On July 29, 1955 at about 8 a.m., while returning from Syracuse, the Star of Malta ran aground in thick early mist on the Mercanti Reef some 200 feet off Dragonara Point and capsized. The ship, under the command of Commodore S.G. Kent, OBE, was carrying 57 passengers. Some were on deck at the time while others were preparing to go to breakfast. Some passengers and crew swam ashore or were picked up by a fleet of small boats which came to their assistance. The Second Cook, A. Grech, drowned and a passenger, Miss Mary Borg, was unaccounted for. Malta had now lost its only sea link with Sicily. The Royal Navy sent the destroyer HMS Scorpion to pick up stranded passengers in Sicily. In August that year the Star of Malta was re-floated and towed to the Rodriques shipyard in Messina, where she was repaired.