SS Jebba

SS Jebba was a steam ship that ran aground near Bolt Tail, off the coast of Devon, in 1907.[1] Built by Sir Raylton Dixon & Company, Middlesbrough, she was launched in 1896 as the SS Albertville for the Cie. Belge-Maritime du Congo, Antwerp. They sold her in 1898 to the African Steamship Company, London, who renamed her Jebba.[1]

SS Jebba aground
History
Name:	SS Albertville (1896-1898) SS Jebba (1898-1907)
Owner:	Cie. Belge-Maritime du Congo, Antwerp (1896-1898) African Steamship Company, London (1898-1907)
Builder:	Sir Raylton Dixon & Company, Middlesbrough
Yard number:	421
Launched:	16 April 1896
Completed:	June 1896
Fate:	Wrecked on 18 March 1907
General characteristics
Tonnage:	3,953 gross register tons (GRT) 2,460 net register tons (NRT)
Length:	352 ft (107 m)
Beam:	44.2 ft (13.5 m)
Depth:	23.4 ft (7.1 m)
Installed power:	419 nhp
Propulsion:	T3cyl (27, 43, 72 x 48in), 1 screw

SS Jebba succumbing to the waves.

Registered envelope from Old Calabar, Southern Nigeria, salvaged from the SS Jebba.

On 18 March 1907 she ran aground near Bolt Tail, while inbound from West Africa for Plymouth and Liverpool with a cargo of ivory, rubber, palm oil, pineapples, bananas and the mail from Nigeria and the Gold Coast. Her 76 crew and 79 passengers were taken off by bosun's chair, with the two fishermen who had organised the rescue, Isaac Jarvis and John Argeat, being awarded the Albert Medal for Lifesaving. The cargo was salvaged after her loss, with the mail she was carrying later the subject of philatelic study.[1]

By coincidence, another larger liner SS Suevic of the White Star Line had also run aground earlier the same night along the same coastline, almost within sight of Jebba, with its crew and passengers also requiring rescue. Unlike Jebba, the Suevic was salvaged.[2]