RMS Queen Elizabeth Lies Buried Under Reclaimed Land

When she was launched in Clydebank, Scotland, on September 27, 1938, RMS Queen Elizabeth became the largest and longest passenger ship in the world, surpassing her French rival, SS Normandie, by only 2 feet and 269 gross registered tons.

After an eventful career as an ocean liner—marked by a start as a troopship during World War II—RMS Queen Elizabeth was sold to various companies before being purchased by Hong Kong magnate Tung Chao Yung in 1970. He intended to convert her into a floating university, and on February 10, 1971, RMS Queen Elizabeth sailed to Hong Kong, where she was renamed Seawise University.

Unfortunately, as her conversion neared completion, Seawise University caught fire on January 9, 1972. As fireboats attempted to extinguish the blaze, she rolled over and sank off the coast of Tsing Yi, in the northwest of Victoria Harbour.

Now a shipping hazard, the ship was dismantled for scrap in 1974 and 1975. Parts of the hull, keel, boilers, and engines that were not salvaged, however, remained at the bottom of the harbour until they were buried during land reclamation in the late 1990s.

Today, an estimated 40 to 50% of the wreck still lies buried beneath Kwai Tsing Container Terminal 9, on the southeastern edge of Tsing Yi Island.