This is the SS Mendi. It was involved in a collision with another ship the SS Darro on this day in 1917 causing it to sink. About 646 Black soldiers of the South African Native Labour Corps drowned. There's a monument eGcuwa in honor of those who drowned on this day. 
The captain navigating Darro never warned other ships, didn't have any lights as is usually the protocol as it sailed toward the Mendi. It didn't even stop to assist those on board. So it's very possible more people would've survived the accident.
The 3rd Nigerian Battalion had also once boarded the Mendi. This was taken in 1916. The ship was heading toward Cape Town from Calabar, Nigeria.
Writer, activists, teacher, debater and politician Reverend Isaac Dyobha (another last name I've seen is Wauchope, and sometimes misspelled as Wanchope) was among the victims.
Darro's captain, Harry Stump, had his license suspended for one year.
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