Seventy-seven years ago today, on December 3, 1948 (November 3, 1948 in the lunar calendar), the sinking of the "Jiangya" ship on the First Beach was much larger than that of the Taiping ship. Perhaps many people would think that the British Titanic sinking in the ice sea in April 1912 was the largest maritime disaster in the world (1,517 people died). In fact, the explosion and sinking of the "Jiangya ship" in the Yangtze River Estuary of Shanghai in 1948 killed more than 3,000 people, twice the number of people killed in the Titanic incident, and the cause of the accident is still divided. The original name of the passenger and cargo ship built by Japan in 1939 was "Xingya Maru". It was 102.4 meters long, 15.3 meters wide, 4.7 meters deep, and had a displacement of 3,730 tons. It was originally designed to carry 1,186 passengers. After the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Jiangya Ship was accepted by the Navy General Command. In order to compensate for the loss of the sinking and closure of the state-owned China Merchants Group during the Anti-Japanese War, the Nationalist Government transferred five ships including the enemy-owned Jiangya Ship to the Ministry of Communications and handed them over to China Merchants Group for operation. After being transformed by China Merchants Group, the ship can carry 2,250 passengers and is one of the six new passenger ships of Shanghai China Merchants Group. By the time of the accident, the ship was less than 10 years old. No matter the appearance and equipment, it was excellent at that time. Since 1946, the Jiangya ship has been sailing on the short-haul route between Shanghai and Ningbo, which only takes 12 hours. In addition to carrying passengers, it can also carry 1,500 tons of cargo each time. By the time of the accident, the Jiangya ship had made nearly 800 round trips on this route. Before the accident, at the end of 1948, during the period of the Liberation War, the domestic situation was chaotic, and factories and shops were suspended. There is a custom in Jiangsu and Zhejiang that foreigners need to return to their hometowns to worship their ancestors before the winter solstice, and the Shanghai Liupu Wharf is full of people every day. On December 3, 1948, the Shanghai Liupu Wharf was as busy as ever. According to the export report form filled in on the day of the accident, there were 2,607 passengers on board, 179 captains and crew members, and 175 tons of cargo (460 tons, all of which are ordinary non-dangerous goods). In fact, the number of passengers on board was far more than this number. According to the investigation and statistics of the Committee for the Aftermath of the Jiangya Ferry Massacre, there were many unticketed passengers (such as soldiers who did not buy tickets) and children (children did not buy tickets) on board at that time. There were 700 people who made up tickets, and more than 100 people went through the back door. The actual passengers carried were 4,000 or even more than 4,600 people. At 4 pm, the "Jiangya" passenger ship set sail from Shanghai Sixteen Pu No. 3 wharf with full cargo and sailed to Ningbo. At 18:45, it reached the sea channel of Bailong Port outside Wusongkou. There was a sudden thunderclap in the third cabin on the starboard side of the Jiangya Ferry (twice in succession), and the hull shook violently, and all the lights went out in an instant. The telegraph room next to the explosion collapsed instantaneously, the two radio operators were blown up, the transceiver was damaged, communication with the outside world was interrupted, and the telegram for help was not taken. In the cockpit of the bow, the whistle for help was only a symbolic sound, and no sound was heard again. The cabin was as black as ink, and the cold sea water rushed in. Men, women and children, panicked, and in the panic, they crowded together and rushed to the top deck of the ship for their lives. At that time, the scene: the sky was rushing for the earth, like the end of the day. There were many people who were trampled to death, old and weak women and children. In the crowd, countless people were crushed to death, drowned in the water, and froze to death. The explosion occurred at the back of the hull, and the stern sank rapidly ¡ï. The first to be devastated were the passengers in the third- and fourth-class cabins. Because they were preparing to check tickets before the explosion, the iron door was locked and they could not escape. After more than ten minutes, the surging sea covered the deck. Most people could not climb to the highest deck to be rescued in just a few minutes and drowned in the cabin. Since the crash site