Carnatic

The Carnatic was an iron-framed passenger steamer, launched in December 1862, owned by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O) and employed on the Suez–Bombay–China route under the command of Captain P. B. Jones. She belonged to the first generation of steamers that carried both sail and engine. In September 1869 she was carrying 34 passengers, 176 crew, general cargo, the Royal Mail and £40,000 in unfinished coins destined for the Indian Mint. She sailed for Bombay on 12 September 1869 and, early the following morning, struck Abu Nuhas reef and ran aground. The captain waited two days for another company ship, but at 11 am, just after the order to abandon ship, the Carnatic suddenly broke in two and sank, and 5 passengers and 26 crew were lost. The survivors rowed to Shadwan Island and were rescued the following day by the SS Sumatra. The Board of Trade inquiry in London concluded that a strong current had pushed the ship off her route.

The wreck was discovered in 1985 by Adrian O'Neil, captain of the Lady Jenny V, and identified by British photojournalist Lawson Wood. She is known as the Bottle Wreck because of the large number of wine bottles found when she was discovered. The reef's name, Abu Nuhas, means 'Father of Copper' and comes from fishermen who found copper artifacts in their nets.

The bow, fine and tapered, rests on the reef, and the stern has a row of seven square windows below which the rudder and a very large propeller rest on the sand. The holds shelter dense schools of glassfish, and soft coral covers the metal of the deck. Amidships there is a gigantic umbrella-shaped Acropora, often with a Malabar grouper beneath it. Morning tends to be the better half of the day for diving the Carnatic, when sunlight comes through the square portholes.