“Ras Momi is a dangerous place. The current runs very strong by the end of the island and all passing ships, sailing by from Suez to India, are warned to give the island a wide berth. The combination of wind and current can drag a ship onto the rocky coast. In addition, this part of the island is invariably covered in cloud and mist, and there are dangerous hidden rocks, extending seaward from the Cape. Many ships have struck these rocks and sunk with loss of life. Two of the worst shipwrecks occured at the end of the last century.
“In 1887 the North German Lloyd liner Oder struck Ras Momi in the middle of the night. There was a tiger on board being carried to the Berlin Zoo, and when the survivors of the wreck were rescued the tiger was released from its cage. Arabs on the land, waiting to loot the ship, watched the tiger for over a week pacing up and down the deserted deck, becoming thinner and thinner, and howling. When the looters eventually came on board they found the tiger a neat pile of skin and bones on the deck. I sometimes wonder what would have happened if the tiger had been allowed to reach land.”