SS Oceana was a P&O passenger liner and cargo vessel, launched in 1887 by Harland & Wolff of Belfast and completed in 1888.

Her three-cylinder triple expansion steam engine produced 7,000 indicated horsepower (5,200 kW), giving her a top speed of 16.5 knots (30.6 km/h; 19.0 mph).

[4]On 15 March 1912 Oceana finished loading for her next trip to Bombay in the Port of Tilbury, under the command of Captain Thomas H. Hyde, RNR.

[2] The captain of Pisagua burnt a warning flare, which was seen by the crew and senior officer on duty on the bridge of Oceana, who then gave the order to turn to port.

The pilot from Tilbury and for the Strait of Dover, Mr Penny,[9] who was board Oceana in the charthouse, came to the bridge and realized that this manoeuvre would not be enough to avert a collision.

[2] Sending out an immediate distress signal, the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway passenger ferry Sussex attended the scene,[10] while two other paddle steamers and RMS Ruahine stood by.

Captain Hyde and the crew who had stayed aboard to help the tow now abandoned ship to the Alert, and watched from the tug as she sank in less than 20 minutes.

[13] The subsequent Board of Trade Inquiry, which reported on 13 July 1912, reached similar conclusions, suspended the chief officer's certificate of competency for six months and censured the master.

[5] The day after the collision and ship's sinking, P&O agreed with the insurers' salvage team to send divers to recover the gold and silver ingots.

[2][7][6] Divers initially entered the Captain's cabin and opened his safe, to recover the keys to the ship's five strongrooms.

[2][9] A notable history item of the day, the salvage operation was filmed by the Natural Color Kinematograph Company, using the "Kinemacolor" system, the first successful colour motion picture process.

[6] The ship was carrying a memorial plaque to 800 men of the 1st Nottingham Regiment who had died in India from 1819 to 1838, mainly from local diseases.

[16] The plaque was recovered by divers Geoff and Jamie Smith from the Tunbridge Wells Sub-Aqua Club in August 2009, and after restoration and preservation presented to 2nd Battalion the Mercian Regiment in October 2009.