Athinai (ship)
 The burning Athinai ; including a Tuscania lifeboat with passengers from the Athinai ( Bridgeport Evening Farmer , September 24, 1915)
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The Athinai was put into operation in 1909 Greek Transatlantic - ocean liner , which in passenger and freight traffic from Greece to New York City was used and burned at sea on 19 September 1915 and had to be abandoned.
The ship
The 6,742 GRT, steel- built steamship Athinai was built for the Greek shipping company Hellenic Transatlantic Steam Navigation Company, which was founded in 1908 and took over the stocks of the bankrupt Hellenic Transatlantic Line in 1908. The shipping company took over the only ship in the Hellenic Transatlantic Line, the Moraitis , which was put into service in 1907 and renamed Themistocles . In addition, the Sir Raylton Dixon & Co. Ltd. in the northern English port city of Middlesbrough ordered the Athinai , which was launched on June 19, 1908 and was used in passenger traffic from Piraeus via Kalamata and Patras to New York. The maiden voyage took place on March 15, 1909.
The 128 meter long and 15.8 meter wide ship was propelled by two three-cylinder triple expansion steam engines on a double propeller and could reach a speed of 14 knots (25.9 km / h). From November 1912 to June 1913 the Athinai was in service as a transport ship for the Greek Navy , after which it resumed its passenger service.
On April 14, 1912, the Athinai sent a radio message to the Titanic at the coordinates 41 ° 51 ' N , 49 ° 52' W , which informed them about icebergs and extensive fields of drifting ice. In August 1914, the Hellenic Transatlantic Steam Navigation Company went bankrupt and the Athinai was bought by the National Steamship Navigation Company, which transferred it to the service of the National Greek Line. For this shipping company, the Athinai continued to operate its usual route.
Fire and fall
On Monday, September 13, 1915, the Athinai cast off under the command of Captain Nicolas Boziatgiles in New York for her next crossing to Piraeus. In addition to the 70-person crew and a load of coffee, rice, cotton and newspapers, there were a total of 438 passengers (62 first class, 51 second class, 325 third class) on board . On the morning of September 18, a fire broke out in locked hold no . Captain Boziatgiles ordered the closing of the vents of hold # 2 and let steam flow into the compartment to bring the fire under control.
The next morning, September 19, the flames rekindled. A general emergency call was now sent over the wireless radio and water for the fire was pumped into the hold. The distress signal was received by several ships, which then made their way to the Athinai , including the Tuscania (Captain Peter McLean) of the Anchor Line , the Minnehaha (Captain Frank Claret) of the Atlantic Transport Line , the La Touraine of the French Compagnie Générale Transatlantique and the British freighter Roumanian Prince . By the time the ships arrived, the fire was already out of control.
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The passengers and crew of the Athinai , who according to most statements remained calm and disciplined throughout the operation , were transferred in lifeboats to the Tuscania and the Roumanian Prince . Above all, the crew of the Tuscania was then praised for their tireless efforts in the rescue. The burning steamer was finally in position 40 ° 54 ' N , 58 ° 47' W abandoned. The accident killed a person: Thomas Sotir, a second class passenger from Meadville, Pennsylvania , died of a heart attack 15 hours after being admitted to the Tuscania . Nobody was seriously injured. Most of the passengers and crew arrived aboard the Tuscania in New York on September 21 , the rest followed shortly afterwards on the Roumanian Prince . According to the New York Times, 32 women and 22 children, and a total of 45 Americans, were among the passengers .
Aftermath
Immediately after the accident, Captain Boziatgiles expressed his belief that the fire on the Athinai was caused by incendiary bombs . He pointed out that the fire had broken out in a storage room in which only flame-retardant goods were stored and that the flames had also flared up several times on the morning of September 19, although they had been weakened by steam and extinguishing water. In addition, the entrances were locked so that no one had access to the room while driving. The shipping company's lobbyist also announced at a press conference in the Athens Hotel in New York that he believed there was an attack.
The National Steamship Navigation Company conducted an intelligence investigation into the workers who had been involved in loading the holds of the ship. On October 24, 1915, two Germans, Robert Fay and Walter Scholz, were arrested after trying to buy ten pounds of explosive picric acid . This had made her suspicious and drew the attention of investigators, who found explosives , maps of the New York harbor and homemade bombs in the two men’s apartment and in a rented locker . Fay, who claimed to be a German spy , was convicted, along with Scholz and another man, of “conspiracy to destroy vehicles”. Whether they were responsible for the fire on the Athinai , or whether the incident was actually an attack, could never be clarified.