SS ''Afrique'' was a passenger ship of the French shipping company Compagnie des Chargeurs Réunis, which entered service in 1907 and sank on 12 January 1920. Only 34 people survived out of the 609 on board.

The final voyage

In the early morning of 10 January 1920 ''Afrique'' sailed from the Gironde estuary with 609 passengers and crew, on her usual route bound for

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from :wo:daqaar, daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar ...

via other ports of the French West Coast. This was her 58th voyage.

Passengers

The exact number of passengers on board, remained uncertain for a long time due to the presence of African soldiers and workers in third class. It has subsequently been established that, in all classes there were 602 passengers, including 28 non-African soldiers, 192 Senegalese troops, ten civilian natives called laptots, 106 people in first class (including 19 children), 67 in second class and 81 in third class, some of whom were in steerage with the "laptots".

Sinking

At about 11:58 pm on 12 January 1920, ''Afrique'' was passing between Pierre Levée and the , 23 miles (42 km) from

Olonne-sur-Mer Olonne-sur-Mer (, literally ''Olonne on Sea'') is a former commune in the Vendée department in the Pays de la Loire region in western France. On 1 January 2019, it was merged into the commune Les Sables-d'Olonne.1907 ships Passenger ships of France Shipwrecks of France Maritime incidents in 1920 Ships built on the River Tyne