The A-class submarine was accidentally rammed and sunk by the submarine tenderHMS Hazard (Royal Navy) in the English Channel off the Isle of Wight with the loss of all hands. Subsequently refloated and sunk as a gunnery target.
4 February[]
List of shipwrecks: 4 February 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Consols
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
British steamer laden with cotton from Galveston for Hamburg, caught fire and sank approximately 40 miles south of Cape Henry. All crew were rescued.[3]
12 February[]
List of shipwrecks: 12 February 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Maud
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The Fleetwood trawler drifted ashore at Kynance Cove, Cornwall, when her tow broke.[4]
17 February[]
List of shipwrecks: 17 February 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Charioteer
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The tug foundered in the Bristol Channel with the loss of all five crew.[5]
18 February[]
List of shipwrecks: 18 February 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Erne
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The full-rigged ship was abandoned in the Atlantic Ocean with the loss of ten of her nineteen crew. She was on a voyage from Boston, Massachusetts, United States to Buenos Aires, Argentina.[6]
Italo-Turkish War: Battle of Beirut: The casemate corvette was shelled and sunk Beirut harbour by the cruisers Francesco Ferruccio and Giuseppe Garibaldi (both Regia Marina).
29 February[]
List of shipwrecks: 29 February 1912
Ship
Country
Description
H. K. Bedford
United States
H. K. Bedford
The passenger steamer became caught in an ice floe and sank in the Ohio River 8 miles (13 km) upstream from Marietta, Ohio.
March[]
5 March[]
List of shipwrecks: 5 March 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Bessie
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The Truro registered three-masted schooner was forced to shelter in Newquay Bay, Cornwall in a strong north wind and drifted ashore when her anchor fouled. Two of the crew were saved by breeches buoy, the others clambered up the 100 ft (30 m) cliff on the cliff ladder. She was on a voyage from Ballincurragh, County Cork to Penryn.[7]
Sank after a collision with Pisagua (German Empire) off Beachy Head, East Sussex.
Wendur
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The Glasgow sailing vessel struck the southern most rock of the Seven Stones Reef while carrying grain from Plymouth, Devon. Three of the twenty-one crew lost their lives. She held the record for the fastest voyage between Newcastle and Valparaiso.[9]
The passenger, cargo, and mail steamer disappeared in a tropical cyclone in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Western Australia during a voyage from Port Hedland to Broome with the loss of all 150 people on board.
21 March[]
List of shipwrecks: 21 March 1912
Ship
Country
Description
City of Cardiff
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Wrecked at Nanjizal on the west coast of Cornwall.[10] All on board were rescued.[11]
23 March[]
List of shipwrecks: 23 March 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Pollux
Sweden
Sunk in the Skaggerak, near Hanstholm in collision with German battleship Elsass
April[]
6 April[]
List of shipwrecks: 6 April 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Gunvor
Norway
Gunvor wrecked
Wrecked on the Pedn-Men-an-Mor rocks, Black Head, The Lizard, Cornwall, United Kingdom. Her crew scrambled to safety.[12][13]
Mildred
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The Barquentine struck rocks at Gurnard's Head, Cornwall in dense fog and sank with her sails set. No lives lost.[12]
7 April[]
List of shipwrecks: 7 April 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Rhenania
Netherlands
She was wrecked on Burhou Island, Channel Islands when on route from Rotterdam for Bilbao.[14][15]
The Olympic-classocean liner, the largest ship launched at the time, sank during her maiden voyage. A total of 1,514 lives were lost; 710 people survived.
The North Shields ship in ballast from St Nazaire to the Tyne for coal went ashore in thick fog, to the south of Mousehole, Cornwall. The salvage steamer Lady of the Isles hauled her clear and she resumed her journey undamaged.[19]
August[]
8 August[]
List of shipwrecks: 8 August 1912
Ship
Country
Description
G W Wolff
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The full-rigged ship was wrecked on Prime Seal Island, Tasmania with the loss of her captain.[20]
The British Admiralty survey vessel sank after she was rammed by the governor's launch while anchored in Singapore Harbour.
5 September[]
List of shipwrecks: 5 September 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Esperance
France
The schooner capsized in the Bristol Channel. Her five crew and the ship's dog were rescued by the trawler Picton Castle (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland). Esperance was on a voyage from Boulogne, Pas-de-Calais to Swansea, Glamorgan, United Kingdom.[5]
The B-classsubmarine collided with the passenger liner Amerika (Germany) while surfacing in the North Sea northeast of Dover, England, and sank with the loss of 14 of her crew of 15.
First Balkan War: The accommodation hulk was torpedoed and sunk in Thessaloniki harbour by a Greek torpedo boat. Seven crew members died in the sinking.
November[]
12 November[]
List of shipwrecks: 12 November 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Oravia
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The passenger ship ran aground off Port Stanley, Falkland Islands. She was abandoned on 16 November. Oravia was on a voyage from Liverpool, Lancashire to Callao, Peru.[24]
23 November[]
List of shipwrecks: 23 November 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Rouse Simmons
United States
The three-masted schooner sank during a storm on Lake Michigan off Two Rivers, Wisconsin, with the loss of all hands.
28 November[]
List of shipwrecks: 28 November 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Friendship
New South Wales
The cargo ship ran aground and sank at the entrance to the Tweed River at Tweed Heads, New South Wales, Australia. There were no injuries or fatalities among her crew.[25]
December[]
8 December[]
List of shipwrecks: 8 December 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Antonios
Kingdom of Greece
The steamer was lost on rocks known as Old Bess, within the Isles of Scilly, United Kingdom. Her crew was lost and the wreck went unnoticed for three days when thousands of oranges were washed up on St Agnes along with wreckage.[9]
26 December[]
List of shipwrecks: 26 December 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Tripolitania
United Kingdom
Wrecked on Loe Bar, near Porthleven, Cornwall in 100 mph winds. Nearly all the crew were saved but the ship was a total loss.[26]
30 December[]
List of shipwrecks: 30 December 1912
Ship
Country
Description
Vigilant
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The ship was driven ashore at Breaksea Point, Glamorgan. Her seven crew were rescued.[5]