Her Royal Highness Princess Anne will be attending  ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the death of 600 South Africans who drowned off the coast of the Isle of Wight,  tomorrow afternoon.

The SS Mendi departed Plymouth on the morning of 21 February 1917, travelling to Le Havre in France before it was accidentally hit by the much-larger cargo ship the SS Darro.

Some men were killed outright in the collision, while others were trapped below decks.

In all 616 South Africans and 30 crew died, with the ship sinking in 25 minutes while the SS Darro remained unharmed.

The Reverend Isaac Wauchope Dyobha is reported to have calmed the men by crying out for everyone to die like brothers, with the dignity of the men’s death going down in South African history.

It is widely regarded as one of the worst nautical disasters in British waters.

HRH Princess Anne will visit the Hollybrook memorial in Southampton which commemorates 1,900 servicemen and women whose graves are not known or who lost their lives at sea.

The collision occurred ten nautical miles south of St Catherine’s point in the Isle of Wight.

The ceremony begins at 2pm.

The South African High Commission, who are organising the commemorations, havealso  arranged for a ship to leave Southampton and travel to the Isle of Wight to lay a wreath at the site of the wreckage.