Objects from the wreck of the SS Heimara, often referred to as Greece's 'Titanic,' are now on display in a new free exhibition in Rafina. The exhibition displays personal belongings and relics recovered from the sunken ship, offering a poignant glimpse into one of the deadliest maritime disasters in Greek history.
The story of the Heimara can now be retold in detail thanks to new research by diver-researcher Kostas Thoctarides, who unearthed lost primary sources and has also dived the wreck. "During the dive, we found newspapers, books, and correspondence buried in the muddy bottom of the Euboean Sea since 1947," said Thoctarides, according to The Travel.
Among the artifacts discovered by researchers were paper items, which very rarely survive for almost eight decades in the seabed's harsh environment. "Finding paper underwater is a particularly rare occurrence, and there are very few times when documents have survived on the seabed," noted Thoctarides, as reported by The Sun. These items included Greek, Cypriot, and French newspapers, telegrams, French books, and stamps of the time that were not completely destroyed.
Among the items discovered were personal belongings of the dead, including an officer's sword, combs, life jackets, women's stockings, boots, and children's shoes. Thoctarides described the personal belongings as the "most emotional" findings in the wreckage. "Next to the ship's ventilators, personal items of the Heimara's passengers were scattered," he said.
The SS Heimara sank in the South Euboean Gulf in the Aegean Sea on January 19, 1947, after hitting an islet in harsh conditions with thick fog and rough seas. The sinking of the Heimara killed around 400 people, making it Greece's deadliest-ever boating disaster. At the time, Greece was in the middle of the Civil War, and the only passage was by sea from Thessaloniki to Athens due to poor road conditions.
The Heimara was carrying around 550 passengers, mostly military personnel, women, children, political prisoners, and gendarmerie escorts, along with 86 crew members. The ship was en route to Piraeus from Thessaloniki when she sank, having already suffered a "serious technical failure" with its rudder north of Skiathos. The collision with the rocky islets in Verdougia in the early hours of January 19, 1947, was reportedly due to dense fog.
Investigations revealed that the sinking of the Heimara was due to human error, as the crew did not ensure that the watertight doors were closed. There was no abandonment drill conducted on the SS Heimara before the sinking. Many of the crew members left the ship to save themselves, contributing to the tragedy.
"The collision was due to human error, panic prevailed during the ship's abandonment, and most of the victims died of hypothermia," stated Thoctarides, according to The Travel. He added, "It is the greatest maritime tragedy of Greek shipping, in which about 400 people were lost."
The Heimara took 1.5 hours to sink and was only about one mile away from the Kavalliani islet. With the ship 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. "The passengers of the Heimara felt a terrible shock, and soon afterwards the ship plunged into darkness," described Thoctarides. "The steam that began to escape from the engine room made the situation even more horrifying," he added.
"In the darkness and panic, shots could be heard," noted Thoctarides. Many of the victims died of hypothermia due to the cold sea temperatures.
Today, only the lower part of the Heimara and its steam boiler remain. The Heimara was mostly salvaged in 1968, but enough clues remain on the seabed to confirm the cause of the sinking, lying among the dead's personal belongings. Unlike more accessible shipwrecks, the SS Heimara remains off-limits for recreational diving in Greece. Only diver-researchers are allowed to dive into the Heimara wreckage with permission from local authorities for research purposes.
The article was written with the assistance of a news analysis system.
