Secrets of the 'Greek Titanic' REVEALED
Heimara sank in the South Euboean Gulf, killing 400 people in Greece’s deadliest maritime disaster
THE terrifying last moments of the tragic ship dubbed the "Greek Titanic" have been revealed, after new images captured the ghostly remains of her wreck.
The Heimara sank on January 19, 1947, after hitting an islet in the South Euboean Gulf, killing 400 people in Greece’s deadliest maritime disaster.
Now new research has revealed the horror of her final moments, as well as artifacts of the wreck, frozen in time for nearly 80 years.
Among them are the shoes of the dead, some of them children’s, as well as paper items, and letters from the ship’s nameplate.
Diver Kostas Thoctarides, whose research has shed new light on the sinking, described the terror of that night.
He said: “The passengers of the Heimara felt a terrible shock and soon afterwards the ship plunged into darkness.
“The steam that began to escape from the engine room made the situation even more horrifying.
“The rudder was disabled in the starboard position, while water began to flow into the ship’s interior from the holes.”
With the ship now drifting, Captain Spyros Bilinis, ordered his crew to use a manual rudder to ground her in the shallows.
“However, this rudder was also destroyed and it was not even possible to send a distress signal as the radio was not working either,” said Mr Thoctarides.
“The captain attempted to maintain order while distributing life jackets to the passengers and loading them into the lifeboats.
“But he did not succeed because several members of his own crew were the first to leave the steamer in an attempt to save themselves alone.
“In the darkness and panic, shots could be heard.”
RELATED ARTICLES
British WW1 wreck torpedoed five years to the day after Titanic disaster is found 107 years later
'Titanic of the Alps' WILL be raised
Lost British-built ship sunk with 50 dead in shameful 'hit and run' found after 150 years
Mr Thoctarides explained why the Heimara is now known as the "Greek Titanic".
He said: “Because it is the greatest maritime tragedy of Greek shipping, in which about 400 people were lost.
“Moreover, as in the Titanic shipwreck, the collision was due to human error, panic prevailed during the ship’s abandonment, and most of the victims died of hypothermia.”
The story of the Heimara can now be retold thanks to new research by Mr Thoctarides, who unearthed lost primary sources and has also dived the wreck.
The ship was largely salvaged in 1968, but enough remains to confirm the cause of the sinking, alongside numerous personal artifacts.
The diver said: “Next to the ship’s ventilators, personal items of the Heimara’s passengers were scattered.
“Such as boots, ladies’ shoes, children’s shoes, combs, women’s stockings, life jackets, and an officer’s sword.
“The most emotional thing we found was a pair of children’s shoes among the wreckage, apparently from one of the unfortunate children who perished in the sinking of the ship."
He added: “The presence of human elements was intense and brought to mind scenes from the unbelievable tragedy that occurred there.
“You feel like you’re travelling in time and you have a sense of sadness for everything that happened.”
The sinking has been blamed on a failure to change course from 140 degrees to 125 degrees after the last shift change on the bridge.
Mr Thoctarides and his team also discovered that the crew had failed to ensure that the watertight doors were closed, and that ship had never had an abandonment drill.
They further found that its radio had never sent a distress signal.
Additionally, they learned that the Heimara, which was sailing from Thessaloniki to Piraeus, had already suffered a “serious technical failure” with its rudder north of Skiathos.
This caused the ship to drift for more than an hour.
Today, only the lower part of the ship and its steam boiler remain.
Mr Thoctarides said: “Time has not yet erased the remains of the nightmare.
“On the port side of the ship we can see the gap that was caused along the boiler room when the Heimara’s hull was dragged onto the rocky islet.
“Lying on the bottom of the sea are the winches that once hosted the ship’s ropes, as well as ventilators.”
Perhaps most surprising is the wealth of surviving paper artifacts.
Mr Thoctarides said: “During the dive we found newspapers, books and correspondence buried in the muddy bottom of the Euboean Sea since 1947.
“These were Greek, Cypriot and French newspapers.
“There were telegrams, French books, and stamps of the time that were not completely destroyed, although they had been lying on the seabed for dozens of years.
“Finding paper underwater is a particularly rare occurrence and there are very few times when documents have survived on the seabed.”
Today, the ship lies at a depth of 33 metres near the Megalo Verdougi islet, close to the ferry route between Agia Marina, on the Greek mainland, and Nea Stira, on the island of Euboea.
Artifacts from the wreck are now on display in a new free exhibition in Rafina.