Imperatrix (ship)
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The Imperatrix was a passenger ship of the Austro-Hungarian shipping company Österreichischer Lloyd , put into service in 1888 , which brought passengers and cargo from Trieste to Bombay via Suez Canal and Aden . The steamer was one of the largest Lloyd ships and was the pride of the shipping company . On February 22, 1907, the steamer got into a storm near Elafonisi , a small island off the southwest coast of Crete , was deflected off course and hit the cliffs . The accident killed 40 of the 140 people on board.
The ship
The 118 m long passenger steamer Imperatrix , made of steel, was built in 1888 by Österreichischer Lloyd, a shipping company founded in 1833 with headquarters in Trieste, in their own shipyard, Trieste Arsenale. She had a sister ship , the Imperator , which was completed in 1886 . The two ships of over 4,000 GRT were built for the express service from Trieste to Bombay via the Suez Canal, for which they took an average of 18 days. Up until then, they were the largest and most luxurious ships of the shipping company. In July 1888 the Imperatrix was completed.
The hull of the Imperatrix was divided by six watertight bulkheads and had a double bottom that could hold 290 tons of water as ballast. When she was launched in May 1888, she was one of the largest ships in the Austrian Lloyd fleet. The ship's radio abbreviation was HKTD. Your first captain was F. Egger. The ship had its own post office, the zip code was "LV".
The last ride
Stranding
On Tuesday, February 19, 1907, the Imperatrix left Trieste under the command of Captain G. Ghezzo for another crossing to Bombay. She had 120 crew members and 20 passengers, including two children and four nuns , on board. Off Elafonisi , a small uninhabited island on the southwest coast of Crete, the ship got caught in a severe storm on the night of February 21st to 22nd, which threw it off course. At that time there was still no lighthouse on the island to show the ships the way, so the Imperatrix came too close to the rocky coast on the west side of Elafonisi. There, 40 m high, steep rock faces drop into a shallow sea full of dangerous underwater rocks and reefs , there is also a very strong current and ships are exposed to the strong westerly winds unprotected.
At around 3 a.m. on February 22nd, the Imperatrix hit the rocks with her stern . Captain Ghezzo ordered passengers and crew forward so that the stern was relieved and raised again. However, water already penetrated through a hole in the stern and the Imperatrix began to sink stern first. In the confusion and panic, 40 crew members boarded a lifeboat , although the evacuation of the ship had not been ordered. The boat capsized in the heavy seas and the men drowned. There were 32 Austrians and eight Indians . About a dozen other crew members under the leadership of the chief officer managed to get ashore to get help.
rescue
Those who remained on board were stuck on the ship for two days. Attempts to establish a rope connection to the land failed; likewise the attempt to build a kind of connecting bridge out of wooden wreckage. As long as the storm did not subside, the ship could not be evacuated. Only when the abbot and the monks of the nearby Chrysoskalitissa monastery took the rescue operation in hand could the remaining passengers of the Imperatrix be saved. They were provided with food and water as well as dry clothing.
After the news of the accident had reached the port city of Chania on Crete, the Imperial Russian Navy , which had several warships at anchor in Chania, sent the torpedo boat 212 and the gunboat Chiwinez to Elafonisi. The French Navy sent the cruiser Faucon and the Italian Navy sent the gunboat Curatore . In addition, the 1,859 GRT passenger steamer Castore of Austrian Lloyd set off. These ships picked up the 100 survivors and brought them to Chania. The ship was declared a total loss; Except for a small insignificant part, the entire load was lost. Among the survivors were the captain, the ship's doctor, the chief engineer and all the passengers.
As soon as Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria learned of the accident, he expressly requested that any further news should be forwarded to him immediately.
The wreck
The remains of the Imperatrix are about 10 m deep and can only be reached by ship or boat and in calm weather. In the years after the sinking, much of the cargo, the machines and other things were salvaged, so that the wreck is now just an empty shell made of metal frames. Many portholes are still anchored intact in their frames. The wreck is visited regularly by divers .
The Imperatrix disaster led to the erection of a lighthouse on Elafonisi in the long term . This was destroyed in 1945 when the German troops withdrew from Crete , but then rebuilt.
literature
- The sinking of the Lloyd steamer Imperatrix. In: Marine - Yesterday, Today. Naval News, 1986, No. 4.
Web links
Coordinates: 35 ° 15 ′ 43.6 ″ N , 23 ° 31 ′ 25.7 ″ E