Mystery Shipwreck Discovered Off Kythnos Island, Greece

Greek divers discovered a shipwreck off the island of Kythnos in the Aegean with indications it sank after an explosion at its bow.

There is yet no information on the vessel and no indication of its date.

Researcher Kostas Thoktaridis told Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) that the wreck was found at a depth of 110 meters, and its stern has also collapsed.

Its bow is facing north, and widely dispersed debris has been found thirty meters from the stern. Metal parts of the ship and the deck have been blown off beyond the wreck, he said, and damage indicates the ship sank quite fast.

Following a review of the wreck with a remote-operated vehicle (ROV), the ship’s length was estimated at nearly forty meters while its profile height appears to be three meters high. An additional unique construction factor is that the frame lines are spaced very close to one another.

“The general picture and the wreck’s unique construction—with no ship holds—indicates a very old ship, possibly a warship,” Thoktaridis told AMNA. He hopes that historical research will help identify the ship.

Another shipwreck discovered by Thoktaridis and his team

Earlier in 2022, Thoktaridis and his team of divers discovered another shipwreck that has languished in the waters off Cape Sounion, Greece since 1891.

The shipwreck was identified as the Italian freighter “Taormina.”

“It is one of the rarest shipwrecks,” said researcher Kostas Thoktaridis, speaking to AMNA. “It seems almost unbelievable, how well the mast has been preserved,” he added.

Thoktaridis, who has devoted his life to studying the seas with robotic vehicles explained how the Taormina, which had set off from Istanbul bound for Piraeus with a consignment of cargo and passengers on board, came to sink as its sailed west of the islet of Patroklos in the early hours of September 11, 1891.

Related: The Sinking of “Oria” in Greece Was Deadlier Than the Titanic