The shipwreck of the ship “ADRIAS” remains one of the most dramatic maritime accidents of the Greek fleet.
The steamship “ADRIAS” was built in 1893, at the Haarland & Wolf shipyards in Belfast and cost approximately 65,000 pounds, which was very high for that era.
Its first name was “SS MAGIC” and it operated routes between Liverpool and Belfast. It was 1627 tons, with a speed of 17 knots and a length of 311.3 feet.
In the First World War, it was used as a hospital ship. In 1918 its name was changed to “Classic” and in 1923 to “SS KILLARNEY”.
From 1930 to 1939 it was converted into a cruise ship and operated routes between Liverpool and Scotland.
From 1939 until the end of the Second World War, it remained docked. Its penultimate name was “SS ATTIKI”.
In 1948 it was named “ADRIAS”, on account of the company Epirotiki Lines SA, of G. Potamianos and operated routes between Thessaloniki- Piraeus- Crete- Rhodes and Chios.
The shipwreck occurred on October 6, 1951, when the ship, on its route from Chania to Piraeus, ran aground at Falkonera, onto two different reefs, where a 12-meter rupture was created.
An attempt was made to repair the rupture by a diving team of the era. As part of lightening the ship, food and large quantities of rotten meat that the ship was carrying and had spoiled due to lack of refrigeration were thrown into the sea. This, however, resulted in the attraction of sharks, which delayed the work of making the ship seaworthy.
Finally, the sealing was completed successfully and the water was pumped out. Then the weather changed to southeasterly and the salvage teams with the tugs departed for Adamas on Milos. The bad weather lasted almost three days and when they returned the ship was no longer there, it had been cut in two and had sunk!
The shipwreck was considered a total loss while only one passenger was lost, who at the time was 58 years old.
Someone who traveled on the “ADRIAS” recounted the terrible moments he experienced. He mentions fragmentarily:
“On the 5th of October 1951 in Chania it was doing ‘the flood of Noah’. I had come from the village, Kampanou Selinou, to my uncle Stelio’s house (Boultadakis, then Director of Agriculture of Crete) and I had gone to the agency: ‘Synergazomenai Atmoploid Togia’ and I had bought a ticket, deck class (59,000 drachmas) for tonight: Souda – Piraeus, with the ship “ADRIAS”.
And he continues:
“The ship had tilted desperately, it was almost sinking. It was red underneath, I remember, from the light of the frenzied foam… Next to us, in the water, two women I think drowned, were being slammed against the rocks and the ship’s hull; one had her bag open on her shoulder… hanging. And two others, further away… I don’t know if they were saved…”
See the photos which also contain newspapers of the era
Sources: haniotika-nea.gr, kritipoliskaihoria.blogspot.gr, cretaclassicclub.gr,
