Greek Ministry of Culture Announces Recovery of Artifacts from the Wreck of the HMHS Britannic
The Greek Ministry of Culture has announced the recovery of artifacts from the wreck of the HMHS Britannic, the sister ship of the Titanic, which sank in Greek waters of the Aegean Sea in 1916. This is the first time that pieces have been retrieved from a depth of 120 meters.
In a statement, the ministry specified that the recovered pieces include:
- The ship's alarm bell
- A signal lamp
- Various portable equipment from first and second class
- Ceramic tiles from a decorative Turkish bath
- Observation binoculars
The Britannic, built by the Harland & Wolff shipyard, was a transatlantic liner and sister ship of the Titanic. It was requisitioned by the British Royal Navy during World War I and converted into a hospital ship.
In November 1916, it struck a German mine off one of the Greek Cyclades islands and sank in less than an hour, resulting in the deaths of 30 people out of the 1,065 on board.
The first artifacts were recovered with the help of scientists and a team of eleven divers participating in a research program led by British amateur historian Simon Mills, from the Britannic Foundation, under the supervision of the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities.
Some pieces initially selected could not be recovered due to their location and poor state of preservation. The retrieved pieces will be transported to the laboratories of the Greek security services and will be part of a permanent exhibition in the new museum of underwater antiquities, currently under construction in the main port of Piraeus, near Athens.
