Century-Old Britannic Wreck Yields Priceless Artifacts for New Greek Museum
Century-Old Britannic Wreck Yields Priceless Artifacts for New Greek Museum
A deep-sea expedition has successfully recovered a trove of artifacts from the wreck of the HMHS Britannic, the Titanic’s sister ship, more than a century after it sank in the Aegean Sea. Greece’s Culture Ministry announced the significant recovery this week, revealing that an 11-member diving team conducted a weeklong operation in May to bring up items including the ship’s bell and a port-side navigation light.
The Britannic, launched in 1914 as a luxury liner, was requisitioned as a hospital ship during World War I. It struck a mine and sank off the island of Kea on November 21, 1916, while en route to Lemnos. Despite its rapid sinking in under an hour, 30 of the 1,060 people on board perished, primarily due to lifeboats being struck by the ship’s still-turning propellers.
The recovery operation, organized by British historian Simon Mills of the Britannic Foundation, navigated challenging currents and low visibility at the wreck’s depth of nearly 400 feet. Among the diverse items brought to the surface were silver-plated first-class trays, ceramic tiles from a Turkish bath, passenger binoculars, and a porcelain sink from second-class cabins, offering a glimpse into both the ship’s utilitarian and luxurious aspects.
These newly recovered artifacts are now undergoing conservation in Athens and are slated to become central exhibits in the permanent collection of the new Museum of Underwater Antiquities, currently under development at the port of Piraeus. The museum will feature a dedicated World War I section, with the Britannic items providing a compelling centerpiece.
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