According to Dounis (2000)
”
Passenger steamship AMVRAKIA (ex yacht LATONA), registered in the port of Volos 11 with callsign: SZHR, with a cargo capacity of 286 tons to 172 tons, length of 145 feet, built in 1896 at the british shipyards OA Y SUMMERS ANO CO based in SOUTHAMPTON. It was powered by a two cylinder palindromic engine with a horsepower of 43 N. HP.
The vessel was purchased originally in 1919 from the following individuals:
- Peter Levantis (24%)
- Demetrios Brintzos (46%)
- Peter Georgantas (15%)
- Paul Sidiropoulos (15%)
The last registered owners of the vessel were the members of the Pagasetic gulf steam sailing Company
- Sophocles Rizopoulos (80%)
- Panagiotis Karlas (20%)
The vessel captained by Euthimios Vlassopoulos from Galaxidi and a crew of 15 ran ashore on the 25th of Oct. 1939 during the late hours at the position Lithada (north euboean gulf) and took on water. It did so while en route from Volos to Chalcis and had left Volos around 1800 of the 25 of Oct. 1939 originally for Oreous, then from Oreous for Chalcis around 2100. The conditions were fair and the vessel had good visibility due to moonlight. While nearing the edge of Lichada (near 38.8517625,22.8310035) it steered hard left and ran ashore about 30 meters from shore on a sandy bottom at almost full speed. Right away water started flooding the stern of the ship reaching the engine room and the coal holds. During the event the captain lost his calm and did not order the deployment of life boats. The mechanics also panicked and came up to the bridge. Due to the passengers and the 545 sheep the boat was transporting being pushed to the port side, the tipping of the vessel was accelerated until it was almost completely submerged and at a 45 degree angle. This resulted in the drowning of 7 passengers.
During the event the following people perished during the incident:
- Woman named PAPASTEPHANOU
- Woman named PAPASTEPHANOU (sister)
- Panagiotes GIAMPLES
- Lazaros TSOUTSOURIDES
- Stamatios KARAMANIS
- George MAURICIS
- Child of Maria APOSTOLIDOU
The crew of AMVRAKIA consisted of:
- Euthimios Vlassopoulos, captain, 54 yrs old, Galaxidi
- Demetrios Karmis, sailor
- Spyridon Corinthios, sailor
- Euthimios Voulgaris, first stoker
- Nick Psaltis, first engineer
- Euthimios Vamvis, coal worker, Galaxidi
- Nick Coulouris, stoker
- Constantine Mlegiannis, 1st mate, Galaxidi
- Vasilios Pantazides, stoker assistant
- Nick Vogiatzopoulos, valet
- Nick Moustaides, chief valet
- Alexander Pagidas, 2nd engineer
- Antonios Kommatas, stoker
- Zesimos Zesimou, deckhand, Galaxidi
- Nick Drosogiannis, deckhand, Galaxidi
”
References
- Dounis Ch. Shipwrecks in the Greek Seas. 1900-1950 (vol. A). Athens: Finatec, 2000, p. 130
-
WRECKSITE – AMVRAKIA PASSENGER/CARGO SHIP 1896-1939 [WWW Document], n.d. URL https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?240600 (accessed 3.29.20).
[*] Spiros Thanasoulas is a software engineer that used to be a physicist, that is actually, mostly a diver. Passionate about elegant coding, UNIX systems, mathematics, wrecks, caves and his rebreather.
