Daily Event for January 5, 2007

The final voyage of the SS Thessaloniki began on Nov. 25, 1915 when she sailed from Piraeus, Greece bound for New York with 177 passengers. The ship was built in 1889 by Workman Clark & Co. Ltd. in Belfast as the City of Vienna for the City Line. She sailed for the Allen Line before being sold to the Greek Line in 1914. She was 421' long with a beam of 47' and registered at 4,682 tons. The U-boat's in the north Atlantic patrolling for victims failed to find this one because her undoing was a storm in the mid Atlantic. Sometime in Dec. 1915 the ship ran into a heavy storm which flooded her engine and boiler rooms setting the ship adrift. It was not until Dec. 22 when the captain sent a distress call, did the plight of the Thessaloniki become known. The Italian steamer Stampalla arrived on the scene late that night and stayed along side until the following morning. For some reason, unknown to me, the passengers and crew chose to remain on board and the Stampalla departed at 08:30 on the 23rd. What transpired between the two captains during the night is not known to me.

As the captain and crew franticly tried to repair their ship time marched on and the passengers became more and more distressed about their situation. It was not until Dec. 29 when all those on board were near panic that the captain announced he was sending out an SOS. The call was answered by the ships SS Florizel and SS Patris, which both arrived on the 31st. On Jan. 1st the Patris removed the passengers, most of the crew and headed toward New York while the Florizel took the stranded ship in tow. However the tow line failed and after over a month at sea the ship's captain finally came to the realization that his ship was doomed. He ordered the crew to open the sea cocks and abandon the ship on January 5, 1916 and as they left the Thessaloniki slowly sank beneath the waves.
© 2007 Michael W. Pocock
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