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I can't find any information on the shipwreck of the Dimitrios, or even on the ship itself. If you know anything about it, let me know and I'll update this post.
The Dimitrios is beached near the city of Gytheio.
Gytheio : (Greek, Modern: G??e??, Ancient/Katharevousa: G??e???) (Meaning: Land of the Gods), also Gythio, Githeio, Githio or Yithion is a town in the prefecture of Laconia in Greece, long known as the seaport of Sparta some 40 km away. Gytheio used to be an important port for many centuries until it was destroyed by an earthquake.
coordinates : 36°47'20.41"N 22°35'08.82"E
google map
pictures sources : 1 2 3 4 5
text source : 1
hey there.
i once visited this shipwreck two years ago and took some photos myself. i hope to go back and take better ones.
anyways, i asked around about the story of the Dimitrios. what i heard is that this ship was coming from the south (Africa) and was scouted to be carrying drugs into Europe, which it was.
the ship was impounded by the Greek government and left-in-tow. how it go to where it is now, i'm not sure. i guess it was just disregarded by the government and that was that.
hope that sheds some light on the history. :)
http://www.lhi.org.uk/projects_directory/projects_by_region/north_east/redcar_and_cleveland/shipwreck_dimitris/index.html
They use it as a tourist attraction now. You're welcome.
Hello, Great work !!!
At the http://www.360visits.gr/panorama_id95 besides one very nice photo of the Dimitrios (Lakonia, Greece) shipwreck, it mentions that rumors say it was probably smuggling cigarettes from Turkey to Italy and fell into a storm.
In the site http://www.dpgr.gr/forum/index.php?topic=4049.180 you can see a photo of the boat of 1977. The page is from Greek photographers and they are exchanging photos of shipwrecks. Try to scroll around. At the bottom of the page (13) there are wrecks at the bay of Eleysis near Piraeus where a lot of ships are parked or abandoned.
If you need help with Greek, mail me jupitor at otenet dot gr or the mentioned email.
Regards
Alexis
Hello again,
I found a story of a similar boat beached at Imeri Gramvousa in West Crete (http://www.flickr.com/photos/bundosuzuki/1185638170/) :
The exact name is Dimitrios P. was a motorship, 146 feet long, made in 1921, with 325 whatever gross quantity.
On the 30th of December 1967 she left the port of Halkida (60 klm north of Athens, in Evoia) with cement to Northern Africa. Because of weather she had to anchor at Diakofti, Kythira island. January she left but because of bad weather again, she changed route to the west coast of Crete.
She anchored at the South of the islet of Imeri Gramvousa, 200 meters from the coast using both anchors.
On the 8th at about 13.15 the chain of the right anchor was broken. Despite the captains efforts there was no luck and finally by 8 at night the ship reached the shore and the engine room was flooded.
The crew remained on the islet till the 10th when they were collected by the war ship Ierax that arrived from Suda bay (North of Crete, by Hania town).
Info from the book of X. Dounis "Shipwrecks in the Greek seas"
You can find more photos at flickr.com
Best regards
Alexis
Thank you Alexis, I'm preparing a post about that shipwreck in Gramvousa.