A Bit of a Snag
For a change the mishap about to be reported has nothing to do with wind effects on large funnels. On 16 October a wreath dropping service in remembrance of the ANZAC soldiers lost at Gallipoli was held during transit of the Dardanelles toward Istanbul.
Later, Caronia would pass Istanbul on her way through the Bosporus and her first ever visits to the Black Sea ports of Yalta and Odessa. This would be the first visit of a Cunard liner to these ports since the end of WWII, this being the RMS Franconia in 1945. The stop at Istanbul would be made on the way back. However, one side of Istanbul would be made well aware that Caronia had passed well before that!
After picking up a Turkish pilot to guide her through the narrow and busy seaway toward the Black Sea, the ship was about to snag a major power line straddling the channel between the two sides of Istanbul. Clearly this low lying cable had been overlooked by the pilot!
Peter Murphy, a former crew member
from Brisbane Australia comments…
I was on deck the day she cut the cable, coming up to Istanbul. Word was, all the lights out in town and a few
chickens killed on the hill as the cable laid down. Big laughs all round as the old man,
the mate, and the pilot crapped themselves! We had a good run ashore that night. A great ship
and crew. Some of my best days at sea on the night gang, at sea nights, ashore days. Couldn't
have been better, and we nearly got paid for it…”
Eventually, having initially been caught by the forward rigging, with a large blue flash the cable was snapped, plunging one side of Istanbul into darkness. Other damage included Caronia's radio mast collapsing and the toppling of an on-shore pylon which damaged several houses. Apparently the cable snapping also cut off defence communications and set off NATO alarms. Never let it be said that things on the Caronia were ever done by halves!
Mediterranean 
