SS Egypt was a P&O ocean liner. She sank after a collision with on 20 May 1922 in the English Channel. 252 people were rescued from the 338 passengers and crew aboard at the time. A subsequent salvage operation recovered most of the cargo of gold and silver.
Egypt left Tilbury, Essex, on 19 May 1922 carrying only 44 passengers but a cargo that included gold and silver bullion and gold sovereigns worth over £1 million. The voyage proceeded normally until the early morning of 20 May when fog was encountered. As a safety measure Captain Collyer greatly reduced the speed of the ship. Egypt remained in fog until the afternoon when the navigator was able to sight landmarks on the French coast and fix the ship's position. After continuing the voyage for several hours a dense fog bank was suddenly encountered at around 7 o'clock. The engines were stopped but almost immediately afterwards a fog whistle was heard. The steamship Seine emerged through the fog and within seconds struck Egypts port side in the English Channel off the Armen Lighthouse, Finistère, France. Seine had a strengthened bow for ice-breaking, which penetrated deeply into Egypt′s hull before the ships drifted apart. An SOSdistress signal was transmitted and replies were received from the steamers and RMS Andes but Egypt sank in less than 20 minutes before either ship arrived. Most of the passengers and crew were able to abandon ship in the lifeboats which were picked up by Seine, but 86 of the 352 people on boardEgypt lost their lives.
Salvage
Because Egypt had such valuable cargo, it was not long before salvage attempts began. However, the Egypt′s wreck was not found until 1930. She was found lying upright in a depth of, making the recovery very difficult with the technology of the time. Giovanni Quaglia from the Genoese company Società Ricuperi Marittimi was in charge of the operation and decided to use a diver in an armoured suit to direct the placing of explosives to blast through the ship to expose the strong room. The diver was then used to direct a grab which picked up the gold and silver. The salvage continued until 1935 by which time 98% of the contents of the strong room had been recovered.
