Taormina, which had set off from Istanbul bound for Piraeus with a consignment of cargo and passengers on board, came to sink as its sailed west of the islet of Patroklos in the early hours of September 11, 1891. Credit: AMNAA shipwreck that has languished in the waters off Cape Sounion, Greece since 1891 has finally been identified as the Italian freighter “Taormina”, fully 130 years after it sank beneath the waves.
“It is one of the rarest shipwrecks,” said researcher Kostas Thoktaridis, speaking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (ANA) on Friday. “It seems almost unbelievable, how well the mast has been preserved,” he added.
Thoktaridis, who has devoted his life to studying the seas with robotic vehicles, explained how the Taormina, which had set off from Istanbul bound for Piraeus with a consignment of cargo and passengers on board, came to sink as its sailed west of the islet of Patroklos in the early hours of September 11, 1891.
A few hours beforehand, the steamship “Thessalia” had set sail from Piraeus for the island of Syros. Due to poor handling, the two ships ended up on a collision course and the “Thessalia” rammed its prow into the left side of the “Taormina”, fatally breaching its hull.
During the few minutes that the two ships were in contact, 32 members of the crew and 12 of the passengers managed to jump onto the “Thessalia”. The captain of the “Thessalia” then ordered the engines to reverse in order to break free of the other ship.
