The Sinking of the Roman fleet in July 255 BC in the Strait of Sicily was the worst maritime disaster in antiquity and in the entire history of shipping. Up to 100,000 people died.
Sinking of the Roman fleet (255 BC)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_the_Roman_fleet_(255_BC)
2 Comments
BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today · 1 pts · 7h
As far as I know, the biggest single loss of life was the 2004 Tsunami in Thailand, which killed around 250,000. I wasn't aware of this disaster, but it has to be in the Top 3-5 most deadly disasters in history.
TargaryenTKE@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 5h
Funny thing is, this happened during the First Punic War and the Romans actually had this exact thing happen to them like 3 or 4 different times. Each was extremely devastating for them (not to mention the battle of Cape Ecnomus which remains, even to this day, as one of the largest naval battles in all of world history) but they somehow managed to come from behind and win the war