SS Georgia was an oil tanker that was built in the United States in 1908 as Texas and spent most of her career in the United States Merchant Marine. In 1917 she was renamed Georgia. In 1927 she was transferred to Dutch ownership, and shortly thereafter ran aground and was lost on Haisborough Sands off the coast of Norfolk, England. History Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company built the ship at Newport News, Virginia as hull number 82. She was launched as Texas on 24 April 1908 and delivered to her owners, The Texas Company (now Texaco) on 18 July 1908. The Texas Company registered the ship at Port Arthur, Texas. Her US official number was 205362 and her code letters were KWQL. By 1917 the ship had been renamed Georgia and was equipped for wireless telegraphy. By 1918 her call sign was KUR. In February 1918 she was inspected for possible United States Navy service and assigned the Identification Number (ID) 2316. The Navy ordered her acquisition, but it was cancelled shortly before the Armistice of 11 November 1918, and she remained in commercial service. In 1922 it was reported that the ship's name had been changed to Texaco. By 1927 the NV Dutch Tanker & Oil Company Ltd owned her, and had registered her in Amsterdam. Her Dutch code letters were NTBH. Final voyage In September 1927 Georgia loaded a cargo of crude oil at Abadan in Persia (now Iran). She left the Persian Gulf bound for the oil refinery at Grangemouth, Scotland. By 20 November she was in the North Sea when a strong gale broke her steering gear. Just before midnight she ran aground on Haisborough Sands and stuck fast. The storm carried away her radio aerial, so her wireless telegraphist was unable to send a distress signal. For several hours the heavy sea battered her hull, eventually ripping her apart amidships. Her after section was sounding her siren as a distress signal, but the two halves slowly drifted apart and lost sight of each other, the stern section being carried away by the force of the gale. The bow section remained stuck on the sand bank with huge seas washing over it. The bow section had the captain, Harry Kissing and 14 of the crew all crouched in the forecastle. The other 16 members of the crew were in the drifting stern section. The next