Built in 1967 as
Marianna for an unknown owner,she was later sold to Thelogos P Naftiliaki,
Piraeus, Greece. In 1988,
Marianna was sold to Apostolos Shipping and renamed
Apostolos P. She was later sold to Saronikos Ferries and placed in service on the Piraeus -
Aegina -
Angistri route.
In 2005,
Apostolos P was registered to
Hellenic Seaways. In 2007, she was sold to
Makame Hasnuu,
Zanzibar, Tanzania. and renamed
Spice Islander I. On 25 September 2007,
Spice Islander I was off the coast of Somalia when she experienced engine problems due to contaminated fuel. After the alarm had been raised via Kenya,
USS Stout from
Combined Task Force 150 was sent to her aid.The ship was on a voyage from
Oman to Tanzania and was not carrying any passengers.
USS James E. Williams also responded.
Stout provide the ship with 7,800 US gallons (30,000 l; 6,500 imp gal) of fuel and supplied the ten crew with food and water. After her engines were restarted, she resumed her voyage to Tanzania.
At 21:00
local time (19:00
UTC)
Spice Islander I sailed from
Unguja for
Pemba Island. She was reported to have been carrying in excess of 800 passengers.Her capacity was 45 crew and 645 passengers.At around 01:00, (local time) on 10 September (23:00, 9 September UTC)
Spice Islander I sank between Zanzibar and Pemba. Of those on board, 235 were rescued, with 40 of them suffering serious injuries. At least 200 people were killed.