Identified Archives - Wreck History

Three months aboard a Flat iron collier

Ο σύγχρονος τρόπος ζωής με την αφθονία σε υλικά αγαθά ξεκίνησε με την βιομηχανική επανάσταση στα μέσα του 18ου αιώνα και η μετάβαση αυτή ολοκληρώθηκε στα μέσα του 19ου αιώνα. Κινητήριος δύναμη στην διαδικασία αυτή υπήρξε ο ατμός ο οποίος παράγονταν με την καύση του άνθρακα. Η Βρετανία όντας η υπερδύναμη της εποχής ήταν...

Three months aboard a Flat iron collier

Ο σύγχρονος τρόπος ζωής με την αφθονία σε υλικά αγαθά ξεκίνησε με την βιομηχανική επανάσταση στα μέσα του 18ου αιώνα και η μετάβαση αυτή ολοκληρώθηκε στα μέσα του 19ου αιώνα. Κινητήριος δύναμη στην διαδικασία αυτή υπήρξε ο ατμός ο οποίος παράγονταν με την καύση του άνθρακα. Η Βρετανία όντας η υπερδύναμη της εποχής ήταν...

The action and sinking of the German submarine U-133 as seen through historical records, war diaries and field research

During the Second World War, one of the main weapons of maritime warfare was the submarine. Its contribution was so significant that it became instrumental in determining the development and final outcome of the war. Of all the navies involved in the conflict, it was only the German Kriegsmarine which assigned particular importance to...

Lost planes from World War II. Whispering Death

It is October 20th, 1943. The war rages on. A small boat approaches in the thick darkness and disembarks a small group of seven hand-picked men on the Greek island of Naxos. Lieutenant Aitken, the head of a Long Range Desert Group patrol, and his men have the audacity to be on the remote...

Up in the Eye of the North. A Ju-88 near the Psathoura lighthouse

I am holding a fork in my hands. I look at it carefully while my mind drifts back into the past. The tainted metal is testimony to its age. I invert it to inspect the underside of the handle, just where it widens at the end. I see what I was expecting; an engraved Nazi eagle with the German swastika firmly caught in its claws….

P.L.M. 24

During World War II the P.L.M. 24, after hitting a mine near cape Sepia, was stranded by his captain to save her on the Paltsi beach. After the war it was contracted to Mr. Marakis, a wreck salvager, and as a result most of the ship's hull was cut as scrap, leaving only the...

The loss of the salvage tugboat MIMIS

On the nights of 28th and 29th of March 1941, the Navy lost a salvage tugboat, the MIMIS when it was hit by a mine. However, the loss was overshadowed by the German invasion just two days later. The vessel was built in 1888 at the John Readhead & Co. shipyards in South Shields,...

Flat Iron Collier CHRISTOFOROS

The shipwreck of the Flat Iron Collier CHRISTOPHER was caused by an inflow of water while in the Sporades in 1983. It had previously been shipwrecked as the THOMAS HARDIE in 1950 and sold in 1968 to be renamed the BIRLING. In 1975, it was sold and renamed the EPIC and in 1976 it was sold again and ended up in the Greek seas as the CHRISTOPHOROS….

WC TRICHONIS

The TRICHONIS, formerly M/S MOTOL (1925-1978), was initially a bulk petroleum tanker. It came to the Greek seas in 1953 and served as a water transport for the Navy (from 1955 to 1976) and was then used as a floating target until its sinking….

A “Black Diamond” Cargo Ship off Skopelos

From 1852 (the year of the first metal steamer with propellers and water ballast) to the 1930s (which saw the introduction of “flat-iron” cargo vessels with retractable superstructure and telescopic masts), and even after World War II, “black diamonds” had to be transported against…