Breaking: Historic Britannic Shipwreck Artefacts Unveiled by Greece
Breaking: Historic Britannic Shipwreck Artefacts Unveiled by Greece
Greece has announced the recovery of an extraordinary collection of artefacts from the wreck of HMHS Britannic, the sister ship to the ill-fated Titanic. More than a century after its sinking by a German mine in the Aegean Sea, these historic treasures were brought to the surface in an operation conducted this past May, with details only made public by the Greek culture ministry on Monday.
An 11-member team of professional deep-sea divers, utilizing closed-circuit equipment and organized by British historian Simon Mills, founder of the Britannic Foundation, successfully retrieved numerous items. Among the significant finds, lifted with specialized airbags, are the ship’s lookout bell, a portside navigation lamp, passenger binoculars, intricate ceramic tiles from Turkish baths, and various equipment from first- and second-class cabins.
Following their recovery, the artefacts were meticulously secured, cleaned of marine organisms, and transported to the laboratories of the Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities in Athens for ongoing conservation work. While some identified objects could not be recovered due to their fragile condition or inaccessible location, the retrieved items are slated for eventual public display at the new National Museum of Underwater Antiquities in Piraeus, featuring prominently in a section dedicated to World War One.
The HMHS Britannic was the third vessel of the White Star Line’s Olympic-class steamships, alongside the RMS Titanic and RMS Olympic. Requisitioned by the British Admiralty as a hospital ship during World War One, it tragically struck a German mine off the island of Kea on November 16, 1916, sinking in under an hour. Thirty of the 1,065 people on board perished when two lifeboats were drawn into the ship’s propellers.
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