Shipwreck M/S KASANDRA

Motorship “Cassandra” (ex. Alessandro Tomel, ex. Alessandro, ex. Melgoland), with Thessaloniki ship register number 61, a volume of 469 gross registered tonnage and 244 net registered tonnage, a length of 170 feet, constructed in 1918 at Elbe and Norden Werft shipyard of Bolzenburg, functioning with a MEK FIAT 450 BHP engine, owned by Georgios Kolovos and Ioannis Krassas. The ship, with Giakoumis Chalkias as the captain and a 7-member crew, sailed on 27 February 1973 from Volos port with a cargo of 580 tones of concrete heading to the islands of Patmos, Kalymnos and Kos. At 20.15 of the next day (28/02/73), while the ship was travelling along the South Evoikos Bay being between Evoikos coast and the islands of Dipsa and Akios Platourada, the captain had his dinner, leaving Ioannis Krassas, who was a sailor, at his post. When the captain returned to the bridge half an hour later, he realized that the ship’s direction was 130º-135º degrees instead of 175º that would be the normal and he saw at a distance of 150 meters a rocky coast. He immediately turned the helm to the right and stopped the function of the engine, but it was too late and the ship crashed into the rocky bottom near the island Akios Platourada. At first, the ship was watertight but later it had an inclination of 20º degrees to the right and there was also a water inflow in the bottom of the ship and in the engine room. As a result, the ship was half sunk. On 2 March 1973, the crew tied up the ship to the coast with two ropes from the bow in order not to be sunk and abandoned it. However, both the cargo and the ship were destroyed.

Source: Christos Ntounis, Wrecks at Greek Seas 1951-2000, Volume B.

Maximum depth of the wreck: -28 meters, Minimum: -20 meters. Location: 210º degrees (stern) at the axis, 30º degrees (bridge).