Ship Happens! Indian Martime Adventures | #255
+ saplings of a Newtonian apple tree 👀
Friends,
The MSC Elsa 3, a Liberian-registered container ship, sank off the coast of Kerala in Alappuzha district on May 25, 2025. The vessel was carrying about 640 containers, including 13 with hazardous cargo and 12 containing calcium carbide, a chemical compound that reacts violently with water.
The good news - All 24 crew members were safely rescued in a joint operation by the Indian Navy and Coast Guard. The bad news - The sinking has raised serious environmental concerns due to the risk of oil spills and hazardous debris washing ashore, with around 50 containers already found on Kerala’s coastline.
This got us thinking of (in)famous maritime incidents in India in this week’s newsletter we chronicle some interesting ones.
Things we learnt this week 🤓
In September 1914, while most of Madras was napping under a ceiling fan, the crew of the German cruiser SMS Emden decided to send a message. Captain Karl von Müller, clearly not invited to the city’s margazhi kutcheri, pulled up offshore and let loose a stream of shells aimed at the oil tanks. The locals suddenly found themselves with a front-row seat to one of the few moments when India was attacked in World War 1. British authorities, caught off guard, scrambled to respond, but the Emden had already zoomed off, leaving behind some very startled Madrasis. To this day, Chennai remembers the Emden not just as a ship, but as a verb that has entered the Tamil lexicon—if someone pulls off something bold and chaotic, you might still hear: “He really emdened the situation!” And so, thanks to a German cruiser, Madras had a taste of Yamma-den.
The sinking of INS Khukri during the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War is a tale of courage, tragedy, and technological mismatch. On December 9, 1971, the Indian Navy frigate—named after the iconic Gurkha knife—was torpedoed by the Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor off the coast of Diu, Gujarat. The Khukri, along with its sister ship INS Kirpan, was hunting for enemy submarines but was itself a sitting duck due to an outdated sonar and slow speed. The Hangor fired a homing torpedo that struck Khukri’s oil tanks, sending the ship to the bottom in minutes. Captain Mahendra Nath Mulla famously chose to go down with his ship, a gesture of extraordinary bravery. Of the 194 crew members aboard, only 67 survived. The loss of Khukri remains the Indian Navy’s only warship sunk in combat since independence. The memorial at Diu honors their sacrifice and spirit.
The hijacking of the MV Alondra Rainbow in late 1999 remains one of the most dramatic episodes of modern maritime piracy and a landmark case for Indian law enforcement and naval operations.
The vessel, a 7,000-ton ship owned by Japanese interests, was en route from Indonesia to Japan, carrying a valuable cargo of aluminum ingots. In October 1999 it was seized by a group of Indonesian pirates armed with knives and pistols who overpowered the crew and took control of the vessel. The original crew were tied up, robbed of their valuables, and later transferred to a smaller vessel. The pirates then set the crew adrift in a life raft with minimal provisions, before they were miraculously rescued by Thai fishermen near Phuket. An international alert was issued, and the Indian Coast Guard and Navy tracked the vessel off the coast of Kerala. After a dramatic chase, the pirates were intercepted and captured near Kochi. When confronted, they attempted to scuttle the ship and destroy evidence, but swift action by Indian forces prevented the vessel’s loss and led to the arrest of 15 Indonesian nationals. The case was tried in Mumbai, where 14 of the pirates were initially convicted of charges including attempt to murder, forgery, and criminal conspiracy. However, the Bombay High Court later acquitted the accused, citing jurisdictional issues because the crime occurred outside Indian territorial waters. This legal gap eventually led to the passage of India’s Maritime Anti-Piracy Bill in 2022, which now allows prosecution of pirates captured on the high seas. It was a successful anti-piracy mission and no torrents were downloaded either. Win-win.
From IWTK, with love 💌
India lost a giant in Dr Jayant Narlikar. He got saplings of a tree that was a descendent of the apple tree of Newton fame. Know more here.
Which version of Kaliyon Ka Chaman do you like?
Only In India 🇮🇳
Will that ridiculous IPL dog be called ChamShree now?
💟 IWTK