2022-04-18 Mon

One of the most devastating wars of all time, World War I was spreading havoc in Europe. It was a war fought on land, water and air none of the territories were spare. On 2nd July 1918 when World War I was at its limits, a ship name ‘S.S Shirala’ was sunk by a German Torpedoes on its way to Bombay (Mumbai) from London. This ship was carrying the uniface banknotes of British India consisting of the portrait of King George V.

These consignments carried by S.S.Sirala consist of unsigned denominations of 10 and 5 rupees with signed 1 rupee banknotes. The one-rupee notes were the second print which was pre-signed and was legal tender. This event was the first recorded case of pre-signed notes that sank before arriving in India.

The prefix of one rupee note which sunk was A, K, L, M and R. The note with these prefix were already in circulation which was later withdrawn. The Prefix of One rupee note is not known. Few of these sunken notes were salvaged or were washed ashore and spotted on the southern coast of England. In 1920, a reported case of attempts to encash these notes was recorded in India.