Divers recover artifacts from the Titanic’s sister ship Britannic for the first time

In this undated photograph provided by the Greek Culture Ministry connected Monday, divers cautiously sift to retrieve objects from the wreck ιστοσελίδα of the Britannic, sister vessel to the Titanic, for the archetypal clip since the water liner sank successful the Aegean Sea much than a period agone aft striking a excavation during World War I. [Greek Culture Ministry via AP]

Divers person recovered artifacts from the Titanic’s sister ship, the Britannic, for the archetypal clip since the water liner sank successful the Aegean Sea much than a period agone aft striking a excavation during World War I.

The Culture Ministry successful Greece said Monday that an 11-member deep-sea diving team conducted a weeklong cognition successful May to retrieve artifacts including the ship’s doorbell and the port-side navigation light.

The White Star Line’s Britannic, launched successful 1914, was designed arsenic a luxury cruise liner, but was requisitioned arsenic a infirmary vessel during World War I. It was heading toward the land of Lemnos when it struck a excavation and sank disconnected the land of Kea, astir 75 kilometers (45 miles) southeast of Athens, connected November 21, 1916.

The vessel, the largest infirmary vessel astatine the time, sank successful little than an hour. Thirty of the much than 1,060 radical connected committee died when the lifeboats they were successful were struck by the ship’s still turning propellers.

The wreck lies astatine a extent of 120 meters (nearly 400 feet), making it accessible lone to technical divers. The dive team used closed-circuit rebreather instrumentality successful a betterment cognition organized by British historiographer Simon Mills, laminitis of the Britannic Foundation, the Culture Ministry said.

Conditions connected the wreck were peculiarly tough due to the fact that of currents and debased visibility, the ministry said. Among the items raised to the surface were artifacts reflecting some the ship’s utilitarian relation and its luxurious design: the lookout bell, the navigation lamp, silver-plated first-class trays, ceramic tiles from a Turkish bath, a brace of rider binoculars and a porcelain sink from second-class cabins.

The artifacts are present undergoing conservation successful Greek superior Athens and will beryllium included successful the imperishable postulation of a caller Museum of Underwater Antiquities under improvement astatine the larboard of Piraeus. The depository will diagnostic a dedicated World War I section, with the items from the Britannic arsenic a centerpiece. [AP]

In this undated photograph provided by the Greek Culture Ministry connected Monday, divers illuminate the wreck’s interior of the Britannic, sister vessel to the Titanic, for the archetypal clip since the water liner sank successful the Aegean Sea much than a period agone aft striking a excavation during World War I. [Greek Culture Ministry via AP]