Chaouia ~ 15 January 1919

The SS Chaouia was built by Koninklijke Maatschappij 'De Schelde', Vlissingen in 1896 and owned at the time of her loss by Cie. de Navigation Paquet N., Marseille. She was a French passenger steamer of 4,334 tons.

On January 15, 1919, on a voyage from Marseille to Batoum with passengers and general cargo, she was sunk in the Straits of Messina by a mine from the UC-53 (Erich Gerth). The ship sank at night and went down in only 3-4 minutes.

The Chaouia was carrying 660 passengers, of which 401 were military (primarily Greek troops). 476 people were lost. Of the 184 survivors, 53 were crew and 131 were passengers. Most of the survivors were saved by the British steamer Daghestan.