HMS Maori: Scuba diving at a WW2 wreck, through the lens of Leonidas Stavrou
Photos and Text by Leonidas Stavrou, used by permission The Maori was bombed on February 14th 1942 whilst in Valletta Harbour, receiving a direct hit to the engine room which killed one person. Fortunately the rest of the crew were not on board. It is of historical importance as it helped crack the code to […]
Exploring with a… submarine the U-133, the German U boat that sank off Aegina Island, Greece, in 1942
By Pierre Kosmidis The wreck of U-133, broken in two, after hitting a mine off Aegina Island, Greece. (PHOTO CREDIT: Kostas Katsaros) Few people have the opportunity to dive a WW2 U Boat wreck, the feared weapon of nazi Germany. Submersible Commander and scuba diver Kostas Katsarosfrom Athens, Greece, is one of the few persons […]
HMS Perseus: The story of the sole survivor of a British submarine sunk in 1941 off Kefalonia, Ionian Sea, Greece
By Pierre Kosmidis An incredible -yet true- story comes back to life through the book of Kostas Thoctarides and Rena Giatropoulou regarding the legendary submarine «HMS Perseus». The book, published by the Hellenic Maritime Museum, contains 150 photos, documents for the loss of the submarine, and digital photos of “Perseus” exactly as it is lying […]
A ship without a soul – The story of a photograph by John Dimaresis
PHOTO & TEXT: GIANNIS DIMARESIS The Sea … full of contrasts … calm and quiet, strong, stormy, capable of creating images of beauty and destruction … Boats, once proud, wandering, crossing her body now … lifeless steel plates waiting silently in her arms to become part of her… and we, ordinary observers expect dusk where the […]
“Y1: Silence of the Deep”: The underwater exploration of a Greek submarine lost during World war 2 and the unknown story
By Pierre Kosmidis All photos ©TeamFaos, submitted by Team Faos and used by permission CLICK TO READ ABOUT THE DISCOVERY OF THE WRECK FOUND! The WW2 Greek submarine Y1 “Katsonis”, sunk on September 14, 1943 On September 14, 1943, the Greek submarine Y1 “Katsonis”, named after the 18th-century Greek admiral Lambros Katsonis, was rammed and sunk by […]
“Y1: Στη Σιωπή του Βυθού”. Η άγνωστη ιστορία του ελληνικού υποβρυχίου που χάθηκε το 1943
By Pierre Kosmidis Οι φωτογραφίες δημοσιεύονται κατόπιν αδείας από την Team Faos Το υποβρύχιο Υ1 “Κατσώνης” βυθίστηκε στις 14 Σεπτεμβρίου του 1943, στη θαλάσσια περιοχή της Σκιάθου στις Σποράδες, όταν εμβολίστηκε μετά από ναυμαχία με το γερμανικό σκάφος UJ-2101, παρασέρνοντας σε βάθος 253 μέτρων 32 μέλη του πληρώματός του. 15 άνδρες περισυνελλέγησαν από το UJ-2101, […]
Every ship has a soul, but what becomes of it when it sinks?
By Pierre Kosmidis Photos by a good friend, who wishes to remain anonymous Every ship has a soul, but what becomes of it when it sinks? Does the soul follow the wreck at the abyss, or does it fly free, roaming the seas? I was very moved to see a series of photos by a good friend, […]
Dr. Innes McCartney, the man who located and identified over 100 WW1 and WW2 wrecks
By Pierre Kosmidis Dr. Innes McCartney, BA (Hons), MA, MA, PhD. Honorary Research Fellow Department of Archaeology, Anthropology and Forensic Science, Faculty of Science and Technology Bournemouth University, is a nautical archaeologist, deep-wreck diver, historical consultant specialising in submarines and a naval history and diving publisher. Dr. McCartney, over the last 25 years, has specialised in the discovery of and investigation […]
Athina: The wreck of the first iron steamboat built in Greece
By Pierre Kosmidis The first iron steamboat built in Greece in 1893 at Syros shipyards was used for decades in the Saronic Gulf and was then purchased by a Jewish organization carrying refugees from Europe to the Middle East, where the state of Israel was created in 1948. Mr. Aris Mpilalis, a Greek maritime history researcher, tells about this […]
Leros Island, 1943: The underwater museum of WW2 aircraft wrecks and shipwrecks
By Pierre Kosmidis The Eastern Aegean was the setting for a series of German air-sea landings, something not normally associated with the Wehrmacht. German infantry carried out beach assaults and, unusually, Fallschirmjäger were deployed in their intended role as paratroopers, more than two years after sustaining frightful losses in Crete. Both sides relied on air […]