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	[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1884]]		[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1884]]
	[[Category:1868 ships]]		[[Category:1868 ships]]
	[[Category:Ships built ~~in Sunderland~~]]		[[Category:Ships built on the River Wear]]

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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=syriawreck.jpg
|Ship caption=Image of wreckage
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|civil}}
|Ship name=''Syria''
|Ship owner=[[Nourse Line]]
|Ship operator=Nourse Line
|Ship classification society=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=William Pile of [[Sunderland, Tyne and Wear|Sunderland]]
|Ship yard number=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=8 June 1868
|Ship delivered=
|Ship acquired=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship fate=Wrecked 11 May 1884
|Ship status=
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class=Iron-hulled [[sailing ship]]
|Ship displacement=
|Ship tonnage=1,010 tons
|Ship cargo capacity=
|Ship length={{convert|207.7|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|34.1|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught= {{convert|20.8|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship horsepower=
|Ship speed=
|Ship range=
|Ship complement=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

The '''''Syria''''' was a 1,010 ton, iron [[sailing ship]] with a [[length]] of 207.7 feet, breadth of 34.1 feet and depth of 20.8 feet. She was built by [[William Pile (shipbuilder)|William Pile]] of [[Sunderland, Tyne and Wear|Sunderland]] for the [[Nourse Line]], named after the Syria River in [[Karnataka]], India and launched in 1868. She was primarily used for the transportation of Indian [[indenture]]d labourers to the colonies.

== Voyages of the ''Syria'' ==
Details of some of these voyages are as follows:
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; text-align:center"
|-
! Destination
! Date of Arrival
! Number of Passengers
! Deaths During Voyage
|-
| [[Trinidad]] || 2 January 1872 || 420 || 3
|-
| Trinidad || 24 November 1873 || 412 || 23
|-
| [[Nevis]] || 30 March 1874 || 315 || n/a
|-
| Trinidad || 28 January 1877 || 447 || 3
|-
| Trinidad || 2 February 1878 || 474 || 11
|-
| [[Fiji]] || 14 May 1884 || 438 || 59
|}

== Destruction ==
The voyage to Fiji was the last for ''Syria'' as she ran aground on the [[Nasilai Reef]], only four miles from shore, at 8.30 pm on Sunday 11 May 1884 with the loss of 59 lives. This was the worst maritime disaster in the history of Fiji. On this fateful voyage, the ''Syria'' left Calcutta on 13 March 1884 carrying 497 passengers. Its journey was uneventful except that the route, through the Indian Ocean and travelling south of Australia to utilise the prevailing winds, took only 58 days which was two weeks less than expected.

Five of the six lifeboats were destroyed by the heavy seas and on the sixth, four crew members went to look for assistance. They reached Nasilai village at dawn but their inability to communicate with the natives resulted in them being taken to [[Levuka]] instead of [[Suva]]. On reaching Levuka at 5 pm a rescue party was organised and they reached the stricken ship at 9 pm. Dr [[William MacGregor]], the Chief Medical Officer and Acting Colonial Secretary, took charge of the rescue operations on the morning of Tuesday 13 May. When the first rescue boats reached the scene, the majority of the passengers were in the water on the reef, making as far towards the land as they could, but a considerable number were still in the wrecked vessel, chiefly women and children. The ship lay on her port side. The masts were all broken into fragments, and sails, ropes, and debris of all kinds were mixed up and thrown about in the breakers in wild confusion.

The survivors were carried by boats and [[Fijians|Fijian]] canoes to [[Nasilai]] village. The last rescue boat reached the village at 8 pm The next morning they were taken to Nasilai Immigration Depot and then to [[Nukulau]]. Fifty-six passengers and three crew members died in the wreck but a further eleven died in the next fortnight due to complications resulting from their experience.

On 29 June 2006, the [[Fiji Indian Association in Auckland]] (New Zealand) donated a 100-year-old tree root, recovered from the sea, to be placed in the crematorium foyer of the Memorial Gardens Crematorium in [[Manukau City]]. The artifact commemorates the ship ''Syria''.<ref>{{cite news|title=La Fijiana, Vol 28 No 2, May 2006|url=http://www.fijiassociation.co.nz/La%20Fijiana/May2006.pdf}}</ref>

== See also ==
* [[Indian indenture system]]
* [[Indian Indenture Ships to Fiji]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
: 2. {{cite book
| last = Lubbock
| first = Basil
| authorlink = Basil Lubbock
| title = Coolie ships and oil sailors
| publisher = Brown, Son & Ferguson
| date = 1981
| isbn = 0-85174-111-8
}}

== External links ==
*[http://www.rootsweb.com/~ttowgw/archives/indianships.htm Indian Immigrant Ship List]
*[http://genforum.genealogy.com/grenada/messages/60.html Genealogy.com]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20111002234018/http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/lines/nourse.htm The Ships List]
* [http://www.fijigirmit.org/a_thewreckofthesyria.htm The wreck of the 'Syria', 1884]

{{1884 shipwrecks}}

{{coord missing|Pacific Ocean}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Syria}}
[[Category:Ships of the Nourse Line]]
[[Category:Indian indenture ships to Fiji]]
[[Category:Individual sailing vessels]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Victorian-era passenger ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1884]]
[[Category:1868 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Sunderland]]

Syria (ship) - Revision history

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