Taormina: See the wreck at the bottom of Sounio that was identified after 130 years

It was her early morning hours September 11, 1891 when the TAORMINAone Italian ship which carried goods and passengers from Constantinople in Piraeussailed west of Patroclus island. It sank there. But they passed 130 whole years to identify the wreck and bring its story to light.

“It is one of the rarest shipwrecks,” he told APE Costas Thoktaridis, a man who has dedicated his life to underwater research with the help of robotic vehicles. “It seems almost unbelievable how well the mast has been maintained,” he adds. But how did the Italian ship sink? A few hours earlier the steamship THESSALY of the Panhellenic Steamship had sailed from Piraeus with first destination Syros. Due to incorrect handling, the two ships were in a collision course with the result that THESSALY collided with its bow on the left side of the TAORMINA at the height of the stern hold.

The collision was fierce and the rift caused was extensive and deep, so much so that the barn’s cut was cut. In the few minutes that the two steamships remained in contact, 32 of the crew together with 12 of the TAORMINA passengers managed to jump to THESSALY. The captain of THESSALY ordered the engines to turn upside down to detach his boat. The water that rushed in from the point of collision flooded the hull of the Italian steamer which began to sink very quickly. It was only 15 minutes after the collision that the TAORMINA sank, dragging Captain Feroni, 11 other crew members and 23 passengers to the bottom.

Only one heater managed to escape the vortex of the sinking boat and remained held for five hours by a board until it was picked up by the steamer MACEDONIA. The AMPELOS schooner arrived at the scene of the shipwreck in the morning under Captain George Dogkas and rescued sixteen shipwrecked people who had boarded a boat. Captain G. Dogas was awarded the silver medal for naval bravery by the Italian authorities for his actions, while the Greek press blamed the Italian crew for their study to leave the ship before arranging the disembarkation of the passengers, which is confirmed from the large proportion of passengers among the 34 victims.

“The TAORMINA shipwreck is located at a depth of -107 meters west of Patroklos” says today Costas Thoktaridis. “During the underwater investigation, it was found that the main part of the wreck, about 70 meters long, has sat with a slight right slope at the bottom and is in quite good condition, given the 130 years that have passed since its sinking,” he notes. Mr. Thoktaridis also informs us that the stern has been dismantled for the most part, while in the stern left part the point of collision and the destruction caused by the embolism of THESSALY remains visible.

The Taormina was not the first Italian ship to sink in those waters. The Italian steamship La Trinacria was founded in 1870 in Palermo, Sicily and was based on the three ends that symbolize the three ends of Sicily. There were three of its ships that sank in the Greek seas: The AGRIGENTO sank in Cape Malea on April 3, 1876 and the PANORMOS sank on October 19, 1878 near Makronisos.

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