Historical research and trip reports

"…but more wonderful than the lore of old men
and the lore of books, is the secret lore of ocean…"

H.P. Lovecraft, "The White Ship"

Project Overview - S/S Città di Tripoli

This concerns our efforts to explore a wreck located in the channel between the islands of Kea and Makronisos. The project is at a very early stage, despite the first outing dating back in the summer of 2009 when we located the wreck's position. Little material has been gathered, however from what is at hand we suspect that it is the wreck of the Italian steamer Città di Tripoli, torpedoed during WWII.

Gallery

Postcard depicting the Città di Tripoli. HMS Torbay in 1944. Torbay's commanding officer Commander Anthony Miers. The huge breach to the ship's starboard side shell left by Torbay's torpedo. The now collapsed funnel and ventilators. View of the ship's forward deck and accommodation. Small hatchway to the aft of the bridge. The forward mast collapsed on the deck. Bird's eye view of one of the forward holds.

Field and Historical Research

The wreck of Città di Tripoli

  • Text: Nicholas Vasilatos
  • Research: Aris Bilalis, Nicholas Vasilatos

Back in July 2009 we have located a wreck in the Kea Channel lying in 117 meters of water with its shallower parts around 97 meters and in a roughly SSE-NNW direction. We have delegated the task of the first dives to another team as ourselves we were trying to push forward with the exploration of the wrecks of the Marquette, the Helmstedt and the Théophile Gautier. Two dives were then made at the wreck and some video footage brought back, which despite of being of poor quality, indicated that the wreck belongs to the Italian Città di Tripoli.

The Città di Tripoli was a 2933 gross tons passenger steamer built in 1915 by 'Cantieri Navali Riuniti' at their Ancona site. During her life she changed ownership a few times (always flying the Italian flag though) with her last registered owners being ‘Società Anonima di Navigazione Tirrenia’. At the time of her loss she was requisitioned for the needs of the Second World War and was being used in the Aegean Sea. On a more specific note, the ship after landing some troops at Porto Vathi on the island of Samos, sailed on the 1st of July 1941 in convoy with Città di Savona for Piraeus. The two ships were escorted by the torpedo boat Libra and a German aircraft, when in the early morning of the 2nd she was torpedoed and sunk in the channel between the islands of Kea and Makronisos by the British submarine HMS Torbay.

A further dive was made in July of 2014 during which we strived to explore the part of the ship where the torpedo hit as well as take some general pictures of the wreck's forward part. We were lucky to have a calm sea, no current and crystal clear water which made this demanding dive and the task of gathering the photo material a little easier.

All the above should be treated as preliminary as the wreck remains to be further explored and documentary research continues.

Team members:

  • - Prodromos Daglaroglou: surface support
  • - Sarantis Malafouris: surface support
  • - Helen Tsopouropoulou: diver, photography
  • - Nicholas Vasilatos: diver

Bibliography and Sources:

  • - Lloyd's Registers of Ships, 1915-1945, Lloyd's Register
  • - Lupinacci, Pier Filippo (1965) La Marina Italiana nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale, Volume IX, La Diffesa del Traffico con l' Albania, la Grecia e l' Egeo, Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare, Rome
  • - The National Archives, Kew