A sea-going ship called the Arcadian found in the heart of the Aegean – a story and coincidence with the Titanic

The British ocean liner SS Arcadian, torpedoed by a German submarine and sunk in World War I with 279 people on board, was discovered 163 meters southeast of Sifnos by researcher Kostas Thoktaridis and his crew.

“The quality of the primary metals used in Arkad’s construction has played an important role in preserving the wreck to this day. From underwater research, the arc of the Arcadian initially descended to the bottom of the Aegean, resulting in visible plate deformations.

In relation to the ship’s length (152.4 m) and the depth of the seabed, which is only 163 m, the bow thrust helped to align the bottom hull, resulting in an isotropic bottom. Even today,” he tells APE – Kostas Dokhtaridis, Member of Parliament.

Torpedo and sink

The ARCADIAN departed Thessaloniki with a final destination of Alexandria, Egypt with 1,155 military personnel. During the voyage, the presence of an enemy submarine was observed in Ikaria, so he sailed through the Cyclades to avoid the submarine.

ARCADIAN at 13.5 knots and escort ship HMS Sentinel was ahead. On 15 April 1917 at 17:40 the convoy was between Sifnos, Antiparos, Chikinos and Folekandros, the sea state was good and nothing foreshadowed what was to come. At 17:44, an explosion rocked Arcadian. German submarine UC-74 spotted and attacked the ocean liner. A torpedo struck the starboard side of the ship, between the bridge and foremast.

ARCADIAN’S MASTER CHARLES L. Willetts ordered “engines hold” and sounded the alarm siren to proceed to the assembly stations. The crew did an exemplary job. After all, ten minutes before torpedoing they had completed an abandoned ship training course, most of them still on deck. The master ordered the crew to immediately remove the lifeboats and abandon the Arcadian. The ship began to sink with the bow and tilted to the left.

Discharge of ship

The master monitored the abandonment process and the evolution of the ship’s condition from the bridge. The soldiers disembarked with discipline and composure. Five minutes after the explosion, the bow of the Arcadian was lost in the Aegean waters, and there was a great noise, and the ship heeled suddenly, and her prow was thrown.

Meanwhile, HMS SENTINEL, about 900 meters ahead of the gunboat, dropped six boats and picked up 123 castaways. At 20:30, French warships from Milos arrived at the wreck and proceeded to rescue the castaways clinging to the surface from the pieces of the wreck, while others were in boats and boats.

Of those on board, 1,058 were rescued and the remaining 279 disappeared in the Aegean waters. Of these, 34 are personnel, two are civilians, ten are naval and the rest are army.

A Titanic survivor was also rescued from the wreck of the Arcadian

Heather Thomas Threlfall already knew the shipwreck experience. She was wrecked again on April 14-15, 1912, exactly five years before she became a member of Titanic’s crew. Threlfall later declared: “The Titanic sank on the same day and in the same month, but on both occasions I came out alive”!

107 years below

The investigation into the SS ARCADIAN began by searching primary sources in British and German archives and gathering vital information that led to the ocean liner’s location on the bottom of the Aegean Sea. The wreck is located at a depth of 163 meters southeast of Sifnos and is in excellent condition, making it one of the most impressive wrecks in Greece as it remains intact. Time stood still in 1917 when he drowned.

“Masts tripled and fell to the left. A lookout post can be seen on the bow mast. On the right side is a crack from a torpedo attack by a German submarine. An unusually large concentration of fishing gear was found on the wrecks, fishing lines, nets, lines, etc. Underwater visibility in the area is poor, as is most of the Aegean. Excellent. Underwater currents help clear the water, while the marine life is reduced. Hats that once held the lifeboats are now detached. When the ship sinks, the chimneys are detached The wreckage was discovered and identified,” said K. Dochtaridis notes.

Arcadian identity

From ocean liner to warship. The vessel was built in 1899 at the Vickers, Sons & Maxim shipyard in Barrow-in-Furness, England for the Pacific Steam Navigation Co.

It has a gross capacity of 7,945 tonnes and is 152.4 meters long and 16.9 meters wide. She had two propellers and three expansion steam engines and could travel at a service speed of 14 knots.

It was originally called ORTONA and sailed from Britain to Australia as part of his company’s partnership with Orient Line. With the declaration of the First World War ARCADIAN was requisitioned by the British Admiralty in February 1915 for conversion into a gunboat.

Culprit: German submarine UC-74

UC-74 was a UC II class submarine built in 1916 at the Vulcan shipyard in Hamburg. A search of German archives led to the discovery of the log book of the submarine UC74. A submarine sank a total of 37 ships during World War I, 10 of which were Greek. Admiral Wilhelm Marshall was the first commander of the submarine. During his one-year stay in UC-74, Commodore Marshall proved to be very efficient, sinking 27 ships of various types.

The sinking of the ARCADIAN is detailed in the submarine’s war log. “We identified a large target. The passenger ship was approaching with a frigate to the right of the submarine. The frigate continued to maneuver in front and we observed the passenger car turn right towards us. Then the passenger ship to the left of the submarine was identified as a large gunboat. A Battle Position Commanded and the crew took up battle positions.

The submarine came within 500 meters of the target at periscope depth and we hit with a torpedo. After a while, a loud explosion was heard. Immediately we dived to a depth of 40 meters. When UC-74 reappeared, it was nighttime and the lights and green flares of searchlights could be seen in the darkening area, a sign that the search for the wreckage was continuing.

Shipwrecked three times

Captain Charles L. Willetts was twice more wrecked on Royal Mail Line ships in 23 years. On 5 November 1915, as master of the ocean liner Pembrokeshire, he ran aground on a reef in the Canary Islands.

Later on 7 January 1917, he was in command of the cargo ship RADNORSHIRE in the South Atlantic when it was sunk by the German submarine MOEWE.

The master and crew were held captive until they landed in Brazil. There they boarded the gunboat DRINA to return to England, but on 1 March off the British coast, the German submarine UC-65 sank the DRINA. Although he was shipwrecked three times, he managed to survive all three times.