On the morning of November 8, 1888, the passenger steamer SS Vaitarna departed from Mandvi—a busy port in Kutch, in the Indian state of Gujarat—bound for Bombay. On board were several hundred passengers making what was meant to be a routine journey across the Arabian Sea. By evening, however, a violent cyclone struck the western coast of India. The ship vanished with everyone on board, leaving behind no survivors and no trace of wreckage.
The Vaitarna had been built between 1882 and 1885 by the Grangemouth Dockyard Co. Ltd. in Scotland. It was the company’s first steamship, measuring 170 feet in length and 26.5 feet in breadth, with a Gross Registered Tonnage of 292. In colonial India, such steamers were seen as symbols of progress, linking smaller ports along the western coast with Bombay, the financial hub of the British Raj. Operated by the Bombay Steamer Navigation Company, the Vaitarna carried both passengers and cargo between Mandvi, in the Kingdom of Kutch, and Bombay.
SS Vaitarna in Grangemouth Docks .
Powered by both steam and sail, the vessel was regarded as modern for its time. She was even equipped with electric lighting, a remarkable novelty in the 1880s. The sight of her glowing electric bulbs, installed well before external lights were required for safe navigation, so impressed local people that they nicknamed her Vijli (meaning electricity).
Despite these innovations, the Vaitarna was never built for long ocean crossings. She was a coastal steamer, meant to travel from port to port during fair weather, hugging the shoreline rather than venturing far into open water. In rough seasons, she was typically laid up in harbour, sheltered from the sea’s fury.
On November 8, 1888, warnings of an approaching cyclone were already circulating along India’s western coast. Despite these, the Vaitarna left Mandvi for Dwarka with an estimated 520 passengers on board. At Dwarka, more travellers joined the voyage, bringing the total to around 700. When the ship departed Dwarka for Porbandar, the cyclone’s eye lay less than 250 miles to the south, moving steadily toward the mainland at about 10 miles per hour.
At noon, the storm was reported to be intense but relatively limited in its reach. A vessel located 100 to 150 miles from the cyclone’s center recorded a wind force of 4 on the Beaufort scale. The early Beaufort scale did not measure wind speed numerically, but instead described wind conditions in terms of their effects on the sails of a frigate: a value of 0 meant “just sufficient to give steerage,” while 13 signified winds so strong that “no canvas sails could withstand.”
Today, meteorologists measure wind in kilometres per hour, miles per hour, or knots, though the Beaufort terminology remains in use for maritime forecasts and public weather warnings. On the modern scale, a value of 4 corresponds to a moderate breeze, with winds below 20 miles per hour. But by late afternoon, the cyclone had grown in strength, and by nightfall it struck the Kathiawar coast with the full force of a gale.
When the Vaitarna reached Porbandar, the sea was already raging. Captain Haji Kasam attempted to bring the vessel into harbour, but the conditions made it impossible. Faced with no safe refuge, he made the fateful decision to head directly for Bombay—sailing straight into the path of the approaching storm. That evening, the ship was sighted one last time, off the coast of Mangrol.
Approximate route of the SS Vaitarna.
Not a single body or piece of wreckage was ever conclusively recovered. Official records state that the Vaitarna carried 703 passengers and 43 crew members, but folklore insists the death toll may have exceeded 1,300, since it was common practice for ships to load well beyond their licensed capacity. A considerable sum was spent in searching for the lost steamer, but no trace was found. The shipping company faced persistent inquiries from distraught families, some of whom even vowed to spend fortunes on charity if only their loved ones could be recovered.
An inquiry convened by the Bombay Marine Court after the disaster revealed serious shortcomings. The Vaitarna lacked sufficient lifeboats and life jackets for the number of passengers she carried. Worse still, the aneroid barometers used on steamers of her line were found to be inaccurate. With a faulty barometer, Captain Haji Kasam would have been unable to gauge the true severity of the cyclone into which he had steered his ship.
The “Vaitarna disaster” proved a turning point for India’s maritime practices. There was realisation about the need for reliable storm forecasts and stricter requirements for life-saving equipment aboard passenger vessels.
Unlike the Titanic disaster of 1912, which became a global legend, the loss of the Vaitarna lingered mostly as a regional memory, preserved in oral tradition and Gujarati folklore. After the tragedy, poets across Gujarat composed elegies to the ship and its captain. A famous folk song—‘Haji Cassum, tari vijli re madhariye veran thai’ (Oh Haji Cassum, your Vijli has sunk to the bottom of the sea)—perfectly commemorates the story of Vaitarna.
References:
# “Titanic at 25: The little-known mystery of India’s own Titanic”. The Week
# Sir John Eliot. “Cyclone Memoirs, No. 1-5, Volume 4”. Google Books
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