Epilogue

The SS Persia now lies in its watery grave in some of the deepest water in the Mediterranean. Being 10,000 feet down it is in the type of territory that challenged those originally searching for the Titanic (which is at a depth of 12,000 ft). While the SS Persia has attracted its own small band of treasure hunters, they have been largely unsuccessful and their efforts have not included the element of exploration that brought the Titanic back to life through reconstructions and eerie films of remote-controlled cameras wafting through the public spaces and staterooms of the sunken vessel. Neither does the SS Persia have the wrenching going-to-their-doom stories that the Titanic achieved. And yet the families torn asunder by this disaster were just as effected as any of the earlier disasters like the Lusitania and Titanic.

The SS Persia had a small non-British contingent on the passenger list which meant that the sinking was largely a home-grown tragedy. Also it happening during war-time meant that a population inured to rising fatalities were less mono-focused than they were with a peacetime sinking. The SS Persia also did not have the class elements to it that the Titanic did. There was no Third Class locked below, as everyone on the Persia had an equal chance to dash for the boats. Neither does there seem to have been any opportunity, due to the short time frame, for individual heroics or gallantry as to who got into lifeboats and who didn't. Most of the lifeboats got away empty and survivors clambered in later.

The Captain went down with his ship.

While women fared not too badly in this sinking, the children came off badly, with only two out of seventeen surviving. This was probably because so many of the children were babies/infants.

As mentioned earlier the European crew achieved a fairly good survival rate. As the sinking occurred so swiftly (and one of the boilers exploded) those in the engine-rooms and stokeholds stood a very slim chance of getting up to the decks and reaching a boat. This meant the Lascars working in the engine-rooms fared very poorly.

Crew, particularly those on the upper decks and serving in the dining saloon (many of them being the Goans), stood a much better chance of survival. In fact it was fortunate in a way that the attack took place at lunch as the passengers were gathered together in the dining saloons and could be dispatched to the boats fast. With the steam-powered three-blast alert rendered inoperative it would have been much more difficult for passengers to have been alerted if they had been back in their cabins.

While the sinking occurred in late December, the mean sea temperature at Heraklion in Crete in that month is 18 degrees Celsius, so not as cold as one might expect for that time of the year. As many survivors had to spend a few hours in the water before getting into a boat this probably helped reduce the mortality rate. If there had been more empty boats launched there would have likely been a lot higher survival rate. According to survivors (Lord Montagu in particular) there was very little in the way of debris from the sinking which meant that there was little for those not in a boat to cling onto.

As a result of this loss P&O laid down substantially improved on-board procedures to deal with emergencies.

A P&O milk jug salvaged from the wreck.