Kea: Research on the “Britannic” that sank in 1916 in Greece – Impressive video and findings

On 16 November 1916, the HMHS Britannic, requisitioned by the British Admiralty to beryllium converted into a floating infirmary during World War I, portion sailing disconnected Kea en way to the infirmary presumption connected Lemnos, struck a German excavation and sank successful little than an hour. Of the 1,065 aboard, 30 mislaid their lives erstwhile the ship’s propellers swept distant 2 lifeboats. The HMHS Britannic, 1 of the largest water liners of the North Atlantic line, was the duplicate of the Titanic.

Between 6 and 13 May 2025, a probe programme approved by the Ministry of Culture was conducted, including, for the archetypal time, the selective betterment of objects from the wreck tract astatine depths implicit 120 meters. The programme was carried retired nether the supervision and guidance of the competent section of the Ministry of Culture, the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities.

The infirmary vessel HMHS Britannic.

The task of recovering the objects was undertaken by an 11-member diving squad composed of nonrecreational deep-sea divers, utilizing closed-circuit diving equipment. The probe was organized by British amateur historiographer Simon Mills, laminitis of the Britannic Foundation, portion the information and enactment of the dives were managed by I. Tzavelakos, Evan Kovacs, and Richie Kohler.

Throughout the research, a three-member squad from the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities was present, consisting of Dionysios Evangelisti, a diving archaeologist; Chrysa Fouseki, a diving conservator; and Louis Mersennier, a seabed technician, overseeing and coordinating the work, receiving the findings, and performing archetypal conservation tasks.

Some of the selected objects, arsenic initially planned, could not beryllium recovered owed to their determination and condition. The conditions astatine the wreck tract were peculiarly hard due to the fact that of currents, the large depth, and debased visibility.

Photography of the port-side reddish lantern successful situ.

Silver-plated serving crockery from the ship’s First-Class equipment.

Recovery operations of objects from the wreck site.

All objects were lifted safely and cautiously by the diving squad utilizing aerial assistance bags. They were past placed successful specially designed crates, and the cleaning process from marine organisms began immediately. During the research, the findings were stored successful a abstraction provided to the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities by the Kea Police Department. At the extremity of the research, each objects were safely transferred to the laboratories of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities successful Athens, wherever conservation continues.

Photography and mentation enactment for the betterment of the ship’s lookout bell.

Lookout doorbell aft betterment and cleaning from marine organisms.

Recording of the wreck utilizing a multibeam sonar system.

Among the recovered objects, peculiar involvement is shown by the ship’s lookout bell, the port-side awesome lantern, assorted items from the portable instrumentality of First and Second Class, ceramic tiles from the decoration of the Turkish bath recovered detached, and a brace of binoculars.

Passenger reflection binoculars astatine the wreck site.

Porcelain washbasin, fitted successful a peculiar compartment and foldable to prevention space.

During the dives astatine the wreck.

The objects are acceptable to beryllium included successful the imperishable accumulation of the upcoming National Museum of Underwater Antiquities successful Piraeus, successful the conception dedicated to World War I, wherever the wreck of the Britannic is simply a salient exhibit.

The reverse broadside bears the manufacturer’s monogram.

Port-side reddish awesome lantern of the ship.