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 - unknown Thermaikos wreck

Our involvment with the particular wreck started back in 2010 during the course of our second expedition to the Marquette. Three dives have been attempted so far with very slow progress mainly because of poor conditions underwater. The identity of the wreck which possibly belongs to a small warship remains up to this date unknown.

Wrecks that will be presented under the heading of 'Various' are wrecks that we have occasionally dived all over Greece. They are either not concentrated in any particular area or were not the object of a dedicated full blown project. Some of these remain ongoing concerns.

Gallery

Picture of the wreck's bow. Note the small size of the ship and poor visibility. Examining particular features on the wreck was the way to go; visibility denied us observations of larger parts of the ship. Observing closely has its benefits! Superstructure. Possibly what remains of the funnel. Taking notes of depth and orientation. Most of the ship's fittings are wrapped in netting. The first round - October 2010. We have just spotted the wreck. Again, a photograph taken in October 2010. Thermaikos having one of its bad days.

Field and Historical Research

Mystery wreck project

  • Text: George Kamarinos, Nicholas Vasilatos
  • Research: Aris Bilalis, George Karelas, Nicholas Vasilatos

During the 2010 Marquette expedition we received information from fishermen about the existense of a small wreck just a few miles off the coast. Despite three dives and persistent research we have been unable to identify her. In addition to difficult underwater conditions, we have not traced any reported sinkings in the area that fit our findings on the field.

The first dive on the wreck had to be aborted after a very small bottom stay. Starting from a depth of 40 meters and going down, visibility gradually deteriorated to a virtual zero on the wreck where a milky cloud enveloped the divers. Due to the small distance from shore and a number of rivers pouring in the sea, visibility on the site is particularly sensitive to weather conditions such as rain or even moderate winds. The obvious solution was to return during summer time and only after a prolonged period without any rainfall. That happened during the summer of 2013 when we managed two dives. We were able to confirm that indeed our target is a wreck, possibly a small warship although no guns were noticed. Depths range from about 65 to about 61 meters on top of her superstructure. Her bow is pointing approximately to a WNW direction. Except for the poor visibility, the wreck is almost buried in fine sediment and covered with netting, making our task of exploring and documenting her very difficult. A third dive was aborted, again due to zero visibility. There was a force 5 wind blowing on the site that apparently created a current. That was enough to disturb the very fine sediment and completely destroy visibility down at the wreck. This, despite the fact that mid water visibility was more than 20 meters!

No further dives are planned until the summer of 2014, nonetheless we are proceeding with our research which matches the slow progress of our diving. Wanting to be optimistic, we hope that at some point we will be able to identify the ship and conclude the project.

Team members:

  • - George Kamarinos: diver
  • - George Karelas: diver, surface support
  • - Asterios Markopoulos: diver, surface support
  • - Kostas Milionis: diver, surface support
  • - Helen Tsopouropoulou: diver, photography, surface support
  • - Nicholas Vasilatos: diver, surface support