Soon after, heavy weather caused considerable damage to the ship and the Ulysses disappeared from the surface at position 27.41.12N/33.48.10E in 4-28 meters of water. With that, the Lighters and the HMS Falcon with the cargo and crew of the Ulysses departed for Suez on 06 September 1887.Īrriving at Suez, Captain Bremner submitted his official report concerning the ship’s loss where she was listed as “Abandoned”. Soon afterwards the ship slipped slowly off the reef and quietly sank by the stern, settling on the reef below with only her bow and bowsprit remaining above the water. The amount of cargo was more than the two Lighters could carry so some was also put on the deck of the HMS Falcon.īy the time the ship’s cargo was offloaded the reef had done its damage to the ship. The Ulysses’ crew, with assistance from the Lighter’s crews, began the laborious task of offloading the ship’s cargo and carrying it over a third of a mile across the reef to where the Lighters lay at anchor. This would prove to be the end of the ship. During those 3 days between the grounding and the arrival of help, the ship had been slowly working herself on the reef in the building seas. Meanwhile, until the requested assistance arrived, the crew was busy keeping the ship afloat assuming that once the ship’s cargo had been offloaded that the Ulysses could simply be pulled off the reef.Īssistance in the form of 2 lighters, with the HMS Falcon didn’t arrive until the 20th of August.
Just before dawn, the British steamer Kerbala appeared and it was requested that she make for Suez in all haste and request assistance for the grounded ship. Upon first inspection, Captain Bremner estimated the damage to the ship to be slight and, as the ship’s pumps were easily handling the amount of incoming water, he decided to wait for assistance from any passing vessels. In the early morning hours on 16 August, the ship struck the northern side of Gubal Seghir and was hard aground. Upon clearing the Suez the ship continued its journey southward and on the evening of 15 August Captain Bremner checked the navigation charts one last time before retiring to his cabin.
It should be mentioned at this point that for Captain Bremner, an experienced captain who previously had had other commands, this was his first voyage through the Red Sea.
The voyage south to the Mediterranean and on through the Suez Canal were uneventful. In mid-summer 1887, the Ulysses, under the command of Captain Arthur Bremner, departed London with a cargo for general merchandise destined for Penang, China.
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