was just a shallow beach, the chimney, the mast and the hanging lifeboat were still exposed to the water. However, in the panic and darkness, no one untied the lifeboat's cables. At 19:30, the nearby fishing boats Huafu No. 1 and No. 2 heard the sound and came to the rescue. Dai Jiangya took the S.O.S. distress signal and rescued 26 passengers floating on the water. At 21:30, a "Jinliyuan" sailboat full of oranges went out to sea and came to the rescue. The owner of the ship, Zhang Hanting, led the crew, and threw a long cable onto the river, allowing the victims to climb up one by one. Then the "Jinliyuan" leaned the bow of the ship on the sunken ship, called the people to be rescued on the top deck, and boarded the sailboat in sequence. When it was almost full, the owner of the ship, Zhang, threw the oranges and other objects into the sea because of the urgency of saving people, and turned around to rescue again. The ship rescued a total of 453 people, and the owner, Zhang Hanting, was awarded the title of the first "honorary citizen" in Shanghai for this. After the Maoli ship and several sailboats came to rescue, the Maoli ship rescued 223 people. The total number of people rescued before the accident was 811, and less than one-third survived. But there were also some ships that either stood by or took advantage of the fire to loot the luggage and cargo floating on the sea. ¡ï China Merchants Group dispatched more than 90 divers and more than a dozen ships to the crash site to recover the bodies. Most of them were missing. Only 1,383 bodies with names were recovered, including 340 children (excluding the remains)... It is estimated that more than 3,000 people died on the Jiangya ship, and the death toll far exceeded that of the "Titanic". 80% of the victims were from Ningbo. Among them, there were whole families who were killed. Three generations of grandchildren died together or only one family survived. Bodies, clothes, straw hats, etc. were floating all over their faces, which was appalling. This was a rare tragedy in the history of modern shipping in China, causing an uproar in public opinion. The red mark is the location where the Jiangya Wheel sank. For this incident, on the one hand, due to the tense war situation in Shanghai, the People's Liberation Army was preparing to break through the river defense; on the other hand, the Nanjing National Government was busy retreating and had no time to take care of it. Therefore, no investigation, investigation, or aftermath were carried out. Why the Jiangya Wheel sank is a major mystery in modern Shanghai. For decades, there have been many opinions. According to records, there are nothing more than six possibilities: 1. Boiler explosion; 2. Hit a reef; 3. Time bomb; 4. In 1956, the Shanghai Municipal People's Government decided to salvage the "Jiangya Ship" from a political point of view and to clear the waterway. After more than 160 days, the "Jiangya Ship" that had been buried in the bottom of the river for 8 years finally saw the light of day. In January 1957, the Shanghai Maritime Administration repaired the "Jiangya Ship". On November 30, 1958, the "Jiangya Ship" passenger ship completed the restoration repair, and all indicators met the technical requirements. On the morning of February 4, 1959, a newly restored Jiangya ship appeared at the brightly lit Sixteen Pu Wharf. The whole body was painted a bright milky white. The ship was full of the families of the passengers who died that year and more than 400 representatives from all walks of life in Shanghai. The new "Jiangya ship" was changed to the Yangtze River Inland River Passenger and Cargo Ship, and it was on the route between Shanghai and Wuhan to serve the shipping industry of the motherland again. In November 1966, the "Jiangya ship" was renamed "Dongfanghong No. 8". In 1983, after 24 years of sailing, the "Dongfanghong No. 8" was decommissioned and anchored at the Moon Bay Wharf of Wuhan Port as the aquatic base for the fleet of the Wuhan Company. In June 2000, the "Dongfanghong No. 8" was sold to Wenzhou self-employed shipbreakers. Unexpectedly, on July 8 of that year, when the crew on board was disassembling, they accidentally ignited the oil pollution in the engine room and caused a fire. ¡ï As a result, the ship was burned to pieces (many disasters). Before the Spring Festival in 2001, the wreckage of "Dongfanghong No. 8" was demolished and sold as scrap steel. The only remaining wooden steering wheel on the original "Jiangya Wheel" was preserved, becoming the only physical mark confirming the "Jiangya Wheel" shipwreck, which has now been collected by the East Zhejiang Maritime Folklore Museum.