[6]
[10]
[19]
Y. M. Chitalwala, a researcher based in
Dhoraji
researched the incident and documented it in
Vijli Haji Kasamni
published by Darshak Itihas Nidhi in 2010.
[5]
[7]
[10]
In the preface of
Twin Tales from Kutcch: A family saga set in Colonial India
, Saeed Ibrahim has mentioned that he lost his grandparents in the event.
[20]
A film based on the incident,
Vijli: Mystery of the Phantom Ship
, directed by Dhwanil Mehta and starring
Rana Daggubati
, was announced in 2017 with story written by Yogesh Joshi. No further updates were provided.
[20]
[21]
[22]
Further reading
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Vaitarna SS (+1888) document"
.
Wrecksite
. 1888.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"Lloyd's Register of Shipping"
.
Internet Archive
. 1889
. Retrieved
3 June
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Ved, Mahendra (23 April 2012).
"India, too, had sinking of 'Vilji' 124 years ago"
. New Straits Times. Archived from
the original
on 25 February 2016
. Retrieved
2 October
2015
.
- ^
"Vignettes of maritime history Ancient sea route maps, sketches of coastlines, architecture, textiles and rare pictures of legendary vessels are lined up for public viewing at an exhibition called 'Gujarat and the sea' at NID. The exhibition, which will be open on Saturday and Sunday, was inaugurated on Friday. One of the major attractions is a photo of the legendary vessel built in 1885 called Vaitarna or popularly known as Vijli because of its electric lights which was a rare sight those days. It capsized on November 8, 1888, drowning 1,300 people"
.
epaper.timesofindia.com
. November 20, 2010. Archived from
the original
on September 29, 2015
. Retrieved
June 5,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Vashi, Ashish (6 May 2010).
"Gujarat saw a Titanic in 1888"
.
The Times of India
. Retrieved
3 June
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
"???????? ???????? ???? '???? ?????? ????? (Vijli was the Titanic of Gujarat)"
.
m.divyabhaskar.co.in
(in Gujarati). 2011-04-14
. Retrieved
2015-06-05
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Khambhayata, Lalit (2012-04-03).
"????? ???? ?????? ?????? ??????? '????????'???? ?????? ?????!"
.
Sandesh Gujarati Newspaper
(in Gujarati)
. Retrieved
2015-06-05
.
- ^
a
b
"???? ?????? ??????? ?? ??? ???"
.
Gujarat Samachar
(in Gujarati)
. Retrieved
2015-06-05
.
- ^
"SS Vaitarna"
.
collections.falkirk.gov.uk
. Retrieved
4 June
2015
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Ramavat, Shishir (13 November 2013).
"??? ?? : ???? ???? ???? ????? ???? ??"
.
Sandesh (Ardhsaptahik)
(in Gujarati)
. Retrieved
3 June
2015
.
- ^
a
b
"???? ?????? ?????... - ??????? ??????, ????????? ??????, ????????? ???"
.
Aksharnaad.com
(in Gujarati). 2012-10-22
. Retrieved
2015-06-05
.
- ^
"Vaitarna SS (+1888) document"
.
Wrecksite
. 1888.
- ^
Bombay Chamber of Commerce (1915).
Report of the Bombay Chamber of Commerce
. p. 556.
- ^
a
b
c
Eliot, Sir John (1890).
Hand-book of Cyclonic Storms in the Bay of Bengal: For the Use of Sailors
. Metereological Department, Government of India. p. 34
. Retrieved
3 June
2015
.
- ^
Journal of the Royal Statistical Society
. Edward Stanford. 1892. p. 228.
- ^
Pathak, Maulik (2012-08-13).
"Old man and the sea"
.
livemint.com/
. Retrieved
2015-06-05
.
- ^
a
b
"Freedom fighter's kin keen on making Indian Titanic"
.
mid-day
. 15 August 2010
. Retrieved
3 June
2015
.
- ^
"Otago Daily Times - 10 April 1889 - SHIPPING"
.
Papers Past
. Retrieved
2015-06-05
.
- ^
Shah, Praful.
"? ???? ???, ???????? ????? ??????? ??? ?? ???"
.
Mumbai Samachar
(in Gujarati)
. Retrieved
2015-06-05
.
- ^
a
b
Sharma, Divyanshi (2020-02-25).
"Tuesday Trivia: Before Bhoot The Haunted Ship, the real haunted ship that shook India"
.
India Today
. Retrieved
2020-03-12
.
- ^
Jonnalagedda, Pranita (2017-09-18).
"Rana Daggubati turns scientist"
.
Deccan Chronicle
. Retrieved
2019-03-14
.
- ^
"London Digital & TV Studios announces their 1st Studio film - 'Vijli - Mistery of the Phantom Ship' - Greatreporter"
. 12 September 2017.
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