Kashacha Khadak (Gull Island) | disaster site

India / Maharashtra / Uran /
 island, disaster site
RAMDAS ferry ship sank here on "Gatari Amavasya" (moonless night) day in 1947 on the way from Bhaucha Dhakka (Ferry Wharf), Bombay to Dharamtar near Rewas, 15 km away. Most of the passengers were workers from Konkan (Pen, Alibaug, Roha).

It is perhaps one of the worst shipping disasters off Bombay to date. At 10 a.m. on 17 July 1947, the 406-ton "Ramdas" sank near Gull Island, 15 km from the Colaba Point. Over 600 of the 700-odd people aboard the ship, which was bound for Rewas, died. According to the master of the ship, Sheikh Suleman Ibrahim, the ship had been streaming ahead at slow speed after leaving at 8.05 a.m., when it was struck by a high swell on the starboard side. All the passengers from this side rushed to the port side, which became overweight and resulted in the ship listing heavily and capsizing within the next two minutes. Strangely, there were no reports of rough weather on the morning of July 17.

In fact, the port authorities had no inkling of the tragedy until a few of the survivors swam to safety and reached the Sassoon Docks and related the news at 3 p.m. After a two-day search operations by a fleet of naval, Port Trust and mercantile vessels rounded up about 155 survivors. According to reports, most people travelling aboard "Ramdas" belonged to the lower sections of society living in the Girgaum and Parel areas of Bombay. Although an extensive search was launched by Port authorities no wreckage was found immediately after the disaster. However, a decade later, the wreckage resurfaced on its own at Ballard Pier off Bombay Coast.

In order to help families who had to deal with the twin tragedies of losing their dear ones as well as suffer economic hardships due to the loss of their bread-winner, The Times of India Relief Fund set up a special fund to collect donations for their benefit. The Governor of Bombay also contributed Rs.1,000 to the fund, which was disbursed between government and local agencies involved in relief operations.
Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1947_Ramdas_ship_disaster
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   18°50'2"N   72°53'48"E

Comments

  • KASHA ISLAND;Five second white flashing. Flashing seen from seven mile. Height of light twenty eight metre.Depth at beckan 1.2 metre.
  • its was are worst disaster in the history of the Sea travel of mumbai and Konkan ...even other 2 disasters were also on the same year ,,,...one of them sank near sHRIVARDHAN
  • dear millind if u know some more information about ramdas boat( or any other diaster) please share with us.
  • ONE OTHER MAN SURVIVE FROM THIS INCIDENT IS Mr.BARKYA MUKADAM from Alibaug,he is still alive.
  • Yes I Have Swam From Dharamtar To Gateway Of India While Crossing (Bypassing) from near the Kashacha Khadak I Felt Some Turbulence i.e The Water Near The Rock Rotates Around The Rock Attracting Any Object Near It And Pulling It Inside Te Water Even My Observer(The person with me who was on beside me felt that i took almost 1 and half hour to cross the 1 km area where as my average speed was 5 km/hour)
  • please post Mr.BARKYA MUKADAM address
  • When I was a kid, I was told by my grandfather that his father (My Great Grandfather) once survived a shipwreck by swimming for 6 hours. I don't remember the other details. I wonder if this was the same shipwreck. Any suggestions where I could get the names of the passengers or survivors? Some written record somewhere?
  • Must try to post her photo,which may be with BI steamship co.
  • They donot yet have much info on the wiki page on this disaster.
  • My grandfather Baburao Achmani used to work in deval circus, he swam across and was 1 among 5 survivors from deval circus. If any one else can add more details , would be beneficial.
  • Can we now gp to this island?
  • Yes. I suppose. Although no 1 goes on the small island rather a small rocky area. It's clearly visible from mandwa Beach & also from karanja hill n on the way to revas
  • Hi, my grandfather Dawood Ainarkar was also one of the survivors.
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This article was last modified 7 years ago