SS Mutlah

SS Mutlah was a 3,393-ton steamship built for the Nourse Line in 1907 by Charles Connell & Company Limited, Glasgow, Scotland. She disappeared along with her crew of 40 after sending a distress call on 29 December 1923 while sailing in the Mediterranean Sea.^[1] The ship had triple expansion, 425-nhp (317-kW) steam engines driving a single screw.

Like other Nourse Line ships, she had primarily been used for the transport of Indian indentured labourers to the colonies. Details of some of these voyages are as follows:

Mutlah caught fire at Naples, Italy, and sank on 24 March 1920.^[2] She was refloated, repaired, and returned to service.

In 1921 she was purchased by Soc di Nav Latina, Naples, Italy. In 1923 she was purchased by Occidens Soc. Anon di Nav, Genoa, Italy.^[3]

On 29 December 1923 she was in the Mediterranean Sea west-southwest of Sardinia on a voyage from Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy, to Antwerp, Belgium, with a cargo of grain when she sent a distress signal, reporting her position as 38°40′N 006°34′E / 38.667°N 6.567°E / 38.667; 6.567 (SS Multah). She then disappeared without trace. She is presumed to have foundered with the loss of all hands.^[4]

• Indian Indenture Ships to Fiji
• Indian indenture system

• Cheddie, Richard B. "Updated List of Ships that transported E". Genealogy.com.
• "Nourse Line". Merchant Navy Officers.
• "Indian Immigrant Ship List". RootsWeb.